{"id":2174,"date":"2018-12-13T14:43:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T19:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=2174"},"modified":"2018-12-13T14:43:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T19:43:02","slug":"whats-in-a-name-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=2174","title":{"rendered":"what’s in a name?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you were to ask me to list all of the things I identify as — \u201cblack\u201d, \u201cwoman\u201d, \u201cqueer\u201d, \u201cwriter\u201d, etc., I think the word \u201cfeminist\u201d would follow sometime after the word \u201ctall\u201d. \u201cFeminist\u201d is not an identifier I readily think of as something that defines me. This is not because I don\u2019t believe in a movement that combats the subjugation and devaluing of women globally. Or because I\u2019m not forced to face the devaluing of my own womanhood on a daily basis. I don\u2019t even think it\u2019s because of the history of feminism as a movement that centers the issues of middle-class straight white women, although that may be a contributing factor. <\/span><\/p>\n

I think my disconnect from the word \u201cfeminism\u201d is that it feels like it forces a singularity. I am \u201cwoman and\u201d, rather than both of my identities of blackness and womanhood existing simultaneously. I think in a way, I have \u201cchosen\u201d blackness. This is because when I am around black people, I am black and a woman. When I step outside of my community, I feel like I have to choose. In the eyes of \u201cwomen of color\u201d I am a woman. In front of \u201cwhite women\u201d, I am black. It is only in black spaces that I feel like both of these identities can inform and live together, especially in the presence of other black women. \u00a0I identify more with the idea that I am a black person who is a woman, than a woman who is black.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, I don\u2019t see blackness as something above my womanhood. The spaces I seek out and participate in are those that center black womanhood. The relationships with women I prioritize are with other black women and femmes, not black men. If I were to identify as something relating to radical work to uplift women, I would identify as a \u201cwomanist\u201d, like Alice Walker. In her words explaining womanism, she states that a womanist is someone who is: \u201cA woman who loves other women, sexually and\/or nonsexually. Appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility … and women’s strength. … Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people\u201d. Like Walker, I believe in black women\u2019s, and women of color\u2019s, socialization of being a site of care and healing as possessing profound tools to heal the world and ourselves.This is what i would also use for the radical women of the 1970s\/80s. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, I feel like my activism is something I live, not something I necessarily have to name. In that, I would identify as a black woman who prioritizes the healing and care of other black women. I don\u2019t find that the naming of \u201cfeminism\u201d makes others more visible to me. Instead, it makes those who carry the values and beliefs I do about radical healing invisible to me. The word \u201cFeminist\u201d groups us all together, making it unclear what we all stand for. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you were to ask me to list all of the things I identify as — \u201cblack\u201d, \u201cwoman\u201d, \u201cqueer\u201d, \u201cwriter\u201d, etc., I think the word \u201cfeminist\u201d would follow sometime after the word \u201ctall\u201d. \u201cFeminist\u201d is not an identifier I readily think of as something that defines me. This is not because I don\u2019t believe in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[479,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-naming","category-student-blogpost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2175,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174\/revisions\/2175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}