ENG 598: Gender and Literature
What is a woman? A question long asked by gender theorists and philosophers for years, to this day in fact. The common presumption to this ever long question would be biology. The different reproductive part signifies a binary distinction, nevertheless, it’s more convoluted. Gender is behavioral, culture, and psychological traits that typically go with being female, male, or all those in between. Essentially, we decide what it means. If we were to specifically look at the women, what makes one? We would say femininity. Wearing dresses, performing ourselves with a softness and delicate nature, and overall to be a “lady”. Fundamentally, women are predisposed to be the opposite of men. Simone de Beauvoir makes this claim in her book, The Second Sex, where she states that women are considered relative to men. If men were the “One”, then women were considered the “Other”. I hope to expand upon this as I believe it leaves out a crucial detail, race. Race is a part of culture that goes with creating a gender. Not all women are the same, just as Black women and White women are not the same as they differ in cultural values. If we were to expand upon Beauvioir, I would argue that if women were the “Other” in relation to men, then Black women are considered the “Other” in relation to White Women. The intersection of race and gender is prevalent to understanding the gender itself. In looking at Black women, they had to adopt their own form of femininity in signifying their place in society especially during the abolitionist and suffrage movement.
Simone de Beauvoir, a French feminist theorist and philosopher, changed the social understanding of how we viewed gender when she published The Second Sex in 1949. Beginning an exploration of the subjugations of femininity as it is a social construct made by the patriarchy. “What is a woman?”According to Beauvoir, a question so complex it sparked much discussion. Off the top of our head we would say biology, but Beauvior argued that historically male reigns superior. “He is the Subject, he is the Absolute – she is the Other” (Beauvoir pg. 16), while the woman is subjected and seen as relative to the man purely out of opposition. Gender aside, this applies to race as well. Historically, White has reigned superior while anything other is considered as such, “Other”. Focusing on the subjugation of women, Black women were seen as lower in the hierarchy falling below Black men. Judith Butler, a gender theorist and philosopher known for her book Gender Trouble, argues that gender is performative. “Gender as an enactment that performatively constitutes the appearance of its own interior fixity” (Butler pg. 89), that we reproduce gender by doing, not only by repeated ways of speaking. This translates to how we dress, how we perform our body language, and how we present ourselves. In correlation to race, Black women had to “perform” similar to White women. As White women were seen as the standard, anything other was deemed unacceptable and unfeminine. Black people were all seen the same: masculine, less than human, and slaves. Women and children fell into this dichotomy as being perceived by their skin color first. As they were not considered women, socially, purely based on race, they were the “Other” of the “Other”.
In an essay “Abolition & Suffrage” by Nancy A. Hewitt, she describes the struggles and effects the Seneca Falls Convention had on Black women. “Virtually all women’s rights advocates supported abolition. Not all abolitionists supported women’s rights”(Hewitt), a shocking sentiment that remained as conservatives felt a woman speaking in a public forum was inappropriate. A group of women, known as the Garrisonian women for their following of William Lloyd Garrison, who emphasizes more than just all rights for women. They advocated for the sexual abuse of slave women in efforts to eradicate slavery as a whole, a clear disctinction between the cultural and social norms of the gendered races. Black women were looking into the larger picture, a picture that involved a step in racial equality, before advocating for the rights of family, religion, and the control over her own body. Black women did not have those rights, not even for a long while, as those were the primary conditions White women were advocating for. Even though the suffrage movement at Seneca Falls was mixed race, division ensued when the Republican politicians “introduced the 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution extending citizenship and suffrage to former slave men”(Hewitt) as a race for the stage was at hand. Universal suffrage was the ideal goal by abolitionists as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony consistently advocated for the rights of all women’s right to vote. Although they faced opposition from strong abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass who believed that the extension of citizenship to former slave men was too large an issue to pass up. This left an issue for Sojourner Truth, as she originally was part of the suffrage movement alongside Stanton and Anthony, but had to choose whether she was for the liberation of slaves or the liberation of women. Both groups had failed to see the disparities Black women faced with their own issues not being called to attention or see for what they are. Where race is crucial to our identity, to say all women’s issues were the same was excluding the issues of Black women.
In a suffrage movement, generally focused towards the rights of White women, Black women opposed the harmful rhetoric and advocated for their issues that were not being met.There was a fight for rights for women and Black men, but where was the fight for Black women? Black women operated in a small gray area where they were allowed to work in efforts to bring forth their issues. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a powerful abolitionist writer who advocated alongside Maria W. Stewart, published a series of articles and poems about the intersectionality of abolition and women’s suffrage. Harper is known for her speech We Are All Bound Up Together at the National Woman’s Rights Convention in 1866. It was there she advocated for “the dual burden faced by Black women in America—racism and sexism” (Carlisle). “We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving a curse in its own soul” (Harper), as in damaging one group it trickles to the next. Where “White women speak here of rights…”, the issues personal to the struggles faced by White women, “…I speak of wrongs.” (Harper) of the issues singular to the experiences of Black women.
