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Assignment 9

In Ferguson’s book, Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique, he talks about how minorities do not always feel comfortable within their own social minority groups. It is harder for someone to be considered “other” in any sense, but many people fit into multiple minority groups ostracizing them from all those who have any difference. For example a white woman fits into the minority group of being a woman. A black woman fits into the minority groups of “black” and “woman.” A black, lesbian woman fits into the minority group of “woman,” “queer,” and “black.” Rather than using their similarities to be a rallying point; however, many people use their differences to show their superiority of the “others” within their own groups.
Ferguson also talks about the “prostitution” that is behind capitalism. When we are working we are renting out our bodies for the sake of making money much in the way of a prostitute. Ferguson looks at Marx’s ideas and compares them with the mill girls who were seen as deviant for working for a wage to buy themselves nice things. Ferguson wants the reader to look more deeply at where we get these ideas, and I also believe he is attempting to show the reader that we are all the same regardless of class, race, or gender and that we need to stop ostracizing and judging one another based off of these traits.