Comments on: What’s wrong with this feminist picture?

By: Juegos de Casino

Juegos de Casino — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 07:45:22 +0000

I Will have to come back again to http://www.girl-drive.com/2010/03/whats-wrong-with-this-feminist-picture when my course load lets up - however I am taking your RSS feed so I can read your site offline. Thanks.

By: Blissbat Loves Books » Blog Archive » On the Subject of Alliances

Blissbat Loves Books » Blog Archive » On the Subject of Alliances — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:33:24 +0000

[...] women and these women and these women represent the feminism I believe in. These women, who are displaying the usual symptoms of [...]

By: Sandy

Sandy — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:00:14 +0000

We also need to be critical of having the “token” feminist of colour as well. I think many people are realizing the problem of feminism as only focusing on white, middle-class, heterosexual women and are trying to change it by including more feminists of colour. The problem is that once they include the “token” feminist of colour into the equation, the “token” feminist automatically becomes the representation for ALL feminists of colour. Which is WRONG. One person does NOT represent the millions of diverse views of feminism out there. As a feminist of colour, I’ve been asked to have my picture included as part of a “multiracial project” or my words included, but I’m always conflicted – on one hand, it’s great that they’re trying to include more “diverse” voices/faces. On the other hand, I’ve suddenly become the representation of my entire race even though MY views and opinions alone DO NOT represent the rest of the women who share the same race as me. Unfortunately, what gets reported is this – “Look! We got a few feminists of colour to do this survey and they all say the same thing, therefore, ALL feminists of colour are the same!” Or “Look! We stuck a few women of colour into this picture, we’re now multicultural!” Uh, no. We’re still as silent as ever as long as mainstream society continues to ignore our voices and misrepresent us. Nothing pisses me off than when they homogenize women of colour into one group or make them the “token” one!

By: elenabella

elenabella — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:53:56 +0000

Here is some more commentary, too:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5409555464635498587&postID=5860396253586778922&page=1&token=1269524748080_AIe9_BHnC_h_b2PnrY6v1nmqGN9_CkMFnsS2YZNhqF5vRTVmcpaVRmNsIJR48XZL0RByHYLyXaGlkemqEPKvspeNR0OV2HhUwyQam1pStM6BAREgB_LvSvn3CchEBT9j6eYjYOXfHC25AEK7CP4uierlXyjNa1neqRce2XYw9lc41BR3tH4NfVOLHT3DoHgvmIJekzC3fZuygnTvch60-As1D5zG4I6tRB4sOiA9WShuQjs3MCaJm_Kgyp50fhetApez_21d9GPd

By: Sexism & Newsweek: Heaping Scorn & Criticism on Feminist Advocates

Sexism & Newsweek: Heaping Scorn & Criticism on Feminist Advocates — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:35:54 +0000

[...] these critics raise some very important points that must be addressed about the complexity of feminism and the requirement that feminists consider all women and not just [...]

By: Nona

Nona — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:40:28 +0000

The plot thickens over at Equality Myth: http://tumblr.com/xem7reau3

Since it seems to be impossible to comment (ladies, you should fix that!), I’m just going to post an email I just sent to them:

Hi J and J,

I do understand what you’re saying, and I know you’re operating under a mainstreamed sensibility. But that’s the whole point–you are the mainstream, and you (Newsweek, not you three individually) have the power to change the existing narrative. That’s what’s so frustrating–it just seems to operate in this vicious cycle. Why did you not quote women of color? Because the majority of the feminists in the spotlight are white. Why is this so? Because mainstream outlets pay attention to them. And so on.

Also–I didn’t mean that you needed to drop everything and start discussing how race affects feminism. I agree that it would have been, as Raina said, “gratuitous.” I just wanted to see women of color integrated into the fabric of the mainstream narrative—because they are part of what’s going on with young feminism right now, and they are experts on the topic, too. Jehmu Greene is the president of the Women’s Media Center. Melissa Harris-Lacewell is on MSNBC all the time. Just to name a couple. These are mainstream women, yet they get cut out of discussions like these.

Anyway, I’m glad the dialogue is open, and thank you for your thoughtful response. And I would love to be able to comment on your blog!

Thanks,

Nona

By: elenabella

elenabella — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:01:46 +0000

Here is a blogpost that is more specifically to the point of t his discussion:

http://elenabella.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-wrong-with-this-feminist-picture.html

By: jean

jean — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:48:00 +0000

Interresting inndeed. But one step at a time, huh ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsZrNHWBaCU

By: elenabella

elenabella — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:06:53 +0000

You go, Nona! You are absolutely right about how short-sighted this is. I recently wrote a couple of posts about how odd it is to see clothing catalogs with absolutely no models of color (Sundance and Land’s End): it’s not the same thing as an article focused on sexism in a major magazine, but it really took me aback: In this day and age? The age of Oprah, after all? Surely mainstream media is more observant than that? But apparently not. It made me think they wee saying that in this economy only the white people are buying the new (albeit rather boring) clothes. Not a good business strategy, for one thing. How could the same color blindness cross the top editor’s desk at Newsweek? You gotta wonder.

Anyway, thank you for your continuing work on issues of intersectionality (I like that word): across gender, race, sex, class, age and cultural niches of all kinds. Call it out!

Ellen/elenabella

http://elenabella.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-of-same-contemporary-catalog.html
http://elenabella.blogspot.com/2010/03/three-beautiful-people-in-sundance.html

By: Nona

Nona — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:41:12 +0000

@CV–thanks for commenting! Couple things: I wasn’t commenting so much on the photo as the content of the pieces, but the photo just drove the nail in deeper.

In terms of being a beginning feminist: ignoring intersectionality is not a newbie excuse when you’re writing a long piece that clearly required a lot of research. I even saw on one of the woman’s Twitter feed that it took six months to write! Six months, no inkling of racial consciousness? Why?

That said, you’re right that it’s not so much their fault as an institutional problem–that ones first foray into feminism through the mainstream media WILL be white as long as the mainstream media itself is mostly run by white rich men. In any case, we need to invite them over to feminist blogs! In fact, I’m going to pose the question to them on their blog too! (Maybe in a nicer way.)