The Recent Turn to Intersectionality In Feminist Theory - Essay Example

The Recent Turn to Intersectionality In Feminist Theory Introduction The term intersectionality was first used and developed by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989. She was a student at Cornell University when realising her chosen course, the African Studies which addressed a lot of issues within the topic of race, but it failed to talk about a specific minority group, women of colour (Crenshaw, 2004, p.2). While she herself was an African American female student, she experienced a less-often way of treating women of colour like herself, like in a way that she was always excluded from both of the groups of women and people of colour. Her academic work is undoubtedly the most prominent and well-known in the topic of intersectionality that at present received substantial number of both critiques and appreciations primarily from the academe. Hence, the scholarly work of Kimberle Crenshaw will take a crucial part of this essay as shown in my argument. In this paper, I will take the standpoint of Crenshaw and argue that gender and race are overlapping characteristics of humans, whereby one cannot be separated from the other. Gender and race are significant component of the multi-layered facets of life. Therefore, I will argue that women of colour are marginalised within both feminist theory and anti-racist policies, as both groups have their own strict set of ideas, from which black women are often left out, hence their experiences, are overthrown. I will start the essay with a critique of second wave feminism, with relation to black women, who were throughout left out of its agenda. Afterwards, I will move on to talk about how racism is a gendered process, hence women who are black or blacks who are women should not be excluded from these groups. Throughout the essay, I will include recent examples of the treatment of intersectionality in mainstream media to support my argument that while feminist academia has recently turned to intersectionality, there has still not been an understanding on what intersectionality actually is. Therefore, this remarkably must be the ultimate source of confusion regarding the existence of intersectionality as a concept, allowing women of colour in the societies today to be still highly disregarded at some point. The second-wave feminism First of all, I believe, a critical examination of the second wave feminism is necessary in order to establish the circumstances and treatment of black women from around the 1960’s up until the 1980’s, which consequently led to and had a great influence in creating feminist multiculturalism and later intersectionality per se. Examining second wave feminist theories and published authors, such as Betty Friedan or Zillah Eisenstein, it becomes clear that they neglected and excluded black women from their work with regards to their race and colour, whereby they were focusing on women with one similar set of circumstances and experiences. This usually meant that they were advocating rights for one single group of females during the women’s movement of the time, disregarding the complexity of a woman’s life, such as race, social class, nationality, sexual orientation and other cultural aspects of a woman’s existence. In other words, this fundamental observation is enough to be considered that in the prevailing society, women of colour might be eventually disregarded when it comes to the on-going fight of women for equality with men. The women of colour might be marginalised along the entire process, and so they cannot be generally stand as representative of what the white feminism and structural feminists are fighting for since the inception of feminist movement dating back to the industrial revolution and at present. As Chela Sandoval puts it, second wave feminism can be described as “hegemonic feminism”, where feminists were solely focusing on the experiences of white, well-educated, middle-class women from the global North (in Thompson, 2002, p.337). This has not only meant that a great focus has been put on white women in particular, but also, more importantly, it has completely neglected and excluded black women. We can go as far as to say that they have historically erased black women, while supporting feminism, whereby they were exclusively focusing on equality with men, hence on the gender factor of a woman’s life, fully neglecting race as part of a woman’s identity (Hooks, 1981). Nevertheless, after decades of oppression by both white women and black men, black women started organising into groups, such as the National Black Feminist Organization, while the first prominent writings by black women started to be published, in both literature and feminist theories alike (Thompson, 2002, p.340). While they have mostly abandoned the term of feminism due to the still homogenous meaning of it, second wave feminists, who have throughout neglected women of colour, have fuelled black feminist authors of the time. This was, in my opinion, undoubtedly an important time for black women, without which they might never have been encouraged to speak up and group together fighting for their own rights and place in society and without second wave feminism, the term intersectionality might not have been created and used in feminist theory. The concept of race and racism Secondly, it is also important to highlight the difference between racism and race in order to understand the basis of black feminism and thus intersectionality. While racism is a gendered process, race is not (Freeman, Johnson and Pauker, 2011). Race is only created and not natural or automatic; it is historically formed and embedded in societies. Race is a historical process, whereby it is not only constructed over time and history, but also changes accordingly. Gender, race and class characteristics were all formed by US slavery, which has consequently been shaping future relations among these groups ever since (Collins, 1990, p.4). Racism refers to a system of inequality, where certain kinds of bodies are favoured over others. Consequently, we could argue that feminists, especially until the 1970’s, have been involved in racism, whereby they were not allowing black feminist thought to come to the forefront. The media and the critical evaluation of intersectionality Now it is clear that being a black and a female in the case of the concept discussed in black feminism should be the primary motivations in understanding the existence of interactions between