In case you missed it

The Apostate writes brilliantly about religion, class and gender. A few of us find her blog refreshing because it’s the intersectionality we don’t hear a lot about. Octogalore wrote beautifully on similar topics. It’s the intersectionality I beat everyone over the head about. Thank you for some good reading and discussions, ladies.

2008 AAWIL Conference

Via Reappropriate:

The Asian American Women in Leadership Conference will be held at Simmons College, April 26, 2008. Speakers include Becky Lee, who I posted about here, MTV’s SuChin Pak and Jennifer 8. Lee, whose book, Fortune Cookie Chronicles, I just read about in Bust.

Did you know there are twice as many Chinese takeouts as McDonald’s?

Wow

Color of Change issues statement on Dunbar Village? Alright! This is after Sharpton took the rapists side.

Color of Change is the first African American organization to speak out about Dunbar Village.

Hillary, DON’T drop out no matter what the white, male progressive blogosphere says. Obama is McGovern and Kerry wrapped in one. As Taylor Marsh said,

Democrats who think Wright won’t matter in the general election are exhibit A in why Democrats lose presidential elections so readily. They just don’t get it.

My main reasons for supporting Clinton:

1. Electability. She’s vetted, he’s untested. Clearly.
2. Her commitment to feminism, to women around the world, and to children.

Subcomandante Marcos said,

They say when a woman moves forward, no men move back.

The Combahee River Collective Statement

A Black Feminist Statement From The Combahee River Collective

We are a collective of black feminists who have been meeting together since 1974. During that time we have been involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while at the same time doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements. The most general statement of our politics at the present time would be that we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression and see as our particular task the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression are interlocking. The synthesis of these oppressions creates the conditions of our lives. As black women we see black feminism as the logical political movement to combat the manifold and simultaneous oppressions that all women of color face.

We will discuss four major topics in the paper that follows: (1) The genesis of contemporary black feminism; (2) what we believe, i.e., the specific province of our politics; (3) the problems in organizing black feminists, including a brief herstory of our collective; and (4) black feminist issues and practice.

1. THE GENESIS OF CONTEMPORARY BLACK FEMINISM

Before looking at the recent development of black feminism, we would like to affirm that we find our origins in the historical reality of Afro-American women’s continuous life-and-death struggle for survival and liberation. Black women’s extremely negative relationship to the American political system (a system of white male rule) has always been determined by our membership in two oppressed racial and sexual castes. As Angela Davis points out in “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role in the Community of Slaves,” black women have always embodied, if only in their physical manifestation, an adversary stance to white male rule and have actively resisted its inroads upon them and their communities in both dramatic and subtle ways. There have always been black women activists—some known, like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frances E. W. Harper, Ida B. Wells Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell, and thousands upon thousands unknown—who had a shared awareness of how their sexual identity combined with their racial identity to make their whole life situation and the focus of their political struggles unique. Contemporary black feminism is the outgrowth of countless generations of personal sacrifice, militancy, and work by our mothers and sisters.

A black feminist presence has evolved most obviously in connection with the second wave of the American women’s movement beginning in the late 1960s. Black, other Third World, and working women have been involved in the feminist movement from its start, but both outside reactionary forces and racism and elitism within the movement itself have served to obscure our participation. In 1973 black feminists, primarily located in New York, felt the necessity of forming a separate black feminist group. This became the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO).

Black feminist politics also have an obvious connection to movements for black liberation, particularly those of the 1960s and 1970s. Many of us were active in those movements (civil rights, black nationalism, the Black Panthers), and all of our lives were greatly affected and changed by their ideology, their goals, and the tactics used to achieve their goals. It was our experience and disillusionment within these liberation movements, as well as experience on the periphery of the white male left, that led to the need to develop a politics that was antiracist, unlike those of white women, and antisexist, unlike those of black and white men.

There is also undeniably a personal genesis for black feminism, that is, the political realization that comes from the seemingly personal experiences of individual black women’s lives. Black feminists and many more black women who do not define them-selves as feminists have all experienced sexual oppression as a constant factor in our day-to-day existence.

Black feminists often talk about their feelings of craziness before becoming conscious of the concepts of sexual politics, patriarchal rule, and, most importantly, feminism, the political analysis and practice that we women use to struggle against our oppression. The fact that racial politics and indeed racism are pervasive factors in our lives did not allow us, and still does not allow most black women, to look more deeply into our own experiences and define those things that make our lives what they are and our oppression specific to us. In the process of consciousness-raising, actually life-sharing, we began to recognize the commonality of our experiences and, from that sharing and growing consciousness, to build a politics that will change our lives and inevitably end our oppression.

Our development also must be tied to the contemporary economic and political position of black people. The post-World War II generation of black youth was the first to be able to minimally partake of certain educational and employment options, previously closed completely to black people. Although our economic position is still at the very bottom of the American capitalist economy, a handful of us have been able to gain certain tools as a result of tokenism in education and employment which potentially enable us to more effectively fight our oppression.

A combined antiracist and antisexist position drew us together initially, and as we developed politically we addressed ourselves to heterosexism and economic oppression under capitalism.

