Reimagining Our Feminist Futures | Amira Pierotti | TEDxOakParkWomen
A youth activist argues that feminism must redefine itself to be a coalition focused on dismantling all sexism by implementing intersectionality across all fronts. She posits that current mainstream feminism fails by prioritizing white, cisgender womanhood, thereby marginalizing TGI people, disabled individuals, and communities of color. The required pathway involves mutual aid, building joint movements that actively incorporate TGI and anti-racist frameworks to combat the systemic power of the gender/sex binary.
## Speakers & Context
- Youth activist for gender justice and self-proclaimed feminist.
- Speaker's experience: Transformed from an advocate to a threat within certain feminist circles after coming out as non-binary.
- Core critique: Current definitions of feminism lead to widespread exclusion.
## Theses & Positions
- Feminism's goal must be redefined to be the fight to dismantle *all* forms of sexism.
- Feminism has never been monolithic; countless movements tackle specific community needs.
- Achieving gender and sex equality requires simultaneously achieving racial justice, disability justice, and other forms of freedom.
- The gender and sex binary is a construct created by white supremacist mythology, not a natural reality.
- A redefined feminism must house a coalition approach, supporting all groups impacted by sexism (interphobia, transphobia, misogyny).
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Feminism:** Initially seen as a freedom cry; meant to provide gender- and sex-based equality.
- **Intersectionality:** Theory developed by Black women and Black people assigned female at birth stating that all oppression and all privilege are interconnected.
* *Example:* Black women cannot separate their blackness from their womanhood or their womanhood from their blackness.
- **Sexism:** Commonly understood as misogyny, but must encompass oppression faced by TGI people due to gender and biological sex.
- **Gender and Sex Binary:** The notion that there are only two biological sexes with corresponding and unequal genders; instituted by European and American colonial rule.
- **Transphobia/Interphobia:** Forms of discrimination faced by transgender, gender expansive, and intersex people due to their genders/biological sexes.
- **Mutual Aid:** Supporting each other's work by building community power, rather than donating resources as charity; advocating based on community instructions.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Development of Theory:** Black women and Black people assigned female at birth developed intersectionality in response to mainstream feminism treating black liberation as secondary to its goals.
- **Creation of Movements:** Marginalized feminists created separate movements (e.g., native feminism) that center issues like indigenous sovereignty and decolonization.
- **Reinforcing the Binary:** White male scientists in the 19th and 20th centuries fabricated scientific evidence using methods performed on enslaved black women and black people assigned female at birth to create guidelines for "normal anatomy."
- **Healing Advocacy:** Feminism must support healing for TGI communities, recognizing that the movement itself has perpetuated violence by denying the womanhood of trans and intersex women.
## Named Entities
- **Kimberlé Crenshaw:** Coined the term "intersectionality."
- **Angela Davis:** Quoted regarding the interconnected nature of oppression.
- **Professor:** Referenced in relation to Kimberlé Crenshaw.
- **Native feminism:** Movement centering gender justice, indigenous sovereignty, and anti-colonialism in North America.
- **Emi Koyama:** Scholar/activist noting that mainstream American feminism defines womanhood as white, cisgender, and privileged.
- **TGI:** Acronym for transgender, gender expansive, and intersex people.
- **The Trevor Project:** Cited for a study on LGBTQ+ Americans.
- **Chivados and Andongo culture:** Pre-colonial societies that respected TGI people.
- **Bell Hooks:** Educator and activist who describes feminism as a fight against sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.
- **Sister Song:** Black and brown led national organization doing reproductive justice work.
## Numbers & Data
- One quarter of LGBTQ+ Americans ages nine through 27 are non-binary or gender expansive (per Trevor Project study).
## Examples & Cases
- **Lack of Intersectionality in US Feminism:** Privileged white women fought for equality solely for themselves.
- **Anti-Racism/Feminism Disconnect:** Black liberation was treated as unrelated or unnecessary in mainstream feminism.
- **Institutional Exclusion:** The Michigan Women’s Music Festival enforced a *women born women* policy banning trans women as recently as 2015.
- **Scientific Misapplication:** Havelock Ellis measured black and queer people assigned female at birth and compared results to white, straight, cisgender women to set boundaries of biological sex.
- **Modern Medical Practice:** Today, the majority of doctors recommend surgery on intersex infants to bring them in line with the gender/sex binary.
- **Flourishing Partnerships:** Partnerships between women's rights and TGI Justice movements are already flourishing, citing Sister Song as an example.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- None specified.
## References Cited
- **Kimberlé Crenshaw:** Coiner of intersectionality.
- **Angela Davis:** Quoted on understanding oppression.
- **Bell Hooks:** Defined feminism as a fight against sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.
- **The Michigan Women’s Music Festival:** Cited for enforcing the *women born women* policy in 2015.
- **Trevor Project:** Cited for the study on LGBTQ+ Americans.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- Some view feminism as an overuse or outdated concept.
- The reproductive justice movement has mostly ignored TGI communities, limiting care and overlooking strategies TGI people have created.
## Methodology
- **Activism:** Youth activism for gender justice driving the call for redefining feminism.
- **Theory Building:** Use of intersectionality to grasp the root of oppression by linking race, class, ability, and gender.
- **Coalition Building:** Proposed structure where different communities define and lead their own liberation under the feminist umbrella via joint work.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Feminism must evolve from advocating *only* for women's liberation to becoming a place where all people impacted by sexism can work together in coalition.
- The movement must actively center intersectionality, uplift black and brown feminists, and embrace decolonization within itself.
- Action steps: Educate yourself/community on allyship and equity; "Call in friends" or "Call out" harmful behaviors.
- The goal is to create a transgender, gender expansive, and intersex inclusive feminist movement to bring together those separated by colonial logics.
## Implications & Consequences
- The gender and sex binary's origins in white supremacy are crucial to understanding current oppressions.
- Continuing to enforce this binary leads to medical practices denying bodily autonomy (intersex surgery).
- Failure to embrace intersectionality keeps liberation incomplete, leaving marginalized people behind.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"sexism is alive, well and in need of dismantling."*
- *"When I came out as non-binary, neither a boy nor a girl, I was transformed from an advocate to a threat in the eyes of too many feminists."*
- *"Intersectionality states that all oppression and all privilege is interconnected."*
- *"we can't defeat one oppression without defeating both."*
- *"When looking through this intersectional lens, you can see that it is impossible to achieve gender and sex equality without racial justice, disability justice or any other freedom."*
- *"The goal and result of this effort was to separate queerness, blackness and brownness from a white, idealized version of womanhood."*
- *"all of whom by our very existence prove this binary to be a myth."*
- *"calling them out."*
- *"a transgender, gender expansive, an intersex inclusive feminist movement can help bring us together."*