Gloria Steinem: ‘Black women invented the feminist movement’

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Gloria Steinem, a feminist icon, is speaking out against the classification of feminism as a “white middle-class” movement.

During an interview for Bust, Steinem made a stand for intersectionality, attributing her own feminist education to black women.

“Nothing in this country is not affected by racism and sexism and class, it’s not as if one can be exempt from those influences,” Steinem said.

“But in my experience, the women’s movement was less subject to them than any other large group that I’ve been part of. We all have different experiences and this probably wasn’t true from everyone, but I learned feminism disproportionately from black women.”

In an interview with Black Enterprise, published last year, Steinem stated for the record that she feels as though black women “invented the feminist movement.”

http://thegrio.com/2016/01/06/gloria-steinem-black-women-invented-the-feminist-movement/

[BlueCaliDem]

1. I agree. Black women are the strongest, most persevering women I know. They have to be.

They're always at risk of having a boot in their necks if they don't fight for their rights and the rights of their children to be accepted and regarded as equal citizens of the world.

Off-topic: Gloria Steinem was a gorgeous young woman (model-worthy) and she's still beautiful today. Also, she's endorsed Hillary Clinton!

[Skittles]

13. I agree with this assessment

[MADem]

2. I have to agree with her on that observation.

Black women were doing it all before anyone else.

[randys1]

3. Black Women make all kinds of folk uncomfortable.

And I love it.

[tishaLA]

4. well, this is a complicated matter, isn't it?

I have a great deal of admiration for Ms Steinem, but this strikes me as a happier narrative about 2nd wave feminism than that offered by many women of color who worked to be part of the movement and felt marginalized within it. In fact, that marginalization has provided the source of a good deal of internal critique from feminists ranging from Audre Lorde to Cheri Moraga to Gloria Anzaldua to bell hooks to Gayatri Spivak to Adrienne Rich.

And a lot of this critique came from questions of intersectionality--race, sexual orientation, and class--that those women felt the feminist movement (as constructed by people like Betty Friedan, Steinem, etc.) failed to adequately address. I'm not suggesting Ms Steinem didn't "learn feminism disproportionately from black women," but I would suggest the feminist movement as a whole had deficits in addressing the issues black women brought to the movement.

[Number23]

7. I think that you and Liberal_Stalwart are saying the same thing but kind of in different ways?

I'm not sure that I understand what you're saying and then I read LS's post and I thought that you guys were making similar points but maybe you aren't?

[tishaLA]

8. Yeah, I'd say we mostly agree

The topic is really complicated, I think, and I don't want to look like I'm denigrating either Steinem specifically or feminism generally, but I do think this narrative Steinem is peddling attempts to sweep a lot of well-deserved acrimony under the carpet.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

5. Yes. This was always true. Sadly, there are a lot of black people (especially black men) who

wrongly believe that black feminists were against them and colluded with white feminists against black men. Nothing could be further from the truth. White women actually co-opted what black women created. When black women realized what white feminists were doing, they REMOVED themselves from the movement--many of them labeling themselves as "womanists" and disavowing a lot of the more radical elements of the "white feminist" movement.

This is the truth, and I even applaud Steinem for telling that truth even though she was part of the problem.

There's a reason why black women didn't and still do not trust many white feminists; the history is there and is valid.

[Number23]

6. Damn right!

[ayak9]

9. Abolitionists and the early women's movement

The early history of the move for women's rights is tied to the Victorian era abolitionist movement in the UK.


http://jpwhitehistoryblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/am-i-not-woman-and-sister.html

“Am I not a Woman and a Sister?”

"...a significant relation between abolition and the fight for equal rights of women. Women took center stage in the abolition movement, and it was during that time that they discovered their own shortage of rights, and began to form an expressive desire for equality. While fighting for the freedom of others, their own inequalities, in striking contrast with those of men, became evidently clear, and the comparisons began. For how could women properly argue for the freedom of others when they were so limited in rights of their own?"

[stonecutter357]

10. K&R!

[pnwmom]

11. Yes, they did. Women like Shirley Chisholm. n/t

[marble falls]

12. If you want a leader, hire any white guy like me. if you want someone to get it done, get...

a black woman. I want our first black woman President as soon as possible. There's several Congresswomen I think could fit the bill admirably. All Democrats, interestingly enough .....