2. WHAT WE BELIEVE

Above all else, our politics initially sprang from the shared belief that black women are inherently valuable, that our liberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody else’s but because of our need as human persons for autonomy. This may seem so obvious as to sound simplistic, but it is apparent that no other ostensibly progressive movement has ever considered our specific oppression a priority or worked seriously for the ending of that oppression. Merely naming the pejorative stereotypes attributed to black women (e.g., mammy, matriarch, Sapphire, whore, bulldogged), let alone cataloguing the cruel, often murderous, treatment we receive, indicates how little value has been placed upon our lives during four centuries of bondage in the Western hemisphere. We realize that the only people who care enough about us to work consistently for our liberation is us. Our politics evolve from a healthy love for ourselves, our sisters, and our community which allows us to continue our struggle and work.

This focusing upon our own oppression is embodied in the concept of identity politics. We believe that the most profound and potentially the most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression. In the case of black women this is a particularly repugnant, dangerous, threatening, and therefore revolutionary concept because it is obvious from looking at all the political movements that have preceded us that anyone is more worthy of liberation than ourselves. We reject pedestals, queenhood, and walking ten paces behind. To be recognized as human, levelly human, is enough.

We believe that sexual politics under patriarchy is as pervasive in black women’s lives as are the politics of class and race. We also often find it difficult to separate race from class from sex oppression because in our lives they are most often experienced simultaneously. We know that there is such a thing as racial-sexual oppression which is neither solely racial nor solely sexual, e.g., the history of rape of black women by white men as a weapon of political repression.

Although we are feminists and lesbians, we feel solidarity with progressive black men and do not advocate the fractionalization that white women who are separatists demand. Our situation as black people necessitates that we have solidarity around the fact of race, which white women of course do not need to have with white men, unless it is their negative solidarity as racial oppressors. We struggle together with black men against racism, while we also struggle with black men about sexism.

We realize that the liberation of all oppressed peoples necessitates the destruction of the political- economic systems of capitalism and imperialism as well as patriarchy. We are socialists because we believe the work must be organized for the collective benefit of those who do the work and create the products and not for the profit of the bosses. Material resources must be equally distributed among those who create these resources. We are not convinved, however, that a socialist revolution that is not also a feminist and antiracist revolution will guarantee our liberation. We have arrived at the necessity for developing an understanding of class relationships that takes into account the specific class position of black women who are generally marginal in the labor force, while at this particular time some of us are temporarily viewed as doubly desirable tokens at white-collar and professional levels. We need to articulate the real class situation of persons who are not merely raceless, sexless workers, but for whom racial and sexual oppression are significant determinants in their working/economic lives. Although we are in essential agreement with Marx’s theory as it applied to the very specific economic relationships he analyzed, we know that this analysis must be extended further in order for us to understand our specific economic situation as black women.

A political contribution which we feel we have already made is the expansion of the feminist principle that the personal is political. In our consciousness-raising sessions, for example, we have in many ways gone beyond white women’s revelations because we are dealing with the implications of race and class as well as sex. Even our black women’s style of talking/testifying in black language about what we have experienced has a resonance that is both cultural and political. We have spent a great deal of energy delving into the cultural and experiential nature of our oppression out of necessity because none of these matters have ever been looked at before. No one before has ever examined the multilayered texture of black women’s lives.

As we have already stated, we reject the stance of lesbian separatism because it is not a viable political analysis or strategy for us. It leaves out far too much and far too many people, particularly black men, women, and children. We have a great deal of criticism and loathing for what men have been socialized to be in this society: what they support, how they act, and how they oppress. But we do not have the misguided notion that it is their maleness, per se—i.e., their biological maleness—that makes them what they are. As black women we find any type of biological determinism a particularly dan-gerous and reactionary basis upon which to build a politic. We must also question whether lesbian separatism is an adequate and progressive political analysis and strat-egy, even for those who practice it, since it so completely denies any but the sexual sources of women’s oppression, negating the facts of class and race.

3. PROBLEMS IN ORGANIZING BLACK FEMINISTS

During our years together as a black feminist collective we have experienced success and defeat, joy and pain, victory and failure. We have found that it is very difficult to organize around black feminist issues, difficult even to announce in certain contexts that we are black feminists. We have tried to think about the reasons for our difficulties, particularly since the white women’s movement continues to be strong and to grow in many directions. In this section we will discuss some of the general reasons for the organizing problems we face and also talk specifically about the stages in organizing our own collective.

The major source of difficulty in our political work is that we are not just trying to fight oppression on one front or even two, but instead to address a whole range of oppressions. We do not have racial, sexual, heterosexual or class privilege to rely upon, nor do we have even the minimal access to resources and power that groups who possess any one of these types of privilege have.

The psychological toll of being a black woman and the difficulties this presents in reaching political consciousness and doing political work can never be underestimated. There is a very low value placed upon black women’s psyches in this society, which is both racist and sexist. As an early group member once said, “We are all dam-aged people merely by virtue of being black women.” We are dispossessed psychologically and on every other level, and yet we feel the necessity to struggle to change our condition and the condition of all black women. In “A Black Feminist’s Search for Sisterhood,” Michele Wallace arrives at this conclusion:

We exist as women who are black who are feminists, each stranded for the moment, working independently because there is not yet an environment in this society remotely congenial to our struggle—because, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world.’

Wallace is not pessimistic but realistic in her assessment of black feminists’ position, particularly in her allusion to the nearly classic isolation most of us face. We might use our position at the bottom, however, to make a clear leap into revolutionary action. If black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.

