The Combahee River Collective Statement And Hip-Hop Feminist

An intersectional examination of the challenges of African Americans reveals that there are various factors that aide in the oppression of this group. Race, gender, and sexuality are all interlocking aspects to the challenges face by Black men and women. Three scholarly pieces that examine these interconnected issues and the affect that they have are “The Combahee River Collective Statement”, Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins, and “Hip-Hop Feminist” by Joan Morgan. Each of these text argue for an understanding of Black people, and specifically Black women, in a manner that does not put race before gender and sexuality. While “The Combahee River Collective Statement” and Black Sexual Politics both seek to examine gender and sexuality

Both the writers of “The Combahee River Collective Statement” and Patricia Hill Collins reject examining black masculinity, femininity, and sexuality through a biological perspective. A Black, lesbian, feminist group, the Combahee River Collective considered themselves in “solidarity with progressive Black men.” However, this was in contrast to white women who demanded that groups such as the Combahee River Collective practice separatist activism (“The Combahee River Collective Statement”). These groups practiced biological determinism and held that “biological maleness” is what causes men, and in the context of the Black community, black men to oppress black women (“The Combahee River Collective Statement”). The Combahee River Collective rejected ideas such as this one because they place the conflict between black masculinity and black femininity on the biology instead of the social factors. According to the Combahee River Collective, this belief was “dangerous and reactionary.” Black Sexual Politics also rejects basing conversations on Black sexuality on that of biology. Collins states that “neither Black masculinity nor Black femininity can be adequately understood…without attending to the politics of sexuality” (6). Additionally, before discussing the politics of sexuality, sexuality must be discussed outside of its “biological

In Black Sexual Politics, Patricia Collins also operates in a grey area. In her text, Collins defines sexual politics “as a set of ideas and social practices shaped by gender, race, and sexuality that frame all men and women’s treatment of one another” (6). Similar to Morgan, Collins also examines the interaction between men and women and how they treat each other. Both of these scholars seek a narrative that is not one-sided. Instead, they advocated ideas and beliefs that the actions of both men and women into account. It is with this approach that the works of these women remain relevant in the twenty-first