Does Feminism Have to Address Race?

Attack her all you want on her positions, on her record, on her tactics — but don’t stand for gender-based attacks on her. They’re not acceptable, no matter what you think of her and no matter who they’re coming from.

It’s bigger than this one candidate, and it’s bigger than the election.

And that, from me got a resounding hells yes. I think I’ve been clear on why I chose Obama over Clinton way back when and my views haven’t changed. But I have been sickened and disgusted about how Clinton has been portrayed in the media and how people use sexist attacks on her (and Chelsea!) to prove some non-existent point.

But as I was reading the piece, one little thorn stuck in my side.

And while there are hundreds if not thousands of other blogs as well as entire networks and mainstream media outlets rushing to the defense of Obama (thus rendering anything I have to say pretty well redundant), there are few outlets calling out misogynistic attacks on Clinton and/or on her supporters.

Umm, what?

I wrote in the comments:

Good piece.

With that being said, I have to agree with Oh and Felicia. For many of us women of color, we find ourselves equally frustrated – we have to fight the negative perceptions of Hillary as a woman that is not often acknowledged in racial circles and then come to feminist circles and hear Obama is getting a pass – which he is not, because we have seen way too much racist doublespeak being launched from the media and other campaign surrogates.

Again, puts us in an awkward position – I just finished battling a sexist comment about Chelsea Clinton and her participation in her mother’s campaign at lunch time. And while I would love to start handing out links to this piece to explain to some people why these comments like “Chelsea is so ugly” and “Hilary should be ironing a shirt” aren’t funny, I also wouldn’t want them to lose sight of the main piece because they have taken offense to some of the comments dismissing Barack’s treatment.

[Next Comment...]

And again, we could say the same thing from an anti-racist standpoint. Clinton has a legion of smart, influential feminists going to bat for her in the media and in the blogosphere who accuse Obama supporters of race baiting and making things up. Racism and sexism are both pervasive. If you hear more sexism than racism, I would suggest that is because of your lens of perception. I personally perceive more racism toward the Obamas (subtle and overt) than sexism toward Clinton (which is boldly overt), but that is because my lens views race more prominently than it views sexism.

[Third Comment...]

Oh, and let me clarify that lens comment. I am not arguing that what is perceived is wrong, I am arguing that we perceive things differently based on life experiences. I learned about race first, then sexism, so as a result I tend to pick up on racism faster and in more forms than I do with sexism. And even with that, I pick up on racism directed toward African-Americans faster than I do racism with other ethnic groups as that kind of racism is intimately familiar to me. If something is not intimately familiar to you, it can be difficult to discern when it is happening.

This example shows how people start to feel alienated in a space where they should be comfortable. I expected an excellent critique of sexism in the election and I got it – along with a small dig at who gets better treatment in the media. As far as I’m concerned, the only person getting a pass is McCain. But instead of focusing on that, we are more willing to fight each other, with little digs like this one that amount over time. Another great example is the Portfolio article about sexism in the workplace. The article presumes to speak for women and does a great job discussing facts and statistics. But why does it mention diversity as something companies have achieved and fail to mention the abysmal record of minority women being appointed to high ranking decision? Why is diversity a code word for minority men? And why do discussions of sexism always revolve around white women?

There seems to be a fundamental lack of understanding that other things inform the sexism that women experience. Some feminists can discuss women being viewed as weaker and less capable, never realizing that some of us are not ever allowed to hold that label. I’ve never been called “weaker” in my life. The stereotype that comes with black women is that we are supposed to be unbreakingly strong. Unceasingly capable. We are not supposed to be weak.

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