Mapping Abolition by Xiaoyu H

Iris Marion Young and Gender Exploitation

xyhhuang2 — 2023-12-16 04:54:48 UTC

Iris Marion Young defines gender exploitation as the energies that women expend, usually to benefit men in ways of enhancing their status or providing sexual and emotional service. This is a form of labor exploited by women that often goes unnoticed and under-compensated.

To Be A Woman is To Perform

xyhhuang2 — 2023-12-16 04:56:20 UTC

In this Tiktok provided, the phrase “To be a woman is to perform" reveals a devastating truth in which a woman’s existence in society necessitates an exchange of services. Simply by standing there, the statue becomes a performer, her identity being that of catering to a male gaze and being reduced to an object of desire.

Physical and Emotional Labor of Enslaved Women

xyhhuang2 — 2023-12-16 05:00:25 UTC

For black women, having intersecting identities requires a higher toll of physical and emotional labor. In Chapter 1 of Angela Davis’s Women, Race, and Class, enslaved women were viewed as profitable labor units, being exploited for their physical labor on the field and sexual labor for "breeding.”. When it was profitable to exploit black women for physical labor, they were treated as genderless, but when there was a chance that they would be exploited or punished for being a woman, they were treated exclusively as women. But even when they were expected to be "breeders," they still needed to perform.

A modern example of such would be Megan Thee Stallion. As a victim of an act of violence by a man, she was met with skepticism and judgment. The author of this New York Times article pointed out that violence against women is not always the result of being in a relationship but rather of women performing as objects in the eyes of men, which justifies this violence.

xyhhuang2 — 2023-12-16 05:03:12 UTC

Megan Thee Stallion is not afraid to express her sexuality in her songs. But in the top comment of the NYT post, the person questions how Megan Thee Stallion is angry about Black women being the most disrespected, despite her being sexual on stage. When Black women decide to reclaim their femininity and choose how to express their sexuality, they are met with disdain and violence. And when Megan Thee Stallion chooses to capitalize on her sexuality for her profit, all of a sudden, she is vilified and disrespected. Along the lines of Davis, the idea of profiting off of Black women negatively shifts when the power does not lie in the hands of the outsider but the woman herself.

xyhhuang2 — 2023-12-16 05:10:15 UTC

Both Gloria Anzaldua and the Combahee River Collective emphasize the power of language and writing in resistance and solidarity. Anzaldua writes to fight, using the pen as a weapon to remind and validate her own experience as a WOC. Writing is part of the reclaiming of Black women’s identities. The Combahee River Collective mentions how, in contemporary society, the style of talking in the Black language has both a cultural and political impact.

Controversial as it is, the song WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion generated a lot of backlash with its explicit sexual lyrics, especially with men. But it is not uncommon for male artists to do the same. Megan explained that “some people just don’t know what to do when a woman is in control and taking ownership of her own body,” Megan told GQ. “I feel like for a long time men felt like they owned sex and now women are saying, ‘Hey, this is for me. I want pleasure. This is how I want it or don’t want it.’ It freaks men the hell out.” Given that a woman's body is seen as political, this song represents women reclaiming their right to talk about their bodies and sex in any way they see fit.