Group A, 1, Citizenship
The 14th amendment to the United States constitution states that anyone who is
born on U.S soil is considered a U.S. Citizen. This ‘common-law right of the land’ is
known as Jus Soli. (Kerber) Dr. Kesinger defines citizenship in Module 3 as, ’a
participant in an imagined social contract within a political community’. Within that
community, citizens are granted certain rights, like the right to vote or access to public
education. They’re also expected to participate in the duties within that community,
which could include paying taxes or serving on a jury. Oftentimes these citizenship
lines become blurred, particularly when it comes to oppressed groups, within the
United States. We can see a clear example of these blurred lines in the video ‘Standing
on My Sisters Shoulders’. During this era African American citizens, specifically
women, were still being denied their right to vote. The video is about a group of women
from Mississippi, in the 1960’s, who were proactively fighting for their right to vote as
U.S. citizens. These African American women should have been granted equal voting
rights, just as any other U.S. citizen would have been granted, yet they weren't. The
fact that these African American citizens weren’t allowed to vote or were discouraged
from voting is a direct violation of their rights of citizenship within the community of the
United States of America. As the 14th amendment states, these individuals were
citizens of the U.S. because they were born on U.S. soil. Considering they were all
born in the United States they should have had the title of citizen, which in turn means
they should have been granted their right to vote as U.S. citizens without conditions.
Citizenship is an important term within the study of Women and U.S. politics
because we can look back throughout the history of the United States and see many
times oppressed groups, like women, have had vastly different experiences in regards
to their status as citizens. For example, as Professor Zagarri points out in her video in
Module 3, ‘the question of wether women were considered citizens under the U.S.
constitutions is immensely complicated’.(Zagarri) For example, a woman's experience
of being a citizen has not always been equivalent to a mans experience of being a
citizen. As it wasn’t until the ‘19th amendment was passed in 1920’ that women could
actually vote, before that time it was only men who were allowed to vote. (Kerber 839)
This landmark amendment still didn’t encompass all women within the United States
as seen in the video ‘Standing on My Sisters Shoulders’. Kerber points this out in her
essay saying, ‘the meanings of citizenship have been inconsistent since the beginning’.
(Kerber 836) These inconsistencies in citizenship can still be seen today in other
minority groups, such as the children of undocumented immigrants. As the movie ‘Dred
Scott, Wong Kim Ark and Vanessa Lopez’ points out, ‘It is the citizenship of millions of
children… born in the United States to undocumented parents, that is at stake now”.
We can clearly see that citizenship is a broad and controversial term that often leads to
extensive debate.
Kerber, Linda K. “The Meanings of Citizenship” The Journal of American History
“Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders”. New York: Sadoff Productions
‘Women as Citizens Under the U.S. Constitution’ by Professor Rosemarie Zagarri
Dred Scott, Wong Kim Ark and Vanessa Lopez
Group B, 5, Gender socialization and its link to either political efficacy or
participation
Within the political world of the United States of America women are more likely
than men to experience sexual exploitation. This harassment could be in the form of
sexual innuendo to them, their families or their employees. It could also be rape
threats, fake nude photos going around the internet or even their office buildings being
vandalized with vulgarities and profanities. These horrendous examples of sexual
harassment are all too often minimized as ‘locker room talk’, excused as normal
behavior or even outright denied. The abusers often have no repercussions for their
actions and go on unpunished. This is because sexism and misogyny are so
embedded into our society that it’s become allowed and even accepted to openly
harass women, specifically in a male dominated world such as politics. As Jennifer
Piscopo points out in her article ‘Being a Woman in Politics Shouldn’t Come with Death
Threats’, more women than men have to deal with this type of sexual exploitation.
Piscopo also says that ‘Among 283 U.S. mayors, women were yelled at… and
experienced other forms of physical violence more than men’. (Piscopo) This shows us
that even though we like to pretend women are treated as equals in the political world,
some peoples abusive actions and their lack of consequences for those actions remind
us that this isn’t always the case. Even though women are making strides forward,
there is still not equal representation of women in offices of power. This may be
because, for women, participating in politics or holding a position of political power
comes with dangerous costs, as discussed above.
As Piscopo says in her article, ’The abuse faced by women in the public eye
sends a distinctive message to all women and girls: Beware what happens when you
step outside the roles prescribed for you’. (Piscopo) It’s imperative to really understand
the repercussions these embedded patriarchal social patterns could have on young
girls and their active participation in politics. These social patterns could end up
deterring these girls, throughout the United States, from running for positions of
political power. They might choose not to participate in politics because they have a
legitimate fear that they too could be victims of sexual exploitation or harassment. This
would be an unfortunate turn of events that would lead to even less representation by
women in the political world than there currently is. We can see an example of this lack
of gender diversity in the United States congress where only 27% of the seats are
occupied by women. (Piscopo) This is clearly an inaccurate representation of the
gender diversity within our country. As Enloe says it is an example of the ’structural and
idealogical systems that perpetuates the privileging of masculinity’. (Enloe) In the long
run if girls choose not to run for public offices because they fear being sexually
exploited, it would just confirm the favoring of masculine ideologies and the devaluing
of feminist ideologies in the United States.
