Many views have been explored on
the topics of women and the normalization of gender, sexuality,
desensitization of violence and marginalization of minority women. In
Lila Abu-Lughod's argument surrounding Muslim women, she challenges
the ethics and morals by which American people view what they
considered to be other or not equal to. The superiority of knowledge,
power and civilization is often mishandled when the U.S. approaches
transnational issues.
Even is the U.S., women whom are
deemed minority often find themselves subjected to 'whiteness' and
have limited access to healthcare, education and are often written
off as second class citizens. Loretta Ross explores this in depth in
her piece, The Color of Choice. She addressed the marginalization of
the minority woman and the positioning of disadvantage applied to
these women and African-American women more specifically.
African-American women have less access to appropriate healthcare,
family planning options including abortion and in the past have
endured sterilization abuse and population control at the hands of
white supremacy. She argues that the reproductive rights and the lack
of these rights simply violates basic human rights.
Since
the early seventies minority feminists have attempted to band
together in the hopes of reversing the system that oppresses them on
a daily basis. In the Combahee
River Collective Statement Black
Feminists addressed the issues of psychological stress of simply
being a Black woman, structural oppression which results in unequal
access of education and career opportunities and exclusion from white
feminists movements. Intersectionality is dissected as well
highlighting the balancing act of being a woman of color in a certain
class, of a certain sexual orientation, of a particular faith and the
multiple layers of discrimination faced by these women. Gloria
Anzaldua's writing on Borderlands,
The New Mestiza continues
this conversation of intersectionality and the different aspects of
subjectivity, self oppression and the hybrid identity that is formed
blending the fragmented versions of the multiple identities. This is
then used to navigate different spaces in order to remain complicit
in the company of the majority or societal standard.
Women in general face unrealistic
and unaccommodating standards placed on them by men who define
femininity, sexual desire and even sexual pleasure for women.
Virginia Braun wrote about female genital cosmetic surgery and how
most of the marketed procedures are generally for increased pleasure
of the man or increased aesthetic for his acceptance. These medical
procedures again place the woman in the position of an object and her
sole responsibility reduced to the pleasuring of a man. It also
attempts to create a norm for the way female genitalia looks and
silently reinforces the idea of the more virgin or prepubescent like,
the better. Jane Kilbourne's work draws connections from the media
images of women to the violence of women, rape, eating disorders and
the constant objectification of women that has been normalized.
As the third wave of feminism
continues, the struggle for equality of women continues as well.
These authors and activists show it is important to gain the
necessary knowledge of the past struggles and triumphs of the
feminists movements overall. They challenge us to not become
complicit and accept the so-called norms that exist today. The
general themes found are that women must continue the push for
change, bridge the gap, being careful to acknowledge the differences
among themselves in order to reverse the systematic marginalization
and oppression that they face everyday.