"Who is 'We'?" -- A Closer Look at Feminist Theory

Audre Lorde's The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Masters House and Adrienne Rich's Notes Toward a Politics of Location are both very critical reactions to the broad concept of Feminism. Both authors contest that the feminist theory derived from the white, middle to upper-class, educated, and Western-thinkers leaves out or marginalizes the views, contributions, and/or beliefs of women who do not fit that mold. In her essay, Lorde argues that the feminist movement cannot prosper so long as feminists reject or ignore the ideas of other feminists. She relates this ignorance of white feminism to the problems of patriarchy, the tool responsible for the inequality between man and woman:

"Women of today are still being called upon to stretch across the gap of male ignorance and to educate men as to our existence and our needs. This is an old and primary tool of all oppressors to keep the oppressed occupied with the master's concerns. Now we hear it is the task of women of Color to educate white women-in the face of tremendous resistance-as to our existence, our differences, our relative roles in our joint survival. This is a diversion of energies and a tragic repetition of racist patriarchal thought." (27)

Adrienne Rich makes a similar claim to including and embracing different views/takes on feminism. Rich goes on at length about how she has come to understand feminism through her own experiences through talking about "the body." Rich then goes on to critique many on feminists for attempting to speak for women as a whole. She argues that the concept of feminism must be inclusive to women of all race, religion, sexuality, socioeconomic status, political views, etc.

 

"There is no liberation that only knows how to say 'I'; there is no collective movement that speaks for each of us all the way through." (37)

Rich ends her argument by explaining that the shape of the feminist theory has deep roots in the African-American struggles for equality (41). This idea that Black feminism, in many ways, has a more legitimate claim to the harsh realities of discrimination and inequality shows that white liberal feminists need to fully commit themselves to including and understanding these arguments, as well as others, into their feminist rhetoric.