Infamously, Sojourner Truth made a speech about the disparities Black women faced and argued for their equality. Truth was a renowned abolitionist and women’s rights activist during the 1850s where she made her speech that gained her such recognition. Ain’t I a Woman?, a speech made in 1851 at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio where she questioned her place in her gender and race. Truth emphasized the idea that being a woman goes beyond race and social status and pleaded for recognition of equality on all forms. Conveying the rhetorical question to the audience, “Ain’t I a Woman?”, having the audience truly grasp the hypocrisy. Truth explains that if their definition of a woman is to make babies, then is not one? “ I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?” (Truth). Her speech was impactful as it vocally raised awareness of an issue that was passed over for years. Black women being treated as men, working in the fields, with the expectation of bearing children. Only for those children to be taken away, issues White women were not advocating for in their movement. In the Declaration of Sentiments written by Staton, they mention “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal” (Stanton). A phrase spoken time and time again for the liberation of women. That in the Constitution, created by White men, we should hold the same rights as then based on the laws they appoint for themselves.This leaves out a crucial element, Black people. Black people were not considered citizens, in fact only one-third. This being that the Declaration of Sentiments were passed and taken in effect, Black women would still not reap the benefits as they were seen as Black before a woman. Black women, having to work in the gray area, were realizing that if their issues were not going to be fixed by others were going to adapt to what they have. Thus, creating their own form of Black femininity.
Femininity has been shaped by western ideals, the gender performance of White women, but shifted in the mid-20th century. This was referred to as “hegemonic femininity” as it, “assumes the superiority of White over African American women, valuing those who adhere to White feminine norms by awarding privileges and benefits while devaluing other femininities that fall short of meeting the hegemonic (i.e., White) standard” (Davis, et. al, pg. 822). The question being, how did Black women separate from the mold to assert their own form of femininity? Their hair. Hair is a symbol of identity for Black culture rooted in creative expression and freedom. A representation of history that carries deep and profound symbolism. Black women have adopted hairstyles that garnered a similar likeness to White women when they succumbed to hegemonic femininity. Straightening their natural curly hair to be seen as a woman, but actually to be seen as a White woman. Before women were flat ironing their hair everyday, chemical relaxers were used to burn their hair to “fit in”. This practice was used especially for children as schools saw it as a violation and against school policy. ”It has been wielded as a tool of oppression and also one of empowerment—and our society’s perceptions of Black hair still affects how Black people are treated today” (Wilson). As Truth expressed, Black women could not find a place among women and were often placed with men. Black women were seen as unfeminine based on their assertiveness, textured hair, and their dark features. Black women began adopting their own femininity, one still evoked to this day.
The intersection between gender and race are crucial for understanding the complexities of how culture shaped our identity. To say all women are the same, or that there is only one idea of women, is a ludacris assumption. The idea of women from five years ago will be vastly different from the idea five years from now. Kimberle Crenshaw, political writer who adopted the term intersectionality towards Black women’s rights, set a shift for the pursuit of justice of Black women’s long history of being overlooked. “We must begin to tell Black women’s stories because, without them, we cannot tell the story of Black men, White men, White women, or anyone else in this country.” (Hutson pg. 1). To be feminine according to western ideals was to be soft and delicate, something Black women have not been considered. Black women created their own form of femininity form a small gray space in between the two large sectors they are thought not accepted by. Black women have been resilient for years and adopted a long tradition of creating a space where they can be themselves. Not just a woman, not just a Black person, but as a Black woman.
Bibliography
Beauvoir, Simone De. The Second Sex. Translated by H. M. Parshley, Johnathan Cape, 1949.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 1999.
Carlisle, Lois. “Black Women’s Fight for Suffrage.” Atlanta History Center, 6 May 2022, http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/Black-womens-fight-for-suffrage/.
Davis, Ashlee W., et al. “Traditional femininity versus strong Black women ideologies and stress among Black women.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 49, no. 8, 5 Sept. 2018, pp. 820–841, https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934718799016.
Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins. “We Are All Bound up Together – May 1866.” Archives of Women’s Political Communication, 1 May 1866, awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2017/03/21/we-are-all-bound-up-together-may-1866/.
Hewitt, Nancy A. “Abolition and Suffrage.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/not-for-ourselves-alone/abolition-suffrage. Accessed 21 Sept. 2024.
Hutson, Turea Michelle. “By any means necessary: A brief educational history of Black Women and girls in the United States.” Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, vol. 11, no. 3, 25 May 2022, https://doi.org/10.31274/jctp.12960.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. “The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Conference, 1848.” Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History, 1848, sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/senecafalls.asp.
Truth, Sojourner. “Sojourner Truth: ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’, December 1851.” Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History, Dec. 1851, sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/sojtruth-woman.asp.
Maya Young 