WOMANISM VS FEMINISM

When I used to hear the word Feminism, my skin would get sweaty, I would get uncomfortable and need to get up and move. This happened in different countries and spaces, so I decided to explore why I felt that way as I was definitely aligned with what I thought were Feminist values - Strengthening Women and lifting them up and encouraging the quiet ones to step up and use their voices.

There has always been something lacking, terribly simplistic and unsafe about mainstream feminists main mission to be of equal economic value to the white man and to have more freedoms to leave the house. I knew that my version of Feminism was much deeper, wider and higher than what I was seeing lived out in Western and white women spaces. Thankfully being mixed race I was able to explore other spaces quite easily - that being black and brown spaces in the UK ,where I instantly felt that I was held, heard, seen and safe.

It didn’t take me long to put into words the WHY of the differences between white spaces and WOC spaces, which has to do with the convergence of systems of Oppression or Intersectionality. As Bell Hooks calls it - White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy where she gives such a clear and thorough breakdown of this system that serves WOC last - if at all - in her book Feminist Theory .

Black, brown and Arab women often live by the Ubuntu philosophy -  "I Am - because We Are and since we are therefore I am” , the “WE” as opposed to the " I " that the hyper-individualised ways of the western world focus on, which is the major difference between Western values and African/ Arab and Indigenous values. A concept that absolutely felt restrictive growing up, but one I’ve come back into more and more over the last decade.

As mentioned White Feminism's original main goal is to rise to equal pay to be on the same capitalistic level as the white man, often to the exclusion of black and brown women’s needs. As well as maintaining the fake niceness, purity and goodness virtues imposed on them by men, which are toxic and making them sick anyway. A lot of their outrage and actions stems from and centres around their Rights, whereas Women of Colour’s actions are all about our Responsibilities and obligations within our society and communities..

No more is this clear than in the HUGE wall of silence that Palestinians women face as they are systemically erased by the white supremacist machine of Israel, US and UK; upheld by half the sky - of Women - Western women. Ruby Hamed talks explains the pattern of white women betraying women of colour in her detailed book, she also breaks down how Arab women are so easily and immediately labelled as “Angry” or feared as terrorist sympathisers in her Epic deeply educational book White Tears Brown Scars along with all the rubbish stereotypes given to WOC through the white gaze.

Taking Palestine as one real and current example of the DANGERS of this apathy by White Womanhood who can systematically ignore the intersectionality of Arab women's many forms of oppression as they just do not need to deal with the complex layers and do not care to feel into widening their capacity to see how the added layers of racism, classism and religion contributes to the oppression load within society that WE experience.  Palestine clearly shows how their unconscious biases, privilege and pattern of upholding white supremacy is actually allowing Arab women and children to be killed live on our screens, with zero need or urge to take action. That is how dangerous Western Feminism and Womanhood is to me.

Very interesting how systems of Oppression can so easily be blind to one another...

Another example of the Intersections of both racism and sexism is when a black or brown brother understands the racism issue that his sister/ lover/ mother maybe going through with white women but cannot understand the sexism he may put her through, as he sides and aligns with Patriarchy in order to maintain their dominance within the hierarchical structures. Then we also experience sexism through exclusive practices of supremacy that western and / or white women perpetuate, something simple is the 1D claim or lie of “ Oh I just don’t see colour..” -Really now? Well what we hear and know in our bones is that that means that they don’t fully SEE me.

We in black and brown bodies know that it is NOT just race or class or gender or ability that matter, but it’s ALL of these that matter SIMULTANEOUSLY and how they INTERSECT for those of us at the bottom of the hierarchy, as we often are conveniently scapegoated by feminists and our own brothers for these very systems of Oppression. The Matrix of Domination as Patricia Hill Collins calls it- at its best!

Womanism on the other hand is a term used by black and brown women to own our own space and our values of community and ALL the intersections of oppression that we face that western women exclude as it’s just too "complex" for them to grasp. Womanism honours and uplifts black and brown men who are an integral part of our community, with shared values and struggles and align with us against the machine of White supremacy.

Womanists have bigger fish to fry with community care and community building as we know in our bones that we do not operate in echo chambers and silos of supremacy and the burden of hyper individualised family units.

I prefer to define myself as a Womanist as its a far wider, deeper and stronger term than the fluffy feminists womanhood who aspire to just throw away their bras and be girl bosses all while upholding the capitalistic colonial structures of White men and ultimately white supremacy which SERVES them! Even in the Wellness community, where these women choose to focus on love and light as opposed to facing their own inner shadows of how they uphold systems of oppression and dig a bit deeper to come to the source of oppression and ultimately work towards Collective Liberation.

I personally have systemically been used and abused to gain access to power and resources then discarded after my purpose has been served; by these feminists, who ultimately are more of a danger to me than men, and I know many Egyptian women who do relate..

I know I have only partly scratched the surface of the depth of this topic, but hopefully gives you something to think about, especially if you do identify as a Feminist and you are in less melanated skin.

So please, if you need to label me something, don’t you dare call me a feminist. I am Woman, hear me ROAR!