Feminism for women of colour...

[AnotherEpisode]

As a black woman, I quite often feel sidelined within feminism.

I don't feel feminism addresses the difficulties faced by women of colour in western societies and quite often I feel I am drawn to race issues over feminist issues because of this.

I absolutely have more difficulties in this society because of the colour of my skin than I do because of my sex.

I feel that the lack of understanding towards racism amongst feminist circles gives me a stance of one over the other in which racism usually wins, which is unfortunate really!

This article, although written in a strong, comical and sometimes rude tone, gives a good insight!

thegrio.com/2015/02/23/patricia-arquette-blacks-gays-white-women/

Not sure why I'm posting but I'm interested in a wider perspective especially people's thoughts on the article!

I just had a thought about something yops raised. Yes white women have privilege over black men and I think this creates problems because white feminists as a group won't call out sexist non white men in the UK and US where the victims are woc. I know crescent has given compelling examples where if there is a theme of bad Muslim men crushing Muslim women real or perceived. And I think if we are talking about Muslims there is a separate dynamic. But for non Muslim black women the inability of feminists to recognise sexism from non white men is shocking.

R Kelly dueting with lady Gaga and his latest album were lauded on jezebel. Nevermind his predatory activities with underage black girls, cos it's cultural. Can you imagine lady Gaga doing a duet with a white man who had the back story that R Kelly did? And then have jezebel and the rest of the industry say "cool". There are lots of terrifying news items involving sexist black men towards black women and there is just silence from mainstream feminists. And think it's partly because of perceived privilige but also because black women are strong is an insidious trope.

And as always the bias out there allows the prominance of campaigns to suit the stereotypes. Everyone on this thread has nodded in agreement that woc are absent from senior positions across most sectors yet when the push to have more women in stem, on boards, in IT no one thought to mention this as a side issue even.

I'm surprised you've missed noticing the stories about R Kelly.

I'm sure I've never knowingly heard any of his music as it's a genre I'm not remotely interested in but his history of misogyny and relationships with very young girls has been widely reported, especially the sex tape involving the 14 year old whom he urinated on.

R Kelly would probably say I'm racist because the first thing that springs to mind when I hear his name is he's the bloke who pee'd on a 14 year old girl rather than his other achievements (of which I know naught).

R Kelly...urgh.

He has somehow managed (with expensive lawyers and a lot of money, one would imagine) to silence the victims and their parents (I believe one girl was as young as 13 yrs old), so nothing has ever gone to court and no victim has ever publicly spoken about the abuse. I do believe that the race of the girls involved - along with the usual power, wealth and celebrity status of the man - plays a part here.

No convictions = people will still happily play his music on the radio and nobody publicly condemns him. It makes me sick.

The whole culture of entertainers grooming and abusing young women and under age girls enrages me. I world in the music industry for my entire twenties and it was shamefully rife.

*worked

Jezebel is pretty skilled in racism masquerading as feminism. The annoying thing there, as well, is that if you comment negatively it won't be published (even if totally tame) so their readership presumably never learns.

If you didn't hear about R Kelly, I think it might be worth getting a twitter account if you don't already have one. There's a reason there's a wikipedia page for Black Twitter. It's a very different style of conversation from MN or FB groups or eg Jezebel article threads. It's easy to use with just a phone so it's much more accessible.

I remember his relationship with Aaliyah though. She was 2 years older than me and ok I'm not heterosexual and that situation would not have been desirable even if she were 28 but it seemed way creepy.

The discussions about Woody Allen seemed to have a much wider reach.

www.xojane.com/issues/fasttailedgirls-sexual-assault-of-black-girls-is-not-a-joke This has some discussion of the #fasttailedgirls hashtag and also mention of the Jezebel stereotype which, to me, is why Jezebel (the page) can't be anything but racist in its shorthand allusion to stereotypes about Black female sexuality being adopted like a costume by white women.

R Kelly article here with links to court filings etc

It makes very depressing reading.

Jezebel is cool with an R. Kelly collaboration?

That has genuinely shocked me. His record is absolutely deplorable. To put it in context for those who don't know, if he were, say, a white British singer, he would be considered on a par with Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris, if not Gary Glitter. He would also probably have served or be serving long jail sentences.

The full horror (it's a tough read) uncovered by Derogatis, a journalist who has bravely and pretty much single-handedly pursued the story, is to be found here.

I simply cannot understand why the man is not shunned by everyone.

twitter.com/atane/status/571254996219650048

Media Diversified is using #thetrashies for nominations for the worst racism in mainstream news and I just saw this from Jezebel - ' Jezebel called Saartjie Baartman "The Original Booty Queen", like she was empowered.'

I'm going to give myself a time-out from posting about Jezebel now.

Ok one more thing - they defended Hugo Schwytzer forever and ever when he was clearly quite spectacularly racist as well as misogynistic.

I'm done, I swear.

omg that Jezebel article about Saartjie Baartman was so shocking. All the comments underneath are loads of white women saying "yes yes she was a figure of sexual empowerment" and then the WoC saying WTF????

R kelly shaped my attitude to feminism and black spaces and my general disdain towards both. He is a man that both groupings should easily shun with no loss of face or leverage yet here he is still.
You can go a lot way in this life if you pick the right victims.

Black Twitter is brilliant for raising up the inconsistency but Jezebel and msm both liberal and not shouldn't just be let off the hook. And it isn't about liking the music or not. I mean who listens to glam rock (Gary glitter) anymore. It's about the fact that in 2015 a celebrity can pursue and rape black girls for more than a decade with no blow back from anyone. Not from society or the law. At least in Rochdale the official position was that "we didn't know" but here everyone knows. This makes me so angry because it is so widespread in the black community - the blindness to the devastation that is fast tailed girls. It is not cultural - it is sexist

It's not as if. They do matter less. And that needs to be challenged because it will not change in the absence of bloody bright light being shone in what is going on.

Horrified by the Jezebel thing about Saartjie Baartman. Blinking flip.
I'm learning so much from this thread.

These are children as well so this is child abuse. And the general response from the black community is a shrug or victim blaming. And everyone else keeps it moving like it isn't real. I am pleased woc are calling out this nonsense but the stats are terrifying.

If anyone's looking for a positive resource on how to tackle this kind of victim-blaming and girlhood-robbing Black girls face, the 'girls for gender equity' book 'Hey Shorty' is appropriate for teens although it does deal with sexual violence.

Here's the Muslim Women's Network's unheard voices report - www.mwnuk.co.uk/resourcesDetail.php?id=97 which did get a bit of media coverage but nowhere near enough.

All girls have a right to a girlhood free from objectification and abuse and this seems like such a basic thing - it should be easy for feminists to challenge child abuse.