What’s in a name?

by Asha Futterman 0 Comments
I would describe my identity as a person and as a writer in relationship to feminism with the words Black, queer, Jewish, and woman. Each of these markers is an important qualifier to me because of how exclusionary feminism has been and still can be a tool to exclude and invisiblize women who are not white, cis, and straight. I think I learned to name myself as Black and Jewish and woman from my mom, since I was young my mom showed me that being a Black jewish woman is special and something that made me unique in a way I should cherish and feel proud of. She would tell me that if (this was pre-Obama) I was president I would be the first Black woman and Jewish president. Through learning about feminism in this class and before this class, I have always found myself and empowerment in the writings of Black feminists or feminists who analyze the intersection of identity, especially Kimberley Crenshaw, bell hooks, along with poets and artists who sing and write creatively about Blackness and womanhood like Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove, Jamila Woods, Morgan Parker, and Noname. Many of the Black feminists I’m drawn to show their readers experiences of power and strength and also messiness and pain. If I had to specify my writerly standpoint, I think I would say I write from the standpoint of a messy Black woman.

It’s hard for me to pinpoint a few terms for the all radical feminist in the 70s and 80s because I feel like I would use different terms to describe a feminists like Rich and a feminist like Shange or the feminists in the Combahee River Collective. From our readings, I think a lot of the feminism in the 70s and 80s was or tried to be transnational. While some of the transnationalism was hegemonic, feminist in the 70s made strides to include third world countries in their analysis. While many feminists we read were middle class, they were also anti-capitalist and supporters of workers right. I also think many of the radical feminists in the 70s and 80s that we read about were artists or poets like Shange, Rich, and Lorde. So, if I had to give a title to all of the feminists that we read I would say transnational, anticapitalist, and creative feminists.

 

 

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