If you're wondering what this is and where you are, do not worry! I am here to explain...
My name is Ellie, and I am currently an MA Gender Studies student living in London. Since moving, my eyes have been opened to a world beyond which I thought I already understood. It has been a journey, and I have certainly learned A LOT already seven months in, however, I feel as if my journey is only beginning, and I have much more to discover. I want this collective to reflect what I continue to learn and understand, but also to build a community where we can learn from one another and challenge one another to create a more accepting and progressive society.
I would say that I've always been a bit of a die-hard feminist, anti-racist and if I'm honest, anti-capitalist from a young age. However, before my postgraduate research, I thought I had it all figured out. Oh, how I was wrong. I believed that Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, combining race and gender into multiple forms of discrimination, was revolutionary and the pinnacle of contemporary feminism. I thought, once I discovered this, I was an expert on all thing’s feminism. However, after arriving in London from a little town in Liverpool, I soon realised that I had only just scratched the surface.
Have you ever heard of the Imperialist White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy? Yeah, it took me a while to get that one rolling off the tongue too, but I think if anyone is to ever consider themselves a pro-justice, pro-equality, and pro-empowerment activist then this is where you must start. bell hooks introduced this term to describe how women of colour, queer women, trans women, disabled women, gender non-conforming people fit into society, and more importantly, how they do not. It is if you like, the Olympics of intersectionality. If we keep this in mind, we can see how issues of class, race, gender, sexuality for example, cannot be considered in isolation, and must instead be placed central to discussions regarding any resistance against imperialism, white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy. They all exist alongside and within each other, whilst reinforcing one another. Therefore, by placing all these terminologies into one collective term we are forced to recognise how our responses and resistance must also be inherently bound to one another. This means not just relying on an intersectional approach, but going beyond the frames of race and gender and considering
I’ll stop rambling on about that one (for now), but my point is that intersectionality is no longer enough. Imperialism, white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy have had such a significant impact on society that we now must respond by resisting them altogether as one. These structures have always been present, however, most of us have often been too passive to do anything about it. My journey, hence, begins here. The Imperialist White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy, all existing as separate evils, but also as one big powerhouse.
My blog posts following this will therefore revolve around issues related to imperialism, white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy no doubt. However, what I think it most important to remind you of at this point is that such issues cannot be considered without bringing in class, gender, race, sexuality, and resisting the normative values in which we have been indoctrinated to believe for so long. Such a perspective is reminiscent of what Mari Matsuda calls ‘asking the other question’. When something seems racist, ask where does the patriarchy fit in here? When something seems sexist, ask where does heterosexism fit in here? When something seems homophobic, ask where do class interests fit in here? This is called working in coalition, questioning the interconnectedness of all forms of subordination, in both overt and covert displays of domination.
This, my friends, is what is meant by ‘queering’. Bringing all these conversations together, to disrupt and challenge normative binaries, boundaries, and beliefs. I would suggest that this requires living in a constant state of discomfort, and what Sonya Renee Taylor calls ‘Radical Self Love’. We must move away from notions of self-esteem and self-confidence, but actually encourage interdependent forms of everyday resistance which reject a place of tolerance and promote a place of acceptance for all. When journeying inside and within ourselves crystallises into a philosophical reconciled relationship with ourselves and others, it allows us to look at the systems that tell us we should feel shame and instead say no, I am human, and I am not sorry. Feeling better about oneself alone, however, does not challenge systemic and structural issues of inequity and injustice, it feeds them.
Radical self love again relates back to the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, as a system of power and violence that profits off self-hatred and oppression and is integral to the beliefs and biases that we have about ourselves and other bodies. Therefore, to embark on the work of radical self-love is to embark on a social justice movement which rejects a deep investment in the economic, political, and social systems which reinforce messages of self-doubt. Radical self-love interrupts the systems that profit off self-doubt, divests in the systems to create discomfort, therefore dismantling these systems.
What I present here is just an introduction to where I position my thoughts, ideas, and critiques from, and I hope that my words have struck a chord within your mind too. I hope to use this platform to expand the viewpoints you have on the world, to open the possibility for change, acceptance, and empowerment. If this sounds like something up your street, then watch this space... I’ll be back.
Thank you for reading, I hope to see you again soon!
References:
Crenshaw, K. (1991) ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color’, Stanford Law Review, 43(6), pp. 1241-1299. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents (Accessed 20th October 2021).
hooks, b., 2000. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. London: Pluto Press.
Matsuda, M.J., 1990. Beside my sister, facing the enemy: Legal theory out of coalition. Stan. L. Rev., 43, p.1183.
Taylor, S.R., 2021. The body is not an apology: The power of radical self-love. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
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