When Hillary Clinton snagged the Democratic presidential nomination, many “feminists” roared with victory. As the presidential race draws to a close, Clinton’s slight lead is exciting these “feminists,” but why are they praising the win of a woman who is not fighting for everyone?
Feminism stands for the rights of everyone, whether they are a person of color, a person who identifies outside of the gender binary or both. To think that true feminists only want equity for women-identified folks is to be slightly misinformed.
Feminism is rooted in intersectionality, bridging social justice movements from Black Lives Matter to sexual assault awareness advocacy. Coined by Critical Race Theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality is the idea that oppression often intersects across various identities, creating many different experiences of discrimination. If feminism were not intersectional, the fight for equity would be wasted.
If the movement is only for the benefit of white people, especially white women, then what is the point? Equity would not be accomplished and people who do not identify as white women would be struggling just as white women did. It is common for justice to move in phases from white men, to men of color, to white women and then to women and people of color. However, this phase system is not relieving all people from oppression quickly enough.
However, there are feminists that many call “liberal feminists”, commonly made up of white folks that identify as women. These liberal feminists often ignore intersectionality and focus on the empowerment of women politically, and encouraging women to be leaders even when they may not want to for various reasons—including anxiety. Through this kind of encouragement, liberal feminists damage other minority groups as the recognition of experiences felt by intersecting identities is missing.
Although Clinton recently changed her views on LGBTQIA+ marriage and claims to fight for African American and Latino families, she is still a liberal feminist.
According to Solidarity, a social justice webzine, in 2009 Clinton voiced support for a coup in Honduras, leading 176 LGBTQIA+ Honduras folks to murderous deaths by 2014. Although Clinton has recently spoken about preventing the crimes against people who are LGBTQIA+, her decision to support the post-coup Honduras is not intersectional and problematic.
While Clinton has called for an increase in women’s rights in countries with large Muslim populations, the United States has blown up women in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Clinton’s historical support to expand military operations in the Middle East is against true feminism, as women of color are murdered after each day passes.
When Clinton claims she is a woman that represents every woman’s fight for equity, her liberal feminism blatantly peeks through. Not only has Clinton supported laws that have bound people of color to discrimination, but the issues she has chosen to support internationally has damaged feminism worldwide. Clinton stands up for women like herself: white mothers who do not have race and class barriers to keep them from living.
While there are many contradicting policies Clinton has supported and made against true feminist values, her choice in Tim Kaine for vice president is one of her latest ill-feminist actions. Kaine has voiced support against abortion in the past, although he presently says is he only pro-life religiously.
Feminists who support Clinton without acknowledging her inability to think intersectionally are just like white suffrage movement leader Susan B. Anthony, who refused to fight for the rights of people of color. Defining feminism as only the right for women to live rich lives of leadership is problematic, inaccessible and only sending the United States back in time.
Although Clinton has fought against sexism and discrimination as a woman in the political system, that does not forgive her actions against people of color and LGBTQIA+ folks. She may have a racist and sexist opponent, but that fact does not make Clinton a true feminist.
To be a true feminist is to recognize the experiences of all people and fight against intersectional oppression, not just the ones that affect white women.
However, although Clinton may not be a feminist that currently acts intersectionally, that does not mean she cannot grow and learn to incorporate intersectionality into her actions.