>As black women today, as well
>as minority women, it is
>up to us to change
>the face of feminism and
>the old school belief of
>what being an feminist is.

the white feminist
>movement was not in our
>best interest!

Amen, in some traditional African societies a womans worth is determined by her ability to raise her children, mangage her homestead, and provide support for her husband. In the western feminist thought a woman who stays at home to raise her children and provide a comfortable home for her man is regarded as old fashioned and a thorn in the side of modern womanism. I attribute this belief to the attitudes of most Western men. If a man and woman divorce and the woman was a "stay at home mom", the husband sees no reason why she should get anything from him. After all he went out to work everyday. Forget about the fact that he was able to work because he was fed every morning and each night, he had the comfort of knowing that he "seeds" were being well taken care of, and he had someone to come home to that with a single word or touch could release all of the frustration that comes along with being in corporate America. When women stop fighting to be contruction workers and police people and strt fighting for respect as mothers family mangagers we'll start to cherish these roles and perform them with pride and dignity.

we
>as women have to realize
>that we have more power
>than we choose to believe,
>when it comes to sexism
>and racism If we
>start loving ourselves and our
>sista's more, and showing it,
>and learning not only how
>to love our men, but
>respect them for the people
>that they are and not
>what we want them to
>be, or for what they
>have, men will have no
>other choice but to respect
>us.

The problem here as I see it is that women (esp. Black women) are raised to believe that our worth as people resides between our legs. It burns me when I hear women justify their behavior by saying "we have needs too". Now don't get me wrong I enjoy the company of a brother just like any other woman BUT, I enjoy my self-respect and dignity even more. I have been in a relationship for over 5 years and will soon get married, and until I do I think carefully about giving up control of my body each time the urge hits me. I make my decision based on my mental and spirtiual condition as well as my physical condtiton. And when the time is right..it's all good!
Men have started wars over women. Even David killed a man over a woman. We have so much power, why give it to some rapper dude just so you can "hold his ice".