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Something that’s been bouncing around in my head…

2009 February 24
by Roldine Richard

So in the beginning of this course Prof. Dalke said something that has stuck with me since. It was something along the lines of “choosing to identify on the gender continuum perpetuates the cycle of oppression”. I’m not sure if it was a quote or not but nonetheless it struck me because as an individual who actively chooses to identify as female and a budding feminist, I felt as though that statement was saying that by choosing to identify as female I am actually regressing in my understanding of gender and how it effects our relationships. Then I thought about what I actually meant by saying “I am a woman”. This lead me back to our first class discussion in which we shared the first time we ever felt gendered, which for me wasn’t until I was a junior in high school going through the college process. It was then that I first felt truly marginalized and disadvantaged because of my gender. Thinking about the larger implications of this time of my life, I came to the conclusion that being “woman” for me was not about embodying femininity. It is not about projecting to the world a traditionally feminine character and acting out feminine stereotypes. Rather for me, identifying as female is about acknowledging the historically and culturally persistent discrimination that exists because of my gender. By identifying as female I am identifying with a struggle to challenge gender norms and assert equality with all other genders and sexes. Moreover, by putting on the identity of female, I attempt to challenge the connotation of that label by asserting the influence of other identifiers on the idea of what it means to be female historically, culturally, economically, etc. Lastly, this conclusion made me think about language and the weight of the words we use when discussing these subjects. In my opinion the struggle for equality in any social movement starts with the struggle to establish a language that respects the history and experience of a social group. Until we understand that and our oppressors do the same, we will be at a standstill.

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2 Responses
  1. Solomon Lutze permalink
    February 24, 2009

    huh. what does it mean to be male, then? I may have to post on that.

  2. aaclh permalink
    February 24, 2009

    I think that an action can both challenge and perpetuate ‘cycles of oppression’ at the same time. Actions are complicated, as are ‘cycles of oppression. Choosing to identify as female may – at the same time – dismantle or challenge some stereotypes about gender and also perpetuate some stereotypes about gender.

    To be slightly more concrete: I think that while calling yourself female you can “challenge the connotation of that label by asserting the influence of other identifiers on the idea of what it means to be female historically, culturally, economically, etc.” and also reinforce people’s ideas that there are exactly two genders: male and female.

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