La Política de Feminismo (The Politics of Feminism)

By: Amiya Turner
Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso is a writer, activist, and teacher from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, but resides in Bogota, Colombia. She works to deconstruct heteronormativity, patriarchy, and socio-cultural expressions of racism. In one of her writings, The Feminism-Lesbianism Relationship in Latin America: A Necessary Link, she argues for understanding heterosexuality as a ploy to make women desirable to men and ensure dependency. In this case lesbianism and feminism, as a political framework that also looks at race, work together to deconstruct this notion. Both systems fight for equality and idenity rights, whilst upsetting notions of sex, gender, and sexuality. With lesbianism, feminism unites politics and life. The intersection between sexuality, in this case lesbianism, and feminism is important to making political leadway in on overall feminist movement globally. As Sueli Carniero mentioned in her journal, Rendering Feminism Blacker: The Situation of black women in Latin America from a gender perspective, omitting the centrality of race or sexuality in a feminist movement in turn universalizes feminism to fit a Western or white model and makes racial heirachy a myth. It’s hard to ignore the overalp and demand that women put aside their race and sexaulity to be a feminist. There simply isn’t a switch that can turn off one aspect of identity at a time. We like to think that everyone has the same fight, but not necessarily when you take into account a history that we cant deny happened. To ignore sexuality within feminism leaves out an important aspect of identity that brings up the question: Is it a feminist or gender equality movement if it doesn’t recogonize all women and advacates for selective equality? 
Another important woman that challenges these notions is Marielle Franco. Marielle Franco was a Brazilian city council member and activist.  She represented left-wing ideologies in Brazil, especially those surrounding inequality, socialism, racism, and feminism. As a black lesbian woman, she was invested in minority groups and used that exclusion factor to promote and develop her ideals. She was killed on March 14, 2018; her death is important because it sparked the uprising of left-wing politics and fighting for black rights and LGBTQ rights in Brazil. Also, the death of a politician puts on display the difficult situation Brazilian politics is currently undergoing and the tension from division. Her death, which was linked directly to her liberal views and standing as a gay Afro-Latin women, is an indication of idenity politics. It is hard to ignore a politician’s personal life because of the role it plays in connecting to voters and supporters especially when their own lives align with their political affiliation, such as Marielle Franco. As a black woman from one of the poorer neighborhoods in Rio her intersectionality brought together a diverse group of voters that identified with various minority groups in order to realize they all had the same desire for equality and representation. Diverse people require diverse and equitable solutions. She is a prime example of the overlap between race and sexuality.
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Sources:
Carneiro, Sueli.: Rendering feminism blacker: The situation of black women in Latin America from a gender perspective
Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso: The Feminism-Lesbianism Relationship in Latin America: A Necessary Link
https://idecaperu.org/radio-ideca-programa-111-genero-sexualidad-racismo-y-violencia/ https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/12/awaiting-justice-rio-human-rights-defender

I'm Emily Ortiz, a freshman at Claremont McKenna College, and one of the co-founders. I'm a first-generation Mexican-American, so I have always been invested in the history of Latin America. I began to notice, however, that Latin America was often treated as a monolith, instead of the incredibly diverse and beautifully complicated countries they are. As I discovered more about myself too, I became invested in the LGBTQ+ movements, not only in the U.S., but in the various Latin American countries, as well. In the very little research I conducted, I could never find much information on pre-colonial views on sex and sexuality. Because access to information brings power, and silence on issues contributes to oppression, I believe this blog should serve as a space to learn and connect with people who are just as invested in learning more about their history.

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