Linkage And The "Good Ole Girl’s Network.” Racist, bias against Male, POC Feminist within the Feminist Blogosphere - Follow Up to Yesterday's Post

In this Statue of First Women's Rights Convention, are the photo are Jane Hunt, Mary Ann M'Clintock, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, James and Lucrecia Mott, Martha Wright,Thomas and Mary Ann M'Clintock...and Frederick Douglass, a Black male feminist who helped to Organize the First Woman's Rights Convention along with over two dozen other male feminists who supproted the Women's Rights Movement, as detailed in the Report on Women's Rights Convention Report Held at Seneca Falls, N.Y., July 19th and 20th, 1848.

This post is a follow up to yesterday's post that I encourage you to read as well. It should be noted that the above Woman's Rights Convention Report was produced after the First Woman's Rights Convention in the North Star Printing Office owned by Frederick Douglass, Rochester, New York. It was reprinted several times and circulated at national women's rights conventions. Even in 1848, when Slavery was still legal in many states, a Black, male feminist's committment to free speech in the feminist movement was unwaivering.

Male feminist people of color have been working in solidarity with women feminists throughout time. I have gone around the country giving workshops at conferences on 'Indigenous Lifestyles Free of Patriarchy' and I can tell you in vivid detail that in indigenous cultures, men empowering women, their sisters, mothers, wives, aunts, grandmothers and all women... only made sense in order to have a stronger family unity, tribe or clan. And yet there are those in our current capitalist culture who desire to not only silence us as Male feminist people of color as we seek to empower women...but even worse, they desire to silence us on the basis that we are Black people of color who dare to speak up for Women of Color and speak up about the effects of capitalism, globalization and anti-immigration policies that are oppressing women worldwide and they tell us:

#1. Our voices, as Black, male feminists aren't as important because we don't speak in the academic, grammatically pleasing manner that makes them comfortable.

#2. Our voices, as Black, male feminists aren't as important because...*gasp*... we are feminists who happen to be "male"...as defined by the patriarchal, capitalist society that we live in. Shortly after the article titled What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism?." I noticed there were several bloggers who posted links in the comment section, and then when you click on the link, it takes you to their blog where they have a full article response, and then after you read their article it states something like: 'I only consider Women of Color's voices important enough to be heard... People of Color such as Males, Trans, Cis, and other various Genders outside of the realms of the patriarchal, capitalistic definition of 'women' of color...are not worthy to comment on my blog.' Well, those weren't their exact words, but it might as well have been because the meaning and the censorship was the same. This is amazing to me, how a person will go into a public discussion on colonialism (a form of bias) within the feminist blogosphere...and then post a link so that you head over to their blog... only for them to then say if you are not one of eight clearly defined gender categories...and a person of color.... within the feminist movement...then you must be a victim of their bias within their blog. As you can imagine I immidiately stopped reading their biased blog and I felt nauseated, almost tricked, into even visiting their blogs. Indeed there is a time for learning, and there is a time for recognizing censorship that is facilitated and promoted through a public discussion on a public platform.

So I searched for some feminist definitions of Sex and Gender. I once disliked wikipidia because of so many problems they have had, but in terms of up to date gender studies, that incorporate the work of new third wave feminists, they often are a good place to quote.

So the Wikipidia definition on Sex and Gender distinction [a feminism-related article sub-topic], states this:

"Sex and gender distinction is a concept in feminist theory, political feminism, and sociology which distinguishes sex, a natural or biological feature, from gender, the cultural or learned significance of sex. The distinction is strategically important for some strands of feminist theory and politics, particularly second-wave feminism, because on it is premised the argument that gender is not biological destiny, and that the patriarchal oppression of women is a cultural phenomenon which need not necessarily follow from biological sexual differentiation. The distinction allows feminists to accept some form of natural sexual difference while criticizing gender inequality. Some third-wave feminists like Judith Butler, French feminists like Monique Wittig, and social constructionists within sociology have disputed the biological-natural status the distinction imputes to sex, arguing instead that both sex and gender are culturally constructed and structurally complicit. The most extreme view maintains that gender is totally undetermined by sex.

To learn more about Judith Butler and Monique Wittiq, click on their name above. Below, I have included a few relevant quotes about gender from each woman's profile:

Here is a Judthi Butler quote: " “I would say that I'm a feminist theorist before I'm a queer theorist or a gay and lesbian theorist.”

