Feminism And

Empowerment

By: Dominique Dumas

What can marginalized individuals and groups

do to empower themselves and each other?

Marginalized individuals and groups can work together and hear

each others narratives to move towards a more progressive
society while empowering each other in a world where they are
othered.

Why ignorance
harms us
Kylie Jenner says that she feels
bound by her fame and that is
why she posed in a wheelchair.

Why we need the narratives

What Kylie Jenner and others fail to understand is that, disabled
people do not feel bound to their chairs or crutches. For many
disabled people, their chairs and crutches are their legs. It is
insensitive to say and think that disabled people cannot function
in society. This is another example of people exploiting
marginalized groups for money.
Her editorial ad isnt empowering, it sets us back. Another
reason why is it futile to hear the narratives of marginalized
groups and individuals.

Back to the basics

How can we work together?

In order to empower each other, we must all stop seeing each other as
other.
When we make people other, we group them together as the objects of
our experience instead of regarding them as fellow subjects of experience
with whom we might identify, (Wendell, 834).
Wendell states, If you are other to me, I see you primarily as symbolic of
something else-usually, but not always, something I reject and fear and
that I project onto you, (834).
In other words, we need to break out of the way weve been conditioned to
view people. Breaking free of the way weve been conditioned will allow us
to work together without boundaries.

Challenging the system

When we are able to practice curdling we are able to
dismantle the very system that wishes to keep us separate. We
are able to empower and support each other. When we cannot
hear each others narratives progression is at a stand still.
The politics of marginalization in oppressed groups is part of
the politics of oppression, and the disconnection of oppression is
part of these politicsSo I see a cross fertilization between the
logic of purity used to exclude members of oppressed groups
from the civic public and the separation and disconnection of
oppressions, (Lugones, 474).

Understanding
Purity and
Curdling

Cliteracy 101
Artists, like Sophia Wallace, are important to feminism because
her project, Cliteracy narrates for women. Our bodies are seen
as objects to men. Even in porn, women are a prop to male
pleasure. This reinforces the idea that women are others in our
society.
Learning about our bodies and making the female anatomy as
well-known as the penis is a small step towards our ultimate
goal. Our bodies are the mainstream erotic image, but our
anatomy and the uses of our organs are invisible. Its appalling
and shocking to think that scientifically, that the clitoris was
only discovered in 1998, (Wallace, Huffington Post 2013).

How can you fight the patriarchy

when you dont know your own
body?

Closing
There are many ways we can empower marginalized groups.
Listening to their stories and making sure everyone is heard
when we are discussing feminism will make our cause that
much greater. Without the support of all of us, we are weak and
not inclusive. With all of us, we are unstoppable.