"What does it mean when the tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? It means that only the most narrow perimeters of change are possible and allowable"
- Audre Lorde[1]
As a straight, white, cisgendered, able-bodied woman, I check nearly all of the boxes of the privileged WEBCCCHAM identity framework that puts me in a position of power as defined by our social structure.[2] When feminism demands that we acknowledge difference, it demands that I, and women who identify similarly, recognize the privilege of our established normativity. Recognizing socially constructed privilege is not only necessary for us as individuals, but also for the spaces we create. By spaces here, I am not referring just to the physicality of space, but to the power relations formed within space as well. Who is seen in a space? Who is prioritized? Having spent a majority of my adult life in New York, I was interested in seeing how a feminist critique of created space would map out onto the New York Public Library (NYPL) system's Women's History Month programming.[3] After reviewing the 2020 programming through the lens of feminist ideology, I found that the events valued personal experience and the creation of community, but failed to focus on difference in its presentation of womanhood. Without highlighting difference, the NYPL fell short of creating a feminist space by centering white, ethnically European, bourgeois, Christian, cis, citizen, heterosexual, able-bodied women (WEBCCCHAW)[4] as the "normative" female experience and creating a platform through which white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism could be perpetuated.[5]
Feminist frameworks operate with the goal of "exposing and ending oppression against women and all other kinds of marginalization".[6] True feminist frameworks work in the service of all women, whose identities are multifold. With this in mind, I want to be clear in stating that there are layers of oppression that impact a woman based on the many different aspects of their identity, and a feminist framework requires us to call attention to all of these aspects in order to fight oppression. Feminist frameworks therefore depend on our recognition of difference as well as our valuing of women's experiential knowledge that are informed by these differences.[7] Additionally, feminist frameworks rely on the promotion of community collaboration[8] and the centering of women with the purpose of subverting the dominant social hierarchy.[9] I considered these core aspects of a feminist framework when looking at the NYPL Women's History Month programming.
As I did not attend any of these events myself, I chose to rely on the promotion information for these events released to the general public by NYPL.[10] I tracked how many of the events centered women, promoted community/collaboration, and highlighted experiential knowledge by noting trends in the types of events offered and event topics detailed in the event descriptions. I analyzed NYPL's recognition of difference by looking through the descriptions and noting explicit mention of race, ethnicity, class, religious identity, sexual orientation, mental/physical ability, or transgender identity. For descriptions that referenced a particular person, group, or movie but made no explicit reference to any number of these identities, I performed additional research and noted representation of these identities (especially focusing on how individuals have identified themselves). These methods guided my understanding of how the NYPL utilized the various aspects of feminist ideology in their Women's History Month programming and how the events did or did not work to subvert dominant social hierarchy.
A common theme across the NYPL events was an emphasis on personal experience and community collaboration. Events like the International Women's Day Poetry Reading gave women space to write their own poems and share them with the community. Book socials, women's circles, and the Local Voices Network Conversation for working women were designed to provide women opportunities to gather together and share their perspectives with one another. A community partnership event with Women's Activism NYC focused on the stories of individual women working to make active change around the world. These events create space to value women's experiential knowledge and provide opportunities for community collaboration, learning, and joy. NYPL should continue to highlight these aspects of feminist framework in their future events.
My issue with the programming came in how the events failed to address difference. Feminist ideology acknowledges how our educational and cultural spaces are "tethered to the dominant patriarchal, sexist, racist, and homophobic culture from which [they] emerged"[11] and I noticed the replication of these oppressions in the NYPL programming. NYPL created space to celebrate "women" and "females" without being clear that the female experience is not a monolith.[12] When looking through the program descriptions, only 6 of the 38 listed event descriptions on their main page made explicit reference to race, ethnicity, or class.[13] There were no explicit references made to religious identity, sexual orientation, mental/physical ability, or transgender identity. Additional research on the events showed that just over a quarter focused on identities outside of the WEBCCCHAW narrative. Of this quarter, there was difference in race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and religion (albeit in a limited capacity) in relation to the authors, artists, and speakers, but there were no events offered that specifically highlighted transgender women or women of differing ability. This demonstrates an overwhelming focus on the normative WEBCCCHAW perspective and excludes the experiences of a wider range of women. While the programming emphasized personal experience, it only made space for the certain kinds of experiences that society has privileged. By not identifying women's differing identities and experiences in the world, NYPL is allowing this dominant narrative to consume the space they created for the Women's History Month programming.
Audre Lorde clearly states that "difference must not merely be tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic."[14] This understanding should act as a guiding light for NYPL moving forward. It is my hope that NYPL will truly invest itself in creating space that honors women and works to subvert the dominant social hierarchy. It can start by taking a critical look at the role it currently has in tolerating difference and ask: In what ways do we as a library currently prioritize the experiences of women that society deems "normative"? Whose experiences have we excluded and need to make space for? How can we be explicit in highlighting women's differing experiences and knowledge with the goal of subverting oppressive systems? These starting questions can be a guide for library programming in general to avoid molding feminism into a platform for perpetuating white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism[15] and the NYPL Women's History Month programming is a great place to start.
[1] Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde (Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press, 1984), 111.
[2] WEBCCCHAM refers to white, ethnically European, bourgeois, Christian, cis, citizen, heterosexual, able-bodied, male as discussed by Michelle Caswell, “Dusting for Fingerprints: Introducing Feminist Standpoint Appraisal.” Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies 3:1 (2019).
[3] Carrie McBride, “Celebrate Women’s History Events With Us At the Library”, New York Public Library, 2020, https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/02/28/womens-history-events-library.
[4] This is an adaptation of the WEBCCCHAM identity framework discussed in Caswell, 7.
[5] Rachel Cargle, “When Feminism Is White Supremacy in Heels,” Bazaar, 2018, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a22717725/what-is-toxic-white-feminism/; Caswell.
[6] Maria Accardi, Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction (Sacramento: Library Juice Press, 2013), 28.
[7] Lorde, 110-111.
[8] Accardi.
[9] Caswell.
[10] McBride gives a description of each promoted event for the 2020 Women's History Month programming.
[11] Accardi, 24.
[12] McBride.
[13] Here I am referring specifically to the following events: Flash Back Friday Films-Celebrating Women's History Month, Community Partnerships: National Women’s History Month | Women’s Activism NYC, 2020 Women's Jazz Festival Week 2: Pauline Jean, Monday Matinee: A Month of Women, Saturday Movie- Suffragette, and Working Women: Then and Now - A Local Voices Network Conversation.
[14] Lorde, 111.
[15] Cargle; Caswell.
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