Feminism and Womanism

 Blog Entry 1:Feminism and Womanism

    Until this past class I had never heard the term "Womanist" or "Womanism". I don't know if it's because I'm a white woman or simply for the fact that the term is overlooked. If you ask anyone if they've heard the term "Feminism" they will most likely say yes, but womanism is different and the definitions vary. At least I thought they did until watching a video by Howard University. Womanism is not a part of feminism or a subgroup. Rather its own branch on a tree. Its focus is on black women, men, and their families. Feminism has leaned towards the needs of white middle and upper class women while ignoring the women of color and the injustice upon them which is far more severe. So much so that it makes sense to have their own movement. This does not mean that you have to choose one or the other. You can be both a feminist and a womanist. Even though some people prefer to pick one or lean more towards one cause. The important take away for me is that women need to stick together and fight for one same goal which is equality and fair rights for everyone, including men and those that don't have a gender identity. 

    Growing up in a very christian state such as Texas I found the article on christian feminism rather intriguing. I sadly was not surprised to learn that the women were uncomfortable with the word "feminism" and what it represents, because it's hard to back it up in the bible when you have passages such as "wives submit to your husbands." According to the study lot of christian women connected the word with the extremes of the movement itself, and it was never really taught on their campuses. I find the fact that they only did the study on three women from the same school to be a problem for a study. I believe that if they had done the study with more christian women at more schools than the consensus would be different as christianity is slowly becoming more progressive especially among younger people and those in college discovering more about themselves and their beliefs.