“Independent Women”: Privileged Feminist Ideologies and Able-ism (a.k.a. Disablism)

Cross-posted at Switchintoglide

Blogging Against Disablism day will be on Saturday, 1st May. This is the day where all around the world, disabled and non-disabled people will blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we’ve made.

Feminism and the Myth of Independence

Part of my early attraction to feminism was based upon this notion of a mythic “independence.” I yearned for the opportunity to be an “emancipated woman,” à la Emma Goldman, who asserted that,

“Emancipation should make it possible for woman to be human in the truest sense. Everything within her that craves assertion and activity should reach its fullest expression; all artificial barriers should be broken, and the road towards greater freedom cleared of every trace of centuries of submission and slavery.”

It seems like a noble enough goal, and indeed, an important part of the privileged Western feminist ideology is based on the construction of the smart, successful, independent woman; this is especially true of Libertarian/Individual feminisms , Liberal feminisms , Pop feminisms , and Amazon feminisms . Reproductive choice , and women’s liberation discourses also use the language of independence, and a lot of pseudo-feminist, or “Liz Lemonist ” cultural products are predicated upon this notion as well, such as Cosmo (“fun, fearless, female”).

Additionally, some of the things that awakened my early sense of “Girl Power ,” a precursor to my feminism, also showcased this idea of independence, both financial and personal. Girl Power is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as such:

“Power exercised by girls; spec. a self-reliant attitude among girls and young women manifested in ambition , assertiveness , and individualism .”

Some inspirations included:

• Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Women ,” (and Charlie’s Angels) and “Survivor ” (which interestingly has gender neutral lyrics)
• Jennifer Lopez’s “Love Don’t Cost a Thing “
• The Spice Girls
• The Powerpuff Girls
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer

On a larger scale, the ideas of independence and individualism are also foundational to to the construction of a “Western” ideology . From meritocracy to the importance of identity construction , from the binaristic othering of “Eastern ” ideologies as “collectivist ,” to the speculative fiction trope “fear of assimilation “; the achievement and maintenance of independence is a value that is freely espoused as good in its own right.

In terms of my own personal identity, having minimal ties with my
family, I often prided myself on my financial independence, my
self-funding of my undergraduate degree, my scholarships, my CV, my
transcript, and other individual achievements. These were the markers
of my feminism — my reminders that women in the past had worked hard
to open doors for women like me — never mind that those same doors
weren’t accessible to most people who don’t have white privilege , thin privilege , class privilege , educational privilege , Western privilege , cis privilege , Anglophone/English privilege, blonde privilege , and able privilege . At a previous point, though not anymore, I also had Christian and heterosexual privilege ; the only one I was ever missing was male privilege .

My “independence” — my “success” — was reliant upon
systems of domination. Therefore I never really was independent,
because in constructing this narrative of self-reliance
about myself, I denied not only my privileges, but my support networks
as well. I denied the fact that in defining my own success as such, I
was tacitly approving of the systems of domination from which I benefit.

Independence or the pursuit thereof is a pursuit of privilege; the
less that one has to depend on networks and relationships the more
“successful” that person is. This is a profoundly ableist notion, in the sense that it constructs any sort of dependency as an obstacle to “success,” and because of the way our society is structured
, people who are disabled are neccessarily dependent on various support
systems. Additionally, no one is truly independent from eir privileges, networks, and communities, but the
social construction of disability as a state of dependence vis-à-vis
ablility as a state of independence denies just how interdependent we
all are, whether is through exploiting, dominating, or supporting one
another.

The Myth Meets the Reality: Making “Success” an Inclusive Goal

In moving beyond the ableist myth of independence, privileged
feminisms have the opportunity to create safer spaces for disabled
feminists. Moreover, in interrogating this myth, we can open up a
larger conversation about privilege in feminism: to what extent does
the myth of independence factor in to other systems of domination? How
are privileged Western feminisms complicit in maintaining different
systems of domination? In redefining our paradigms about what
constitutes “success,” how can we combat not just ableism, but other
privileges?

What if instead of deriving so much pride from our independence, we
took pride in our networks and community memberships? This is not to
say that we cannot be proud of both, however, the exaggerated
emphasis on independence, emancipation, and liberation in privileged
Western feminisms bars important members of our feminist communities
from participating fully.

It also leads more privileged feminisms to devalue systems on which a lot of women choose to be and/or are dependent:

• excluding people who have strong ties to religion (ie. Islamic feminists , and Christian womanists ),
• excluding people who have strong ties to tradition and community memberships (ie. women who choose to undergo female circumcision , women who choose to wear the niqab ),
• excluding people who are actively subjugated by imperialism,
  racism, and colonialism and thus depend on community systems for
  survival and resistance (ie. transnational feminists , indigenous feminists ),
• and excluding people whose social justice interests are not solely
  related to gender emancipation, and thus depend on various networks
  (ie. women of colour , low-income women , immigrant women).

Furthermore, the myth of independence encourages privileged
feminists to buy in to capitalist and consumer culture: being a “have”
as opposed to a “have not,” and not having to share resources are the
yardsticks against which independence is measured, which leads to
environmental degradation. Individualism and independence are things
that one can buy at the expense of those that are exploited in
capitalist relations.

My point here for privileged feminists like myself is this: can be ambitious and assertive without having to pretend that we are self-reliant and independent
; no one is really independent. We can be confident and successful
without having to pretend that these attributes are totally individual.
We can take pride in our accomplishments and still recognise our
privileges and the networks/communities that have enabled us to do the
things we do. We can re-define the meaning of success beyond
the masculinist paradigm of individualism, and create a feminist
paradigm of success. In doing so, we can combat priviliged behavior and ableism in our feminist communities.

In conclusion, my questions for you, readers, are:

1. What would a feminist paradigm of success look like?
2. If we remove all of the oppressive and privileged
   ideas from the standard definition of success, such as independence,
   what is left?
3. Is there an anti-oppressive way to think about success?

Learn More about Feminism and Able-ism (a.k.a Disablism)

FWD (Feminists with Disabilities) for a Way Forward

Ableist Word Profile

Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010

Feminists are fine with being bigots if it’s just ableism

Words and Able-ism

Hey, Feminist Movement!