Hood Feminism the exclusivity of gender equality

The two words Hood and Feminism sounds a bit funny together and may cause you to ponder what they mean when combined. The book, Hood Feminism, by Mikki Kendall, uncovers the major blind spot in the feminist movement where women of color, women of the LGBTQIA+ community, and underprivileged women are underrepresented. As the subtitle of the book “Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot” suggests, Hood Feminism reveals how feminism has failed to address intersectionality and include the breadth of the issues women face daily. In simpler words, it addresses how feminism excludes the issues from “the hood” that women of marginalized communities experience. Hood Feminism is an eyeopening, informative perspective that illustrates how the feminist movement’s goals of equality have been distorted.

To further understand the complexity of how issues overlap and affect different women from different populations, intersectionality must be taken into account Feminism typically pertains to the injustices white women face and excludes the different obstacles that women of other ethnic backgrounds face. Intersectionality, however, is a stronger technique in ensuring that advocating and the opposition to oppression is effectively implicated and creates justice on an equal scale.

Intersectionality acknowledges the different levels of obstacles that women can face and how they may overlap, or intersect. An immigrant woman’s experience can be very different from one that was born a natural citizen. A heterosexual female’s experiences will differ from that of a homosexual female. Socio-economics play a role on how women experience inequality as well Women experience the intersection between race, gender, class, and ethnicity. However, this is often overlooked in feminist movements. Feminism often falls under a white woman’s narrative which fails to recognize the complexity of issues with the inequality that women of different backgrounds experience. The acknowledgment of intersectionality within feminism can better tackle the gender inequality that women face and tailor solutions to specifically help women of all backgrounds.

Mikki Kendall’s essays throughout Hood Feminism dives into overlooked intersecting issues and how education, poverty, hunger, housing, gun violence, and reproductive justice all fall under the banner of feminism. She challenges and derails harmful stereotypes that further obstruct the path to justice. An example of this is the stereotype, “Black Girls Don’t Have Eating Disorders” is misleading and prevents women from getting the help they need and support for their health. Sayings like these further racial and socio-economic and class-based prejudiced sentiments. Kendall highlights experiences of women from marginalized communities and confronts how the feminist movement includes exactly what it is meant to stand against; the oppression of women. Within the movement, some women oppress others, which is a concept that is also not often acknowledged. Kendall states, “[W]hite women can oppress women of color, straight women can oppress lesbian women, cis women can oppress trans women, and so on." The feminist movement needs to protect women across all lines and be willing to stand up for women of different communities, not just one’s own.

As women receiving an education in the diverse environment of San Diego High School, we can draw on our own experiences with intersectionality and apply what is advocated for throughout Hood Feminism. San Diego High School is rich with culture and people of different ethnicities and backgrounds with many clubs that welcome and celebrate the specific communities that make up the greater community which is the school. Each woman attending SDHS may have a very different experience from the next because of intersecting qualities that make up her identity. With a curriculum that teaches about intersectionality and gender equality, students become the future change of the feminist movement With education on these issues, the single story of the white woman’s feminist narrative can evolve into a movement that encompasses every background and intersection to promote gender equality at all levels. Education is the strongest tool that young women can utilize and as the future generation, they can incite an inclusive change for women. Books like Hood Feminism and “woke” school curriculum create real progress for change and equality for women of all backgrounds and female students of all communities.