From Womanhood to Liberation: A Personal Reflection on Feminism’s Evolving Meaning

I wrote a short writing piece on my evolving thoughts on feminism a few days ago. You can read the entire piece below;).

____________

As a woman of color from the global south, I had been deeply affected by and interested in all sorts of gender equality-related issues from a young age before I took my first feminist course at 17 as a freshman college student in New York City. Over the years, my reflections on feminism have been shaped and evolved by my own experiences, observations on what other women and queer people have gone through, protests, and so much more.

For a long time, I identified as an intersectional feminist, later as a trans-inclusive radical feminist (still consider myself an intersectional feminist in some ways). Lately, I’ve been doing more readings and reflections related to Marxist Feminism. I would say intersectional feminism, trans-inclusive radical feminism, and marxist feminism – these three branches of feminism have informed and touched me deeply. I am highly critical of mainstream liberal feminism though.

Speaking of feminism, one question I used to ask is: What does womanhood mean to women? For me, womanhood has biological, social and political implications. (Of course womanhood is not purely defined by biology. Some women may not consider biology an important part of their womanhood at all. But for enough cis women, or people who are assigned female gender at birth, biology has been a painful, messy, and important part for their personhood. Intensive hormonal shifts at the beginning of puberty and by the time they start menopause can be a lot to handle, not to mention the fear of pregnancy and experiences with pcos, endometriosis and miscarriages can be deeply traumatic and shape the way some women experience the relationship between their biology and womanhood. For trans women and men, their understanding of their gender assigned at birth against their consent, their true gender, gendered violence and gender liberation can be quite complex and rich….)

Womanhood also has social meanings given that ever since we were babies until now, our parents enforce gendered expectations for us to perform based on heteronormative-patrarchical norms. As we grow up, we gradually learn about strict gendered roles that we are supposed to perform with the influence of peer pressure, the media we consume, observations on how others interact with one another and realize that we get rewarded by performing the expected gender roles from our gender assigned at birth, and are questioned, made fun of, or punished when our gender performance deviates from the assigned gendered roles.

Womanhood has political implications as well: Women’s bodies are seen as political given that topics about accessible and cheap abortions (contraceptive choices in general), gender-inclusive and comprehensive sex education that benefits all women and queer people, and unfair restrictions on trans women’s access to restrooms and changing rooms and so much more are considered political debates.

My understanding of my type of feminism is: Feminism is not purely about equal rights and empowerments in freedom of choices. (Of course freedom for all women and girls to choose is important. In many parts of the world, women are still denied equal education and empowerment, shamed by getting their periods, and are not legally protected when they go through gendered violence. Freedom from gender-based discrimination and violence and freedom to live physically, financially, and psychologically independent are indeed important for all women and girls. But, we need to go beyond the overemphasis on freedom and empowerment. In reality, not all choices are absolutely free and how much freedom is granted to different women can be vastly different from one another. We have to critically ask: What economic and social conditions cause women to make certain choices? How much free choice do poor women truly have compared to women from more economically privileged situations? What are the long-term consequences for this woman after she makes certain choices? Women can make free choices align with gendered patriarchal expectations and/or put less privileged women in worse conditions.)

Feminism should be more of a political movement that aims to improve the material conditions of the most oppressed women among us, including those nationally, racially, and economically oppressed women. Any so-called feminism that does not aim to improve the social-political conditions of women of color from the global south, immigrant and working-class and racialised women in the empire core, and queer and trans women…is not feminist at all.

As an intersectional feminist/trans-inclusive radical feminist, I’ve always been supportive of trans and queer liberation. I consider ideologies and practices from terfs (trans exclusive radical feminists) deeply harmful.

I consider myself a sex-trade abolitionist and are deeply critical of the sex trade in general. I am against the sex trade given the link between sex trade, imperialist violence, and harms done by racialised women in the global south (e.g., Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines) whose countries rely on sex tourism to survive; I am against the sex trade given economic desperation is the main factor that pushes poor women (in global south and in the empire core) to enter the industry; I am against the sex trade given how many cis men sex buyers of all races and class backgrounds are entitled and violent against women they buy sex from, and how much the mainstream porn industry portrays women of color and trans people stereotypically and so much more. Meanwhile, I understand women enter the sex trade for different reasons and support the practice of decrimilizing (not legalizing) the sex trade, given that many women and queer people who are currently in the sex trade ask for decriminalisation.

I am anti-surrogacy. Women’s bodies are not for sale. Rich couples from the global north should not gain access to buy unlimited emotional and physical labor and unpredictable risks from economically desperate women in their countries or those from the global south. Full Stop.

As for recommended readings on feminism, I highly recommend all the reading lists from this google drive. Link to the drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1-7ZvfpsP6i3_KE04ud8Ird6IIrHzol_s?fbclid=PAdGRleAQGXWRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAadNEnYYhyEL1m6vOMgEFq19zNZPNwWwHn2zjY-aX3iKqL6JKgcjYt94SHOUZA_aem_heHeev43qxqLJkjp3RUpx (You can copy and paste this link without any issues)

Writings by Kimberle Crenshaw are good start for anyone who wants to learn about intersectional feminism. Writings by Andrea Dworkin, her life-long partner John Stolenberg and Catharine MacKinnon can be read together for anyone who wants to read about trans-inclusive radical feminism. Articles such as "The unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism: Towards a more progressive union" by Heidi I. Hartmann and "The Family as the Locus of Gender, Class, and Political Struggle: The Example of Housework" and a comprehensive book titled "Marxism and Feminism" edited by Shahrzad Mojab are helpful for those who want to read about Marxist Feminism. (Many of the relevant readings I mention here are already included in the link I share above.) You can also read books/articles by Talia Bhatt – a trans woman of color who is originally from India. Here’s the link to her substack: https://substack.com/@taliabhatt?r=1gxkkr&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile&shareImageVariant=light (Once again, you can copy and paste this link without any issues at all)

Read and advocate work from women of color from the global south, racialised and working-class women in the west, and trans and queer women;)!

Read, talk, and practice what you believe with actions;). Good Luck!