Womanism is a social theory based on the discovery of the limitations of the Second-wave feminism movement in regards to the history and experiences of black women, and other women of marginalized groups.
Writer, poet, and activist Alice Walker is credited with coining the term “womanist”. The term has evolved to envelop varied, and often opposing interpretations, however, mainly, womanism allows black women and other women of color and/or marginalized groups to affirm and celebrate their color and culture in a way that feminism does not allow them to.In the words of Clenora Hudson-Weems and Alicia Boisnier, black women often struggle to identify with traditional feminism, because they do not identify with the issues that feminism typically advocates for. Alternatively, Delores Williams, a womanist theologian, associates womanism with the traditions and activism formed from the conditions, events, meanings and values within the African-American community. Williams further asserts that the task of the Womanist theologian is to embody activism by seeking out the voices of the unheard and the experiences of the neglected. She identifies the distinct difference between the experiences of the black woman and the white woman that makes it difficult to identify with feminism. One of the key components of feminism is to end a woman’s subjugation to her male counterpart, yet there are other oppressive forces that black women face that takes precedence over the perceived subjugation of the black woman by the black man. This represents an expectation and experience of the black woman as one filled with the quest for knowledge, competence, and authority that surpasses the individual, but encompasses the group.This idea of community rather than individuality is further illustrated by the portrayal of a woman as the embodiment of her environment. In this way womanism does not focus indiscriminately on the experiences of black woman, but desires the reconciliation of all people to their spirituality, their relationships with each other, and their relationship with nature. It characterizes women as willful and capable thereby contrasting the image of a women as subservient and inferior. In doing so, womanism empowers women, and challenges them to break from the traditional definition of womanhood.
via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Womanism
The feminist movement traditionally was a middle class white women’s movement and rarely included women of color. In its first wave in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the movement fought for suffrage rights for white women, and later in its second wave the focus was on cultural and social rights which involved sexuality, family laws, workplace, and reproductive rights. Although Feminism addresses and fights for gender equality, it rarely addressed equality and justice for black women. It was never involved in the civil rights movement to help guarantee black women social equality. Unfortunately, there have also been some claims that some members of the feminist movement were racist. Justine Tally mentions in her article Why ‘Womanism? : The Genesis of a New Word and What It Means, “many early so-called feminists supported racist eugenics initiatives, including sterilization of minority women”.
During that period, women of Color or African American women were not only suffering from political and social inequality similar to their white sisters, but they were also racially oppressed due to the color of their skin and ethnicity. The white women of the feminist movement failed to recognize this aspect, it did not encompass the realities and perspectives of the African American Women’s suffering from slavery and segregation. This is why many women of color couldn’t associate with Feminism and found representation and identified with the new term “Womanist”.
Another difference between Feminism and Womanism is that some feminists present men as the enemy in their fight for equality in a patriarchal world. It can be seen as a separatist movement, unlike womanism that emphasizes women’s relationships with men and the importance of family who are “committed to the survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female” (Alice Walker). Womanism not only fights for the gender equality but for justice against racial oppression against African American men and women.
via https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/what-is-a-womanist/
yea all this is about my masculinity. alice walker, anna j cooper, audre lorde, bell hooks and etc were all concerned about my masculinity. lmao. due to all this attack on my masculinity i support political, economical, social, cultural and spiritual empowerment for black women AND NOT ONLY THAT i identify with a group which was created for this purpose. yea. that makes total sense.
but hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.
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