Feminism is, nevertheless, very threatening to the majority of black people because it calls into question some of the most basic assumptions about our existence, i.e., that gender should be a determinant of power relationships. Here is the way male and female roles were defined in a black nationalist pamphlet from the early 1970s.

We understand that it is and has been traditional that the man is the head of the house. He is the leader of the house/nation because his knowledge of the world is broader, his awareness is greater, his understanding is fuller and his application of this information is wiser. . . . After all, it is only reasonable that the man be the head of the house because he is able to defend and protect the development of his home. . . . Women cannot do the same things as men—they are made by nature to function differently. Equality of men and women is something that cannot happen even in the abstract world. Men are not equal to other men, i.e., ability, experience, or even understanding. The value of men and women can be seen as in the value of gold and silver—they are not equal but both have great value. We must realize that men and women are a complement to each other because there is no house/family without a man and his wife. Both are essential to the development of any life.

The material conditions of most black women would hardly lead them to upset both economic and sexual arrangements that seem to represent some stability in their lives. Many black women have a good understanding of both sexism and racism, but because of the everyday constrictions of their lives cannot risk struggling against them both.

The reaction of black men to feminism has been notoriously negative. They are, of course, even more threatened than black women by the possibility that black feminists might organize around our own needs. They realize that they might not only lose valuable and hard-working allies in their struggles but that they might also be forced to change their habitually sexist ways of interacting with and oppressing black women. Accusations that black feminism divides the black struggle are powerful deterrents to the growth of an autonomous black women’s movement.

Still, hundreds of women have been active at different times during the three-year existence of our group. And every black women who came, came out of a strongly felt need for some level of possibility that did not previously exist in her life.

When we first started meeting early in 1974 after the NBFO first eastern regional conference, we did not have a strategy for organizing, or even a focus. We just wanted to see what we had. After a period of months of not meeting, we began to meet again late in the year and started doing an intense variety of consciousness-raising. The overwhelming feeling that we had is that after years and years we had finally found each other. Although we were not doing political work as a group, individuals continued their involvement in lesbian politics, sterilization abuse and abortion rights work. Third World Women’s International Women’s Day activities, and support activity for the trials of Dr. Kenneth Edelin, Joan Little, and Inez Garcia. During our first summer, when membership had dropped off considerably, those of us remaining devoted serious discussion to the possibility of opening a refuge for battered women in a black community. (There was no refuge in Boston at that time.) We also decided around that time to become an independent collective since we had serious disagreements with NBFOs bourgeois-feminist stance and their lack of a clear political focus.

We also were contacted at that time by socialist feminists, with whom we had worked on abortion rights activities, who wanted to encourage us to attend the National Socialist Feminist Conference in Yellow Springs. One of our members did attend and despite the narrowness of the ideology that was promoted at that particular conference, we became more aware of the need for us to understand our own economic situation and to make our own economic analysis.

In the fall, when some members returned, we experienced several months of comparative inactivity and internal disagreements which were first conceptualized as a lesbian-straight split but which were also the result of class and political differences. During the summer those of us who were still meeting had determined the need to do political work and to move beyond consciousness-raising and serving exclusively as an emotional support group. At the beginning of 1976, when some of the women who had not wanted to do political work and who also had voiced disagreements stopped attending of their own accord, we again looked for a focus. We decided at that time, with the addition of new members, to become a study group. We had always shared our reading with each other, and some of us had written papers on black feminism for group discussion a few months before this decision was made. We began functioning as a study group and also began discussing the possibility of starting a black feminist publication. We had a retreat in the late spring which provided a time for both political discussion and working out interpersonal issues. Currently we are planning to gather together a collection of black feminist writing. We feel that it is absolutely essential to demonstrate the reality of our politics to other black women and believe that we can do this through writing and distributing our work. The fact that individual black feminists are living in isolation all over the country, that our own numbers are small, and that we have some skills in writing, printing, and publishing makes us want to carry out these kinds of projects as a means of organizing black feminists as we continue to do political work in coalition with other groups.

4. BLACK FEMINIST ISSUES AND PRACTICE

During our time together we have identified and worked on many issues of particular relevance to black women. The inclusiveness of our politics makes us concerned with any situation that impinges upon the lives of women, Third World, and working people. We are of course particularly committed to working on those struggles in which race, sex, and class are simultaneous factors in oppression. We might, for example, become involved in workplace organizing at a factory that employs Third World women or picket a hospital that is cutting hack on already inadequate health care to a Third World community, or set up a rape crisis center in a black neighborhood. Organizing around welfare or daycare concerns might also be a focus. The work to he done and the countless issues that this work represents merely reflect the pervasiveness of our oppression.

Issues and projects that collective members have actually worked on are sterilization abuse, abortion rights, battered women, rape, and health care. We have also done many workshops and educationals on black feminism on college campuses, at women’s conferences, and most recently for high school women. One issue that is of major concern to us and that we have begun to publicly address is racism in the white women’s movement. As black feminists we are made constantly and painfully aware of how little effort white women have made to understand and combat their racism, which requires among other things that they have a more than superficial comprehension of race, color, and black history and culture. Eliminating racism in the white women’s movement is by definition work for white women to do, but we will continue to speak to and demand accountability on this issue.

