I Am a Feminist. - Comments

  • divine;

    divine; (150)

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    @ amybh33
    While you as a woman are oppressed for being a woman, your race makes gives you a privilege I lack. White feminism is not needed for a white woman does not get denied her race and is valued more in American society while black women are constantly stereotyped, experience more violence (even more if you're trans*), and misogynoir . You say you understand the racial inequalities in this society, but you continue to use your privilege to try and deny a form of feminism that I need.

    Also, if women were to call themselves white feminist, what are their goals?

    I know that as a black feminist my goal is to say that racism and sexism among other things are interconnected. What would theirs be that would differ from regular feminism?
    June 9th, 2014 at 11:11am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    And should I feel the same? Should I label myself as a white feminist? How would you feel about that? I'm not asking you to deny your blackness, that is part of who you are just as my whiteness is a part if who I am. Our colors do not define us but our actions do.
    June 9th, 2014 at 04:35am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    And should I feel the same? Should I label myself as a white feminist? How would you feel about that? I'm not asking you to deny your blackness, that is part of who you are just as my whiteness is a part if who I am. Our colors do not define us but our actions do.
    June 9th, 2014 at 04:35am
  • divine;

    divine; (150)

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    @ amybh33
    I find nothing wrong with labeling myself a black feminist. I am not going to stop labeling myself that for as we learn to view each other as equals, we tend to think we must make our own race secondary. I will never deny my blackness/ woman of colorhood for it is my identity. Being a black feminist just means I believe my feminism and blackness go together hand in hand and can not be ignored. That will never change, personally.

    And people already call themselves white feminist, so yes. You can.

    And the points next to our usernames are based on things we post within the mibba community that you see on the front page (articles, mibba magazine, tutorials, etc) I believe they also go towards how many books you post in the book section of the website. Everyone starts with 100 and more gets added based on how much of those things I've listed you do.
    June 9th, 2014 at 01:18am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    Sorry. Posted twice and what's with the (100) after my name and (150) after yours? Computer literate I am not. Most of the time I am just feeling my way, as I am in the rest of my life.
    June 9th, 2014 at 12:44am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    @ Charity M. Lewis
    And here is where we differ. Yes you can label yourself as liberal/radical/socialist but should you be labeling yourself as black? We live in a time where we are hoping that we can learn to see each other as equals, we are all human, whether we are male/female or white/non-white. That is hard to do when someone of a different ethnicity chooses to point that out. You say that you are black feminist because that is a category that someone started that you feel you fit into should I start a white one? That would be the category that I would fit into.
    June 9th, 2014 at 12:38am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    @ Charity M. Lewis
    And here is where we differ. Yes you can label yourself as liberal/radical/socialist but should you be labeling yourself as black? We live in a time where we are hoping that we can learn to see each other as equals, we are all human, whether we are male/female or white/non-white. That is hard to do when someone of a different ethnicity chooses to point that out. You say that you are black feminist because that is a category that someone started that you feel you fit into should I start a white one? That would be the category that I would fit into.
    June 9th, 2014 at 12:03am
  • divine;

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    @ amybh33
    Yes, that is true. And as I feminist I do believe in that. I just said I'm a black feminist for that is the specific category I fit into. Saying that I am a black feminist is exactly like saying I'm a liberal/radical/socialist feminist for they are all actual categories within the movement.
    June 7th, 2014 at 06:48am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    Cute comic, I actually giggled at the end. I didn't mean to indicate that I think there is no imbalance when it comes to rights and privileges between different races only that a feminist can be any race, even either sex, and should fight for all women. Being a WOC obviously there will be other concerns but that is true for any non-white.
    June 7th, 2014 at 06:30am
  • divine;

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    @ amybh33
    WOC - Women of Color
    POC- Person of Color

    White privilege is the privilege that lets you benefit from the systematic racism that has been placed by American society for centuries. There are layers to this, but this comic (sorry it's a buzzfeed link, the original artist got death threats for drawing this) is the very basics.

    And you saying color does not define them is an example of white privilege. You are able to see beyond the possible oppressions I may face because you don't have to face the same ones. Being a WOC may not define me, but it is part of who I am and my identity. Just like being a woman is part of who I am and my identity because if you were to take my blackness and femininity away, I would not be the same exact person.

    Feminism is more than just "I'm a feminist". There are realms and layers.

