Is it a valid critique?
(long-shot request
, but please read before commenting)
My friend was explaining the concept to me, and I couldn't really fathom it. Don't get me wrong, I totally get that black, hispanic, and trans women often experience more discrimination and unequal treatment than white women. That I get.
Where I'm lost is on the ideology that mainstream feminism should be held responsible for fighting
specifically for causes that are not strictly "female related".
The reason these women experience more discrimination is due to the culmination of multiple factors that yield it.
My question is, then (for example), why should the mainstream feminists movement be held responsible for addressing the disparity between the pay of white women and black women, when that discrepancy is specifically due to race? Seeing as it deals with race, shouldn't that be tackled first and foremost by those fighting for racial equality?
Otherwise, where would it end? When you go beyond female-specific issues and usher in secondary factors, is the list not endless?
For example, all of these women will experience discrimination differently
-black women
-latin women
-trans women
-arab women
-non-cis women
-cis women
-lesbian women
-immigrant women (legal)
-immigrant womwn (illegal)
-overweight women
-older women
-women who don't fit societies definition of "beautiful"
-gorgeous/ sexy women
-butch women
-blue collar women
-white collar women
-gender non-conforming women
-english speaking women
-non-english speaking women
-disabled women
And so on and so forth. Yet the critique of "white feminism" only champions for race to be included. Logically speaking, if race is valid as a secondary factor, then isn't the lot of this list (and more) as well?
And if it's all "valid", is it then the responsibility of mainstream feminism to divert their attention to all of these sub-categories, and tackle them one by one?
Or should the focus remain on tackling the female-specific injustices that unite them all?