Hear me Roar

It's recently come to me that I've never used my blog as a sort of soap box for my political and intellectual views. I should, they are actually, very important to me.

I grew up opinionated and loud, with a sense of righteousness and hope for change. Somewhere along the way, I lost that. I lost the sense of not only who I am, but who I can be.

Only now, through looking to empower myself in various ways, and reading various forms of political and social reforms, am I beginning to gain that sense of myself back.

In a nutshell I have decided the following

1. I am a feminist. That is undeniable.
2. I am not a Radical Feminist. There's something about any extreme politcs that make me wary. I cannot believe that patriarchy is the only evil in the world.
3. I think I fight more from a post-modernist woman of color in America sort of stand point.
4. I am not a Marxist. Like radical feminism the extremism is a little too much for me. I cannot believe that property rights and the borgeousie is the only evil.
5. I don't think I believe in liberalism.
6. I don't believe in capitalism.
7. Those who do not vote and care nothing for our government are the beginning of problems in our country.
8. I am scared and ashamed of the things our country has committed with the veil of justice.
9. I feel like the best of patriotism is to question anything and everything.
10. I hate the American flag.
11. Constitutional law bores me to no end.
12. SO does linguistics.
13. I don't appreciate or accept the power the Supreme court wields.
14. I don't think the Senate should be so goddamned useless. I feel like it's a bunch of money grubby elitest patriarchs fighting over who gets the biggest peice of pie. They haven't done anything useful or powerful in decades.
15. Don't think that means I agree with the the Unitary Executive that has slurped up power since Jackson like it were heroin. I don't.
16. I don't think it's always appropriate to complain about these problems in our society because I'm not always prepared to fight them.
17. I do believe the personal is politcal.
18. I believe in more socialist swaying revolutions.
19. I like the idea of more revolutions.
20. The coming recession (depression?) frightens me.
21. I am a woman.
22. And I have a Voice.

To prove that...

Here's probably the shortest and least complicated and most idealistic paper I've ever written for school. It required no outside text references and relied on simple argumentation. Please take into note that I wrote it at 1 in the morning after like, 18 hours of avoiding it. I think its really repetitive and I may have spun circles. I haven't even proofed it. once.

Class Paper – The Goals of Feminism

When posed with the statement, “Gaining equality with men should be the goal of feminism” there are many mixed reactions. It is a simple statement and at first it has few implications. It seems obvious that the main interest and tie of all kinds of feminism is the fight against patriarchy. This is an over simplification of what feminism hopes to achieve. Once it is truly thought about and investigated the implications of this statement come to light. This statement assumes one feminism that is fighting a single battle against a single purpose and all other fights are unnecessary to reach the ultimate goal of justice. To disappear all women into one single woman is an injustice and violence. It essentializes all those that have certain reproductive organs into one group of people with one homogenous interest and personality. This statement also assumes that there should only one goal of feminism and the most important goal is equality with men. Feminism, if it does not already, should have multiple goals and multiple interests to cater to the multiple levels on which feminists fight. Because of these reasons this statement cannot be accepted. To be equal to man is an important goal but it should not be the only one. The main goal of feminism needs to be a balanced and all encompassing goal of ending all inequality.
The goals of feminism need to include, rather than exclude, the various forms of feminism. There are countless aspects of feminism each with its own approach to inequality and with its own view of what it is to be a woman. There is Liberal feminism, Radical feminism, Marxist feminism, Eco Feminism, Cultural Feminism, and countless others. To decide that one is more important than the other or worse, that one represents true feminism while the others do not, is based on personal bias and unfair assumptions. Assuming one kind of feminism and one kind of woman normalizes that kind of female, typically a middle-class, white, and heterosexual female, as representative of her entire sex. This excludes all others. This exclusion perpetuates the “traditional” oppression of women of color, women of different economic class, women with different sexual preferences, and so on. This not only ignores but continues the oppression of some by certain kinds of women. For feminism to have a truly legitimate goal it cannot seek the promotion of women at the expense and downfall of different kinds of people. For a woman of color, to be forced to choose between whether she is black first and a woman second or vice versa is to sacrifice and integral part of herself. It negates an entire existence and way of life to presume that a woman can only need one kind of right and only fight for one kind of justice. For feminism to be strong it needs to realize that this division of interests is not a fragmentation that causes weakness. It is strength. If the goals of feminism can hold and embrace all the goals of women it will have the power of all women, half of the entire population. If the goals of feminism were to include the goals of all those challenging the supremacy and domination of a class of elite, hetero-normative, white, and monotheistic men it would have the support of more than half, it would have the support of a roaring majority. If feminism’s goals could be based on inclusion and egalitarianism rather than exclusion and normality it would not only gain strength and power, it would gain the equality that it seeks.
The goal of feminism must not enable the continuance of inequalities with its beginning statement. To state that there is only one goal states that, to feminists, there is only one important domination in society that must be fought. This ranks oppressions, which is a crime in itself. There are significant ways in which patriarchy has affected class relations, racism, and even the relationship between generations (to name a few). There are also important ways that class systems, racist structures, and age relations, have affected and propagated patriarchy. All dominations are equal in that they are injustice on an entire class of people. Different groups have basically the same belief that ending their favored form of oppression will end all oppressions. Marx believed that once the laborer was free all of humanity would rise as a unified humanity where there would be no sexism and no racism; granted, Marx was, given him time, racist and sexist. Radical Feminists believed that same thing, simply a different form of tyranny. They believed that once patriarchy lifted it powerful grip on society we would find no racism and no class interests. These approaches, while their intentions are honorable, are not realistic. Ending any one kind of injustice does not end all and we cannot assume that we can tackle them one at a time if each one is stepping on the others to win. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Feminists should not fight one, hoping it will be the end all, ultimate goal. Feminism needs to take into account and plan to fight all battles of discrimination, full force, all at once. If feminism can stop the upholding of any sort of prejudice from its methods and arguments and stop the hierarchy of struggles it will have already taken the first step towards victory.
To assume that to rid the world of patriarchy would be the fulfillment of equality is incorrect. Gender equality is not the equality to end all equalities. Its goals need to be much wider ranging and broad in order to gain strength and stamina. Feminism is complicated, multi-faceted, and densely rich. It cannot be essentialized, degraded, and standardized into this one goal and this one importance. It should be based on open doors, open arms, and understanding, not prejudice and judgments. Every aspect of feminism is important. The feminism of women of color, of socialists, of domestic concerned, of international, of homosexual, of heterosexual, and of any age are important and must be included. Feminists cannot be made to choose and rank their experiences and struggles at the expense of others. The goals of feminism do not assume a utopia or Garden of Eden where there will be no color, sex, class, or prejudice. The goal of feminism and feminists realize that one struggle does not dominate another and an end to all oppressions will be realized. It sees that it is an ongoing fight, that will be difficult and obscured every step of the way and because it is an ongoing fight in different areas it needs to face every aspect of injustice at exactly the same time, without neglect, in order to be effective. When the goals of feminism are inclusive, expansive, and warring at every front of inequality will be when the walls of domination begin to fall and the reaction will be one of victory.