In the practice of our politics we do not believe that the end always justifies the means. Many reactionary and destructive acts have been done in the name of achieving “correct” political goals. As feminists we do not want to mess over people in the name of politics. We believe in collective process and a nonhierarchical distribution of power within our own group and in our vision of a revolutionary society. We are committed to a continual examination of our politics as they develop through criticism and self-criticism as an essential aspect of our practice.

As black feminists and lesbians we know that we have a very definite revolutionary task to perform and we are ready for the lifetime of work and struggle before us.

——————————————————————————–

NOTES:

1. This statement is dated April 1977.

2. Michele Wallace, “A Black Feminist’s Search for Sisterhood,” The Village Voice. 28 July 1975, pp. 6-7.

3. Mumininas of Committee for Unified Newark, Mwanamke Mwananchi (The Nationalist Woman), Newark, N. J., c. 1971, pp. 4-5.”

What is modern feminism and other things

Rebecca Walker:

So today I got an email from a young high-school student in Australia, Patricia, doing a report on Third Wave and Women’s Magazines. Because she heard somewhere that I founded Third Wave (true), she sent some questions and I did my best to answer. How’d I do?

What is your personal definition of “modern feminism”?

Any act or thought that leads to a safer, healthier, more equitable and enjoyable experience for women and the people who love them.

Lately, my biggest concern with women’s magazines is the rabid obsession with consumerism they espouse.

We should also remember that women and girls choose to read women’s magazines. Why not research what they like about them, and then create a magazine that includes those aspects while transforming the others. SASSY magazine was very successful at this, partly because young women made it themselves.

I am troubled by the way of glossy mainstream women’s magazines suggest that by dressing, looking, and spending a certain way, the girl/woman will be assured respect, love, success, adoration, and attention; in short, a fabulous life. In real life fabulousness is more about balance, choice, access, safety, opportunity, intelligence. It’s way more complicated than the way it looks in a magazine spread, and it takes a lifetime of hard work-internal and external.

Via dailykos, Howard Dean’s emotional 2003 Sacramento What I Want to Know speech reflects the feelings of most progressives. I once posted the video in Feministing comments.

What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President’s unilateral intervention in Iraq?

What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting tax cuts, which have bankrupted this country and given us the largest deficit in the history of the United States?

What I want to know is why the Congress is fighting over the Patient’s Bill of Rights? The Patient’s Bill of Rights is a good bill, but not one more person gets health insurance and it’s not 5 cents cheaper.

What I want to know is why the Democrats in Congress aren’t standing up for us, joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth in providing health insurance for every man, woman and child in America.

What I want to know is why so many folks in Congress are voting for the President’s Education Bill– “The No School Board Left Standing Bill”– the largest unfunded mandate in the history of our educational system!

I am Howard Dean, and I’m here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

I want my country back! We want our country back! I am tired of being divided! I don’t want to listen to the fundamentalist preachers anymore! I want America to look like America, where we are all included, hand in hand. We have dream. We can only reach the dream if we are all together – black and white, gay and straight, man and woman. America! The Democratic Party!

kos:

My dream ticket? Obama/Edwards …

That’s Michelle Obama/Elizabeth Edwards.

Becky’s Fund

Former Survivor contestant Becky Lee’s website Becky’s Fund:

The mission of Becky’s Fund is fourfold:

1) Foster awareness: help people understand the elements of domestic violence through education, such as how prevalent it is, why battered women can’t always leave easily, and what can be done to fight against domestic violence,

2) Encourage advocacy: encourage people to care about ending domestic violence,

3) Promote activism: take an active role in helping battered women find safety through counseling, education and legal representation, and

4) Create support: provide financial assistance to organizations that support victims of domestic violence by awarding grants to small organizations.

Dear Friends,

Over the last 8 years I have been working with survivors of domestic violence, as an advocate, a lawyer, and as a friend. I imagine many expect me to have a personal experience with domestic violence that inspired my own involvement in combating it and its effects. I have none. However, during college I realized how close this issue is to all of us, how it affects not only my friends and family, but also how it affects the future of my own children.

As some of you may know, I was a competitor on the past season of the TV reality show Survivor. One of the reasons I decided to try out was to bring more publicity to the issue of domestic violence. I have been disappointed with the way our community hides behind our pride, hiding behind the right to privacy. We claim that when domestic violence occurs, it is none of our business.

But it is. Domestic violence does happen, and can happen to anyone, regardless of background, socioeconomic status, or age. We need to openly address this issue so that we can tackle it and find ways to help those who are struggling with domestic violence to find safety for themselves and their children.

With the award money I received from the show, I decided to start a fund to help provide support to domestic violence organizations working with marginalized and immigrant communities. While working with non-profits helping battered women over the last eight years, I’ve been witness to the serious underfunding of the smaller organizations that work on the front lines of their respective communities against domestic violence. These smaller groups are left out of the spotlight and never recognized for their work, and work with severely stretched budgets. This is why I formed the Becky Lee Women’s Support Fund.

I know there is only so much one person can do to bring hope to these battered women who are looking for a way out. But together, I believe we can help these battered women, one by one, find restoration and peace in their lives again. We can change many lives together.

I ask you to join us at Becky’s Fund in this fight to end domestic violence. There are so many ways to help out and support this cause. We need your help to raise funds, find eligible grantees, and to spread the word about the prevalence and seriousness of domestic violence.

Thank you for caring about this issue. I know together we can make a difference.

