Socialist Feminism by Frieda Afary

Author:Frieda Afary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pluto Press

SHEENA C. HOWARD’S BLACK QUEER IDENTITY MATRIX

In Black Queer Identity Matrix: Towards An Integrated Queer of Color Framework, Howard (2014) raises important questions about what it means to be queer and to develop a fluid sexuality without recreating relations of domination and instrumentalizing oneself or others. By raising these questions and doing so in the context of calling attention to Black women and racial oppression, she further contributes to the effort to develop a humanist queer theory.

She critiques queer theory for not being rooted in the experiences of Black lesbian women who simultaneously experience racism, patriarchy, and homophobia. Howard’s (2014) integrated model, or Black Queer Identity Matrix, also argues that there is both solidarity and “internalized sexism” in Black lesbian relationships. She demonstrates that oppressive gender roles are often recreated within Black lesbian relationships, and specifically singles out the tendency for one partner to be feminine and the other to be masculine (pp. 84–8). This issue has also been addressed by Mignon Moore (2011) in her Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationship, and Motherhood among Black Women. This critique is also not limited to Black lesbians, but covers the LGBTQ spectrum and people of all races.

Howard (2014) concludes that “gender expression should remain fluid and unpoliced, however, the personification/expression of one’s identity (especially an identity which is ubiquitous in one’s community) should not go without critical examination (along the lines of cultural, societal and historical underpinnings) of the ways in which the gender has been constructed” (p. 91). Furthermore, Howard says there is a need to “extrapolate the often oppressive mechanisms which lead to such a performance” (p. 91).

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