Black feminism: Difference between revisions

→‎Intersectionality: added link to The Combahee River Collective Statement
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A central theme in black feminism is ''intersectionality'', which refers to the ways gender, race, and other social categories (such as class, sexual orientation, etc.) interact or "intersect" to influence an individual's life outcomes and experiences of oppression.  The term was first coined by legal scholar [[Kimberlé Crenshaw]] in 1989, though the concept predates her coining of the term.   
A central theme in black feminism is ''intersectionality'', which refers to the ways gender, race, and other social categories (such as class, sexual orientation, etc.) interact or "intersect" to influence an individual's life outcomes and experiences of oppression.  The term was first coined by legal scholar [[Kimberlé Crenshaw]] in 1989, though the concept predates her coining of the term.   


In the 1970s, a group of Black women formed the Combahee River Collective.  They saw intersectionality (as it is called today) as integral to the distinction between their movement and that of White feminism, because “the major source of difficulty in our political work is that we are not just trying to fight oppression on one front or even two, but instead to address a whole range of oppressions”.  During the twentieth century, Black women remained active in social justice movements as Black feminism and intersectionality expanded into academic and professional discourse.  Women like sociologist Patricia Hill Collins, critical race scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, and writer bell hooks are a few examples.
In the 1970s, a group of Black women formed the Combahee River Collective.  They saw intersectionality (as it is called today) as integral to the distinction between their movement and that of White feminism, because “the major source of difficulty in our political work is that we are not just trying to fight oppression on one front or even two, but instead to address a whole range of oppressions”<ref>[https://americanstudies.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Keyword%20Coalition_Readings.pdf]</ref>.  During the twentieth century, Black women remained active in social justice movements as Black feminism and intersectionality expanded into academic and professional discourse.  Women like sociologist Patricia Hill Collins, critical race scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, and writer bell hooks are a few examples.


In recent years, the term intersectionality has frequently been misappropriated by [[Trans activism|transgender activists]], who insist that intersectional feminism must center male people who identify as [[Transwoman|transwomen]] and frequently make comparisons between Black women and transwomen, which some Black women find to be incorrect and racist, since Black women, unlike transwomen, are unambiguously [[female]].
In recent years, the term intersectionality has frequently been misappropriated by [[Trans activism|transgender activists]], who insist that intersectional feminism must center male people who identify as [[Transwoman|transwomen]] and frequently make comparisons between Black women and transwomen, which some Black women find to be incorrect and racist, since Black women, unlike transwomen, are unambiguously [[female]].