Anzaldúa and Crenshaw

[godleskim]

Although we briefly touched on this in class, I wanted to expand on how Borderlands relates to Crenshaw in terms of intersectionality. As a lesbian Latina woman, she obviously is a prime example of intersectionality. Throughout the reading, Borderlands highlights multiple instances of abuse to her ancestors by the "gringos," but the one that really resonates is how coyotes treat Mexican women. "The Mexican woman is especially at risk. Often the coyote (smuggler) doesn't feed her for days or let her go to the bathroom. Often he rapes her or sells her into prostitution. She cannot call on county or state health or economic resources because she doesn't know English and she fears deportation. American employers are quick to take advantage of her helplessness. She can't go home." (page 34) This specific cross-section of intersectionality is essentially exploited from the day she enters the country. In my opinion, Latina women are by far the most oppressed in our current society, but is never truly discussed on any form of national forum (TV, radio, newspaper, etc.). The question(s) I wanted to ask was do you agree that the Latina woman, especially those who do not speak English, is the most oppressed intersection in our country? How should we go about to fix this oppression? Or should we (if you believe that the US should only help its own citizens before trying to help "outsiders")?

[Katherine]

From the text, I believe that it is very easy to say that they are an oppressed group, and that is without a doubt factual, but I am not sure if I would say they are the "most oppressed" intersection. I know that several other groups, in terms of class, race, sex, sexual orientation etc. are also oppressed. How can you truly determine who is more oppressed, and who is the most so? 

[thomassonm]

We can certainly say that some people are more oppressed or less oppressed- although I'm not sure how much value there is in that. Instead of talking about who is less oppressed, it may be useful to discuss how people experience oppression and privileges, what privileges people have and what disadvantages or constraints they face. In terms of mexican women being oppressed, or "Especially" oppressed, I do not think Gloria Anzaldua was trying to say they are more oppressed, but that their oppression puts them at greater risk for certain violences that serve to marginalize them in their experience of migration.

[godleskim]

There were three reasons why I stated that Latina women are the "most oppressed". 

1.) I meant that they are the most oppressed in terms of the other oppressed groups and intersections that we have discussed thus far in class. Not only are they women, who we can all agree are oppressed to some extent in modern day society, but they also are a minority. This intersection's oppression was discussed in Crenshaw pretty thoroughly (even though it was another race.) 

2.) Often Latina women who cross the border do not speak English fluently, or at all, so they have NO voice to speak up against their oppression whether it is violent or not. This acts as yet another oppressor to these poor women. With Gloria's use of slang Spanish terms, we received a VERY small taste of how it feels to be left out of the conversation simply due to a language barrier. Now compound that by adding in all of the other forms of oppression that these women face.

3.) For a long time, there was no national equivalent to the NAACP for latinos. (NCLR is a recent fix to this issue) According to the NCLR, "...the invisibility that plagued the Mexican American civil rights movement was a result of the movement’s geographic isolation, which caused it to be overshadowed by the more highly visible national movements." 

For these reasons, I personally believe that these women are currently the most oppressed in our country.