"Let's face it. We're undone by each other. And if we're not, we're missing something. If this seems so clearly the case with grief, it is only because it was already the case with desire. One does not always stay intact. It may be that one wants to, or does, but it may also be that despite one's best efforts, one is undone, in the face of the other, by the touch, by the scent, by the feel, by the prospect of the touch, by the memory of the feel. And so when we speak about my sexuality or my gender, as we do (and as we must), we mean something complicated by it. Neither of these is precisely a possession, but both are to be understood as modes of being dispossessed, ways of being for another, or, indeed, by virtue of another."
— Judith Butler (Undoing Gender)

“Perhaps a new sort of feminist politics is now desirable to contest the very reifications of gender and identity, one that will take the variable construction of identity as both a methodological and normative prerequisite, if not a political goal.”

Here is a quote from wikipedia:

"In Excitable Speech, Butler surveys the problems of hate speech and censorship. She argues that censorship is difficult to evaluate, and that in some cases it may be useful or even necessary, while in others it may be worse than tolerance. She develops a new conception of censorship’s complex workings, supplanting the myth of the independent subject who wields the power to censor with a theory of censorship as an effect of state power and, more primordially, as the condition of language and discourse itself."

Here is a quote about Wittig:

Monique Wittig called herself a Radical lesbian. To avoid any confusion, she stated: "There is no such thing as women literature for me, that does not exist. In literature, I do not separate women and men. One is a writer, or one is not. This is a mental space where sex is not determining. One has to have some space for freedom. Language allows this. This is about building an idea of the neutral which could escape sexuality". A theorist of material feminism, she stigmatised the myth of "the woman", called heterosexuality a political regime, and outlined the basis for a social contract.

I have taken the time to give quotes about and by these two extremely prominent and well respected feminists and gender theorists, because I agree with them that the use of gender in discourse and communication only causes censorship and further imposes censorship as an effect of state power which is particularly devastating in the blogosphere...where we are supposed to have a greater voice without censorship.

I saw at least two people leave links in the comments section and state:

"only Women of Color can comment on my blog."

Yet, there are those who would not condemn than as the heterosezist, Transphobic, narrow-gender minded bias and discrimintary, first and second wave feminist, anti-solidarity, divisive action that I declare it to be and I find it to be restrictive to the purposes of people working together to create a better world.

I wholeheartedly support, in every way, the idea that people need private conversation, yet the idea that they should entre a public forum on a sentive issue about bias and then use bias to only permit certain people to partake in further conversation is an abomination in the worse way. I can hardly stay calm about it. It is without questions, the Good Ole Girl’s Network, regardless of the race involved.

Can you imagine if you walked into a public forum in which people were having a conversation on colonialism in your town...and then someone in the audience stood up and said:

"I want to continue this conversation about digital colonialism in the feminist blogophere... but not here... as a matter of fact lets take it to my private space...where I control everything... but then I only want to invite certain people.... of certain races.... of certain genders... to be able to talk and leave comments.... and engage in that conversation....oh, and by the way, I only want those certain genders to be defined through narrow minded first and second wave feminism definitions of gender that are defined within our heterosexist, patriarchal, capitalist oppressive system. "

Would that be acceptable?

What is most mind-boggling is that these are some of the exact same people who attacked Mandy and Brittanty for using the 'T' word, yet they are also discriminating openly on their blogs against certain LGBTI of color people who refuse to label themselves as 'women,' much like Monique Wittig, refused to label herself, as a writer and radical lesbian of the third wave feminism, as a woman.

#3. Our 'unacceptable actions' as Black, Male Feminist are somehow offensive to the feminist Good Ole Girl’s Network. Some how my actions are pissing people off. Imagine that! *happy laughter* In the case with Frederick Douglas, Susan B Anthony, a member of perhaps the first 'Good Ole Girl’s Network' within the American feminist movement, turned her back on Frederick Douglas and shunned him when he dared to... *gasp* ...marry a white woman (something which will to this day raise the unbridled anger of even some of the most progressive Black women feminists and White women feminists). Renee at Womanist Musing wrote a powerful article about Backstabbing Feminism [3], which was essentially about feminists who call for solidarity yet reject the issues or racism...and their own racism. Yes, what happened to Frederick Douglas was Backstabbing feminism. But allow me to detail the depth of this backstabbing betrayal:

