Ten Things That Feminism Could Do Better

newwavefeminism:

I actually enjoyed reading this list. It’s good to see ways in which we need to build the movement up, and the topics that we need to refocus on. Keep in mind, while reading, that this is from the perspective of a feminist from the UK – but I actually think that provides more insight than it takes away.

From the article:

I should start by saying that this list should in no way be seen as an attack on anyone actively involved in feminist politics, or on the history of the women’s liberation movement. The fruits of feminism reflect the most successful and long-term social revolution that human history has ever seen — this should never be forgotten. The list is simply a set of personal reflections on some current dimensions of the struggle, and could equally well be applied to women in general, as opposed to just those who identify themselves as feminists.

So please read! If anyone has any questions or concerns about the list, drop it in the ask box. I think this can lead to an interesting discussion.

Eh. I found myself nodding in agreement at this list until I got to point 10: Feminists of different ages, with or without children, gay or straight, should be wary of seeing too many differences between generations of women. I beg to differ with this point. As a woman who comes from what is usually referred to as the Global South or the Third World, it is patently clear to me that the most mainstream feminism from around the mid ‘60’s to the mid ’80s (what is commonly known as the Second Wave) has been an utter failure to both women of color and transwomen. If we are going to advance, in an inclusive manner, such progress will only be achieved by setting clear boundaries and highlighting the difference between present day (contemporary) feminism and the kind of Second Wave politics that alienated entire groups of women who also happened to be amongst the most disenfranchised.

Want a quick example out of the top of my head of the kind of alienating feminism I am talking about? How about Susan Brownmiller’s foundational “Against our Will” which is still taught today, in some gender studies courses in spite of the fact that Brownmiller came close to blaming Emmett Till for his own lynching, attributing to him a desire to prove his manhood by gaining access to white women. The fact that, to this day, this book is acclaimed, almost uncritically as an exponent of rape culture, disappoints me because it exposes the failures of its time regarding race and intersectionality, but also the denial of very specific problems amongst people of color in general and women of color in particular. The book contained moments such as (emphasis mine):

Rarely has one single case exposed so clearly as Till’s the underlying group-male antagonisms over access to women, for what began in Bryant’s store should not be misconstrued as an innocent flirtation. Till’s action was more than a kid’s brash prank  and his murder was more than a husband’s revenge. The scene that was acted out in Money, Mississippi, had all the elements of a classical Greek drama. Emmett Till was going to show his black buddies that he, and inference, they, could get a white woman and Carolyn Bryant was the nearest convenient object. In concrete terms, the accessibility of all white women was on review.[…]

And what of the wolf whistle, Till’s “gesture of adolescent bravado”? We are rightly aghast that a whistle could be cause for murder but we must also accept that Emmett Till and J. W. Millam shared something in common. They both understood that the whistle was no small tweet of hubba-hubba or melodious approval for a well-turned ankle. Given the deteriorated situation – she with a pistol in her hand, he scampering back to safety with his buddies – it was a deliberate insult just short of physical assault, a last reminder to Carolyn Bryant that this black boy, Till, had in mind to possess her.[…]

Wasn’t a whistle or a murmured “May I fuck you?” an innocent compliment? And did not white women in particular have to bear the white man’s burden of making amends for Southern racism? It took fifteen years for me to resolve these questions in my own mind, and to understand the insult implicit in Emmett Till’s whistle, the depersonalized challenge of “I can have you” with or without the racial aspect. Today a sexual remark on the street causes within me a fleeting but murderous rage.

This is a sad reminder of what mainstream Second Wave feminism looked like. I have spent years stressing the many differences in which my feminism (however it is called, if it even has a name) is very different from this kind of racially charged analysis.