Racism, Classism and Feminism by Maura Hennessey
Posted by catkisser
http://radicalbitch.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/racism-classism-and-feminism-by-maura-hennessey/ (http://radicalbitch.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/racism-classism-and-feminism-by-maura-hennessey/)
Feminism in America was from its inception permeated with classism and racism. Sojourner Truth's entreaty "Ain't I a Woman" was a plaintive cry out to a movement that had by and large overlooked women of colour, immigrant women and women trapped in sweatshops. The working poor and the unemployed poor, unwed mothers, widows not only had no place at the table in 19th century American feminism but were covertly and frequently overtly excluded from not only the benefits of the "sisterhood" but also from the "sisterhood" itself.
The"sisterhood" of the 19th century, those women of privilege brought into being a style of feminism that narcissistically mirrored the privileged places in American society that they occupied. Often the wives of prominent man, their feminism was aimed at attaining the privileges held by their white Anglo-Saxon Protestant husbands. But, in addition to already possessing many of the social privileges of their husbands, they tragically reflected the prejudices of the narrow segment of community that brought them forth.