The Biography of Frederick Douglas States:

He participated in the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848 and signed the Declaration of Sentiments. Elizabeth Cady Stanton later reported that the resolution calling for women’s suffrage was passed by that Convention to a great extent through Douglass’ efforts on its behalf. After the convention, Douglass published a positive editorial on "The Rights of Women," which appeared in the July 28, 1848 edition of the North Star. The History of Woman Suffrage notes that during the subsequent adjourned Women’s Rights Convention held in Rochester on August 2, 1848, "Frederick Douglass, William C. Nell, and William C. Bloss advocated the emancipation of women from all the artificial disabilities, imposed by false customs, creeds, and codes." In 1853, Douglass signed "The Just and Equal Rights of Women," a call and resolutions for the Woman’s Rights State Convention held in Rochester on November 30 and December 1, 1853. He also attended and spoke at that meeting.

During the years before the Civil War, Douglass was a close friend of Susan B. Anthony and her family, and often visited the Anthony home. He delivered a eulogy upon the death of Anthony’s father Daniel in November 1862.

Douglass’s first wife, an Black woman, died in 1882. In 1884, he married Helen Pitts, a feminist from Honeoye, New York. Pitts was a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary. While living in Washington, D.C. before her marriage, she had worked on a radical feminist publication called the Alpha. Frederick and Helen Pitts Douglass faced a storm of controversy as a result of their marriage. Douglass himself wrote:

No man, perhaps, had ever more offended popular prejudice than I had then lately done. I had married a wife. People who had remained silent over the unlawful relations of white slave masters with their colored slave women loudly condemned me for marrying a wife a few shades lighter than myself. They would have had no objection to my marrying a person much darker in complexion than myself, but to marry one much lighter, and of the complexion of my father rather than of that of my mother, was, in the popular eye, a shocking offense, and one for which I was to be ostracized by white and black alike. (Douglass, Life and Times... p. 534.)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, however, remained a loyal defender. She congratulated the two and wrote:

In defense of the right to...marry whom we please -- we might quote some of the basic principles of our government [and] suggest that in some things individual rights to tastes should control....If a good man from Maryland sees fit to marry a disenfranchised woman from New York, there should be no legal impediments to the union.

Fortunately, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, shunned the racist, sexist actions of Susan B. Anthony and the 'Good Ole Girl’s Network.'

As you can see, despite all the Black, male, feminist will do for the feminist, even someone so close as a Black, male, feminist to help plan the Woman's Righst Conventions, circulate Womans' Rights material, marry a radical feminist and even read the Eulogy at her father's funeral... still, there will exist those feminist who cannot move past their own racism and sexism... who cannot move past their own little 'Good Ole Girl’s Network' ...in order to welcome Black, male, feminists... regardless of our 'unacceptable actions' that your priviledged minds may feel warrant our exclusion from your 'Good Ole Girl’s Network.'

Why have I shared this history with you?

Two reasons:

#1. This form of Good Ole' Girls' Network is alive and well within the feminist Movement...and more recently with the Feminist Blogosphere and I want to modify a few of Frederick Douglas's above quotes to describe the Backstabbing nature of it all:

People who had remained silent over the unethical censorship of feminists of color, and over the unethical censorship of Feminist Sex workers [1], and over the unethical censorship of LGBTQI feminists by so called 'radical' feminists [2] and by mainstream white feminists with their popular feminist group blogs... loudly condemned Mandy and Brittany, two women a few shades lighter than myself, who were brave enough to speak about the Good Ole' Girls' Network.

They would have had no objection to me and other Male, feminist people of color talking about the issues on our own blogs, but for them to allow us to guest post our opinions on this issue, or for them to link to a Black, male feminist blog is, in the popular feminist trend, a shocking impossibility, and one for which Male feminist of color remain ostracized by white and black feminists alike.

Below is an excerpt from Mandy and Brittany's article titled: "What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism?"

"These actions form a “good ole girl’s network” whereby feminist blogs are stratified into a formalized hierarchy, which enables the already privileged group to maintain and increase their privilege. We see this in the multiple book deals given to the feminist blogging elite by women-oriented publishers like Seal [12] Press [13]. We see this in books edited by feminist bloggers that feature other prominent feminist bloggers that hold a similar ideology. We see this when the feminist blogging elite are published by the same print and online publications. It’s difficult to believe that all of this is purely a coincidence, and not a result of recommendations, the putting in of good words, and other kinds of direct influence. All of this is a replication of the way corporations in America gain power and capital."

