Feminist Theory Of Feminism

Title: The Civil Rights Movement: A Historical Analysis of the Increasing Racial Factors in the Emergence of Intersectional Feminist Theory and Union Organizing for Women of Color

For the purpose of this thesis, the term, intersectioanlity will be discussed in this subchapter. Intersectionality, a feminist sociological theory, is a term coined by a famous researcher Kimberlé Crenshaw in her essay entitled Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics (1989). The notion is connected with different forms of oppressions experienced simultaneously by African American women. In her essay, Crenshaw compares discrimination to traffic. She states that women can be victims of discrimination and its consequences that may come from many directions, which she called in her research as an intersection of gender,

However, during this wave the economic independence for women was also a central concern because at this time, American women could not own property. The second wave, also known as the liberation movement, was in the late 1960s to early 1970s. This is when the term “feminist” emerged. Many achievements were made during this wave such as the Equal Pay Act, the Women’s Educational Equity Act, and Title IX. This helped gain gender equality in universal sports, and on an economic and educational standpoint. Although this was a successful time period for women, some argue that the movement did not speak for women of minorities. The third wave is generally dated from 1980 to present time. Third wave feminists continue to fight for many legal and institutional advances that second wave feminists aimed for. While second wave feminists commonly consisted of upper-class, heterosexual white women, the third wave feminists are more diverse (Healey 2003).

An intersectional approach is an approach which seeks to demonstrate how race, class, gender and sexuality make certain experiences different. Intersectionality is the overlapping of social categories such as race, class, gender and sexuality that leads to further discrimination against a certain individual or group. To take an intersectional approach to understand race, class, gender and sexuality, is to consider hardships not as a similar element for all individuals without regards to race, but instead consider where in a specific hardship different races, genders, classes and sexualities are affected different. According to Crenshaw, “many of the experiences Black women face are not subsumed within the traditional boundaries of race or gender discrimination as these boundaries are currently understood, and that the intersection of racism and sexism factors into Black women’s lives in ways that cannot be captured wholly by looking at the woman race or gender dimensions of those experiences separately” (Crenshaw, 357). Crenshaw explains that the personal experiences of women of color cannot be fully understood by looking at race or gender discrimination as two separate factors, but in fact can be understood if both aspects are looked at together. When race and gender are examined separately, this causes for women of color to be “erased”. Crenshaw says, “ And so, when the practices expound identity as “woman” or “person of color” as an either/or proposition, they relegate

The speech Ain’t I a Woman? by Sojourner Truth and the interview with Kimberle Crenshaw on Intersectionality deal with the topic of intersectionality and black feminism. The authors want to prove how black women then and now struggled with being represented in the feminist movement and in society as a whole. The authors explore racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and how the two intersect together.

Intersectional feminism is a type of feminism that looks at not just gender, but different identities of a person, such as race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, economic status, and more. Instead of looking at people in single categories, it takes all of these into consideration, which stands for the rights of all women (Dastagir). By looking at global ethics through an intersectional feminist lens, we can recognize the prejudice that our society has on women of different backgrounds and overcome it.

Intersectionality according to Patricia Hill Collins is the “theory of the relationship between race, gender and class” (1990), also known as the “matrix of domination” (2000). This matrix shows that there is no one way to understand the complex nature of how gender, race and class inequalities within women’s lives can be separated; for they are intertwined within each other.

Black feminism argued that in order to view this oppression, you must view racism, class oppression and sexism as bounded together, which are also known as intersectioanlity. The black feminist theory argues that black women have been disregarded along the lines of gender, class, race and sexuality, as well as how mainstream white feminist theory has not accounted for the racial, economic and gender oppression that black females experience (Hook, Pg.378). However, a black feminist legal scholar, Kimberle Crenshaw notes that within the feminist theory and even antiracist feminism, black women are excluded because of the discrete set of experiences that exclude the experiences of black women (Crenshaw, Pg. 1245). Crenshaw allows us to realize the oppression black women face, but does not argue that the oppression of black women is greater then other coloured women. Thus, underling that intersectioanlity is needed to understand the oppression black females face within

Since my early adolescence, I have been passionate about the philosophy and politics of gender, gender inequality, queer theory and feminism as both a movement and a field of study. I am particularly fascinated by the concept of intersectional feminism, since I believe that fighting a system of oppression such as the patriarchy only makes sense if it goes hand by hand with dismantling other such systems. These include heteronormativity, white supremacy, classism and cisnormativity.

Feminism can be classified as a means of recognizing the universal oppression of women, and it ultimately aims for equality for both sexes. Intersectionality in feminism works to collaborate different aspects of discrimination in society such as class, race, and sexual orientation etc into an all encompassing idea. The objective of intersectionality is to shed light on everyone who is marginalized in society and disseminate the idea that women who identify with a variety of different groups, deserve to be heard. Cherrie Moraga, a writer, poet and activist who explores how gender, sexuality and race connect to a broader version of feminism, a clear example of intersectionality.

The concept long existed prior to the conception of the phrase “intersectionality,” at-tributed to Kimberle Crenshaw, a lawyer and legal scholar to address the multidimensionality of those who are marginalized and oppressed in society and as a criticism of identity politics in an article published in 1989 “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” Crenshaw (1989) argued that the focus should be on those on the margins of marginalized identities – those who are multiply-burdened because they hold status in more than one marginalized social identi-ty. For instance, the experiences with oppression by Black women cannot neatly be allocated

The theory of intersectionality has received a widespread of various distinct definitions and usage; it is often unclear of its designed function may be. Intersectionality is defined as “the acknowledgment that different forms of identity-based discrimination can combine to give rise to unique brands of injustice”(Lucas 8). In other words, how the classification of one’s individuality such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class can intertwine with each other among the social structure. The term was first coined by feminist and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw who spoke upon the discrimination and marginalization of black women and how both institutions interconnect with one another. The significance of

Kimberle Crenshaw, African-American legal theorist used intersectionality for the first time while discussing unique position of black women in anti discrimination law and arguing that the experiences of black women have both race and class and in this way challenged the universal gendered experience (Monk, 2011, p. 88 and Edna, 2012, p. 2100). Intersectionality is a method, rooted in black feminism and critical race theory and an analytical tool that can move according to time, disciplines, issues and boundaries for gender and economic justice (Devon, et al, 2013, p.303; Samuels and Sheriff, 2008).

In her piece “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics”, African American civil rights lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw defines society’s current understanding of the term “intersectionality”. Crenshaw legitimizes the intersectional experience as one that is “greater than the sum of racism and sexism” (Crenshaw 140)– meaning that if intersectionality is not included in feminist ideology, “the particular manner in which [women of color] are subordinated” is ignored and therefore disbars them from the

Feminist perspective developed with the ideology that women face large amounts of inequalities in a patriarchal society. They aimed to address and rid the social world of this oppression of women by men. According to Bishop, (2015) “oppression occurs when one group of people use different forms of power to keep another group down in order to exploit them. The oppressor uses the power; the oppressed are exploited” (p. 133-134). Oppression must be by individual experience and not grouped into being the same for all. This includes understanding the original ideology of feminist theory being critiqued as only considering the experiences of middle class, white women. That black women, of lower class experienced oppression much different from the other women. Women are oppressed, thus has to be understood in a different construct that women are similar in some sources, experience of oppression but also experience oppression very differently from one individual to another. Feminist theories have further been expanded do its continuation throughout society and decades to encompass many more issues and arenas than just men and women relationships. Now it seeks to understand and address oppression based on culture, race, class, etc and not only for women but for all. Therefore, Bishop (2014) outlines five components that seem common to all forms of oppression and serve to maintain its presence in society.