Monday, April 19, 2010
How can one speak for all?
I found Mohanty's article very interesting in that she speaks about the oppression that Third world Feminist face. These women are being oppressed by First world feminist because they are trying to speak for all women. How can first world, upper middle class western women speak about the inequalities that third world women face. They have not experienced what they have experienced, they do not come from where they come from. Mohanty brings up some good points by explaining these challenges that first world feminist have when speaking about the third world women. My own implications from living in the US has made it clear as to how it occurs. For example, it's like me a black man trying to create liberalizing ways for people of a different culture to construct themselves and live. How could I possibly even compare my lived experience with in my system, with another lived experience in another system and culture. To me I understand that this cannot work because I don't value anything but what I believe to be relevant to me. However the point is, is that these women don't even have a chance because western ideolgy has already been deemed more important than all others, thus homogenizing all women giving them one face and one voice. Given that each individual women and experience is different how can that be possible. As Bunch argues, a sense of urgency needs to begin to unfold for women. Women are no longer safe period. Our country is quickly losing a feminist perspective as Bunch is arguing. The only way to sustain all women's rights and feminist approaches can best be articulated by helping everyone challenge the traditional mindsets of patriarchy of First world Freminst women and men.
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i agree with charles that the Mohanty article articulated a lot of good points about the absense of third world feminists. i think that it is very representative of our society however to only focus on and take seriously the problems that affect the upper and middle class majority. often times the very real problems that are faces on an every day bases by many women are ignored and the blame is wrongly places. Most feminist have been fighting for rights that do not appeal to the working class woman who often struggles not only as a supressed woman but racially suppressed as well, which is an experience that majority of the leading feminists would know nothing about. on another note i think that it was interesting that Bunch would say that we are losing a feminist perspective becasue i think that can be a positive thing. the manifesta lecture really made me think about the ways in which the third wave of feminism will progress and change the way we think about feminism. my personal opinion is that women have fought to gain equality and for themselves but we arent going to get any further until we fight for the men because they are stuck within the same gendered society that forces them into roles and lifestyles that may not necessarily suit them either. we are never going to get rid of rape and sexual abuse until we fight for the mens right to choose as well and dont force them to be so sexual by putting so much pressure on manhood and then allowing society to define a man by how many women he can get. what do we expect? as a woman think about the natural response to a man(especially in college) that turns down a woman?...i have heard a lot of women say that he is probably gay. on another note we cant expect men to step down withn their power because it is this power that we use to define their status in our lives as well as how important they are in society...if we want equality we need to fight for the rights of men as well.
ReplyDeleteI think Charles raises a very interesting point about being passionate about your own personal experiences and valuing what is relevant to your life. It seems as if Western feminism is stuck in a paradox: it was criticized for a narrow perspective which only focused on upper class, white issues, while is currently criticized for attempting to help women in the third world as imposing cultural beliefs. White, wealthy feminists focus on issues that they personally face, which was in the 2nd wave wanting the right to work outside the home. Yes, this overlooked the oppression that many other women faced, but it was their personal fight. Should they have spoken for the minority women? No. They should have made the voices of the lower socio-economic statuses heard. Just like white western feminists don’t understand the experiences of inequality that women in the third world face, they didn’t understand what lower-class individuals in their own country were facing. Should western feminists speak for the third world women? No. They should make their voices heard. Because both of these groups lacked/lack a voice, doesn’t mean that others need to speak FOR them. Instead, those who have social capital in society need to help others by providing them the resources to advocate for the change that they want.
ReplyDeleteThis article definitely raises a problem for 3rd wave western feminists. This problem seems to have been lingering for centuries though. Imperialism, the white man's burden, colonization; this issue of coercing our beliefs on others has been around for ages. Everything we have learned has been within the realm of western society and there is really no way to impose these ideas on women who have grown up in a totally different world. Like Stephanie points out, the best that western feminists can do right now is help make sure third world women's voices are heard.
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