westerneyez...westernized...westernlies

Chandra Mohanty’s master narrative about the hegemonic Western feminisms their effects of “third world feminisms” contained thorough discursiveness. At times I felt like I understood what she was discussing but then I would feel lost again. What I understood from the articles was that in order to prevent the marginalization and ghettoization (still have no clue what she meant by that) of “third world” feminisms from mainstream Western feminist discourses, deconstruction and dismantling followed by building and construction must take place. It is apparent that her concern for “third world” feminism is overshadowed and misrepresented by the ideologies of Western feminism. Stereotypes of “third world” women tend to construct false beliefs and ideals in the minds of those who aren’t “third world” people which can cause issues, especially in regards to feminism discourse and intellectual and political construction. She mentioned how problematic it is when writers use certain textual strategies when describing or discussing a concept outside of their own (i.e. Westerners referring to non-Westerners as Others and etc). She also mentioned that other writers in different realms of writing, when discussing those who are not like them (whether it be class or race) tend to neglect sensitivity or empathy to those “Others” they may be referring to. I found her article to be interesting and from my perspective I gathered that she wants a sense of “unity” among other feminists and to not shun or neglect “third world feminists”. However, after reading a discussion on the topic of “unity” last night, I’ve come to realize that even when discussing “unity” there will always be “division”. It’s also interesting to me, that before enrolling into this class I thought I had a pretty good grasp about what feminism was all about. I did not realize, like everything else, feminism isn’t the same to everyone everywhere. Although mainstream feminism is dominated by Western feminism, that does not make it okay for Western feminism to dictate and represent ALL feminism and what it means to everyone including those of the “third world feminism”.
Ok this is random and kind of off topic but isn’t the term “third world” problematic in itself?