Thank you,

Becky Lee

Executive Director
Becky Lee Women’s Support Fund

Black feminism > postcolonial feminism

If you google women of color feminism, you get the Wikipedia for multiracial feminism which doesn’t say much except it’s about the intersections of gender, race and class. Then there are four choices at the bottom: black feminism, womanism, third-world feminism and transnational feminism.

Black feminism and womanism overlap. Womanism includes questions of Christianity. Third-world feminism and transnational feminism are basically postcolonial feminism.

Both black feminism and postcolonial feminism attend to the intersections of gender, race and class but the difference lies in their focus:

Black feminism:

Current Black Feminism

The current incarnation of Black Feminism is a political/social movement that grew out of a sense of feelings of discontent with both the Civil Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement of the 1970s. Not only did the Civil Rights Movement primarily focus only on the oppression of black men, but many black women faced severe sexism within Civil Rights groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The Feminist Movement focused on the problems faced by white women. For instance, earning the power to work outside of the home was not an accomplishment for black feminists; they had been working all along. Neither movement confronted the issues that concerned black women specifically. Because of their intersectional position, black women were being systematically disappeared by both movements. Black women began creating theory and developing a new movement which spoke to the combination of problems, sexism, racism, classism, etc., that they had been battling.

Postcolonial feminism:

Postcolonial feminism is a form of feminist philosophy which criticizes Western forms of feminism, notably radical feminism and liberal feminism and their universalization of female experience. Postcolonial feminists argue that cultures impacted by colonialism are often vastly different and should be treated as such. Colonial oppression may result in glorification of pre-colonial culture, which, in cultures with traditions of stratification of power along lines of gender, could mean the acceptance of, or refusal to deal with, inherent issues of gender inequality.

Postcolonial feminists do not present a united front on feminist issues, but can be described as feminists who have reacted against both universalizing tendencies in Western feminist thought and a lack of attention to gender issues in mainstream postcolonial thought.

Many postcolonial feminists argue that oppressions relating to the colonial experience, particularly racial, class, and ethnic oppressions, have marginalized women in postcolonial societies. They challenge the assumption that gender oppression is the primary force of patriarchy. Moreover, postcolonial feminists object to the perceived portrayal of women of non-Western societies as passive and voiceless victims, as opposed to the portrayal of Western women as modern, educated and empowered. While challenging gender oppression within their own culture, postcolonial feminists also fight charges of being “Western”, as some within their cultures would contend.

Black feminism attends equally to racism in feminism and sexism in communities of color.

Postcolonial feminism mainly focuses on the racism of mainstream feminism and, as the first paragraph describes, often leads to the “acceptance of, or refusal to deal with, inherent issues of gender inequality.” The second paragraph suggests postcolonial feminists may not present a united front and have reacted to both racism in feminism and lack of attention to gender issues in postcolonial thought.

These are the two main strains of women of color feminism.

I much prefer the first, which looks at both sexism and racism, to the second, which mostly ignores the sexism of communities of color.

Must Read: A Question of APIA Feminism: Domestic Abuse/Intimate Partner Violence

I don’t have much to argue with in Jenn’s post, A Question of APIA Feminism: Domestic Abuse/Intimate Partner Violence, because I read the same studies. I gathered from the studies awareness is the solution to the high incidence of APIA intimate partner violence which is due to 1) women not getting the help they need and 2) the lack of discussion about intimate partner violence in the community and 1) and 2) go hand in hand. This in addition to 3) domestic violence shelters’ insensitivity towards Asian cultures and languages and 4) immigrants’ ignorance about the U.S. legal system create a crisis.

The many highlights of Jenn’s post:

Existing studies of domestic abuse have historically neglected to collect racial or ethnic data on victims of domestic violence. In those studies that do collect racial or ethnic data, studies that have focused on Asian American women have varied widely in the reported frequency of domestic violence (summarized in this factsheet from the Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Abuse), suggesting that Asian American women might underreport domestic abuse or be less educated on recognizing the warning signs. Regardless, even these rough estimates are alarming: anywhere between 20-80% of APIA women report experiencing some form of domestic abuse or violence. At least one study (conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice) estimates that roughly 52% of Asian American women are victims of rape and/or physical assault (Exhibit 4), but notes that this only represents the incidence of reporting.

Within the Asian American community, studies suggest that reporting of domestic abuse varies along ethnic lines, as well as according to age and generational status. 61% of immigrant Japanese women, for example, reported some form of intimate partner violence, while a different study found 20% of Filipina women reported experiencing some form of domestic violence. A third study reported that 8% of Chinese women experienced “severe physical violence”, but that percentage doubled with “more acculturated” women (although this may represent a higher likelihood of reporting).

One of the most comprehensive studies conducted on domestic violence within the Asian American community was authored by the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project. Project AWARE (Asian Women Advocating Respect and Empowerment) surveyed nearly 200 Asian women in the D.C. area. That study noted that roughly two-thirds of surveyed women at least “occasionally” experienced some form of controlling behaviour or psychological abuse from their intimate partners in the year prior to the study; Project AWARE displays the forms of abuse that were surveyed in the full report.

Several studies (e.g. Understanding Violence Against Women by Cromwell and Burgess) have suggested that the problem of domestic abuse or intimate partner violence within the Asian American community may stem from unique cultural influences that affect a woman’s likelihood to recognize or report abuse by her partner.

