Sisterhood: Is it Really as Good as it Seems?
It is a common theme among many Hollywood movies over the years; that of sisterhood. For most of us, myself included, we would not think its a bad ideology, in fact most of us were probably taught to strive for sisterhood. Maybe not in any direct sense but through subconscious messages depicted in the many television shows and movies out there. But, what exactly are those messages and why do they matter? Well, the thing that most fail to notice about sisterhood is the ideology that it is built upon. What I mean is that the idea of sisterhood can only be created through similar oppression. This truth is important to take note of because it is faulty in the sense that not all women have similar oppression's. Hence, for the remainder of the article I will be further breaking down this idea in a way easier to comprehend and give you, the reader, something to think about.
This idea of sisterhood has been and continues to be depicted all throughout Hollywood. In movies and television shows such as, the ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’, ‘Sex in the City’, ‘House Bunny’, ‘Bridesmaids’, etc., the list goes on. Hollywood portrays it by making it seem as if the only way to have or be a part of a sisterhood is through common struggles. Then after that, the women will be friends for life, always helping each other and prioritizing their friendship above anything else. Take for example the show “Sex in the City”, all the women in the show are always bonding over one crisis or another. Never are the characters uniting to fight against, what they believe to be the same type of oppression, regardless of the fact that no one suffers from the same oppression. Instead, the characters are always just advising each other on ways to handle certain situations and ignoring the root of the problems.
Furthermore, this brings us to the root of the problem in terms of what sisterhood really means. Sisterhood is the idea that all women suffer from the same oppression and thus can easily unite and form a bond for life based on that oppression. Sisterhood also means not fighting against that oppression but instead ignoring it and letting ‘sisterhood’ make it all better. Or as Chandra Mohanty puts it, “Despite the similarity of power interests and location, the two contexts present significant differences in the manifestations of power and hence of the possibility of struggles against it.” Here Mohanty is saying that even though power interest and location might be similar or the same, there are still many other things not accounted for that lead to the differences in oppression. Thus, Mohanty criticizes Morgan or people like her that believe, “…universal sisterhood on the basis of women’s shared opposition to androcentrism, an opposition that, according to her, grows directly out of women’s shared status as its victims,” or the root of the problem as stated earlier.
Additionally, there are many postcolonial feminist that too have this idea of sisterhood. It is a problem because not only is it incorrect as mentioned above but it tries to minimize the real problem behind sisterhood. Hollywood has glorified the idea of sisterhood to the point where many women see it as a future aspiration. Take for example writer Kari K. Kampakis who states, “ And while we certainly need the wonderful men in our lives, for they play a crucial role, too, men simply aren’t designed to understand us like one of our own.” The quote depicts how many people continue to think about sisterhood; that it is essential to women because only ‘one of our own’ can help us. The idea is then further propelled by feminist because they frame sisterhood as women uniting under the same cause. This seems like a good thing because that is what marches, protests, coalitions, etc., are; people with similar ideals uniting together for a just cause. However, I continue to stress how that is not the case. Sisterhood fails to consider the fact that not all women nor people in general have the same problems as everyone else.
Another great example is the many websites dedicated to the notion of sisterhood. One such example is Women 8 Dream where they have article depicting sisterhood as the thing to strive for. One article in particular by Lisa Powell called, “Finding Happiness Through the Power of Sisterhood” caught my attention because it shows the ignorance of such an idea. For example in this quote when she says, “ My soul sisters empower me, lift me up, remind me who I am and why I do what I do, and just generally make my life so much better.” But, if this was such the case then they would be fighting to correct the problem of oppression not focusing on other petty issues. Which brings us back again to Mohanty’s point; that sisterhood is only a facade that does not consider all sides of the issue. More specifically, a white woman in Beverly-hills will not be suffering from the same problems as a poor Mexican women in say, Compton. For them to form a sisterhood based on oppression would be highly unlikely.
In conclusion, I am not trying to dis-spell women from forming such bonds with one another but simply to be more aware of what that sisterhood means. To consider what type, if any at all, of oppression that people have. To not ignore the real issues at hand but instead try to do something to stop or prevent such oppression.
