4/24

In How We Get Free, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes about the interviews she had with multiple women. The interview that I was assigned to read was Demita Frazier's interview. One of the things that Demita mentioned in her interview that I could not seem to get over was on page 119, when she talked about how when she would go to the Black Panther breakfast programs, the men would always "mack her." "Mack," essentially meaning "hit on her," is apparently all the men would do. So instead of taking this woman, who obviously has a reason and purpose for being there, seriously for the committed activist that she was/is, they could only seem to sexualize her. I, obviously, do not doubt this happened, but it is just so hard to accept the fact that men would, and some still do, act like that. Even more disturbing and I am sure irritating, to say the least, is that women had to constantly deal with this type of behavior. This behavior by men, I think, showed exactly why there needed to be a movement for feminism. Without a movement, women would just be looked at as sexual entities.

Comments

  1. Alexis TomassiniApril 25, 2019 at 6:46 PM

    I agree with Nick that women need a feminist movement to empower themselves outside of being “sexual entities”. Especially for black women, they already have a controlled image of being promiscuous. I think that all women struggle with gaining respect from not only men, but other women as well. We discussed in class how African-American females who are feminist are looked down upon for being black feminist. Therefore, there needs to be unity within the female population first. Like Malcolm X was saying, there needs to be unity within the black community to begin the movement. The behavior by men is not surprising whatsoever. As we discussed in class, we live in a heteropatriarchy where straight men control the power and with that power, they make decisions that impact the rest of the population. Men’s behaviors reflect the power that they hold. I think for African-American females, there must be a black feminist movement because they are the most oppressed and given the least amount of privilege. In this case, being black, queer, and a woman really oppresses these women dramatically. The interviews that Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor gives are all separate, individual interviews. This is important because each interview is the person’s personal experience. Each individual experience is very similar, which ultimately shows a more collective, group issue. All of these women’s experiences show that there is a problem within the white power structure that is oppresses a whole group of people. Each experience is individual, but with comparing the individual experiences, one can notice a trend, for example an economic trend. In order for this black, feminist movement to be successful, there must be inclusion in many different areas. Inclusion of different races, genders, sexual orientations, class status, and many more.

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