A woman in power isn’t inherently feminist: conversation about Amy Coney Barrett
Hello, everyone, and welcome to my swellcast. I'm Izzy. And today I am joined again by the lovely Jenny Yang. For those of you who have yet to meet her, Jenny is a student at Indiana University who studies psychology just like I do. Jenny and I have talked before on my Swad cast about the effects of anti Chinese sentiment, so definitely go and check that out if you haven't already
Jennifer Yang
@jenzyang · 2:20
Down to me, Girl Boss feminism and white feminism and fake wokeness. They all kind of go together in which they really only propagate a specific kind of woman who is already privileged, white, upper middle class, conventionally, attractive, et cetera. And these women will only serve the interest of a late capitalist, postmodern patriarchy. In that case, they are attempting to sell this kind of feminism, this kind of activism without actually trying to take down any systemic structures that are actually oppressing, marginalized people
In fact, many of her policies aim to regress some of the strides that feminist movements have made. For instance, Amy Coney Barrett believes that abortion is, quote, always immoral. Abortion is a right that many feminists have fought for in effort to keep the decision about women's bodies in the hands of women. Yet Amy, although she's not officially stated this may overturn Roe v. Wade, which was a legal decision to protect women's rights to have an abortion
Jennifer Yang
@jenzyang · 3:30
So in a long, roundabout way, what I'm saying is, I think, yes, it is good for women of color to be in positions of power, but just because a woman of color is there does not mean that we can just blindly accept whatever that person stands for. We still need to be critical of them because they are still people who are flawed, and we need to be pushing for active change in every politician that we have. So after all, of that
And this was in response to me pouring my heart out about how much I felt marginalized by the American society and my various minority identities that I hold alongside my identity as a woman. Again, another minority identity. But I feel like her response didn't actually seek to understand me. It just stopped the conversation. It didn't support or uplift my voice or experiences. It just stopped the conversation. Like, here's some positivity that will make you feel better
Jennifer Yang
@jenzyang · 2:20
Yet again, it's capitalism, and I'm really tired of brands creating new insecurities in order to sell me things, but that's I think all we have to say today, I want to thank everyone for listening, and I also want to invite everyone listening to expand our conversation today by answering yourself, what ways do you see Girl Boss feminism in your day to day life again. Thank you so much, Izzy, for inviting me to be on your swell cast us today