Feminist Politics and Location

 For this week's post, I chose to read the feminist literature written by Aimee Marie Carrillo Rowe. "Be Longing: Towards a Feminist Politics of Relation" does a fantastic job of outlining the ways in which different aspects of our identity influence our belonging and sense of accountability in certain locations. This piece is moving because she not only speaks on her own experiences as a queer woman, but also brings in others who have shared similar experiences. 

This article not only focuses on queerness, but blackness as well. Intersectionality is a topic that must be studied, because each of these identities build upon each other, rather than cancel eachother out. Black, queer women experience oppression from both sides, often having members of one group facing discrimination from members of the other. This, on top of other things, make it difficult for these women to find their belonging. Rich, one of the women the article comments on, is a white, jewish, queer woman, She reflects on the ways in which different aspects of her identity have shaped her; where her identity has caused her struggles, but also where it her benefitted her. In some spaces, she has plenty of room for who she is, while in others she may be an outsider.

This article takes a deep dive into the importance of location and the effect of identity on who we are bale to be and our sense of accountability. In spaces where we experience the effects of being in the majority, we ,ust be ready to take accountability for our own actions and those around us, especially when those actions are making the belonging of those in the minority more difficult.

Rowe, Aimee Marie Carrillo. "Be Longing: Toward a Feminist Politics of Relation." NWSA Journal, vol. 17 no. 2, 2005, p. 15-46. Project MUSE.