A particular portion of Kimberle Crenshaw’s essay reminded me of another class. In my history class, we had to listen to this podcast in which this historian, Jennifer L. Morgan, talked about her research on enslaved women in the British-American colonies. In particular, Morgan talked about how enslaved women were forced to complete the same tasks as their male counterparts. This reminded me of Crenshaw’s argument that the perceived female trait of passivity isn’t a trait of women, but a trait of white women (155). Black women weren’t seen as “weak,” because they were made to complete physically and emotionally arduous tasks. When, in feminist discourse, there isn’t an acknowledgement of who exactly is intended by “women,” it serves to erase the experience of black women. Alternatively, it is important, as Crenshaw argues, to acknowledge differences in experience and the ways in which the intersection of identities puts some women in more peril than others.
Link to the podcast: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/episode-070-jennifer-l-morgan-how-historians-research/
The argument you presented here is very valid, and was historically repeated in other situations. For example, in the case of Henrietta Lacks, her cells were reaped without consent, and used to further research in diseases. The outcome was good, but the end did not justify the means, where a black woman’s body was used for another’s gain. Even though it can’t be proven for sure, I believe there is still some form of that mentality internalized by American society today.
I think you bring up an interesting point in that it is important to distinguish between black women and white women when discussing feminist issues. As Crenshaw helped to illuminate, the experiences of black women and white women in this country can very greatly, as their race has just as much influence on their experiences as their gender does. Not only are black women discriminated against on the basis of gender, but they also have to deal with the double discrimination on account of their race. As you stated, it is very important that we recognize these differences, and understand that black feminism can look different than white feminism.
I think the idea of intersectionality is one that is particularly versatile because someone who is caught between conflicting identities and caught between the complex discrimination that can be a result from these multiple identities is not easily fit into one category or another and thus is often forced into a category that they don’t belong to or left out of a category that they do belong to. To put it simply, they get the short end of the stick. Furthermore, they lack a straightforward path to fight this complex discrimination because there is no one direction to go, and our legal system requires you one direction thinking. In this sense we can see why it is often the black women caught in this intersectionality are unable to break free from it.