-Excerpt from "What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism?"

So I went over to Renee's blog today at Womanist-Musings.com

I recommend it, as always. While there today I read her response to a blog post that she was told about that was published called:
"What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism?"

To see my entire response, with audio, that I posted yesterday, to "What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism?" please click here.

There are dozens of comments on Renee's blog about Renee's comment, and some of them involve a lot of people in conversations (debates? arguments?) with Mandy, cofounder of the Feminist Review website, and who is also one of the two authors of "What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism?"

So I am copying and pasting the comment that I left there below the dashed line. Keep in mind that everything in brackets is something that I added later once I posted to this blog.
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Dear Renee, Mandy, and everyone having this conversation,

Thank you very much for each one of you who are engaging in this conversation.

I am a Black Male feminist and I have been giving workshops around the country about this type of colonialism and oppression within the feminist and progressive movement for years…and writing about it and posting about it steadily for the last three weeks.

I have seen the crisis grow exponentially worse in the last year no doubt due to the economy getting worse…thus, in turn mainstream feminists needing to censor and disregard more of the issues of people of color.

For the sake of those who are probably tired of reading comments (or who have physical challenges that may find an audio response more convenient), I posted my text and audio response here:
http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/stop-censoring-and-attacking-lucy.html

To all of those women of color and other marginalized people who gave input on this issue before and after Mandy and Brittany (the authors of the post) I say: Keep up the Great Work.

To Mandy and Brittany and the owner of the blog at Professor What if and to Renee, for starting this discussion and thread on this blog, I say: Keep up the Great Work.

Renee started this post on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 and I have taken the time to read every single comment (70 at last count) on this thread and read a few of the links given or mentioned and while I agree that conversation is important, I am still left wondering... when are we going to see something done to stop the way things are?

I definitely want to see a change. I want to see a change to the random censorship that WOC and POC face on the major feminist and the smaller feminist blogs. I want to see a change to all of the violent attacks that POC receive when we visit major feminist blogs and say something that non-POC don't like... and the owners of the blogs just sit there.

I want to see a change in the number of feminist blogs who censor conversation about immigration, capitalism, globalization..and yes, digital colonialism in the feminist blogosphere, because they think it doesn't exist. Renee eloquently said:

"Being a WOC blogger who is determined to insist that feminist conversations include race means that all of those who do not want to own their privilege often feel very off put by what I have to say. "

I feel that this type of bias is also amplified in the case of a Male, Black, feminist, such as myself, who are determined to insist that feminist conversations include race means that all of those who do not want to own their privilege often feel very off put by what I have to say. "

Although there have been many people supportive of what I and other male feminists have had to say, such as Renee, there are those who want to discount the voice of Male Feminists (or overtly discriminate) and they are every bit as gender biased as those Radical feminist who continue to practice transphobia [This links to a blog post by Renee that includes some Radical feminists who openly practice Transphobia].

To hear people, even on this thread, continue to talk about the importance of linking, is quite the spit in the face. Take a survey [Please, take some time and actually take a survey] of the top feminist blogs (or even the minor feminist blogs)... and count how many Male People of color, feminist bloggers they link to. I've visited many of those major blogs and I already know you'll see several White Male feminists, and links to White males (some of whom are even Male porn profiteers)... you'll see lots of female people of color feminists, but what about the male feminist people of color? Not just Blacks but people of others races. If we are going to strengthen a feminist movement across gender lines at some point the linking has to be equal as well. In many ways the anger that some of you feel towards Mandy and Brittany was justified...yet, I cannot help to say that there is a double standard being used against Mandy and Brittany in regards to the linking issue [that many people mentioned in the comment section of Mandy and Brittany's article and in many of the other blogs that criticized their article] and a few other issues and I find it very offensive. I think the fact they they are White enables them to have a different perspective that should be welcome although I do acknowledge all the mistakes they made and as a POC who has also been speaking about this issue I do feel the pain of some of those who spoke up.

So when do we start working on the solution... together?

I think I also agree with Kristjan Wager's comment above when she said that "unless we actually move somewhere, it will end up like so many of these have done before - with anger, frustration, and no change."

