The Absence of Intersectionality in Feminism

After the controversial video Initiation was embedded on Purple Magazine’s website and went viral in February, there’s talk of  a new wave of feminism on the rise. Although this new wave is coming from a younger generation, there is still something missing that was also absent centuries ago when feminism was created: intersectionality.

Although I am a fan of the work and its feminist messages, as a young woman of color, I don’t see enough minorities represented in today’s version of mainstream feminism. Intersectionality is important because it addresses different systems of oppression that overlap one another like gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ability and so on. For example, I am a black woman and that can only be fully understood by recognizing both my gender and my race because they reinforce one another. Today, people usually don’t identify themselves as one thing, which makes intersectionality an important and very relevant component to this new wave of feminism.

The first wave of feminism began in the nineteenth-century by white middle-class educated women and was meant to serve women like them. As time elapsed, segregation and racism within the feminist movement dissolved and the fight evolved into protecting women of all ages and races.

Hamida Shahab, a sophomore at Lang whose biological mother is American and father is Afghani, acknowledges the issues that feminism has with race. As a minority, Shahab recognized “the white savior complex” and explained, “it’s where all of these white women feel entitled to save poor underdeveloped and under established Muslim women, or black Muslim women, or any non-white woman and they feel the need to impose their values.”

When minorities aren’t being represented, they’re being “saved” by the heroic white Western feminists. Even though Shahab sees herself as a part of the feminist movement, she said, “that this fundamentalist idea is definitely a huge problem today.”

Like most social movements, feminism possesses flaws, but the fact that so many racial issues still exist after centuries of progression and transformations is disheartening. The different shapes that the feminist movement took on made it more complicated and convoluted as the years went on and modern feminism is more multi-faceted than ever. Claire Salmon, a sophomore at Parsons, thinks that this new feminism resembles the movement in the 1970s.

“Nowadays, it’s more about women having a voice and sexual liberation is a big part of it,” Salmon said.

But Karley Sciortino, writer for Slutever and columnist for Vogue, thinks differently. “I think that modern feminism to me is about civil rights,” she said.

Sciortino’s blog, Slutever, is often labeled as feminist because she openly discusses her personal sexual experiences, so she’s familiar with having the label feminist attached to many of her projects.

“I consider my blog a product of what feminism has achieved rather than active feminism,” she said.

By shying away from this label, it allows for her to have more freedom because she realizes just how complicated, multi-faceted the movement is.

“All women don’t have the same struggle. White women and women of color don’t have the same struggle,” she explained.

That might be a complex issue for one woman and one blog to take on, but not for websites that dedicate their content to tackling the issue of minorities being absent, the “white savior complex” and much more. Sciortino touched on the issue and explained that, “The cast of Girls was launched on the cover of the New York Times as the new shades of feminism and everyone was like that’s been the shade of feminism forever.”

With all of the changes that the movement has made, it’s surprising that it doesn’t actually look any different. The media is still showcasing white women as the face and color of feminism, and that makes me feel ignored. I become an outcast and excluded to a group that is supposed to be equalizing for all.

Whether today’s feminism embodies messages of sexual liberation, positive body image, or civil rights, the issue still remains that minorities are absent within the movement.

I want to relate to the message of empowerment that lies within the meanings of feminist works of art, but I find it hard to do so. Without intersectionality incorporated, I can only superficially appreciate it. Instead of simply pointing out all of the flaws that the movement still has with blatantly representing minorities, it’s more important that this article brings awareness and starts a dialogue.

We should want magazines to show women of all colors, sexual orientations, classes and abilities on their covers, instead of one representation. The four women from the cast of Girls were deemed “The New Shades of Feminism” by The New York Times and they do not represent all of the women that support feminism. Maybe it takes more people voicing their opinions and telling them thats not what feminism should look like today to change. Whatever the solution is, the most important thing to do is to initiate a discourse and, whether you agree with me or not, it’s more important that you say something than nothing at all.