Women of Colour and the LGBTQ Community

A heavier topic. It's about time I moved onto this. I kept procrastinating it because I'm in neither of those demographics, so it's hard to speak for them accurately, but I'll do my best. If I screw something up, please let me know right away so I can fix it.

For most of the feminist movement, the only glimpse we've been getting into it is through the experiences of middle class white women. Women of colour and women in the LGBTQ community have been largely ignored throughout the years. For some reason, white feminists don't seem to view them as women, or important, and definitely not important women.

The stories and struggles and experiences of queer women have especially been swept under the rug. Every day these women have to deal with getting beaten, abused, and even raped. I've heard some horrifying stories about queer women not going into the "right" bathroom and getting beaten to a bloody pulp for it. I've heard even more about the abuse of women of colour. It's very real, and it does happen, but it often goes unnoticed because we only seem to care about white women!

I'm not saying being a white woman is bad (I'd be a hypocrite), but it is really bad that two huge groups of women who have to tolerate more abuse than average get totally ignored! Or white women end up seeing problems where there aren't any and focus all their attention on that.

For example, Muslim women who choose to wear a head piece. I just say head piece because there are many different ones and I haven't yet gotten the hang of what all the names are. Anyway, white women look at this and automatically think "oppression" even though, 9 times of 10, Muslim women are doing just fine. The vast majority choose to wear symbols of their culture, and that's not a bad thing at all! And even if they were being oppressed, they can handle themselves! Enough of the "white saviour" crap already!

I think it's common knowledge that western society is still *kind* of racist, too. It makes sense that white people wouldn't care much about racial minorities. Western society is also still super homophobic and even more transphobic. Being gay is "bad" enough, but trans* or queer? You can see where I'm going.

By denying people their personhood on the grounds of race and sexuality/gender, the feminist movement is taking a huge hit and nobody is getting the help they need. White feminists fail to acknowledge that there is a huge thing we have in common: we are women, regardless of genitals or skin colour we were born with. If someone identifies as a woman, they are a woman, and their experiences are valid, end of story. The struggles of women who aren't white or cisgender and straight need more attention than they're getting.

How are we supposed to kick patriarchy's ass if we're all divided? We don't. In fact, I think this is why feminism hasn't come as far as it could have by now. It's hard to take a gender equality movement seriously when there's in-fighting within the gender. If we were more united and inclusive, we could move mountains! (Of misogyny.)

Women of colour have made just as many contributions to women's rights as white women, yet white women always end up on top, while everyone else struggles just to get noticed. In the interest of time and typing, here's an article with information on seven notable feminists of colour and their contributions. The article lists the written works of these women if you're interested in some extra reading.

I wish I could find more on LGBTQ women, but alas, I procrastinated too long. If you happen to know of any stories (or have any of your own by any chance), feel free to share! And correct me (nicely, not social justice blogger style) if I'm wrong on something, please!

- Carli_V