Hat Tip to Jack and Jill Politics. Rebecca Walker has done a piece for the Huffington Post talking about "feminist infighting" that appears to have bubbled up during the whole Clinton Obama cage match. I've forsaken political posts for a minute, but her post discusses why feminism isn't the big tent is claims to be and why many Black women aren't drawn to using the label. Walker compares feminism to Wal-mart and says that if feminism were the chain store, it would have already gone bankrupt and maybe it should.
Here are some highlights:
Feminism, which is essentially comprised of the needs, views, and philosophies of straight white women with a certain degree of privilege. Now we can add "and of a certain age" to that list.
The complaints brought against Feminism include racism, classism, ageism, out of touchism, and a certain tendency toward First World arrogance. There has been an enduring wariness in communities of color specifically, about Feminism's mantra of independence rather than interdependence with male family members and the world at large. This would include Feminism's ambivalence about motherhood, marriage, and domestic life in general. This would include Feminism's divisive and ultimately unhelpful commentary that women need men like fish need bicycles (women need their grandfathers, fathers, sons, brothers, etc. for a host of reasons too lengthy and obvious to list here). This would include Feminism's dismissal of religion itself based on its patriarchal leadership. This would include Feminism's characterization of young women who don't fall in line with the Feminist status quo as naive and ungrateful.....
Based on the above, I am not entirely certain that the calls decrying Feminism's death are incorrect or even undesirable. Perhaps a Feminism that has not responded to the needs of its constituents needs to die. Huffington Post
Can you say OUCH?
