Black women and the “F” word.

As we know, there is a BIG amount of underrated black people that fought for their liberation, but history has always put men first, leaving behind women. In this blog entry, I will set aside HIStory to talk a bit of the “F” word involved in black women HERStory.

Patricia Hill Collins, a sociologist, defined Black feminism as including "women who theorize the experiences and ideas shared by ordinary black women that provide a unique angle of vision on self, community, and society".

Despite their affinity with white women in terms of gender, they were nonetheless subordinate to them, because white women had access to authority and power which black women lacked. Also, many white feminists act like black woman didn’t know about the existence of sexist oppression since they give them the voice of the feminist sentiment. Besides that, Black Liberation Movements put aside black women too, exposing a clear racial, sexual and class oppression. Those are some of the reasons why many black feminist movements started to appear.

In the same way, many movements appeared in the African-American Civil Rights Movement period. Feminist leaders were inspired by the Civil Rights movement, through which many of them had gained civic organizing experience. At the same time, black women played a key role in the Civil Rights movement, especially through local organizations, but were shut out of leadership roles.

To finish, white feminism cannot name itself as hegemonic, both are in the same fight and they have to unite to overcome. Also, I think change can come out by redefining, redistributing power and reevaluating the criteria designed by men. For me feminism does not strive for equality because it takes the male status quo as the standard to which women aspire and feminist do not want men to share their oppression.

FEMINISTS FIGHT FOR LIBERATION.

What does “feminism” means to you? Would you call yourself a feminist? Why?