Renee, if you are going to move somewhere with this, I welcome it and encourage it. Or, Mandy, or anyone reading this, if you are going to move somewhere with this, please do so we don't end up with more anger, frustration, and no change.

Thank you to everyone,

If I offended anyone it was not intentional.

I love you all.

Solidarity for a world of peace, equality and an end to patriarchy... particularly institutionalized patriarchy…within our lifetime,

Love for the people,
-T

p.s.
Often there are people who read about a crisis and say: "What can I do differently?" I recommend that they do exactly as Mandy and Brittany have suggested:

"...whether we’re pleased to admit it or not, competition among feminist blogs is a liability to the feminist movement. We should take a lesson from Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, who teamed up with Gloria Steinem to help Ms. through the magazine’s financial troubles in the late-70s. The two were viewed as enemies because of their public criticism of the other’s ideological stance. But when push came to shove, Gurley Brown not only donated $1000 of her own money to Ms., she also went with Steinem to her own publisher’s family foundation to plead Ms. magazine’s case saying, “If you have one good woman’s magazine, it does not mean you cannot have three or four or nine,” putting into practice her vision of sisterhood among women and looking for points of similarity that might bring them together."

I have copied and pasted links from a bunch of different blogs and placed them in one easy blog roll of over 1,900 blogs. Most of the are very progressive but I already know that I won't agree with all of them, and yet just like Brown and Steinem I have to put aside some of my difference. I have placed some of the most outspokenly feminist blogs at the top of that blogroll. If you want to do it, you can simply follow these three simple steps:

Step 1. Click here to see my blogroll and then open a second window to create a new blog post.

Step 2. Title the new blog post: 'Blog Roll.' Then copy and paste my blog roll into your new post area. Rearrange the order of the blog list if you like, add any blogs that you don't see there and delete a few that perhaps that are just 'too much' for you. Make sure to add your own blog to the top of the list, so that when you encourage others to copy and paste the blogroll, you will already be on there. Also, make sure you click on 'post options' at the bottom of the screen (if you have a blogspot account) so that way you can change the date to make the date older than your first blog post so the new blog post doesn't show up at the top of your screen.

Step 3. Place a link called 'Blog Roll' on the front of your blog and link the text to the URL (web address) of the new post. And you're done! :)

Here is step by step process on how to place a Blog Roll link on your blog:

Step A. If you have a blogspot (blogger account) you can do that by going to your dashboard, clicking on 'Layout,' and clicking on 'add a gadet' and then when the list of gadgets appear click on the blue button next to the gadget called 'Link List.'

Place the URL into the URL field marked: "New Site URL" and place Blog Roll into the two text fields and it will appear on your blog exactly as it appears on personal blog here and on this group blog.

Solidarity for a better world! ;)

Oh, for those of you have managed to come up with an excuse not to link to:

• Black, Feminist women
  
• Black, feminist men
• Feminist People of color
  
• Feminist Sex workers
• or LGBTQI Feminists...Congratulations! You probably have membership in the 'Good Ole Girl’s Network.' Your prize is that I encourage you to read the below inspiring quote that was published on the Common Dreams website in May 2008t:

"The progressive blogosphere is segregated," said McCauley, whose What About Our Daughters blog was accepted to the DNC's blogger pool. Essence magazine named McCauley one of its 25 most influential people last year alongside Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and filmmaker Tyler Perry. "Black bloggers link to other black bloggers, and progressive white bloggers link to other white progressive bloggers," she said.

It was published by Common Dreams and was original published by the San Francisco Chronicle on an article appropriately titled:

"Black Bloggers Fight to Make Voices Heard."


Footnotes:

[1] http://renegadeevolution.blogspot.com/2009/02/tired.html

[2] http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/02/radical-feminism.html

[3] http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/02/backstabbing-feminism.html

The below two foot notes were from their original article and that is why you don't see foot notes 3-11 here.

[12] http://guyaneseterror.blogspot.com/2008/03/notes-so-far-from-wam.html

[13] http://www.sealpress.com/blog.php?p=http://www.sealpress.net/blog/2008/04/seal-and-women-of-color_03.php

This full comment left on the below blog post titled: Looking at Fem2pt0 and the Feminist Web

Oyeronke Oyewumi, author of

• "Multiculturalism or multibodism: On the impossible intersections of race and gender in the American White feminist and Black nationalist discourses. Western Journal of Black Studies."

