Discussion Leading: Gender
From "Black Feminism and Intersectionality" (Sharon Smith)
I specifically chose the gender week for discussion leading because I’ve always been passionate in learning more about it.
What stood out to me the most were the readings on Black feminism. Sharon Smith’s article “Black Feminism and Intersectionality” sparked a memory for me.
The article mentions Margaret Sanger, who largely propelled the birth control movement in its infancy. She opened a clinic in 1923 that would later become Planned Parenthood and she was a significant advocate for women’s reproductive rights — scratch that, white women’s reproductive rights.
I remember taking an advanced placement American history class when I was in my junior year of high school. My teacher made up an activity that we did quite frequently: historical figure speed dating. We would each choose somebody from the chapter, then make a nametag and an elevator pitch. We’d set up stations around the room so that we could easily move seats after our three minute “dates” were up.
One time when it was my turn to choose a figure, I remember selecting Maragret Sanger. I can play the birth control advocate...a feminist? I’m in! So I was her. Multiple students broke their historical figure personas to thank me for my work, but that’s besides the point.
What I didn’t include in my elevator pitch was that Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist. According to Smith, the eugenics movement was “an openly racist approach to population control based on the slogan, '[More] children from the fit, less from the unfit.'" My history textbook, and likewise, my teacher, had failed to mention it. Had I known, perhaps I wouldn't have been so eager to volunteer to be her.
I certainly didn't know about the twenty-six states that had compulsory sterilization laws or about the epidemic of forced sterilization of women of color in the 1960s and the 1970s then and I'm embarrassed to admit that.
The problem of incomplete histories in high school classrooms is incredibly frustrating. White-washed textbooks that don't include a great deal of America's dark truths, minimize racist realities and lack Black (and queer and any identity that's not the norm) history are all evidence of a greater problem in the education system. I've written an article about the issue before and discussion leading brought me back to it.
I've gotten better at seeking out information on my own, not just settling for what I receive, and I think I've come a long way since then in my knowledge of feminism and its history in general, although I have miles and lightyears to go. I really appreciated this week's readings and it was interesting to make that connection to my past.