oppression, domination and discrimination of women (Ford, 2009, p.63; Kaddari, 2004, p.64). This is the essential point of Crenshaw. However, there are various cases by which discrimination is focused on the context of race, separate from the concept of gender which is also commonly considered as another separate issue or entity. It is remarkably clear that the original view of feminism was primarily focused on the fight of women to be equal with men, in almost all areas or aspects in the society. Today, in the age of globalisation, there are many things that have changed, but one pivotal role of this major change is to develop a global culture that at some point may not represent all women in the process. For example, in relevant parts of Asia, a substantial number of depictions on the media include products that highlight the beauty of the white women, the standard offered by the Hollywood, international acclaimed movies as showcased by the western culture in general. This is evident in the various messages over remarkable beauty products that white is good and such beauty is to be remarkably pursued by men. Ideas like this is a common depiction on various TV ads especially those whitening products that according to the prevailing culture of Asian people is necessary for women in order to get a powerful response from men. Although it is remarkably clear that the actual move is a primary revolutionary act to provide the rightful respect for women in the process, not all of them however, especially when it comes to consideration of colours could eventually benefit from it at the other side. This remarkably tried to cultivate the point that the feminist movement at present does not sound particularly fair to all women especially those of colours, because of a standardised setting of the dominance of western culture in the process that remarkably has strongly influenced the world’s culture in general. This setting of culture eliminates the possibility of the existence of another culture in the international context. For this reason, not all women could eventually emphasise their need to adhere to their own perception, standard and culture for what seems to be necessary for them in order to be equal with men. In the process however, because of the dominance of the western culture, women are still oppressed as observed through the fact that there is a need for them to obtain a certain standard set by the western culture. This process is eventually influenced so much by the idea of race. In other words, it is not just enough to look at the issue of feminism in the context of one single factor. There is a need to consider other relevant cases, like the existing culture, and other important considerations in order to justify how women are eventually considered in the society. This idea is remarkably observed shown on the media alone. I therefore personally believe that there is need to understand the point that while racism substantially exists at present, like giving too much privilege to white men than those men of colours, the treatment of women based on race or colour will also have remarkable corresponding inclusion in the process. This means that women will also remain to be strongly affected by this point of intersection of relevant factors, even if the prevailing feminist movements continuously try to raise the bar for women. The above point opens up the thought that intersectionality therefore holds that any forms of oppression should interrelate, which will definitely create a major form of oppression that will mirror the intersection of varied forms of discrimination (Zastrow and Ashman, 2012, p.254; Zemliansky, 2008, p.663). In fact, among women, different women experience different level of oppression, which means they cannot be treated exactly the same way (Ritzer, 2007, p.204). To put this in view, the oppression of black women in the society, may it be in a form of silent discrimination in the process cannot be significantly understood if one will not consider the multi-facet layers of life that women in all walks of life face. This is the eventual concept that is strongly curving around the idea or thought about intersectionality. For this reason, it might be safe to assume that it would be a straightforward thought to consider that intersectionality is just an easy concept or point of view for consideration. However, there is a problematic thought concerning this assumption in the first place, because there remain many people who do not fully grasp its concept. While black feminists have been fighting for the rights of African American women in particular, the ideas of appropriate feminity have stayed racialised ever since: while white is seen as normal, black is still perceived as the other (Fanon, X). To illustrate this, we can take the recent example of the L’Oreal beauty product advertisement, where an African-American singer, Beyonce, has been shown with arguably lighter skin. Many argued, such as Cashmore (2010) that she looked like as if her black skin had been bleached in the pictures distributed worldwide. This not only contradicts the beliefs of Beyonce, who has personally written a lot of songs supporting feminism, but also with the fact that she is indeed a black woman. This example could be seen similar to the experiences of black women during the 19th century conflict: they had to decide whether they endorse racist white women or black men who support patriarchy. Although she has denied these accusations, Beyonce in this case stood up for feminism only, disregarding her race. This can be viewed as a clear example of the recent turn to intersectionality failing to fully engage mainstream media and therefore the society as well. Beyonce, a black woman, might be a specific example of an individual who happened to see a single point of view concerning the issue of feminism. For her, fighting for women’s rights to be equal with men might not need to raise the issue of colour, because the fight is so strongly linked or interrelated to the issue of gender. One cannot be so certain or sure about this, but it is remarkably clear that there are various feminist movements that simply overlooked the issue of race in understanding feminism. Among of them include white feminism and structural feminism. Here, women are strongly viewed to have fought the essential rights and privilege disregarding the issue or race or colour in the first place. It is applicable for all women and so there is no need to bother considering other problematic issues in the