Primarily, traditional Confucian principles of familial hierarchy have been traditionally used to define gender roles wherein husbands are superior to wives and sons superior to daughters; this hierarchy is reinforced by a social expectation of obedience and piety, and results in both men and women being socialized into accepting a superior/inferior relationship between intimate partners that can leave women susceptible to intimate partner violence. Indeed, an abusive relationship may be so normalized for a woman that APIA women by not recognize abuse as it occurs. Moreoever, our tacit acceptance of hierarchal intimate partner relationships may unintentionally reward patterns of domestic violence; in “Unheard Voices”, a study on APIA domestic violence, one survey participant said:

“I think its our cultures that allow it to happen. We do not hold somebody accountable for that kind of violence…you see that the batterer gets invited to parties, it’s the woman who gets isolated…”

Secondly, several Asian cultures have emphasized the importance of familial or social harmony, as well as to preserve social “face” over personal interests. Dasgupta and Warrier (1996) reported that within the South Asian community, the predominant motivation for wives were a belief in the rold of a “good wife”, described as including “sacrifice of personal freedom and autonomy… they felt responsible for the reputation of their families in India, were eager not to compromise their families’ honor with a divorce, and operated under the added pressure of preserving traditions and presenting an “unblemished” image of the community to the U.S. mainstream.”

The invisibility of Asian American women in the struggle to end intimate partner violence rests also in the Model Minority Myth, which has long discouraged mainstream America from imagining that the Asian American community might suffer from concerns such as mental disease or domestic violence. This reluctance to perceive the APIA community as flawed not only jeopardizes the idealistic image of the American immigrant, but may also be perpetuated within the community by APIA men and women who are unwilling to “air out our dirty laundry” in the eyes of mainstream America. As Dasgupta and Warrier reported in their 1996 study, men and women of Asian communities may feel a pressure to maintain “face” for their cultural traditions, heritages, or race in America, and as such may perceive a woman reporting intimate partner violence or domestic abuse as an affront upon that image.

All of the participants agreed that Asian American women have to deal with the constraints of their own cultures as well as those of an indifferent mainstream culture that denies that domestic violence occurs amongst Asian Americans. As a result, most battered Asian women gain very little assistance from systems that are supposed to help them find a measure of safety.

The question foremost on my mind is why the Asian American community at-large isn’t angry about domestic abuse/intimate partner violence within our community? APIA feminists must maintain the focus of the debate on the unheard victims of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence. The unique sexism that APIA feminists must combat is the reluctance, both within and outside the APIA community, to address or even understand the concerns of Asian American female victims of physical and psychological assault. The implicit message being sent by our apathy is that abuse against APIA women is acceptable, so long as it is unheard or willfully misunderstood.

Read the whole thing.

**Cross-posted at A Slant Truth.**

Link Love: Asian American Feminism

I’m deeply stunned and saddened at the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, one of my Asian feminist heroes, and am rendered speechless. Except to say it’s George Bush and his various puppet governments’ fault.

Filipina poet Barbara Jane Reyes muses on a theme I’ve written about lately. That APIA women are their own worst enemy.

Reappropriate: Helen Zia: Be The Change. Zia, a Baby Boomer, was affected by Asian/Confucian sexism (father), I’m a Gen Xer affected by Asian/Confucian sexism (mother), the commenter I’m assuming is a Gen Yer was affected by both Asian/Confucian and Western sexism (father) and Jenn is a Gen Yer affected by Asian/Confucian sexism (father) and so Zia was right when she said at last year’s NAPAWF conference APIAs should get rid of their Confucian thinking.

Asian American Action Fund: Why APAs Should Vote Clinton. AAA does not endorse any candidate but it’s interesting to see Clinton is the first choice in California and first choice among the elderly, poor/middle class (<$40,000), APIAs, Latinos and women in California.

Reappropriate: Podcast on Asian American feminism

Reappropriate: A Question of APIA Feminism: Introduction. Jenn is starting a series on Asian American feminism. Huzzah!

Happy New Year.

**Cross-posted at A Slant Truth.**

Happy Winter Solstice

**Cross-posted at Feministe.**

It was fun blogging here.

Early on, Pizzadiavola expressed interest in intersectionality and Asian Americans. If you’re a woman of color interested in intersectionality and communities of color, I just tagged 40 posts about this on my blog under intersectionality. Most feminists know about intersectionality in feminism, i.e., racism and classism in feminism, but few know about sexism in communities of color. My blog is probably one of the only places on the ‘net to find commentary on this right now. I’m proud of my women of color, violence against women, feminism and sexism tags too so I hope people will check out my blog.

Happy Winter Solstice and Holidays!

Be good.

Helen Zia on Confucianism

Zia’s inspiration led her to one of her main focuses: the importance of raising one’s voice. She explained how her differing roles in her family and in her society provided her with the will raise her voice which, in turn, allowed her change her world and to mold an independent identity. Zia contributed her inability to grow initially as an independent woman to the three obediences of Confucius. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Zia learned that the daughter obeys the father, the wife obeys the husband, and the widow obeys her sons. But knowing that that she could not live her life under such constraints, Zia found the passage to her independence through a college education. By telling the story of how she almost did not go to college, Zia revealed the importance of bring heard. She explained how the very first time she spoke up against her father was when he would not grant her permission to go to college. But after expressing her desire for education and experience, her father gave his consent. Zia reflected how “In that small act of disobedience, I learned that you sometimes have to turn off the voices that tell you what you can and can’t do.” Zia also realized that if she wanted to be heard and seen, she had to make herself heard and seen; therefore, she had to become active in her life and her identity.

