Though I am a racialized white woman, and have experienced the sharp brunt of discrimination beyond my gender, I still cannot know what WOC want from a united fight to gain women's equality and what they support, or do not support. Nor can I understand personally how being raised with this discrimination feels to one as an adult still experiencing it, nor how it has impacted development.

Understanding that each persons POV will be diverse as there is no 1 voice, but I feel illuminating a general perception of differing communities on issues that face us all, such as; Bill C484, or abortion rights, or affirmative action for women in political parties, would be a good place to start.

The reason why I specify issues that face us all, as opposed to a more narrow dialogue about things that face only certain segments of women in society, is to build a foundation of understanding between us, as it seems we need to start again with the basics. Plus, of course is the recognition that individual women's community issues must be addressed by them, with other women only giving a supporting role if needed.

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Nelson's key thesis is that black and Latina women were essential to developing a feminist movement for reproductive freedom in the 1970s and early 1980s that extended beyond the fight for legalized abortion to encompass a broad right to reproductive control, including the right to bear children. As Nelson writes, "Black women seldom receive proper credit for the work they have done for reproductive rights. Nor have white feminists often acknowledged the extent to which black women shaped the feminist reproductive rights movement" (56). In the late 1960s feminist reproductive rights advocates centered on gaining fertility control for women by extending access to legal abortion and birth control. Nelson chronicles the dramatic transformation of this agenda over the course of the next two decades to include opposition to sterilization abuse and other forms of population control. Her first chapter describes the evolution of Redstockings, a radical feminist organization in New York City that was founded in 1967 and burst on the political scene by disrupting the first New York State legislative hearings on abortion law reform in 1969. Nelson explains how Redstockings shifted abortion activism from the movement for birth control to a central aspect of the feminist struggle for women's autonomy, including control over reproduction.

Although she criticizes Redstockings' "political blind spot" in failing to recognize the different experiences (and I would add political status) of women of color and poor women, Nelson helpfully elucidates the group's radical defense of abortion rights that distinguished it from mainstream liberal women's organizations such as NOW. In the process she brings the contentious period to life through fascinating details about Redstockings' rhetorical and organizing strategies as well as confrontations with its adversaries. Nelson's careful attention to political nuance among people who are often conveniently lumped together, from white women's liberationists and birth control advocates to black nationalist men, is a particular strength of this book.

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Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement

I've been reading a bit recently (just articles and some internet research, no huge scholarly tomes or anything) about how women of colour have felt alienated by a predominantly white pro-choice movement that focuses mostly on abortion and the right for a woman to restrict her own fertility through birth control and abortion.

Whereas women of colour have had to fight for the right to bear children and to fight against the racism they experience as a result if they have children, and stereotypes of themselves as overly fertile and their children as unwanted by society.

Another interesting historical note:

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First, she explicates black women's distinctive understanding of reproductive rights by chronicling their activism in relation to white feminists and to men in the black liberation movement. As Nelson puts it, "In listening to black women, one discovers that they offered a more complicated view of reproductive control than did either Black Nationalists or white women's liberationists" (56). Black women placed reproductive rights in a social context that made government provision of family planning contingent on improvements in general health and living conditions.

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[ 26 February 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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family planning contingent on improvements in general health and living conditions.

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and how WoC see abortions

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Originally posted by adam stratton:

Many factors contribute in shaping women's views on abortion. The colour of their skin is not one of them.

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[ 26 February 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

There's also tons of info about Planned Parenthood, some of which I already knew, some of which I didn't.

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It’s dangerous to not know the history of an organization–even more dangerous to not know its present. Yes, PP has done some absolutely amazing and brilliant things. PP has also done some detestable and horrific things–and it is WRONG to let the detestable and horrific things pass because of the good things. It’s even worse to call a woman of color who has had a bad experience with her reproductive life “stupid” because there is no critical analysis of how a historically “population control” centered institute is currently conducting its business.

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[ 02 March 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]

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Originally posted by bigcitygal:
RosaL, there are many connections between racism, disability and the historical eugenics movement, mostly involving enforced sterilization (that continues to this day). This has also historically (and currently) included poor women, of all racial backgrounds and abilities.

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yep. That's some of what I had in mind.

[ 02 March 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]