That's a powerful read, and one I think everyone can relate to. Even those of us who prefer to keep the label in spite of the problems.

Check this one out. Another chill. Read it all if you have time and not just my excerpt.



INTERSECTIONALITY IS NOT OPTIONAL

Flavia Dzodan, one of my favourite ladies ever, wrote an excellent piece a few months ago about the role of intersectionality in feminism, the critical importance of acknowledging that oppression rarely occurs upon a single axis. Many of the points she raised in that piece resonated with why I left feminism, because it felt like a movement that was no longer safe and productive for me, but intersectionality is not just something feminism needs, which is why it is something I still care about, even though I don’t identify with the movement. Intersectionality should be a part of all anti-oppression work, because it is core to discussing, and combating, oppression.

These systems are all connected. There are connections between racism and ableism, for example. These things interact with and play off each other. Identities cannot be neatly segmented into little pieces that can be individually addressed, because they interlock with each other. People, living beings, cannot be chopped apart for a movement. And movements that refuse to acknowledge their own complicity with oppression will continue the same acts of oppression, will repeat the same crimes committed by those who went before.

Some of the roots of feminism lie, deeply, in ableism, classism, and racism. Access to birth control, a major cause for the early feminist movement, a cause women fought very, very hard for, was closely tied with eugenics. You cannot talk about the history of the reproductive rights movement without addressing eugenics, without acknowledging the role that racist and ableist rhetoric played in early conversations about reproductive rights. Arguments for birth control included the firm conviction that it would rid the world of poor people, people of colour, and cripples, that it would reduce reproduction by ‘animals’ and the ‘feebleminded.’ These arguments laid the groundwork for experiments on these communities, like women in Puerto Rico who suffered for the sake of the Pill, and disabled women who were sterilised in institutions.

This is history. It’s fact. This information is readily available. And it plays directly into ongoing issues in conversations about reproductive rights, like the idea of the ‘justified abortion’ for a ‘severely disabled’ fetus, like the fact that many conversations about the growing global population include ‘population control’ as a buzzword, a buzzword with serious racial implications, like the fact that numerous states still run programs that sponsor sterilisation for low income women. This isn’t history; these are things that are happening right now.

...

http://meloukhia.net/2011/12/intersectionality_is_not_optional.html

Please invite her.

I'll wait a few days until things have settled down a little and our direction is clearly defined if we collapse the two forums, that way i can include the final link and our SOP in the invitation so she can see for herself that we're very committed to the same principles.

You did a great thing sister

No feminist I ever met would tell ANYONE that they are not a human being. Yes, feminists tend to be more educated and more upper class, but that's because educating a women tends to make her a feminist. The feminist movement needs to pick its battles. We are already spread too thin. There are other groups that advocate for more narrow causes. But you do not need to leave feminism to also advocate for those other causes or be part of those other advocacy groups. We are all part of the same progressive family, each group doing its part in the struggle for essentially the same thing, social justice.

I'm a feminist, a Democrat and an environmentalist, to name just a few. When I go to a Heal the Bay meeting, I don't expect them to take up my concerns about the de-funding of Planned Parenthood. Nor do I expect my NOW chapter to discuss the need for stricter air pollution standards. Nor do I expect Act Up to address teen pregnancy. Each of these groups have developed specialized knowledge and contacts on their particular issue, making them best at doing that particular thing. I respect that.

I think the headline "Why I'm Leaving Feminism" and the article itself is very inflammatory and is just the sort of thing the right looks for to justify its attack on feminism.

None of us are perfect. Yes, there are some racist feminists. And there are some sexist leftists..like some of the DUers posting on this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=716909

That's no reason to give up on a whole movement or make sweeping (and incorrect) indictments of everyone in the movement.

Reams of articles have been written on standpoint theory, the failed idea that all women share alike experiences by virtue of being female. The proponents of this idea were white, educated middle class women who mistakenly thought theirs was the same experience, say,of a Latina lesbian from the poorest quarters of Mexico city.

One of the greatest mistakes of feminism.

To me, feminism is a anti-racist, pro human rights movement that rests on the (simplified)concept that women won't be free until all women are free.
Hand in hand with this idea is the rejection of heterosexism and support of the human rights of Gays and any marginalized, objectified or oppressed people. We may not have the same experiences, educated middleclass white women cannot speak for everyone, but we can find a wealth of commonality of purpose. And we are. Woman not only don't get enough credit for their activism, but we didn't give ourselves enough credit.

is that the younger women take so much for granted what the older women fought for. I am 51, and it grieves me how nonchalant the 20 and 30-somethings are.

Are you pained by the nonchalance of younger Feminists or younger women in general?

I don't think we can expect any more from younger women in general than previous generations did. Every generation makes that comment about the next generation, especially when it comes to sexual matters. The first wave made them about the second wave too.

If you're talking about younger Feminists, the word on the street is that the women who preceded us were bad-assed heroines. The nonchalance depends on where you look. Women like me wouldn't be here trying to build on your successes if there was any nonchalance about them.

These women are heroes to me. I don't consciously take anything they did for granted. Some of my favorite Feminists at DU are in their 60s through 70s and I'm looking forward to learning from them and growing with them. I could be mistaken but I think we had a private exchange once on race and feminism. Despite some of the testiness, I appreciated everything you shared and am glad you showed up in this thread. I hope you share a lot more sister.

...and all of your posts.

Thanks Cat!

TYY

I am only an early 30-something but I think the answer is that it's become disturbingly easier in Western culture for people to go about in pity for themselves without any perspective, so self-centeredness and apathy are more the norm than they were compared to just ten years ago. Even white men have started to think they have it shitty. To quote, "It's like fuck, white men, if you're losing, who the hell is winning?" It's both too much and too little free time on our hands, if that makes sense.

Activism feels more isolating than it did whenI first began doing it in 1999. But it would be worse to be unable to fight, and the worst would be lack of desire to keep fighting. Nothing worth dying for ever comes easy.

Working poor women get lip service, but not much else. Feminism seems geared to serve the college educated in a sort of self-inculcating feedback loop.

Go to college, learn about gender inequality, get a job among other college educated feminists, or stay home, raise kids and associate with other college educated feminists and in some cases go on to teach college kids about feminism.

There are certain factions of feminism that I am just not feeling welcome to participate in. I prefer to stay in the dirt with the radicals and socialists and the elites can do their own thing. I am not terribly educated (some college), but I know enough to know I won't ever give up on being feminist just because it isn't solving every single problem in our culture. However, I am going to do feminism my way, which will be more second-wave than third. As a Gen-Xer, I guess that's to be expected. I see a lot of marginalized (and not so-marginalized) groups piling the expectation upon feminism to be concerned enough to do their activist work FOR them, and worse, reacting with hostility when we ask "why?" I am glad I came up in a time that taught me the value of and ability to differentiate between blogging and actual boots-on-the-ground activism.

"The feminist movement does not believe I am a human being. It dehumanises me."

I am more than the sum total of my parts. I am an individual.

Thanks for this.

Bookmarked.