As an African feminist scholar, I have always felt disingenuous navigating through conversations around queerness, and issues affecting the LGBTQAI+ community. This was until recently when I was shown the intersections and commonalities found between queerness and womanness. I always found it rare to come across literature that attempted to link the two and not put one up against the other. It is a misconception that our struggles need to oppose each other, where one group’s loss is another one’s gain. There are so many similarities in our stories, our struggles, our search for an identity and the struggle for recognition.
I found it to be important to look at our shared experiences and struggles as a way to show that we are, in fact, fighting the same systems of oppression. It is also a way to give insight as an outsider looking in and try to show a level of acceptance and admiration for what the LGBTQAI+ community has accomplished as a movement that fosters self-acceptance and gender equality.
Attempting to analyse gender-based discrimination and queerness can be complex. We know for a fact that so many women still experience structural inequalities and limitations, while queer, non-binary, bisexual, and trans women feel excluded from the women’s rights movements. It is important to find common ground. This is found in having to navigate patriarchal and heteronormative norms, and, from here, we face very similar and specific struggles. We face issues such as gender-based violence, mental health struggles and exclusion from certain areas of life; this includes economic and social inequalities that still prevail.
I have also come to realize that the same level of differences and unique identities found in womanness and the experiences of different women are very similar to the level of diversity found within the LQBTAIQ+ community and in essence, the very conception of queerness. In understanding the importance of women not having this uniform identity and being forced to conform within the confines of what society deems as a woman, I understand that the same principle applies within the LQBTQAI + community. There is no one way of being gay, lesbian, trans or bisexual. There is an element of particularity and difference within the community, and similarly to womanness, queerness and the different queer identities should not be limited to what society deems as a gay man or lesbian woman. This community is made up of individuals with a range of very different experiences, and they are very diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, class, nationality and belief systems, and these intersections contribute to a person’s identity, way of thinking and experiences.
It is important to note that this piece falls against the backdrop of Pride Month celebrations that are underway in South Africa and more so against the backdrop of recent controversial comments made by United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who blatantly argued that “a woman is a woman, and a man is a man” taking us back into very binary, limiting constructs and disregarding all other identities that do not conform to these societal norms and constructs.
It is important that we go back to basics and understand fully that gender is made up of different characteristics, and all of us fall on a spectrum. One’s gender identity is very complex and personal; it is about recognition, inclusivity and self-expression. It is important to understand that gender diversity is now a crucial part of our societies, and statements like this only take us backwards to limiting conceptions of gender and identity.