Between The Lines: On Culture, Class, and Homophobia
The Other Heritage (Dijana)
The topic I chose to discuss is directly derived from the shared experience of Rosario Morales in “This Bridge Called My Back”. Morales talks about the voluntary separation between different groups of colored women, but more specifically, the separation of Latina and Black women in her neighborhood. Morales points out her mother’s own feelings toward the separation of the two races as a way to make her daughter seem “more white”. She anecdotes one of many instances in a grocery store: “I walk in straight and white into the store and say good morning in my see how white how upper class how refined and kind voice all crisp with consonants bristling with syllables… que hay de criticar will I do will I pass… not see me here beneath my skin” (130). As a child, she was taught to fear black men when they walked down the street, she was taught that black was not beautiful. But as she was taught to discriminate against her colored sisters, she herself was discriminated against by the people her mother pushed her to be more like. White mothers were teaching their daughters to fear Latino men when they walked down the street, and that Brown was not beautiful. She was at a divide, and she “forgot the other heritage”. She forgot that the pain she felt was similar to theirs. She forgot that she was treated as much of a sub-human as they were. She forgot that Black was not to fear. What were to fear were the people who shouted that any color other than white is not beautiful. Her story is, to me, its own theme in the book, because it is one of the many roots of systematic racism. White patriarch does not only divide two distinct groups of people from each other; it creates a jumble of populations pinned against populations. Whites are taught to look down on those who are not like them. The next closest race is taught to do the same, and the next until it creates a pyramid of racism and a difficult journey to remember the other heritage. Women of color, while they still like to fight for their own specific cultures, also like to stand by other populations of women of color. They find they have more in common with each other than not, and feel that that they have a duty to help each other out of the discriminative rut they are put into.
Black v. White Lesbianism (Krutika)
In “In Between The Lines: On Culture, Class, and Homophobia”, Beverly and Barbara, two black feminist women, were asked questions regarding lesbian separatism and the effects of feminism on colored and white lesbians during the 1980s. Black lesbian women were more likely to experience discrimination because they “didn’t have white skin or class privilege to fall back on (Moraga et al, 125)”. White lesbians have had to only deal with being homosexual in straight America, while black lesbian women and lesbian women of color were dealing with straight, white America. This has caused Black lesbian women to be less open about their sexuality compared to white lesbians. Another big difference between the classes of lesbian women being addressed was views on men. Because of their “class privilege”, many white lesbians refused to sympathize with white men on anything and chose to lead separatist lifestyles. They believed they could only achieve self-sufficiency without the accompaniment of men. Black lesbian women and women of color, on the other hand, sympathized with men of their cultures because both genders were common targets for oppression. This has led to white women feeling like black women and women of color were too “male-identified” because they did, in fact, sympathize with their men. Barbara and Beverly admit, “They express anger at us for not seeing the light (Moraga et. al, 121-122)”. They felt that white, separatist women could not look past the idea that black and colored lesbian women were giving their men too much of the benefit of the doubt. They didn’t come together just because both races of women were lesbians. These were mainly lesbian separatist groups that thought that oppression and sexism was caused by men only therefore they would isolate themselves from associating with men. Some believed if men no longer were in charge and didn’t have so much power over things, racism would not be an issue. Compared to the 1980s, I feel that gender oppression issues and racism also along with issues regarding sexuality have improved a lot although they still do exist. People have become more open and sensitive or sympathetic when they come across situations that pertain to these intersectional topics. The reading also mentions how feminism and lesbianism go hand in hand and helped break the silence and secrecy. Educating people about these topics that are a part of so many people’s lives helps them to understand and sympathize toward people who struggle with being accepted by society because of their sexuality.
Chicana Lesbian Feminists (Adilene and Leslie)
The fact that Mirtha Quinones refers to herself as a “Latina lesbian feminist” shows how she separates herself from the other women of her class- she limits the amount of women who may relate her because of her specificity. She admits that she feels like a failure for not being able to relate with the white feminist and, therefore, must look for a unit with her Latina sisters. Something that often happens in our Latin community is that we do not speak up for ourselves among other races. The Latina lesbian feminist is oppressed, not only by other cultures and classes, but by her own culture. While the colored woman often acts for her male counterpart (as opposed to the white woman who feels she needs to rise above her male counterpart), she is silenced by the men of her community. She does not fit the mold of an authentic Latina wife- she cannot be equal to her men and she cannot reject her men romantically. The Latina lesbian feminist desperately wants to fight for the rights of her people, but how can she, when she is not considered a woman by the men in her life? She is left in between. The Latina lesbian feminist goes beyond getting accepted for sexual preference and instead stands on the abolishment of oppression. This particular group focuses on the need to be accepted as a Latina in the New World, as well as to be aware of others similar to her in surrounding areas- a struggle that is systematic all over America and even within the Latino community- a community set in traditional stereotypes of homophobic, patriarchal values.
