Combahee River Collective

When bell hooks critiqued Beyoncé late last year, she ignited a firestorm that exposed both the longstanding generational divides amongst feminists and the liberal embracement of capitalism. Her essay, which disparaged the visual commodification of black sexuality in Lemonade, alienated the millennials who extolled Beyoncé for her influential role in the media. Some writers acknowledged the intellectual and feminist contributions of bell hooks in their defenses of Beyoncé, while others rejected

According to Kimberlé Crenshaw, the concept of intersectionality refers to the way multiple oppressions particularly among the women are expressed. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses a scenario of traffic flow to describe intersectionality. She argues that many times black women find themselves in an intersection as a result of race discrimination and sex discrimination (Kimberlé 139). They suffer in many ways that may not be placed easily in legal categories of sexism or racism. The injustices they experience

paper, I will specifically focus on modern feminist theory and politics rooted in the 1960s wave of feminism. Through Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, I will explicate the foundational ideas of modern feminist theory. Then I will use The Combahee River Collective in order to show that modern feminist theory must be intersectional in order to serve its purpose. Finally, using Angela Davis’ Freedom is a Constant Struggle, I will show some of the ways that a complete feminist theory can be used to create

between gender and sex. Simone de Beauvoir and Monsieur Benda identify the subject of women being marked as “other” inferior to men. Loraine Code talks about the influence and conditioning of one’s knowledge. As well as information from the Combahee River Collective informing one who reads about the hardships of black feminists. According to Anne Fausto-Sterling (2000) her major claims is that labeling someone a man or a woman is a social decision. In the beginning of the article she introduces

Feminism is a key concept that has become popular and is widely spoken about even before Charles Fourier keyed the word in the 18th century. Jennifer Baumgardner’s excerpt from the book F’em: Goo Goo, Gaga and Some Thoughts on Balls, outlines the various waves of feminism and its existence, importance, growth and history over the past few centuries. Her excerpt begins by introducing the “first wave” which according to her was, ‘the designation that was applied to the suffragists retroactively after

Karl Marx was the first in a series of 19th and 20th century theorists who started the call for an empirical approach to social science. Theorizing about the rise of modernity accompanied by the decline in traditional societies and advocating for a change in the means of production in order to enable social justice. Marx’s theories on modernity reveals his beliefs of modern society as being influenced by the advancement of productive forces of modern industry and the relationships of production between

role was supporting black men and remaining silent. The women who became involved with the black feminist movement needed a way to unite their voices on issues sexism and racism together. What did the term black feminist mean? In 1974 The Combahee River Collective created “A Black Feminist Statement”, defining “black feminism” as “the logical political movement to combat manifold and simultaneous oppression that all women of color face” (Smith, 1983). As the movement evolved so did the labels defining

In the attempt to gain equality for women across gender barriers in all aspects of society, the battle that women have had to endure throughout history has been anything but peaceful. Particularly in the United States, the women’s liberation movement is an example of how women in the U.S. took a stance to protest for their civil and reproductive rights, domestic violence issues, women’s suffrage, and sexual harassment and gender-based violence that is inflicted upon women on a daily basis. This movement

The idea of intersectionality is that all of our identities overlap and are also constantly affecting our privileges and oppressions. People do not always think about their interactions despite them playing a pivotal role in our human experience. This is what causes some writers to feel the need to put them into words so that maybe more people will look at themselves and do some thinking about their own intersections. Some of the authors that I believe have done this well are Patricia Collins in

Discrimination among the black community has come in many different forms such as inequality in schools, homes, jobs, and healthcare. Many may wonder where the root of the problem exists. Many years ago during slavery, White people knew that they had to justify slavery and to keep the Black people in a subordinate state. Politics is the foundation that would justify the rules, laws, or amendments against Blacks. These political issues played a part in black families during the 1970’s. Political issues