Intersectionality and communities of color

Day 13 of 16 Days Against Gender Violence, 6th day for me, and my fifth post on intersectionality! Kai has an amazing post up, Sexism and Confucianism. I heard at last year’s NAPAWF conference, Helen Zia said APIAs have to get rid of their Confucian thinking which I’m sure was a reference to its reinforcement of gender and race hierarchies.

Donna D frequently rails against the lack of intersectional activism in the struggles against sexism and racism, and when you look at data this devastating, I can see why. Many of the most celebrated activists in the Asian American community are women, and when they tackle racism the community easily gets behind their work; but when it comes to sexism, both men and women — but especially men — all too often lose interest. As a result we have this invisible epidemic of domestic abuse doing tremendous damage to the community.

There’s an intersectional ally! Thanks, bro. No one educates about racial stereotypes of APIAs like Carmen of Racialicious and Jenn of Reappropriate but Jenn wrote about ten posts (out of hundreds) on intersectionality and the community went ballistic each time. Kai wrote an amazing exposition about Confucian thinking and violence. I will appreciate it for days to come because men usually don’t say this:

However, one thing I can talk about with some confidence is the sexism that is explicitly codified in many tenets of Confucianism. Now this is not an invitation for non-Asian folks to gape at the backwardness of Asian culture, so let’s just get that out of the way; I’m not interested in comparing which civilizations and cultures are more or less sexist, because as far as I can see sexism manifests differently in different contexts and the only people with a clear interest in flouting these comparisons are imperialists seeking to mask their destructive racist agendas. But this is a conversation we need to pursue within the Asian American community, and I don’t want to allow racists to derail it.

Confucianism is the bedrock of East Asian culture. There are many aspects of Confucianism that have served Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese culture remarkably well for 2,500 years (I call these four nations “the chopstick-wielders” because of their cultural and historical connectedness, right down to eating implements). The system of secular ethics; the emphasis on education, art, health, and inner and outer cultivation; the concepts of balance between the individual and society, and of harmony between humanity and nature; these are profound contributions to world civilization which deserve some credit in the longstanding and ongoing flourishing of East Asia. When you grow up in a Confucian household, you hear pithy proverbs your entire life; there’s a proverb for every conceivable human situation; and these proverbs form a rich body of wisdom. But as I see it, the flagrant sexism built into many Confucian tenets and practices, and the rigidity of many codified social hierarchies, must be expunged from East Asian culture, period.

Confucianism must re-constitute itself as a living tradition in the 21st century, in a manner perhaps similar to the Neo-Confucian movement of the Tang and Sung dynasties (7th to 12th centuries CE) and the New Confucian movement of 20th century socialism. During the Neo-Confucian movement, Taoism and Buddhism heavily influenced thinkers to re-focus their doctrines on a more spiritual, less ceremonial vision of the individual and the cosmos. Taoism, with its premises of balancing Yin and Yang, seems especially relevant here. If Yin and Yang are to exist in balance, then the patriarchal order which has embedded itself into Confucian thought must be corrected, from the notions surrounding the special role of the “eldest son”, to the system of “obediences”, to the acceptable reasons for divorce (this one is key in addressing domestic abuse), to the traditions of inheritance. As long as these institutions remain in place, I don’t think we’ll be able to properly fight the epidemic of domestic violence Donna D writes about up top, because this backdrop of generally accepted sexism helps make this issue invisible and generates an atmosphere of apathy around directly combating gender violence.

This topic probably deserves an entire book, and I can’t really delve into lots of details in this meager little blog post. But consider these few paragraphs a challenge to all members of Confucian cultures around the world to confront and eliminate sexism in our thinking, our practices, our communities. It’s holding us back. It’s masking widespread abuse of girls and women. It’s misaligned with the very concepts of harmony which Confucianism propounds. It’s wrong. Yes, this involves rewriting many cherished texts and reworking or discarding many cherished proverbs and customs. And yes, it involves heeding prescriptive and proactive remedies such as those listed in the last paragraph of Donna Darko’s post. Indeed, as this entire 16 Days initiative shows, there are countless forms of activism already being pursued by Asian American women and other women of color, efforts which Asian American men and all men of color need to get behind. The statistics above show that this is a serious crisis; the toxicity of sexism has poisoned our communities for too long; it can’t wait any longer.

There is no justice when a woman does time for a non-existent crime

12th day of activism against gender violence, 5th day for me:

BFP: There is no justice when a woman does time for a non-existent crime

I’m not mad at BFP atm lol because she and fab expressed interest in sexism in communities of color for the last two years. There is historical precedent for this. “Second wave” feminism was mostly about white and black women so Asian and Latina womens’ issues were often ignored.

BFP has this outrageous story up about Theresa Hernandez who was jailed for four years for having a stillborn while addicted to meth even though there’s no link between stillbirths and meth. She has not seen her children for four years. National Advocates For Pregnant Women have been on the case and attorneys from the Drug Policy Alliance got her a plea deal for second-degree murder. NAPW is looking for people to be present at her December 21 sentencing in Oklahoma. This is an intersection of poverty, drugs, sexism, racism and institutional violence.

