The Analysis of the Black Queer Feminists - Research Paper Example

Black Queer Feminists Although black women are no strangers to prejudice, black queer feminists are perhaps victim of prejudice from a wider range of parties and experience it more strongly. Throughout history, African Americans have been subjected to intolerance and cruelty, but African Americans themselves generally do not look favorably on homosexuality (Harris, 1996); it is this combination which makes the lives of the black queer feminists particularly difficult. Throughout history there have been a number of collectives and organizations dedicated to the black queer feminists, including the Combahee River Collective, and a number of outspoken individuals who identify with this label, like Audre Lorde. The purpose of this essay is to explore the black queer feminist movements to highlight the struggle that women of color have when identifying with queerness. It will become evident that, though the situation is becoming easier with time, it is only through the actions of outstanding individuals that this improvement is possible and there is still a long way to go before black queer feminists are seen favorably in society. Combahee River Collective The Combahee River Collective is an organization active in Boston in the 1970s, comprising of black feminist lesbians, who developed the Combahee River Collective Statement. This statement was influential in defining and discussing black feminism and the concept of identity (Johnson & Henderson, 1996), and has had a huge impact on the work of a number of social theorists. The Combahee River Collective Statement suggests that black feminists may have problems defining an identity because the notions of “black”, “lesbian” and “feminist” are so often seen as being at odds with each other (Harris, 1996). This notion is common amongst a lot of black feminist literature and highlights part of the struggle that those identifying with all three labels may face. The statement suggests that ‘Feminism is...very threatening to the majority of Black people because it calls into question some of the most basic assumptions about our existence’ (Combahee River Collective, 1982), again highlighting that there may be problems with being both black and identifying as a feminist, and there is a need to correlate the two identities. Audre Lorde Audre Lorde was an African-American lesbian feminist active in the 20th century. Her work included a huge amount of poetry, as well as articles and feminist critiques (Hammonds, 2004). Lorde was critical of the feminist movement of the 1960s because she felt that it was aimed at middle-class white women rather than the struggles of womankind as a whole (Lorde, 1995). Again, this highlights that black women may find it difficult to identify as a feminist because the movement itself may not address some of the issues that women of color face in their daily lives. Lorde herself suggested that she was ‘triply invisible’ because she was black, a feminist and a lesbian, all of which carry hugely negative connotations, far more so in the time when Lorde was active than they are now (Harris, 1996). Lorde also felt that her lesbian sexuality meant that a number of facets of traditional feminism did not apply, and again made it difficult to identify with all three of these aspects at once. The Struggles of the Black Queer Feminist From the brief introduction to the Combahee River Collective and Audre Lorde above, it is evident that the black queer feminist may have hit the ‘triple jackpot’ of discrimination and confused identity (Hammonds, 2004). The issues facing African-Americans in general have been well-documented (Johnson & Henderson, 1996), but those facing black lesbians less so, with the black lesbian feminist being almost entirely ignored by those outside the group (Hammonds, 2004). African-American culture has been associated with a less tolerant view of homosexuality and queerness, and therefore any woman who identifies as both black and queer may have difficulties in reconciling these parts of their identity. Throwing feminism into the mix further complicates the matter, because (as the Combahee River Collective Statement highlights) African-American culture does not sit as easily with traditional feminism as middle-class white issues. Black feminism is an interesting concept because it generally argues that the issues facing women and the issues of racial discrimination are part of the same type of problem, and tackling them both from an enjoined perspective may work to help reverse some of the associated prejudices (Hammonds, 2004). Alice Walker, an influential supporter of black feminism, suggests that black women often face more issues than white women and therefore tackling the issues as a whole is more appropriate in this case (Lorde, 1995). Black women suffer both from their race and the way that women are treated in society, and perhaps this makes the oppression even more intense than taking either separately (Walters, 1996). An interesting example relating to this idea comes from the case of Barack Obama as the first U.S. president of color. There are arguments that, whilst having a mixed race president is a huge leap forwards, it his Obama’s status as a man that helped him get the position rather than his status as an African-American being held against him (Johnson & Henderson, 1996). This argument suggests that the issues facing women of color mean that it is unlikely that an African-American woman would be able to win an election on this scale (Hammonds, 2004). Queerness is also an interesting concept and problematic as an identity as a whole. Homosexuality is not received particularly well in the U.S., with only selected states allowing homosexual marriages. There is evidence that the African-American community is often even more opposed to the nature of homosexuality, perhaps because of the fact that Christian faith is often associated with this group (Johnson & Henderson, 1996). This means that black people who identify as queer may suffer from oppression not only from society as a whole but within their own culture, making it difficult for them to identify with both concepts (Hammonds, 2004). Factoring feminism and being female makes the entire situation more difficult; as Lorde suggests, it means being ignored threefold and experiencing triple oppression, whilst one is difficult enough. It also adds another layer of complication to feminism, which is often aimed at heterosexual women and therefore the issues may not apply to black queer feminists. Conclusions It is evident that it is difficult to be an African-American in society. It is evident that is difficult to be homosexual in society. Feminism is also not well-received in many cases. The information above highlights the struggles that face women of color who identify as queer and feminist face. The main issue perhaps lies within the nature of traditional 1960s feminism, which tackles the issues of the middle-class white women who is usually straight, which means that many of the issues facing black queer feminists are not addressed. Another problem is that these identities do not sit well with each other, with African-American culture not being particularly tolerant to homosexuality and perhaps being at odds with feminism too. The main conclusion to draw is that there are a number of struggles facing black queer feminists that stem from these points, not least the amount of prejudice and intolerance coming from identifying with any one of these labels, let alone three. Lorde herself perhaps put it best by stating that she was ‘triply invisible’ by identifying with these three labels, and this definition suggests that huge amounts of work and research need to be done to highlight the struggles facing these individuals. References Collective, C. R. 1982. ‘A Black Feminist Statement’. This Bridge Called. Hammonds, E. 2004. ‘Black (w) Holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality’. The Black Studies Reader: 301–314. Harris, L. A. 1996. ‘Queer Black Feminism: The Pleasure Principle’. Feminist Review: 3–30. Johnson, E. P, and M. Henderson. 2005. Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology. Duke University Press Books. Lorde, A. 1995. ‘Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference’. Sister Outsider 114. Walters, S. D. 1996. ‘From Here to Queer: Radical Feminism, Postmodernism, and the Lesbian Menace (or, Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Fag?)’. Signs 21 (4): 830–869. Read More