Intersectionality in Early Feminist Texts
Introduction
Intersectionality is described by Roopika Risam as, "...look[ing] beyond the race-class-gender triad...to additional axes of difference including sexuality and ability. As a lens for scholarship in the digital humanities, intersectionality resists binary logic, encourages complex analysis, and foregrounds difference" (1). In this project our goal is to examine three early feminist texts just as Risam describes. In our pages, we describe similarities in all of the texts, but first and foremost we want our readers to realize their individuality. There is no set path for looking through this project, no piece of information takes priority over the other. We have created pages that are individual yet collaborative, making for a design that exhibits how intersectionality operates.The word "feminism" was first used in the late 19th century and early 20th century; a time when women's suffrage and rights movements were beginning to pick up momentum around the world. After living in supressive Victorian society, women began to push for their rights to be educated, be able to work, own property, and to vote. Women of color especially faced societal hardships, their idenities being attacked on all fronts by being not only women, but also non-white. Women of color face poverty, enslavement, and harassment by govermental and state officals.
The want to be able to create a space and happy life for women spurred utpoian texts like "Sultana's Dream" by Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in which women gained power over thier own lives and were able to make stable and sustainable societies. Iola Leroy by Frances Harper was created to be a didactic guide for not only women, but for everyone who participated in the institution of slavery. Despite Iola living in a dystopic society, she was able to build her own personal utopia with her family and friends.
In directly comparing these texts, we are showing that there is no one way to write feminist messages and that the women from all three texts have different struggles because of their gender, class, and race. This project is made to explore these authors and their works as individuals and also as collaborators in a larger canon of feminist texts.
This page has paths:
- Welcome Gabrielle Borders