You’re not muzzled

if you don’t talk about race 100% of the time. You can talk about race 100% of the time but others don’t have to in which case you still aren’t muzzled. It’s illogical. Feelings aren’t facts.

The truth is somewhere in between and leans towards BlackAmazon. I just don’t want to talk about it any more because no one supported me for two years.

People expect my support but never support me. People expect me to listen but never listen to me.

This is unfair.

There’s no conflict

between fighting racism and fighting sexism in communities of color. In fact, they reinforce each other. There are MOC who act like I’m crazy and WOC who are fearful and protective when I say this. People are too oppressed or busy and maybe logic isn’t always the right approach.

Just don’t act like I’m crazy.

I’ve created a new tag for today’s posts, intersectionality, what do you know.

Why I’ve been stabby lately

Like I said, I’ve been with the RWOC for two years and everyone knows I’ve tried numerous times to dialogue about sexism in communities of color. No one ever supported me in two years but they said if I squawk one more time about a kerfuffle they will support me. RIGHT!!!!! Like they ever supported me! I’ve been nothing but supportive! Including hundreds of links!

THE RWOC HAVE LINKED ME SEVEN TIMES.

I’M not supportive?

Then they turn it around to make me look like the bad guy.

Meanwhile, most people including white allies are confused because POC and WOC issues are complicated. But it’s really just another excuse to not dialogue about sexism in communities of color and yet another display of WOC internalized sexism.

So you expect feminism to be intersectional but you don’t give two shits if POC are intersectional/anti-sexist/feminist? Logic, please? You force me away from gender sites but don’t ever want to talk about gender or for me to talk about gender? Fairness, please?

Something I’ve noticed since I was a teenager is WOC have the jazziest excuses and logic in denying sexism in communities of color. By jazzy, I mean, improvisational, elaborate, creative, orchestral, impressive. I mentionned sexism in communities of color a few times a year ago and saw the most massively elaborate, improvisational, creative, orchestral excuses for a year or more because people are that afraid of change.

WOC have massive internalized sexism. Like Essential Presence said, WOC are their own worst enemy.

Just don’t ever say I’m not logical or fair.

Comments are closed. Or you’d see the jazziest excuses and logic in your life. If anyone responds to this, expect extreme jazziness ahead. Like two years’ worth.

Anti-racism must be intersectional

Feminism should put poor, disabled, WOC and sex workers first, that is, women who don’t call themselves feminists because they don’t have the time or energy to write and organize. Anti-racism should also put poor, disabled, WOC and sex workers first. Look what happens when anti-racism doesn’t.

WAOD:

Genarlow Wilson – YES- PUBLICLY!

Daniyah Jackson or the 11 year-old Black girl raped by up to 19 men and boys – NOPE!

Jena 6 – YES-PUBLICLY!

Latasha Norman, Nailah Franklin, Marcie Crane, Kireasha Pam Linkhome, Shirley Geanes, Latoya Natasha Thomas, Dymashal Lashon Cullins, Tyesha Patrice bell, Daphne Philisia Jones, Tamika Antoinette Huston, and all the other Black women that go missing while MSNBC focuses on what Paris Hilton is wearing when she goes to jail.– NOPE.

Michael Vick’s Pitt bulls – YES! – PUBLICLY!- IN WRITING!

Vicious torture and gang rape of a Black mother and child by 10 other children- NOPE!

That looks ugly doesn’t it. It ain’t pretty, but it is the truth.

Dogs and boys – TREASURED.

Black women and girls -NOT.

In the political world, the lives of six African American teenage boys are worth more than the lives of a thousand Black women and children.

Question

If the Jena Six go free, will POC be too sexist and homophobic to free the Jersey Four?

Don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question.

Fantastic

I’ve only written about women of color cases, theory, identity and history since October 31 (Document The Silence) except a couple political posts and a music post but this is absolutely fantastic:

Dallas South Blog: Mychal Bell plea agreement may herald conclusion of Jena 6 cases

He only has to serve eight more months in the juvenile detention center. I’m going to cry again.

To be honest, when Sylvia, elle et al wrote all those letters about Shaquanda Cotton and Jena Six, I didn’t know black bloggers had a long tradition of being one of most political groups on the internet with regards to petitions, letter-writing and organizing. This was also before BLOG POWER! TM by Counterpunch. I felt hopeless while all that letter-writing went on as if they were just more hopeless cases people could do nothing about. I watched them write and write and wasn’t sure where their will came from. Truth be told, Jena Six would not be free without Sylvia.

Violence against women by men continues to cause more casualties than wars do today

The Guardian:

Organised crime: the $2 trillion threat to the world’s securityMuch of the income, more than $520bn, that flows through the world’s black economy comes from counterfeiting and piracy. The drug trade is the second biggest earner, with an estimated $320bn in takings. Human trafficking is a small industry by comparison, worth under $44bn but arguably the most pernicious. According to the UN, up to 27 million people are now held in slavery, far more than at the peak of the African slave trade. The majority of the victims this time are Asian women.

The report says: “Violence against women by men continues to cause more casualties than wars do today.” One in five women around the world will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. The situation is so bad schools should teach girls martial arts for self-defence, it says.

“We have departments of defence around the world protecting people. What’s the department of defence for women?” Mr Glenn asked.

More slaves than at the peak of the African slave trade. If most slaves are Asian women, most slave owners are Asian men, but most people will blame the trafficked girls and women before holding the traffickers responsible.