Intersectionality

The other day I saw two people, one black and one white, having a heated discussion on twitter about feminism and who really reeks the benefits from fighting for women's rights. The white woman couldn't understand why all woman couldn't rise up together and felt if we did this women as a whole could be powerful leaders and I couldn't agree more. However, what she failed to realize, and what the black woman was trying to point out, was that in order to all become one, we all have to be on an even playing field.

Black women have what society calls a double negative; being female and being a person of color. They have always had to divide their time and attention to not one but two fights, women's rights and equal rights, whereas white women only have one fight. For instance, in 2015 a woman by the name of Sandra Bland was aggressively arrested by police for a traffic stop, days later dying in police custody. This story made huge news but it was marked as a black lives matter issue and not a feminist one. In the same year, officer Daniel Holtzclaw was arrested and convicted of being a serial rapist, as he only targeted low-income black women and forced them to perform sexual acts on him, thinking no one would care if they ever spoke out. Again, white feminist were pretty silent and again this was just another black lives matter issue.

 One of my favorite movies of all time is "A League of Their Own," a great movie about women getting the chance to play baseball at a time when their husbands were being sent off to fight in WWII. This is definitely a feminist movie, but a white feminist movie since the All-American League was an all white league. There is a great scene in the movie when the ladies are practicing and the ball travels outside the field, rolling next to a black woman's foot, who is standing there watching them play. Dottie, who Geena Davis plays, is in close distance to her and signals for the woman to throw the ball back to her. However, with little to no effort, the woman throws the ball higher, further, and harder past Dottie and to Sue Ellen, who has to take the glove off and shake out the pain in her hand. Dottie and Sue Ellen are in shock but the black woman gives them just one look that says it all. This one minute scene is one of the best scenes and an absolutely necessary one to the film because up until that point we thought we were seeing the best of the best women come out to play, but it was just the best of the best white women and it shows us who is being left out.

Going back to the twitter discussion that those two women were having, I agree with both. If all women came together, we could accomplish many goals that women face today. However, white feminist still have work to do in showing support for black women and black feminist struggles. When you do a google search of "beautiful women," or "beautiful hair," there is not one picture of a person of color. When white feminist start to recognize differences in the way society views and treats women of color, then all women can start to come together. When white feminist start standing on the front lines of black women issues then we can start to come together. Feminism can not happen without intersectionality and inclusion and until then, all women can not all rise up together and thus will all continue to be seen as second class citizens.