• African Gender Studies: Conceptual Issues/ Theoretical Questions (edited). Palgrave /Macmillan: New York (forthcoming 2005)

• African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on the Politics of Sisterhood, edited. Africa World Press, Trenton: New Jersey (2003).

• The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis: Minnesota (1997).

In her award-winning book The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses (University of Minnesota Press, 1997), Oyeronke Oyewumi makes the case that the narrative of gendered corporeality that dominates the Western interpretation of the social world is a cultural discourse and cannot be assumed uncritically for other cultures. She concludes that gender is not only socially constructed but is also historical. Furthermore, she points out that the current deployment of gender as a universal and timeless social category cannot be divorced from either the dominance of Euro/American cultures in the global system or the ideology of biological determinism which underpins Western systems of knowledge.

Born in Nigeria and educated at the University of Ibadan and the University of California at Berkeley, Oyewumi has been widely recognized for her work. The monograph Invention won the 1998 Distinguished Book Award of the American Sociological Association and was a finalist for the Herskovitts Prize of the African Studies Association in the same year.

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The below post is actually my full comment that I left today on the below blog post titled: "Looking at Fem2pt0 and the Feminist Web."   I originally posted it on the comment section of the Blog Womanist-Musings that I highly recommend to everyone.  You can find the below post by clicking here.

Love for the people,

-T

p.s.

Be sure to read the below post first to understand the comments are below.

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First, I want to apologize for the long post, but I feel it is extremely important regarding how people of color feminist blogs may (or may not) be recognized or linked to by others. Someone said:

"If anyone should be on the list however it is you Renee, for me it was a relief to find you this past year, whether I agree with you or not, you have more to offer than feminism 101, a pretty boring discourse for me, you offer a larger view and I appreciate it. Here is to hoping you crop up on many lists in the future."

I echo the above sentiments, 10,000 percent.

-----------------------------------------

I do not, however, agree with the below statement:

"First, feminism is not an entity or a body; it's an ideological orientation to the world and our participation in/with it. So "feminism" cannot omit anyone from the conversation. And any women's studies program that I know of does NO SUCH THING as you claim.

"As a Ph.D. candidate with a secondary area in Women, Gender, Body, and Race Studies, I would be very interested to know some current scholarship on this claim.""

I don't agree with that statement but since a request was made for some scholarship I thought I'd provide a few (especially for all those who might stumble across the request on this blog)

------------------------------------------

Hamer, J., & Neville, H. (1998). Revolutionary Black feminism: Toward a theory of unity and liberation. Black Scholar

hooks, b. (1991). Ain't I a woman: Black Women and Feminism. Boston, MA: South End Press. hooks, b. (1991). Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem. Boston, MA: South End Press. Hudson-Weems, C. (1995) Africana Racism: Reclaiming Ourselves (3rd ed.), Michigan: Bedford Publishers.

Hull, G. T., Bell-Scott, P. & Smith, B. (eds.). (1982). All the women are White, All the Blacks are men, but some of us are brave. Black Women's Studies. New York: Feminist Studies.

Mansbridge, J., & Smith, B. (2000). How did feminism get to be "All White?" A conversation between Jane Mansbridge and Barbara Smith. American Prospect

Nadasen, P. (2002). Expanding the boundaries of the women's movement: Black feminism and the struggle for welfare rights. Feminist Studies

Oyewumi, O. (1999). Multiculturalism or multibodism: On the impossible intersections of race and gender in the American White feminist and Black nationalist discourses. Western Journal of Black Studies

------------------------------------------

You can start there. If you want more just do what I did and type in "feminism excludes Black women" in a search engine and you'll come up with wonderful articles with titles such as "African-American women's feelings on alienation from third-wave feminism: a conversation with my sisters."

That article was written by Aretha Faye Marbley, an Associate Professor and Director of Community Counseling in Counselor Education at Texas Tech University and Regional Six Director and President for the Texas Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education. So, I guess you could consider that scholarship. *happy laughter*

I also agree with the statement "feminism has a history of silencing women of color." And I am a Black male feminist person of color, who took a major in Philosophy, and a minor in Women's studies and co-founded the Radical Feminist Distro, and I go around the country giving workshops at conferences such as Z Media Institute (founders of Z Magazine) on ending Patriarchy and currently helping with the Radical Feminist Library at the Freeschool Community... and in my opinion feminism has a history of also silencing Black male feminist persons of color as well. Many of the reasons for that are understandable, but also very divisive to the movement for ending patriarchy.

