For those of you who don't know feminism is the belief in equality of all genders.
I am not a feminist.
Do not worry though, I'm not an anti-feminist or stupid meninist. I'm a womanist. I refuse to live under the title of "feminist" because as much it's for "all women" they don't give a third of a fuck about women of color. To be honest, I can't take white feminists seriously. Feminism is a very white space that I don't feel like I'll ever feel fully a part of.
I'm not saying that I hate feminists nor am I bashing them. I just feel like it is catered towards white women and their first world problems. What really turned me off of the movement was finding out that Susan B. Anthony, who was this historical feminist who was praised for being the face of the Women's Suffrage Movement supported lynching of black men. The reasoning behind it being that black men were allowed to vote before White women were able to.
All of us should know that white cis women and women of color are not the same. Our oppression isn't the same. Women of color have the burden of being a POC and a woman on their backs which brings us to this intersectional oppression, where being a POC and woman meet to create this oppression white women nor men of color will ever understand. An example would be:
"Oh my God! Miley Cyrus does so much for feminists because she swung naked on a wrecking ball! She's taking control over sexuality!"
"Oh my God! Nicki Minaj is such a stupid slut who is pandering to the male gaze! She's showing so much skin in her videos!"
You see the difference? You see what I'm talking about? Being hyper-sexualized is only one of women of color's problems, more specifically black women. Our skin makes us "less innocent" so we're going to get way more backlash doing the same things white "feminists". Men of color do this shit too. They do the shit too. Black men will use the excuse not to date a black woman because "I don't know where she's been, I don't know who she's been with,"
^ That's bullshit. Ladies, if a guy does this to you just let them know that they're not shit. Tell them any slandering they have to say about Black women they better go run home and tell that to their mothers. Let them know their place.
But back to my original argument. White women think that feminism should be about "equality" but ignore that women of color kind of have their own issues going on. So when women of color actually discuss their problems as a women of color, guess who swoops in to dismiss race issues?
Another example is that Nicki Minaj and Azealia Banks are called "bitter" and "angry" for being open and honest about racism in the industry.
"It's not about race, we're all women!"
Bitch, my identity is appropriated on a daily basis, I'm fetishized, gentrified, murdered, hyper-sexualized, etc. You were silent that entire fucking time that was happening and now that I'm actually saying something, you care about all women? You do a good job at not saying anything so why don't you try again now?
Women of color do not have the same problems as white women. We just don't, we don't. Not shaving your armpits and going to slut walks with your boobs out are first world white feminist problems. I'm not saying that you shouldn't care about these issues because you're not white, I'm just letting you know these are the main issues white women are focusing on. They don't have to deal with certain things you go through. These are some of their priorities.
Like I said before, I'm a womanist. Womanism is a social theory rooted in the gender and racial oppression of women of color. Womanism is nearly identical to black feminism but it does not need to be prefaced with the word "black" because it automatically concerns black women. Womanism addresses racist and classist aspects of white feminism. Some of you might be a womanist and not even know? It's been around for a while now, the term "womanist" was first coined in the 1970s by Alice Walker.
If you're not a womanist and you're just an intersectional feminist, that's cool too. I don't judge. I was asked by mycalumcalromance to talk about my feelings on this. I was planning on making this chapter so I'm glad they were able to remind me. I'm sure sooner or later someone's going to get offended at this but I don't care. This is what I think.
