The Outcasts of Feminism [View all]

Lesbians, women of color, blue-collar women"Redneck" women,TG women etc., were very much not wanted, and were often actively denied participation, in some of the earlier "movements" in feminist history. They were considered an embarrassment, even by people we often lionize as leaders and pioneers of feminism (ie Gloria Steinem). Steinem has since walked back most of her views on these marginalized groups of women, but she wrote and spoke some pretty hurtful stuff for many years, for decades.

Please remember that the above groups of women were often more than one of these categories: a "redneck" lesbian working in a textile mill for low wages, a Black blue-collar women working as a maid, an immigrant struggling to learn enough English to get a job not in a sweatshop. Many didn't have the luxury to discuss feminist political theory: they were trying to put food on the table and not get fired for trying to unionize while they worked full time and took GED classes at night.

There IS a certain privilege for white, straight women with a decent amount of money that many other women don't have. That doesn't mean there is an "Oppression Olympics," but rather that they have less factors that cause their oppression (unless one is disabled). Their main oppression is gender. Not race or class or sexual orientation or education. I can't remember which DU poster said this once, maybe Lioness Priyanka? But it's stayed with me. I'm paraphrasing, but they said: you fight about power struggles within your marriage, while we fight for the right to marry. That is very illustrative of intersectionality, I think.

This is why intersectionality also comes into play so much today in modern American society and feminism. We are more than the sum of our parts, but the pieces that make us up are intertwined, and the strands cannot be untangled, nor should they be.