I also started a feminist blog and I did it only after I was part of a conversation on a popular feminist community blog and several people had a lot of surprisingly racist comments when I spoke up for the fact that Nike oppresses women, children and people of color worldwide, and then they (along with the owner of the blog) tried to defend Nike. Today I went to that same feminist blog and someone said they might become a "fan" of Bill Gates after one of his latest publicity stunts, and someone else on the same feminist blog said he is a personal hero. Actually used the word “hero.”  And when I spoke up about it some of the exact people attacked me about the Bill Gates issue who attacked me the first time about the Nike issue.  I even gave links to prove everything I said but that didn't help.

I actually love that feminist blog because it was the first place I found out about the Oscar Grant murder which in turn led me to research other unarmed people being killed by police worldwide but when I see the world's largest oppressors of people of color like Nike and Bill Gates being promoted or called a Hero it confirms that we desperately need more people of color feminist blogs and I would very much like to see more feminist people of color individual and community blogs and I am very glad to see that Renee was recognized. It could not have happened to a better feminist.

Sorry for the long post, everyone. I thought it was immensely noble of Renee to start this discussion (especially after having won the award which is usually when people stop questioning award selction procedures and racism like Will Smith! *happy laughter*) because it is painfully needed.

Frederick Douglass, who helped to organize the Seneca Falls Conference for Women's rights in 1848 along with other feminists once said: ."If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will."

Keep up the great work, Renee... and all those who support her blog. You are bringing the thunder and lightning and because of it you are making progress not only for the people of color feminist movement, but for the movement to end patriarchy that ultimately benefits everyone and it is beautiful to behold.

Love for the people,

-T

“Under patriarchy, every woman's son is her potential betrayer and also the inevitable rapist or exploiter of another woman." -- Andrea Dworkin

Womanist Musings, A Top 30 Feminist Blogger, Ponders The Award Selection Process - Originally Titled: "Looking at Fem2pt0 and the Feminist Web"

The below Post Came from the Blog Womanist-Musings that I highly recommend.  You can find the below post by clicking here.

Love for the people,

-T

p.s.

Be sure to read my above blog post to read my comments to this below post.

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This week was the Fem2pt0 feminist web conference.  I was not able to attend but was tweeted a link that included a listing of the top 30 feminist blogs.

http://www.feministing.com/
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/
http://www.feministe.us/blog/
http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/
http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/
http://www.now.org/
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
http://community.livejournal.com/ (1)
http://www.womensenews.org/
http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/
http://www.msmagazine.com/
http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/
http://www.feminist.org/
http://fetchmemyaxe.blogspot.com/
http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/
http://www.thecurvature.com/
http://www.guttmacher.org/
http://www.thefword.org.uk/
http://viv.id.au/blog/
http://www.womanist-musings.com/
http://www.blogher.org/
http://www.reclusiveleftist.com/
http://www.ppaction.org/
http://renegadeevolution.blogspot.com/
http://www.naral.org/
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/
http://www.wimnonline.org/WIMNsVoicesBlog/
http://abyss2hope.blogspot.com/

At first I was thrilled to find myself on this list as Womanist Musings is still under a year old.  To find myself listed with such excellent feminist blogs really gave me a shot of confidence. After I got over the initial tee hee look at me, I decided to have a closer look at the above list. 

In the larger group blogs there are women that are of colour however, Womanist Musings is the only individual blog written by a WOC to make this list.  As much as I toot my own horn, I am not arrogant enough to believe that my blog and my voice represent the best of what WOC have to say on the web.  Once this realization became clear to me my happiness turned to bitterness.

I decided to have a look at how the data was complied to generate this list.

• See conversation territories and communities on the social web
  By narrowing the web to its relevant conversation spaces, we can focus on what’s important, we can ignore noise in order to analyse and measure the impact of visible and influential opinions. Seeing also means following conversations wherever they come from or go to. This is why linkfluence also analyses websites and conversations which, outside of communities’ borders, interest the latter’s members.
• Hear conversations
  Beyond listening, there’s understanding. Messages coming from the social web are ordered by linkfluence in order to single out those that are the most read, listened to or viewed, those that are the most commented or referred to. Hearing rather than listening, it’s going way below the surface of conversations to analyse sentiment, arguments, mentioned opinion shapers, topics, semantics fields or the semiotics of the relevant spaces.

