Silence, Oppression, and Continued Narrative as a Form of Collective Empowerment

Abstract

The collective healing of a collective trauma that women of color are unfolding every second. What’s more infuriating than using the anger towards the patriarchal harm that has already been inflicted on femme bodies by men operating within many powerful and oppressive structures is having new anger generated as a side effect to existing in more “liberal” Western spaces. The problem with being visible in Western spaces is the erasure of all past identities that happens when women have to claim the bare minimum of space that give them no room left for the inclusion of past identities that are an integral part of whatever is visible of the identity presented in a Western space. This essay is an exploration of the continuation of narrative throughout history amongst women of color who share similar identities.