Sisterhood- What is it Perceived as and What it Should be
What is sisterhood and how is it perceived in the world:
Growing up we have been given the roles of what women and men should do. Whether it is through toys, clothes, commercials, etc. Kids have been grown up with the mentality of what their role in society is. We have also seen these roles being implemented in their minds through fairy-tale moves. We still see this today not only playing in roles of children but in all ages, especially for women with new “sisterhood” movies that haven been coming out. What is sisterhood? Per Hollywood and what they show in their movies, it is a group of white women coming together sharing gossip, trying to take over a school, problems between a boy they all dated or a boy they want to find, etc. It is nothing seen seriously as what sisterhood should be. Where are all the women coming together fighting for a purpose, their rights and their voice to be heard? There are movies and shows now that make women perceived as more “weak”, “soft”, “cute” such as, “John Tucker must die”, “Mean Girls”, “Gossip Girl”, “Monte Carlo”, etc. Many women preach that they want equal rights as men but how are they going to earn that respect if they are continuing to watch (support), act and direct these “traditional” movies of a male figure coming into the picture of all women, making her his and they live happily ever after.
What is Hollywood trying to say through sisterhood movies?
Hollywood is encouraging this “sisterhood” by making movie after movie of these women not being able to do anything but gossip, fall in love and do what any other group of women would “do” on their lunch break or in school. It is not being diverse and inclusive with other women of color. As said by Bell Hooks, “Women are divided by sexist attitudes, racism, class privilege, and a host of other prejudices”. This idea of a “sisterhood” does not exist if women keep segregating themselves. Women need to come together and respect one another no matter what their culture, color, or religion is to start a movement. We are constantly told that women are never going to get along with one another because we are full of “drama”. Hooks states how, “We are taught that women are “natural” enemies, that solidarity will never exist between us because we cannot, should not, and do not bond with one another”. Hooks gives a good argument overall as she elaborates how a woman “obtains her value only by relating or bonding with other men”. This is where all these “sisterhood” movies are coming from, from what society perceives it to be and not for what it should be. Which once again makes us a step further from reaching that goal of being an independent woman without the need of a male figure in our lives.
What sisterhood should be, how we fail to have a right sisterhood, segregation of women, and history repeating itself.
A sisterhood should be women coming together to fight for each other’s right no matter what their background is. The idea of the women’s march was no “sisterhood” because it was all white women fighting for what they wanted. The Women’s march could have been done way before trump was our president when he was targeting Muslims and overall immigrants. This was not affecting white women in anyway therefore, they (some white women) did not care about going out of their way to create a movement. However, when they realized that trump was going to be president they knew their rights to abortion were going to be taken away and that’s when this movement started. Where were all the white women when trump came into the picture in the first place about deportation? An example of this could be the women’s right movement that was done in 1913 for women to receive the right to vote. The one that started this movement was a white woman named Alice Paul and was the one who objected to have “Negros” participate in the parade. However, Anna Howard Shaw, someone who helped with the march, insisted that they must be allowed to participate. Although women of color participated, they were segregated, they had a section for white women, men and black (colored) women. Movements have always been carried on the back of minorities.
Why Brittany did not march?
Brittany Oliver who wrote an article on why she did not support The Women’s March on Washington stated how many black movement title names were changed and inputted to this recent march. (ex: “Black Lives Matter” changed to “All Lives Matter”). (White communities once again ignoring people of color and making their ideas “white”). Brittany points out how in 1848–1923 in the suffrage movement “black women were not even seen as human” and were not able to march in the front of the crowd. This resulted in colored women not participating in the movement at all which we see today. The participation of colored women in the Women’s March 2017 was rejected by some colored women, funny how history repeats itself. The question here is, why did these colored women refuse to march? In Brittany’s case, she did not march because these movements were already done by the colored community. “To sweep the hard work of the black struggle under the rug is a prime example of what not to do and yet here we are again.” She said that many called black women “divisive” and “dramatic” for speaking out against the Women’s March. By having this stated about black/colored women it shows racial oppression. Racial inequality relates to gender inequality, “we can’t ignore the racism within the movements”.
How will we ever succeed?
We already have an idea of what a sisterhood should be but there are many people who come in between the movement, these people are the “white supremacy”. We try to have a right sisterhood but we fail when we have these segregation among us. We are blinded towards the path of success, if all we see is the color of each other’s face.