Who decides what is and isn’t relevant conversations?   If a womanist blogger decides that her primary focus is race and how it effects her life, does that suddenly make her less feminist?  I believe that considering that feminism has a history of silencing  WOC when we dare to speak about the ways in which race effects our life, this is an extremely important question to ask.  Were there any WOC on the panel that decided what constituted a “relevant” conversation.  Finally, who gets to decide what is and isn’t feminist, considering that perspectives change not only by race, but by class, ability and sexuality.

What I find even more disturbing is the evidence that our blogs were chosen because of how often they are linked to.  This once again brings up the issue of inclusiveness within the feminist blogosphere.   Even though WOC participate in the major blogs, our blogs are not generally understood to be a major force within the blogosphere.  It was this knowledge that inspired me to create the WOC and ally blog carnival.

WOC have routinely called upon white feminists to not only share their space but give considered thought to what we have to say.   I have held fast to the desire for openness by making my space open to those who identify as feminist/womanist across race,class and gender lines.  This is not something that has been replicated across the blogosphere. 

To say it plainly, when we speak out about racism what we receive is backlash.  Whether it is me in my guest posting stints at various blogs, or WOC bloggers on their home blogs, time and time again the resistance to what are essential basic concepts is forceful and repugnant.  We make people uncomfortable.  Rather than dealing with the fact that this discomfort comes from being forced to acknowledge privilege, many instantly go on the defensive.  It is like daily waging war against that which seeks to construct us as the eternal “other”.

Our blogs are considered controversial, no matter how reasonable we try to be in our approach.  I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that I am intimidating, or that I am angry and hostile.  That these words have often been used to shut down conversation or to render the speaker irrelevant is not given much thought.  The point is to discipline me into conforming to white ideals and focusing on a feminism that excludes my experience.  Whiteness is the privileged identity in every single social justice movement and feminism is very resistant to any form of change. 

The blogosphere is a completely voluntary association.  Unlike a womens studies classroom, one can choose to avoid reading blogs written by WOC.  Our comments are often loudly drowned out when we visit any of the major blogs and a gang like mentality quickly ensues., yet we are not to view this as racism..oh no they are attacking us individually, believing that we are blind to the fact that the same trend continually occurs.  Many of these blogs constitute an unsafe environment for our participation.  Racism flourishes in a covert manner and is supported in many cases by the group think that often passes for engagement in comment sections. 

I have said that white women need to do their due diligence and STFU & L however, engagement is equally important.  One must take the time to learn the basics and then have the courage to engage in meaningful and critical conversation.  Choosing to avoid blogs written by WOC or refusing to engage in meaningful conversation is one of the various ways in which whiteness maintains its hegemony within feminist circles.  A failure to actively participate on blogs written by WOC allows whiteness to function as the representative image of feminism.  If we cannot see our voices appreciated or our experiences respected, WOC will continue to disavow feminism despite the fact that sexism continues to play a pivotal role in our life's chances.

One phenomenon that I find particularly interesting is what I like to call white knuckle rage.  It is actually quite common in the blogosphere.  A white woman may express anger at some form of racial discrimination that she has witnessed and is praised at being so open and forceful in the cause of justice.  A WOC may point out the same issue and she is angry and irrational.  Somehow, magically whiteness is deemed better at articulating our struggles than we are.

In the end Fem2pt0 list is not at all surprising to those of us who have struggled to gain readership or foster a positive community around our blogs.  Blogging is hard work and it is often unrewarded but when one must fight racism as well in attempt to be deemed relevant, it makes the task difficult if not impossible.  The very open nature of the internet reinforces white privilege.  When given a choice, people avoid what makes them uncomfortable and return again and again to spaces that reinforce their social place.  It is no accident that there are no WOC blogs under the category of major blog, just as it is no accident that Womanist Musings is the sole blog on the Fem2ptO list. 

I thank my readers for engaging but I must issue a challenge to all feminist readers to look outside of their comfort zone and truly engage with the marvellous voices in the blogosphere.  You will only gain from looking at issues from a perspective that has not been overly normalized and privileged. WOC do not exist to function as a support network in feminism without acclaim or recognition for our efforts.  Our talents and our goals need to be recognized if this movement is to grow.  Women continue to be under attack and  if we allow privilege to divide us, it is patriarchy that will reap the benefit.