    So many women can go:

    "I'm a RADICAL feminist"
    "I'm a SOCIALIST feminist"
    "I'm a LIBERAL feminism"

    I just happened to put the emphasis on black (which, as I said before, a layer within the feminism realm itself) for that means I don't just deal with sexism; I deal with racism as well. As that kind of feminist I just believe my race and my gender go hand in hand with certain injustices in the world.

    So being a black feminist = feminist for black feminism is a section of the feminist movement, to put it short.

    And abortion is a hard thing to talk about because you can't exactly talk about it on general level because many women get abortions for many reasons with different variables, and honestly, not my main focus in feminism. So I can full heartily say that I am an inadequate person to have this conversation with. Yet, I don't believe the kind of women you have listed are the majority of the women who get one. Are they a percentage? Possibly, but in no way the majority.
    June 4th, 2014 at 01:04pm
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    I'm for it, let's do it!

    WOC, POC...not terms that I understood immediately. I see women as women...color does not define them. You say that I may own white privilege, what privilege was that? What have I gotten that you have not?

    You choose to deem yourself a BLACK feminist but that is not what the title here suggests. It suggests feminism and feminism only, not parameters surrounding it.

    Abortion does not exist to aid in equality. It exists to erase a so called "mistake". If it was about equality why is that a women can abort even though the father of the child may not want her to. If is was about equality why is that a women can choose to keep it and then expect the father to support it when he would have rather have her abort it. You said it yourself "women have the right to choose". That's not equality that's just twisted reasoning.
    June 4th, 2014 at 11:34am
  • kahlo

    kahlo (100)

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    BLESS YOU AND THIS WHOLE BLOG UGH ILY COME HERE
    June 1st, 2014 at 11:30pm
  • kahlo

    kahlo (100)

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    BLESS YOU AND THIS WHOLE BLOG UGH ILY COME HERE
    June 1st, 2014 at 11:30pm
  • divine;

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    @ danny rosenfeld
    And that's perfectly fine.

    @ What...
    Yep. Exactly. Women should not compete against each other (unless it's something beneficial, obviously). We should all lift and support one another no matter what walk of life we choose.

    @ Javin Pilotte
    Love you too, bb. <3
    June 1st, 2014 at 04:12pm
  • divine;

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    @ amybh33
    Okay. Let's do this.

    We cannot just ignore race. If you ignore the fact that I am a WOC (or just a POC in general), you ignore the fact you own white privilege (assuming that you are white) in a systematic society that oppresses me. Therefore, we cannot be "colorblind" because that's just not how racism is going to end. I have to make my POC show through and be evident as non-POC see and address their privilege.

    Which is why I choose to deem myself as a black feminist.

    Being a mother is perfectly fine. Many feminist can/are mothers and wives. I am about equality and that's why abortion exists. Women have the right to choose when it maintains to their body, with variations. I'm sure not all women when they get pregnant just go "Oh! Let me just run and get an abortion!" No, having an abortion is a mentally and physically exhausting experience one must think about with themselves and their partner (if their partner is still there...variations).

    Got it?
    June 1st, 2014 at 04:09pm
  • Javin Pilotte

    Javin Pilotte (100)

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    I love you.
    June 1st, 2014 at 02:07pm
  • What...

    What... (1400)

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    I definitely like to think that feminism is really about women supporting each other Cute with how much society likes us to compete growing up, like who can dress the cutest or over boys and such. I'm definitely feeling that in high school, so I don't really think it's so radical just more about turning away from the idea that other girls are automatically supposed to be a threat to me.
    June 1st, 2014 at 10:40am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    And what about the "I am not only a feminist but a BLACK one"? We live in a time where we are trying to teach others to ignore race and treat all equally, but how can that be done if others insist on pointing that difference out?
    June 1st, 2014 at 09:27am
  • amybh33

    amybh33 (100)

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    I have not been oppressed but I made a choice. I chose to have children and make them my focus. To all you feminist fanatics out there where does this fit into your scheme of things? Feminists spout that they are all about equality but I am not so sure about that. If they were abortion would not exist. What happens when a women becomes pregnant? She gets to do what she chooses. It took two create that child but it only takes one one to decide how that situation will unfold. That's not equality, that's a fight for power.
    June 1st, 2014 at 08:30am
  • archivist

    archivist (660)

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    Some of the statements kind of shocked me, I don't specifically remember which ones. I believe in equality, but I don't believe in both genders being made to do the same work. That's not equality, because it's harder for one or the other.
    June 1st, 2014 at 08:13am