On Women, Friendships and Solidarity
The topic of women and relationships has been on my mind a lot for awhile but it’s been difficult for me to put these feelings and ideas into words. Fortunately, I was given the push to express these sentiments through a guest post on this great website, New Latina. It was a hard piece to write in that I had to come to terms with a lot of what I’ve experienced with some of the women that I have encountered in my life. Overall, it was a way for me to let go of some of those bad memories and to appreciate the here and now. Angelica, the founder and editor of NewLatina is such an intelligent and hardworking woman. I really admire her work and determination, and this makes me feel proud to be a Latina.
Ever since I started school, my friendships with girls were challenging. Of course, elementary school consisted of girls stating that you were copying them (i.e. certain phrases, fads), making fun of you, and talking about you behind your back.
In high school it was pretty much the same, but perhaps more aggressive for some of the girls in my class. Fortunately, I didn’t experience too many difficulties with them, but it wasn’t without its trying times. It’s interesting that many of the conflicts that arose among these girls were based on their relationships with boys. By the end of high school, I got used to dealing with these types of conflicts but I hoped that things in college would be different. I hoped that the drama and pettiness would end.
In college I met a group of friends who were funny, intelligent, and sweet. They were also women of color. In a college that was predominantly White, I felt that I had found my place in this new world that I had to call home for the next four years. As a feminist, I believe that feminism is about the rights of women, social justice, and sisterhood. I thought that I had found that in this group of women in college.
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