Abstract
In Intimate Justice, Shatema Threadcraft intricately interweaves feminist political theory and black feminist thought to examine the intersection of racism, sexism, and capitalism on black women’s intimate capacities. These capacities—sexual, reproductive, and caretaking—have been exploited to uphold racially systemic and sexist social conditions that have persistently exposed black women to odious forms of interpersonal, community, and state-sponsored injustices. For Threadcraft, meaningful intimate justice is “every bit as important as economic and political justice…” (p. 117). Therefore, she proposes a form of “corrective justice” that aims to address the legacy of racialized economic and social disadvantage, protect black female bodily integrity, and support and develop the intimate sphere.
Intimate Justice begins with the story of Elaine Riddick, whose narrative is riddled with forms of intimate injustices. A survivor of kidnapping and rape, Riddick stood before the governor’s task force in 2011 to demand justice for being forcibly sterilized by the North Carolina eugenics board in the 1960s. Riddick was awarded a paltry US$50,000 in restitution for a heinous act that significantly altered her life. Here, Threadcraft makes a key point: The path to black female intimate justice and freedom is long and incomplete. Riddick, like many other women before and after her, has been deprived of her bodily integrity, quality relationships, and a dignified human life.
To illustrate this point, Intimate Justice draws connections between the constraints black women faced in key historical periods, such as slavery and the Jim Crow era, and the constraints they face today. Firstly, Threadcraft contends that black women are frequently absent from analyses of racism and anti-black violence. Instead, the focus is primarily placed on the experiences of black men. Using lynching and Jim Crow era violence as examples, Threadcraft highlights the ways in which racial injustices have been examined through a narrow, androcentric lens that obscures violence against women. This problem persists today and consequently hinders opportunities for intersectional solutions to a larger racial problem.
Secondly, black men and women have been relegated to the “dark ghetto” (p. 113), a space of racial and intergenerational economic disadvantage. In this space, men are disproportionately involved in the criminal legal system, while women (whose caretaking capabilities have been severely compromised) are at the mercy of child welfare agencies. Here, black women and men experience intimate and civic constraints that restrict them to menial jobs and improper housing in destabilized communities, while their children are disproportionately represented in the foster-care system. In this space, black women remain threatened by black men who utilize street harassment and other forms of abuse to reinforce patriarchal ideals that cause further disempowerment. The impact is poignant: black women face marginalization from the wider society as well as from black men within their own communities.
In Intimate Justice, race, gender, and class are inextricably linked. Therefore, true corrective justice cannot be achieved if the plights of black women remain overlooked and unaddressed. Threadcraft believes that the legacy of black disadvantage will continue if the contemporary needs of black women and children remain unmet. Therefore, she challenges readers to consider deeper meanings of freedom, equality and justice.
Finally, Intimate Justice is an important contribution to the field of critical theory. It provides a theoretical examination of the intersections between power, racism, oppression, and privilege—an approach that is essential in effective social work practice. Social workers have the ability to act. Therefore, as agents of change, it would behoove us to critically examine the impact of social, cultural, economic, and political structures on various subgroups within the population. It is also incumbent upon us to actively challenge social injustice and employ appropriate social justice interventions that are anti-racist and anti-oppressive in nature.
