Main Post 2/10

McIntosh starts her paper by talking about how there are similarities in the sexism and racism fights. She talks about how both have similar enemies in the white male and how this white male has power that he is given just for being who he is and that when he works for the causes against racism and sexism he is not as effective because he cannot see that sexism and racism not only put down women and non-whites but also bolster him and put him above in a way that in order for their to be equality he would need to take himself down a bit while bringing up minorities. McIntosh continues through her paper by giving examples in which she feels that she, as a white person, has a right that other racial groups do not. She gives many examples of things she feels are not recognized often but are things she feels she has that others don’t. McIntosh also comments on how as a white female she can observe how whites get things other races do not but she can only recognize this by knowing how males have things females do not. I thought this paper was interesting but some of the rights she lays out seemed to be a stretch and seemed also to be outdated in this world. This could be seen though as a sign of hope that things have changed in black/ white relations so that ideas that fully applied in the past are now not concerns. On the flip side of this, my thinking that there are no longer as many issues with this could be seen as proving her theories of people not knowing how high they are up in the world.

Lorde speaks about life as a feminist African American lesbian and how hard it is to be involved in a fight when not only is the world against you but also many involved in your movement who allegedly have the same goals are also against you. She discusses things she has encountered in her work and how underrepresented people with her identity are. She also mentions how this underrepresentation is displayed in a forum that is supposed to be dedicated to the understanding of why feminism is necessary. I thought Lorde has some interesting points but also seemed a little radical in her words.

The Combahee River Collective talks about black women and how their fight is intertwined with other movements and also how other movements can be a detriment to theirs. The women talk about their relationship with black men and with white women who are at times sexist and racist respectively. The women continue to talk about how they will stand up for themselves and keep fighting to be equal to other groups and how they will stand by the black men in their fight against racism.

These three readings seem to share a common thread of trying to open people’s eyes to how even if they feel they are not purposefully trying to keep a certain group down, they may be just by living their lives the way they do. Another common theme I saw was how a group who is supposed to be a friend in your fight can also be an enemy in the way they behave or they was they go about helping you, and also while another group may be with you on one side of your issue they may contribute to your down fall on the other side.