If I am not an Intersectional Feminist then I am not a Feminist at all

If I am not an Intersectional Feminist then I am not a Feminist at all

Hi. My name is Amy. For years now I have considered myself a feminist. This is not true. I was, in fact, a white feminist. This is because my feminism, which I believed to be the advocacy of all women, was really just me claiming to be fighting the patriarchy without ever voicing the issues that women who are different to me faced. Sure, I listened when my female counterparts addressed the multitude of issues they faced on top of being a woman. Sure, I spoke out about the rights of lgbtq+, black or other communities when I felt it was right or when I wanted to. But I always felt this was separate from my feminism that, while I cared about the rights of these other communities, my main focus was on securing the rights of women. ALL women.

But how can that work? Surely I’m missing something important with this mindset? Why doesn’t what you just read make sense?

My feminism has always been predicated on the fact that I feel connected to other women. They are my past, my present and, most likely my future. I have always felt that I am fighting for the rights not just of women alive today but also my female descendants. That is great. The women who will be part of the future generations deserve to have equal rights to their male counterparts. But who is to say that my descendants won’t be female AND mixed race, disabled, gay, transgender or anything else? How can I claim to be fighting for their future rights if I ignore all these other things that can set them back?

Imagine that (by some miracle) my feminism along with the incredible work of so many others dismantled the patriarchy. It would seem that my cause had been achieved, that the women who will know me as their ancestor will be safe from prejudice and inequality. But what if one of them is a mixed-race young girl? What if she still faces difficulties? Then I haven’t completed my goal. There would still be work to be done. She would still be a woman and she would still need me to have fought for her rights generations before she exists. This is because our gender whether male, female, or anything in between is not separate from everything else that makes us who we are. And so if I claim to be fighting for ALL women I cannot neglect the other inequalities that impact the lives of other women just because I don’t experience their effects. They play a huge role in shaping an individual’s experience in this world. If racism, homophobia and so many other evils that strip women of equality aren’t disposed of alongside the patriarchy then how could I ever claim to have secured the rights of all women? How could I say my work is done?

When introduced to intersectionality I thought I was in complete agreement with it. Now I admit that, while I knew it was right, I was also terrified by the prospect of it. I felt it would divide feminists, that our cause would be hindered by having to think about and fight against all these other inequalities. I felt angry that I had been struggling to get people to listen to me about feminism and now I had to confront all these issues too! “Surely this is some curse that has been placed on feminists for ever daring to question the patriarchy,” I thought to myself.

But then I listened some more, I read some more and I reflected on my own internal prejudices. This is the conclusion I reached:

If feminism is about helping women and seeking gender equality then intersectionality, which aims to help women by taking into account how other forms of discrimination interact with and exacerbate the sexism they face, cannot destroy the essence of the movement. If I thought intersectionality might cause feminists to divide and lose sight of their cause then I was blind to the fact that feminists had already been divided by the very lack intersectionality. So many feminists have felt cut off due to being unable to express the added weight of their being in an ethnic minority, disabled, transgender or anything else that may cause them to face discrimination.

If we, as feminists, claim to fight for equality on behalf of women then we cannot ignore the issues faced by so many among our number just because they don’t apply to us. It is my duty as a feminist to listen to all women and hear what they’re going through and then go out and fight the things that are preventing them from being equal. They are a woman and they are struggling. I cannot ignore that because it is convenient for my activism as this is precisely where my activism becomes worthless and fails. In my quest to become a truly intersectional feminist I will inevitably fall down and make mistakes but I am willing to accept the challenge for all the women who have been part of my past, who are part of my present, and who will be part of my future.

If I want to earn the right to call myself a feminist who fights for women, all women, then I must be intersectional otherwise I am not a feminist but the destructive force of white feminism that I have often been in the past.

Amy Life