Chicana Feminism

I enjoyed Anna Nietogomez’s article on Chicana feminism. It’s easy to forget that other minority communities are fighting concurrently to end their oppression just as we are. Despite our differing minority statuses the social issues and concerns being fought for remain the same. Double standards, education, child care, etc. are important women’s rights subjects.

Nietogomez stated that Chicana feminism is trying to rally enough women and get them to come out and be heard. You wouldn’t think it would be hard to get women to speak on matters that directly impact them until you consider the negative reactions commonly experienced in response. I wasn’t surprised to see that many of the misconceptions about feminism are also prevalent in their community as well. It seems like more often than not many people rely on a negative definition of feminism instead of considering what it really means. I just don’t see what’s so wrong with wanting to end mistreatment against your sex. I doubt Armageddon will occur if women aren’t forced into a subservient position. Nevertheless there are many tactics used to divide and diminish the potential threat of feminism to the status quo. Language is one such tactic used to intimidate women into socially accepted roles (i.e. la mujer Buena, and la mujer mala.)

Nietogomez also epitomized my problem with the Black liberation movement in her paragraph on male privilege. It really does come across as a Black male liberation movement instead of one for our people as a whole. The insult of it all is the fact that Black women are often overlooked by the very movement they are the backbone of. I’m not saying that fighting against racism isn’t important rather that the inclusion of our concerns as women is just as vital.