Piscopo, Jennifer M. “Being a Woman in Politics Shouldn’t Come with Death Threats”
Enloe, Cynthia. The Curious Feminist.
D, Intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical framework used to describe the various ways a
persons gender, race and class intersect and interact with one another. These
interactions in turn become our social identities which shape our personal lived
experiences. These various overlapping parts inform the ways in which society
interacts with us. Meaning, these layers either offer us more privilege or more
oppression. In this essay I will explore the numerous ways intersectionality plays a role
in our societal structures as well as the way it leads to the inequality and
marginalization of various intersecting groups based on gender, race and class. We will
also investigate the ways these groups interact with one another to create more
inclusive social movements.
We can begin to start looking at intersectionality through the concept of braided
citizenship. Braided citizenship, as explained by Kerber, is the idea that ‘citizenship as
experienced historically…is woven into the three ropes of race, class, and gender’.
(Kerber 837) This idea of braided citizenship was brought to life in the film ‘Standing on
My Sisters’ Shoulders’ in Module 5. The video explores African Americans activists
from Mississippi, specifically women, who were experiencing systemic oppression in
being denied their legal right to vote.
The women in the film were experiencing, as Kimberle Crenshaw says, ‘the
weaving of many social justice issues, like racism and sexism, creating multiple levels
of social injustice.’ (Crenshaw) Not only were they black, a racial group that has
continuously experienced inequality throughout history, they were women too. We
know from all of our modules in this class that women have also experienced inequality
throughout Americas patriarchal history. Due to these intersecting parts, the black
women in the video were experiencing much less privilege and much more oppression
than their white counterparts. This is an example of intersectionality, a ‘double
discrimination’. (Crenshaw)
If we take this idea a step further and examine intersectionality more in depth we
can see that these categories of race, gender and class aren’t necessarily different
from one another, but rather they are in relationship with one another. As Terriquez says
in Module 4’s reading, ‘Intersectionality as a Multipurpose Collective Action Frame’,
these parts of our identity ‘cannot meaningfully operate separately from each
other.’ (Terriquez) Meaning, like in the case of the black women from Mississippi, we
are unable to separate their blackness from their womanhood. Those two parts of their
identity construct and interact with one another, which is the concept of
intersectionality.
Think of, for example a straight African American man. Straight men aren’t
generally thought to be an oppressed group of people. However, African American
people have definitely experienced oppression throughout history. Now, imagine if that
African American man was gay rather than straight. He may have more experiences of
injustice in his life because he is a gay, as opposed to straight, and he is a black man,
as opposed to the all to white. As Terriquez says, ‘intersectionality highlights the
varying ways in which overlapping social identity markers combine to shape different
forms of social marginalization.’ (Terriquez) This is another example of intersectionality
as this hypothetical man is a member of multiple marginalized groups.
Sometimes these marginalized groups, like the LGBTQ community or women’s
rights activists, come together into a collective action movement. These layered social
movements are often forged together because of their shared understanding of
injustices. We can see an example of this in the article ‘Marching Together: What
Feminism Can Learn From Black Lives Matter.’ Where the author, Blain, says that
‘Intersectionality encourages us to acknowledge that people have multi-faceted
identities, and therefore movements that advocate for the rights of marginalized
communities need to incorporate this into their activist practice.’ (Blain) What Blain is
ultimately saying is that it's not enough to just advocate for black lives matter if it
doesn’t include all black people under its umbrella.
Yet, we can actually see this advocation for inclusivity within the Black Lives
Matter movement. As a large portion of their founders are queer black women. (Blain)
This inclusivity is in an effort to uplift all black people, not just some black people. This
support comes regardless of if they are a woman, man, trans, gay, straight, rich or
poor. (Blain) It is a very inclusive group that makes conscious effort to include all
members of the African American community. In turn, this solidarity will uplift all of its
members, leaving nobody behind. As Crenshaw says, ’Without frames that allow us to
see how social problems impact all the members of a targeted group, many will fall
through the cracks.’ (Crenshaw)
We can clearly see throughout this essay the way these various social identities
that encompass race, gender and class overlap and interact with one another to
become our experienced reality within society. Through the study of intersectionality,
we can begin to understand how certain marginalized groups, like the example of the
women in Mississippi or the gay black man, may experience more oppression
throughout their lives based on their intersecting identities. Oftentimes the challenge
faced in studying intersectionality is maintaining the ability to see and understand the
full spectrum of a persons story. As Audre Lorde quotes, ‘There is no such thing as a
single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.’ To make progress on
the topic of intersectionality we must continue in our attempt to understand the multi
layered lives that people live.
Blain, Cicely-Belle. ‘Marching Together: What Feminism Can Learn From Black Lives
Matter.’
Kerber, Linda K. ‘The Meanings of Citizenship”.
Terriquez, Veronica, Brenes, Tizoc and Lopez, Abdiel. ‘Intersectionality as a
Multipurpose Collective Action Frame: The Case of the Undocumented Youth
Movement.’
‘TEDTalks: Kimberle Crenshaw: The Urgency of Intersectionality”
“Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders”. New York: Sadoff Productions