Black Feminist Emergence in the 60s and 70s Flashcards
What is a ‘vanguard center’ ideology?
the idea that the liberation of black women; oppressed by race, gender, and class domination, would be the liberation of all
Black feminists in secondwave developed a:
“vanguard center” ideological approach to feminist activism:
Did more than reject black liberations sexism and white feminists racism:
was critical of middle-class assumptions and values built into both movements
Black feminism’s class critiques help explain:
differences between black and white feminists on reproductive rights and family
- Abortion on demand; key demand of white feminism, was seen by black feminists as an imperfect policy because it was not linked to other reproductive concerns tied to class power such as:
involuntary sterilization, life circumstances that compel poor women to abort, and possibility that women on welfare would be forced to abort by the state
Black feminists had different perceptions about meaning of feminist struggles surrounding the family:
White women’s liberation movement was seen as trying to reshape a family structure that black women were trying to stabilize
Why were white feminist antifamily attitudes seen a threat to black women?
black women found that family was least oppressive institution in their lives and constituted a refuge from white domination
bell hooks attributed white feminists’ antifamily attitudes to their ability to rely on outside institutions to be cognizant of their needs
Black women, poorer as a group, could not rely on such support
Motherhood had different meanings for black and white feminists:
black feminists did not reject motherhood, but argued for choice and control over motherhood
Black feminists were equally critical of propagation of middle class values and sexism of black liberationist groups
- saw black liberation’s sexism as rooted in unexamined adoption of middle-class white values
- argued against the movement’s sexism and masculinism’
Many black liberationists advocated that the black family remake itself along patriarchal lines
Black feminists countered that idea of remaking black family along patriarchal lines was classist, foreign to black experience, and indicative of lack of revolutionary thinking when it came to the role of black women in the community
Black feminists challenged black liberationists’ assertion that birth control was “genocide”
arguing that charges of genocide took away poor black women’s right to control their lives
Black feminists consistently blamed sexism on capitalism and linked struggles against sexism to struggles for economic justice
construction of masculinity and femininity was necessitated by need to sell products
