Intersectionality and Solidarity

Mikki Kendall is a proponent of the plain style of English prose and dislikes the jargon of feminist theory. She refers to intersectionality only briefly, noting that the term is too often treated as “a convenient buzzword” that is used to erase the Black feminist who coined it, Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. However, despite her reluctance to use the term, intersectionality is at the heart of the approach Kendall takes to feminism, the vital ingredient she believes is missing from the mainstream movement. The grassroots activism of marginalized people supplies this element of intersectionality through its emphasis on solidarity and justice for all.

Kendall points out that many feminist campaigners at the beginning of the twentieth century were also white supremacists. This is something mainstream feminists tend to ignore, but the legacy of white supremacy lives on in a style of feminism that expects people of color to supply the cheap labor and support that allows already privileged white women to achieve their goals. Rather than seeking to replace white men as the primary oppressors at the top of a corrupt hierarchy, mainstream white feminists should show solidarity with groups who are more marginalized than they are by seeking to replace this hierarchy with a more equitable system. The author points out that people of color have often organized themselves to promote more liberal and progressive policies for all marginalized groups, not only themselves, campaigning and voting to move America toward social justice. White feminists should reciprocate this solidarity and see all forms of oppression as feminist issues. This is what they have to learn from the hood.

Respectability and Respect

Kendall makes the case that because mainstream feminism has its roots in privilege and white supremacy, feminists tend to place a high value on conventional respectability. This becomes a particularly serious problem when they make such respectability a precondition for receiving help or being treated with dignity. Marginalized people are, by definition, placed in situations in which there are no good choices. Becoming a sex worker or a drug trafficker may be the least dangerous option open to them. This means that those feminists who make their respect and support conditional on the conventional respectability of their recipients are not really supporting the marginalized at all.

While she asserts that marginalized people should not be penalized for the lack of options open to them, Kendall makes it clear that the demands of respectability go far beyond the limits of the law. Black women are routinely condemned for everything from being loud and angry to their perceived promiscuity. Even when they are clearly the victims of crime, they are not regarded as innocent victims. In this sense, respectability is a gift the white rulers of mainstream society bestow upon themselves but withhold from the marginalized, creating an excuse for their marginalization. Intersectional feminists should recognize in this a clear analogy with the attempt to justify predatory male behavior with the excuse that the woman in question was dressed inappropriately or had been drinking too much and was therefore unworthy of respectful treatment. White society's denial of respectability to people of color is a similar attempt to blame the victim.

Acknowledging Privilege

Throughout Hood Feminism , Kendall presents herself as both a relatively privileged member of an oppressed group and as one who necessarily is privileged in ways that are not related to race. Even her lighter skin tone gives her the relative privilege of colorism within the Black community. She points out that the person who enjoys no privilege at all in any area of life can...