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Inclusive and Intersectional Feminism

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by Julia Purcell, ‘15

(Note: This is the third installment of our first Roundtable Discussion. The topic is Gender Justice. Check out Olivia Smarr‘s post, Owen Oneal‘s post, and Ali Stack‘s post! Thanks to all for participating.)

Reading comments on Haley Fitzpatrick’s editorial about the need for feminism reminds me over and over again about the lack of progress in awareness about gender issues on this campus.  The comments are riddled with classic anti-feminist and anti-woman rhetoric including “looks like Haley got F’ed on this one” written by a user named “Beautiful Woman” and a response to that comment of “Hey!…It’s not rape if Haley wanted it.” This attitude creates a visceral reaction in me – disgust, disappointment, and downright indignation.

Where are we today if we still find such attitudes acceptable in our peers?  It is comments like this that convince me that the work of feminism is not over by any means.  These comments stoke old fights and build up old dichotomies.

The truth is that what many have termed third wave feminism has sought to be extremely inclusive, focusing on intersectionality, the LGBTQ community, and masculinity today.  One of the more substantive criticisms that arose in those comments was in the lack of understanding around men’s issues.  I’d agree that studies in masculinity and examining the experiences of men are critical to pursuing an inclusive gender equality.  But the truth is that examining masculinity and the experience of men is something that has been focused on in feminist academia in addition to more mainstream efforts to discuss gender (see Ms. Magazine’s article about violence and masculinity in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, examinations of stay at home fathers’ lives in the New York Times, and Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s newest documentary “The Mask You Live In” that focuses on masculinity in America today).

The way forward that I envision – embracing the intersectional, inclusive third wave of feminism – will only create more understanding and more collaboration between different contingents from within and without the feminist movement.  However, underlying all of this inclusive approach needs to be a critical understanding of the conditions that actually exist today.  Regardless of which statistics you find most compelling, I think that most will agree that women are at a disproportionately high risk for sexual assault and rape, that they are not paid the same amount on the dollar that men are, and that they simply do not hold parity with men in Congress or in boardrooms across America.  These are not opinions. They are facts.

Does this mean that I don’t consider the plight of men to negotiate masculinity on college campuses and in America to be serious and worth interrogating? Absolutely not.  In fact, just the opposite. But you can’t ignore the fact that the issues that second wave feminists brought to light in the sixties and seventies persist – you can’t ignore the fact that there exist inequalities in America that are structural and harmful and urgently need addressing.   Playing the game of “who’s been treated more poorly” hasn’t been productive in the past and it won’t be productive in the future either.  Thus, I advocate a perspective that will acknowledge all of these issues but won’t be ignorant to the facts just because they are inconvenient or passé.  It won’t ignore them because it’s comfortable or even because it might feel subversive.  Instead, it will be a mature coalition effort to increase understanding and pursue justice for all instead of the few.

 

Julia Purcell is a junior studying economics and history.  She is interested in issues of social justice, gender, and politics.


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