Our focus today is mainstream feminism and its failure to include intersectional thought. Looking at the Weinstein and R. Kelly cases and their similarities asking why one case was hidden for decades and the other became high profile overnight. This analysis is grounded in Black feminist theory, particularly the principle of intersectionality (Crenshaw,
1991), to critique the whiteness of mainstream feminist campaigns against sexual violence. This can ultimately exclude women from lower classes and different ethnicities from participating in political movements such as #MeToo.
The momentum of the #MeToo movement had started in 2006 by Tarana Burke (Leung & Williams, 2019) which was to highlight and raise awareness for women who have experienced rape and/or sexual abuse. Tarana Burke, who is African American had noted on serval accounts that her effects to start this movement was unheralded in the mainstream media when she first launched the movement (Leung & Williams, 2019). It wasn’t until 2017 when prominent figures with large followings started using the phrase when the Harvey Weinstein case came into the light the #MeToo movement went viral encouraging women to speak out against sexual assault (Gomez & Gobin, 2019). However, before the Weinstein case, R. Kelly had been publicly accused of sexual assault, abuse of a minor, making indecent images of minors, racketeering and obstruction of justice and had no consequences to his career being able to produce music up until 2017.
This brings into question why it occurred for too long, and what made society forget these victims for so long? Feminism supposedly stood for all women, why were these women seemingly left behind and what made their stories unbelievable for so long? While the #MeToo movement addresses grievances a person faces based on gender, using the comparison of the R. Kelly case and the Weinstein case #MeToo may not have addressed situations in which race may also be a factor.
Alison Phipps (2020) notes that while #MeToo had a global online reach, the creator of the Me-Too Movement did not get the same recognition. Most of the key figures of #MeToo were high profile white women like Uma Thurman, Angelina Jolie, Kate Beckinsale etc (Leung & Williams, 2019). These were all women that were liked by the public and can be described as more digestible women which further helps gain attraction in the first place. This further demonstrates who is more favourable to listen to and why this is the case. Having more wealth or influence and likeability gives these white women a bigger platform to make themselves heard because it’s in people’s public and personal interest, following celebrities’ lives allow people to become infatuated with the glamorous life they live so when an injustice is presented to them, it’s an amplified issue that gets the utmost attention.
What feminism may fail to do is consider the intersectionality of sexual violence and how this societal issue can be amplified if you are of a different racial profile other than white. The difference between both cases is that the victims of Harvey Weinstein held a different and more influential social identity, these women were white, rich and had an influential status; meanwhile, R. Kelly’s victims were black, young, working-class girls. Phipps (2021) highlights the weapon of ‘white tears’ underpinning movements such as #MeToo. The exclusion of many women of colour from mainstream feminism creates issues with applying intersectionality. There was little to no connection on the intersections between gender and race during the rise of the #MeToo movement.
The notion of mainstream feminism is only for white women have been a long concern, hashtags such as #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen was originally created to highlight the support given to prominent high profile white feminisms. Solidarity has been shown for Rose McGowan’s (one of Weinstein’s victims and vocal feminist) Twitter suspension, many responded by boycotting the social media site for 24 hours. However multiple black women have pointed out that there has been so solidarity for black female celebrities for leaving social platforms due to racial abuse and/or suspensions.
These racial divisions expanded within the feminist community when Tarana Burke was not recognised as the creator of #MeToo. The consistent display of black invisibility and intersectional thought has been an issue since first-wave feminism. Historically Black women were viewed as lesser than a woman and hypersexualised and viewed as animalistic (Sattles, et al., 2008). Intersectionality was first defined in 1989 when Crenshaw (1989) created the term to analyse Black feminist theory and how society has refused to accept the grievances and suffering of Black women who are discriminated against because of their gender and race. African American women deal with conflicting struggles within and outside the Black community, and this is especially is seen in the R. Kelly case.
Various waves of feminism and gender theory made substantial progress in understanding, however, fail to adapt intersectionality into the movement and fail to acknowledge that mainstream feminism is for the white, middle- or upper-class women. Feminism has struggled to addressed women of colour and disregards their concerns because it doesn’t address the majority. This can ultimately draw women of colour away from mainstream feminism and cause a divide within the feminist community which defeats the purpose of the ideology of feminism.
WORKS CITED
Phipps, A. 2020, Me, Not You : The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism, Manchester University Press, Manchester. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [23 March 2022].
Kantor, J. & Twohey, M., 2017. Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades. [Online]
Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html
Leung, R. & Williams, R., 2019. #MeToo and Intersectionality: An Examinations of the #Metoo Movement Through the R. Kelly Scandal. Journal of Communication Inquiry, pp. 349-371.
Peters, M. A. & Besley, T., 2019. Weinstein, sexual predation and ‘Rape Culture’ Public pedagogies and Hashatge Internet Activism. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 51(5), pp. 458-464.
Savage, M., 2019. R. Kelly: The history of all allegations against him. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40635526
Surviving R. Kelly. 2019. [Film] Directed by Tamra Simmons, Joel Karsberg, Jessica Everleth, Maria Pepin, Jesse Daniels Dream Hampton. s.l.: s.n.
Hi Thyra, thanks so much for your thoughtful analysis on the importance of considering intersectionality in the case of the MeToo movement. I wonder though, given that your blog focussed mostly on the intersectional factors of gender and race, to what extent do you think other components like socioeconomic status play a role? For instance, in the case of Epstein, the vast majority of his victims came from a low socioeconomic status and it took them almost twenty years to get some semblance of justice. I’d love to know your thoughts!
Low socioeconomic status played a role in the R.Kelly case too, unfortunately these younger girls were mostly from lower class backgrounds and like the Epstein case were promised a career and money in return of assault. I think this shows a concern for the play of power in these cases, and how it is taking too long for victims to get the justice they deserve.
I believe you are right, that lower income plays a massive role in these cases and unfortunately its not a positive impact. It allows for people on lower income to be paid to be quiet, i.e. settlements.
Hey Thyra, I think you’ve really hit on something really crucial by pointing out the hypocrisy of modern liberal understanding of feminism, that honestly reach back to the very founding of a “feminist” movement. Feminism has had a very long history of dehumanising and dismissing the struggles of non-white women.
It’s disheartening to see that the #metoo movement, a movement that in theory SHOULD stand for everyone that has been affected by these predators, has been no exception to this history. Similarly, although your blog was largely and justifiably about race, the #metoo movement has been shown to have massively failed trans-women, despite (unfortunately) many of these women attempting to call attention to their abuse. That’s also to speak nothing of the massive number of men who have attempted to make similar claims against their own predators, only to find themselves on the intersection of both the casual gatekeeping of feminist spaces, as well as the sexist stereotypes enforced by other men.
Although, with all these flaws of the modern uses of the #metoo movement, I would be curious about whether you have felt the movement overall has done more harm than good? While the cases of certain high-profile white women has definitely brought mass attention to #metoo, it’s also been crushing to see those people who do use the movement to make claims thinking they’ll finally be heard and understood, only to be ignored, dismissed or even accused of attempting to steal the spotlight from high-profile celebrities.