navigatethestream:

i woke up pretty bitter that the Feminist Establishment is already heralding this a victory for all women before Hillary even wins. it reminded me a lot of watching Iron Jawed Angels in my middle school social studies class, and being told i’m supposed to find myself in this narrative of white feminism, including exclusion of black women from the suffragettes. 

but admittedly, i channelled that frustration into learning about black & WoC feminisms my freshman year of high school. with that, i also often think about the fact that had i not grown up in a college town, i probably wouldn’t have had access to those books. yet even though i lived in a college town, i still didn’t have access to books on transnational, anti-caceral, anti-imperialist feminisms.

and so rolling down memory lane i’m thinking about how do we make space for fugitive feminist studies/fugitive feminisms in this moment.  

how do we make space for something beyond the narrative that copious amounts of black & woc shattered glass ceilings before hillary

how do we move past the equation that shattering glass ceilings is the apex or defining moment of stepping into an era of greater “equality”

because shattering glass ceilings narratives still rely on the triumph of the individual. the collective is in the background, often silent. 

and that’s the picture of “equality” but not necessarily liberation

so how do we create fugitive feminisms that teaches folx in this moment that feminism is more than just shattered glass ceilings

how do we bring in young WoC, folx not plugged in, folx looking for something outside of the feminist establishment/feminism proper

and teach the importance of feminism as liberation from multiple forms of oppression simulteanously & not the trickle down glass ceiling

what do we tell people to read 

how do we create these spaces outside of the academy

in uncomfortable, unfamiliar places

not just for the purpose of fugitive feminist study in the rote sense but so people have space to be honest & not feel attacked by the feminist establishment

because those spaces are going to foment resistance more than different definitions of what it means to shatter “glass ceilings” ever will

and if people are serious about resistance under hillary (i seriously doubt it but okay) 

then we have to start thinking about this sooner than later