Bisexualism in Today’s World (Jessica and Ofelia)
According to Cheryl Clarke, in “In Between The Lines: Culture, Class, and Homophobia”, women who label themselves as bisexual sometimes feel safer than being identified as a lesbian because society will not judge them as harshly if they were to classify themselves only as lesbian. Clarke strongly believes that bisexual women have it easier when she writes “Bisexual is a safer label than lesbianism, for it posits the possibility of a relationship with a man, regardless of how infrequent or non-existent the female bisexual’s relationship with men might be” (130). In other words, Clarke believes that lesbian women have it tougher than bisexual women because they are only interested in their own gender, meaning society judges them the hardest since they are not interested in men or what society perceives as “normal”.
Although Clarke stated that it’s safer for women to identify themselves bisexual, that’s not always true. There are many real life examples of bisexual women who struggle to explain their sexual attraction to others because they fear the judgment from others. In some cases, it is much more complicated for a bisexual woman to express her sexual orientation because she is not fully accepted by others, nor is she understood. Bisexual women are seen as “confused” or not sure of what they want because of their interest in two very different genders. Real life examples of bisexual women argue with Clarke “People Think You’re Either a Cheater or a Swinger’: Bisexual Women Reveal the Frustrations of Being Attracted to Men and Women in Secret Confessions” by Annabel Fenwick Elliot. Bisexual women share that they wish they weren’t bisexual because it is hard to explain their sexuality to others. One woman states, “I hate being bisexual, I’d rather be fully straight or fully lesbian. It’s way harder to make people understand the in-between” (2016). The quote above states one of the biggest struggles that bisexual women go through when they express their sexual attraction. It is complicated for them to fully express their interests without being questioned or judged. A great example of a fictional character that could relate to this type of judgment would be “Piper Chapman” from the show Orange is the New Black (OITNB). In the show, Piper is engaged to her male fiancé, yet she is also interested in a woman. While she is interested in both genders, she does refuse to be open about it due to fear of discrimination. Piper’s situation is one that others can relate to, as she is and is afraid to express bisexual orientation.
Another very common struggle for bisexual women is the lack of trust by their partners because of their broad sexual orientation. Many partners fear being cheated on by their bisexual partner due to their possible desires for something they cannot necessarily fulfill.
Bisexual women play a significant role to feminism and intersectional feminism because all woman should have the freedom to express who they are or who they want to be.
White-Washing Cultural Identity (Rahel)
“White-Wash” means to prevent people from learning the truth. For instance, people will say you are better (whiter) because you resemble us (white people). Thus, you are higher than original culture. So the reading is all about what class assumptions are made about “black people” by white feminists and its experience. They classify them based on their income level, stability of life, educational privilege and standard of living. One concrete example is, if they see black people earning money, taking care of their family and sending their kids to college, they are considered middle class. In one of the readings, Barbara mentions that in order for people to understand what our background is and to classify us, “they need to have a lot of comprehension about what Black life is all about.” Gender oppression relates to how men and women are always compared to the “middle/high class white society” mindset. This mindset places high value on heterosexual norms as well as “regular” culture gender norms. When a person is white-washed he or she is oppressed.
Homophobia in the Black Community (Ray)
In this section, what homophobia in the black community is mainly about is black women are becoming sensitive or sympathetic to the women’s movement. The reason that black women are so homophobic is that attraction repulsion thing, which causes them to speak out vociferously against lesbianism, if they don’t they may have to deal with their own deep feelings for women. Black women are more vulnerable to homophobic attack because they don’t have white skin privilege or class privilege to fall back on if somebody wants to start a smear campaign against them. This topic relates to gender oppression because black women are having a hard time sticking to the idea of gender norms. Just like how it is talked about in the black community how people are having a hard time sticking to gender norms, it is shown threw other races. Through the 80’s and 90’s people of the same gender were getting together. My cousin Leia, she is a bisexual and she has a girlfriend and she is only 19 years old. The view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity is intersectional feminism and it relates to my topic because black women experience oppression almost every day. The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men is feminism and my topic relates to feminism because the main idea of homophobia in the black community is women being sensitive to the women’s movement.
MailOnline, Annabel Fenwick Elliott for. “‘People Think You’re Either a Cheater or a Swinger’: Bisexual Women Reveal the Frustrations of Being Attracted to Men AND Women in Secret Confessions.” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 26 June 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3137474/Bisexual-women-reveal-frustrations-attracted-men-women-secret-confessions.html
Moraga, Cherríe, and Gloria Anzaldúa. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone, 1981. Print.
