Labeling Myself a Chicana Feminist
June 20, 2009
by Monica Jean Alaniz
|The author expresses her own opinions, not necessarily those of The New Agenda. If you’d like to submit your opinion for consideration as a blog post, send it to blog@thenewagenda.net
The use of labels is part of our everyday lives. As Shirley Chisholm once said, “The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females beings when the doctor says: ‘It’s a girl.’” Today, in this country, it is a rarity that a pregnant couple decides to wait and find out the sex of their unborn child. So, before we are even born, we are already given our first label.Walking down the street people will label you just upon seeing you: woman/man, young/old, etc. Some will look at you and try to label you as being from a certain ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic background. Problems arise when they try to use these categories to stereotype you, deny you access, or otherwise pigeonhole you and your abilities due to these labels. It is even possible that assigned labels can have the opposite effect, allowing you to gain access unjustly.
I personally believe that the most important labels that any of us have are the labels that we give ourselves. Self-identification helps us, as well as others, understand who we are and what’s important to us.
I can remember the first time that I mentioned to my father that I consider myself a Chicana Feminist. He just shook his head at the two dirty words I had chosen to label myself with.
I have picked these two labels for a reason. I believe in the ideals that come behind using both labels, even if they are not the ideals that my father espouses. He has a certain idea of what these labels mean, but that doesn’t matter; it only matters what they mean to me.
So what does meaning a Chicana Feminist mean? That is much too difficult and in-depth a question to answer in a short blog (perhaps I’ll sit down and write a book someday), but in part it plays into my political ideals.
Yes, I want to see more women in political offices. Yes, I want to see Latinos (Chicano or otherwise) in more political offices. I wish that our political offices accurately reflected the different sections of our society. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Despite the fact that women are the majority of our population and Latinos are the fastest growing segment of our population, the demographic make-up of our elected officials does not reflect this. The faces that are on campaign posters, commercials, and billboards tend to be too much alike (white males).
As I have previous stated, I would never vote for a candidate simply because of their race/ethnic background or gender, but, unfortunately, our society has not gotten to the point where racial/ethnic labels and being identified as a man or woman has no bearing on being able to seek certain political offices. We are not a society that is blind to gender or race/ethnic background.
If we lived in a consummate society there would be no need for labels. I too yearn for this type for utopia, but it’s not the reality of the world we currently live in.
Until we do live in an idealized society where gender, race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status and all labels mean nothing, I will continue to call myself a Chicana Feminist and identify with a specific segment of the population.
I’m confused. You say you want to see an electoral body that more accurately reflects our population demographics, a goal I share. Yet you are refusing the most practical action you can take to accomplish this goal when you say: “I would never vote for a candidate simply because of their race/ethnic background or gender.”
Why do you automatically dismiss the practical? You can’t reason your way to shared control with a system that keeps you down every chance it gets. That system will never listen to reason. If you want it, you’re going to have to do it, and that means having the courage to say, “I will make it happen with every vote I cast until it becomes a reality.”
This is just common sense. It’s okay to vote for your group. Did we learn nothing from African-Americans and Obama last year?
I agree with Anna Belle. How are you going to counteract all of those votes against “Chicana Feminists” that are being cast against them because they are Chicana unless you are willing to vote for them for the same reason? We need to work hard so that there are lots of good women of all ethnic groups to vote for and then vote for them.
Thank you so much for sharing what many women in general refuse to admit to concerning labels.
The reality is it is apart of the human condition to identify aspects of our environment according to their differences.Whether it be people of different races/ethnic backgrounds, a person’s gender or even things as trivial as what musical genre one listen’s too.we simple can not escape it.
i am half Latina and half white and have recently took to calling myself a Bi-racial.Out of respect for my mother.
I had a gentleman who claimed himself to a Mexican transplant tell me that by doing so I was choosing to live as a “White”.These labels are not just coming from the White population. as Latinos and Hispanics we should know better then to put the blame of such stereotyping upon others as we are stereotyping worst offenders.Yet these aspects of the Latino culture are ignore in order to push agendas that will and are going to cripple our culture.
We should as any individual should,vote according to our conscience not by the color of skin or by loyalty to our race and culture.
We are faced with a hard pressed reality that those of our race who have promised us equality have sold us down the river to the very ideals that would oppress us as a people.
Again thank you for speaking your mind and advocating for ALL females and Chicanas out there.
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