process. There seems to be a relevant practicality in this point, and so it means that this point would eventually try to consider finding the acceptability of intersectionality in a wide scale of context in the field of feminist movement. Here where the eventual confusion about intersectionality may set in. The drawbacks intersectionality faces Similar to the previous example as depicted from the media, women of colour are, until the very day often faced with a choice between their race and gender. While intersectionality draws attention to the intersection of the two and emphasises that one cannot be fully understood without considering the other, intersectionality is still seen as a problematic term. As Davis (2008) points out, intersectionality still confuses many scholars and students alike, regardless of how successful this theory has recently been in contemporary feminist scholarship. This confusion goes until the very basics of intersectionality, where scholars cannot agree whether intersectionality is a concept, a theory or indeed just a strategy to analyse feminist theories (Davis, 2008, p.68). The recent turn to intersectionality in feminist theory has become popular and this is because of the lack of ontological discussions, but intersectionality has a promise of providing everything from providing complexity, overcoming divisions, and up to serving itself as a critical tool for analysis (Carbin and Edenheim, 2013, p.233). This makes the expansion of intersectionality to create a consensus that eventually hides fruitful and necessary conflicts within feminism according to Carbin. However, even if the problem goes that way, I still am personally convinced that the world contains the multi-layered facets in life. For instance, in every culture, there are remarkable challenges concerning both oppression and discrimination. These happened because every culture has set a standard for itself, specifying what is necessary and essential or simply the good things that need to be considered by the society (Schneider, 1984, p.145; Naylor, 1996, p.34). For example, a black woman at present time may not only face the issue of racism, but since she is a woman, then she must remarkably face the issue of sexism too. It is hard for her to work in an environment where there is a prevailing notion that men are still better than women, and that white remains to be simply of higher calibre compared to the other existing colours and tribes. While the epitome of what is a perfect standard to be followed in the society remains a substantial issue in various culture, a black woman therefore will not only face certain problems in the area of sexism, but including racism and other important societal issues. For this reason, it is important to justify the point that feminism has become so standardised on a certain aspect which eventually leads to the refusal of acknowledging those systematic impediments that women of colours are facing (Biber and Leavy, 2007, p.184; Jones, 2003, p.168; Castro, 1990, p.87). In other words, if the society remains to consider men as the rightful people to lead, then in the prevailing advocacy of feminism, the strongest representative will be the women who found sufficient advantage in white feminism. This is to say that women of colours may evidently have to struggle fighting for their rights and their need to be granted that equality they deserve every day. This argument should essentially provide a substantial idea, enough to eliminate probable confusion, which has become the major drawback of intersectionality. For this reason, it always matter to bear in mind the point of Carbin that intersectionality could stand as an effective tool to overcome prevailing complexities, divisions and enhancing the theoretical concepts in line with the idea of feminism. However, it is obvious that intersectionality can hardly be accepted as a remarkable theory because of the prevailing notion and even one-sided approach of looking at the point of view about feminism and its movement. This in reality can hardly be changed, knowing that if one will not take into account the link between intersectionality and the relevant justification or existence of white feminism that will most likely marginalise black women in the entire context. Of course, there are clear evidences to support this view, and one strong point that has been clearly stated above is found in the media. In other words, the drawbacks associated with intersectionality would remain strong for as long as one will not learn to accept the fact that women of different backgrounds are also elemental components of a life with multi-layered facets. However, one of the essential ways to open up the possibility to allow an individual to see the reality and what is going on concerning the struggle of black women in both racism and sexism is to strongly observe what is taking place on the media from time to time. Conclusion The work at hand just presented the point that gender and race are overlapping characteristics of humans, whereby one cannot be separated from the other, for gender and race are components of the multi-layered facets of life. In the same way, applying this context in the case of feminism, gender and race therefore cannot be overlooked, which were eventually shown as remarkable considerations of the existence of the concept of intersectionality. However, as found out, the acceptance of intersectionality will remain a challenge for as long as scholars and experts will not adhere to the point that humans are experiencing multi-layered facets of life. In the same way, this will contain feminism as an approach that will be purely taken into account as a general view representing only feminism that may specifically exclude the case of women of colour and racism. This point of view can be remarkably observed in the media, as what the work at hand just presented. References Biber, S. N. H., and Leavy, P. L. (2007) Feminist Research Practice: A Primer. London: SAGE. Carbin, M., and Edenheim, S. (2013) ‘The intersectional turn in feminist theory: A dream of a common language?’ European Journal of Women’s Studies 20(3), 233-248. Castro, G. (1990) American Feminism: A Contemporary History. New York: NYU Press. Collins, P. (1990) Black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness and the politics of empowerment. London: Routledge. Crenshaw, K. (2004) ‘Intersectionality: The Double Bind of Race and Gender’. Perspectives Magazine, 2. Davis, K. 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