Does identity must always be paired with gender, sex and ethnicity?

“Because, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world” – Michele Wallace.
The last two weeks have allowed me to develop a new perspective on feminism and I’ve come to realize that black women oppression is a direct result of race, class and sex discrimination. Both “A Black Feminist Statement” and “Born in Flame” realistically portray the struggle of black women towards liberation. They share the grievances with white women for gender inequality, yet white women own certain privileges that black women are prohibited due to their skin color. This racial oppression is then shared with black men, nonetheless these men are ignorant to and neglect the rights of their women with their conservative, autocratic viewpoints and the benefits they gain from female oppression. I feel that the difference in interests and priorities of these groups is the main reason why there isn’t a big enough change to liberate black women from their oppression. Hence, black women are the only ones who care enough to fight for their needs and rights. As much as the quote by Michele Wallace underlines determination and the will to fight, it also reflects the solidarity black women face.

In many cultures, especially those South-east Asian countries, gender roles offer men a lot of privileges that they often take for granted. These conservative beliefs forbid the freedom of women in the past and continue to do so in the modern society, only in more subtle ways, by restraining their career, interest, and dream pursuits. I often ask what are the main reasons behind gender roles. To create an orderly society? Yet, how can an orderly system be established when the ideology it is build upon is unjust and causes anxiety among the oppressed ones. What does it mean to be a man or a woman? Does our identity must always be paired with our gender, sex and ethnicity? I believe that our society’s way of categorizing people is unavailing and cruel that separate the population as a whole and give rise to discrimination that in turn become our grievances and issues that we must fight everyday.