Tired of seeing so much #RacialPolitics on my #Tumblr dashboard. I kind of follow FEMINIST tumblrs for discussions of feminism? #Unfollowed
— White Feminist (@WhiteFeminist) September 12, 2013
If you don't think racial politics should be a feminist cause, then you're doing feminism wrong.
Feminists of colour hear this question (so many times that it’s not even funny), and I’ve seen a variety of responses, which range from, “We’re not in the business to educate you!” to rather pleasant advice. I guess I’m probably the in between of those extremes. I don’t like sugarcoating the, quite frankly, shit deal we’ve gotten from circles dominated by white feminists, but at the same time, I’m tired of being angry.
(Too much of my anger is directed at the “neo-colonial white supremacist capitalist patriarchy”, and that’s exhausting enough as it is.)
I like taking my chances with white feminists who seem like they do want to be better allies to people of colour, and judge how genuine they are by their responses to what I tell them. If they get irate and defensive, I hereby dub them a White FeministTM.
I’ve realised that there is an infinite list of things that white feminists can do to help us out, but what I should be telling them is the things they need to stop doing. So here we are.
Guest starring the awesome parody account @WhiteFeminist!
1. Stop thinking all women experience the same problems the same way.
After being a #victim of a #racist #HateCrime (I was called a cr*cker) I now truly #understand what it feels like to be at #TheBackOfTheBus
— White Feminist (@WhiteFeminist) July 13, 2013
In New Zealand, gender pay gap is worse for Māori and Pasifika women than it is for Pākehā women. So when white feminists talk about the gender pay gap, they need to stop saying this because they are forgetting or erasing the income disparities by ethnicity.
When white feminists talk about sexual fetishisation, they often ignore how this affects women of colour. Women of colour are seen as hypersexual (especially towards white men) or are docile, submissive sexual beings. I mean, they only need to look at the media’s treatment of Bevan Chuang and ask themselves, “Would this have happened if Bevan was a white woman?”
We’re not asking you to fight for us, but we’re asking you to acknowledge our issues and recognise that we are fighting a different battle. Which brings me to my next point…
2. Stop treating us like your charity cases.
Remember that the struggle for meaningful liberation of the oppressed has to be led by the oppressed themselves. Recognise your place as an ally in the movement for racial justice. Don’t talk over us, don’t try take the reins from us. Respect that we are unapologetically occupying the spaces that are entitled to us, and filling these spaces with our voices to fight against our oppressors.
When white feminists talk about sexual fetishisation, they often ignore how this affects women of colour. Women of colour are seen as hypersexual (especially towards white men) or are docile, submissive sexual beings. I mean, they only need to look at the media’s treatment of Bevan Chuang and ask themselves, “Would this have happened if Bevan was a white woman?”
We’re not asking you to fight for us, but we’re asking you to acknowledge our issues and recognise that we are fighting a different battle. Which brings me to my next point…
2. Stop treating us like your charity cases.
1 of my dreams is 2 open an organic #FoodTruck to help #SistersOfColour w/ their #fastfood addiction. #DropTheChickenWingNPickUpALettuceLeafWhite feminists “saving” women of colour is the 21st century manifestation of the White Man’s Burden. Let’s be real, though. We don’t need you to rescue us, especially if we’re going to keep being stifled by your paternalism anyway. The most prominent example of this is the White FeministTM movement to “liberate Muslim women”, as if Muslim women aren’t already fighting for their own liberation on their own terms.
— White Feminist (@WhiteFeminist) July 29, 2013
Remember that the struggle for meaningful liberation of the oppressed has to be led by the oppressed themselves. Recognise your place as an ally in the movement for racial justice. Don’t talk over us, don’t try take the reins from us. Respect that we are unapologetically occupying the spaces that are entitled to us, and filling these spaces with our voices to fight against our oppressors.
And on many occasions, you are included in that group.
3. Stop getting mad when we call you out for engaging in racist behaviour.
(One would think that a woman of colour, who was born into a society with deeply embedded racism, would have a better gauge on what is racist or not. The White FeministTM doesn’t think so.)
I don’t think I’ll ever stop linking this article on racism, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop quoting this paragraph:
When you dismiss our concerns about racism and claim that we live in a post-racial society, it sends us signals that you don’t actually care about our struggles. So we’re just gonna call things as we see them: You dislike that we bring the issues of racial justice to your feminist movement to the point that you’re gaslighting us. Why need racial justice if the oppressive mechanisms that contribute to white supremacy don’t exist anymore, right? Yeah, nice try, we’re onto you.
3. Stop getting mad when we call you out for engaging in racist behaviour.
Sorry, racists, but I don't see #colour! #equalityYes, you have the ability to perpetuate racist behaviour. Shocker? Excluding us out of the movement is racist behaviour, because you don’t think we have a place in feminism. When women of colour talk about racism in feminist circles, you get defensive and tell us that “We’re too sensitive,” or that we “try so hard to see racism in everything”. At your worst, you tell us not to sweat it, because hey, it’s actually not racist!
— White Feminist (@WhiteFeminist) April 13, 2013
(One would think that a woman of colour, who was born into a society with deeply embedded racism, would have a better gauge on what is racist or not. The White FeministTM doesn’t think so.)
I don’t think I’ll ever stop linking this article on racism, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop quoting this paragraph:
"There's a form of mental torture called "gaslighting," its name taken from a play in which a man convinces his wife that the gas lights in their home she sees brightening and dimming are, in fact, maintaining a steady glow. His ultimate goal is to drive her into a mental institution and take all her money, and soon the woman ends up in an argument with herself about whether she's losing her mind. American race relations have a similar narrative: An entire set of minorities confident that the everyday slights they're seeing are real and hurtful, and an entire set of other people assuring them that they're wrong."(I would edit “American race relations” out of that because this is not just a USian thing. I’ve experienced this in feminist circles in New Zealand as well.)
When you dismiss our concerns about racism and claim that we live in a post-racial society, it sends us signals that you don’t actually care about our struggles. So we’re just gonna call things as we see them: You dislike that we bring the issues of racial justice to your feminist movement to the point that you’re gaslighting us. Why need racial justice if the oppressive mechanisms that contribute to white supremacy don’t exist anymore, right? Yeah, nice try, we’re onto you.
As people who are focused on achieving social justice, we should constantly be improving ourselves not only as activists, but as people. We are all privileged and disprivileged in some way, and it’s important that we recognise this when we decide to support a group that we don’t identify with. To quote from Eve Ensler’s praise of LGBTQ activist Urvashi Vaid’s book on intersectional politics, Irresistible Revolution, “...freedom does not come through narrowing our concerns, but through the expansion of them.” In order to achieve the solidarity emphasised by intersectional politics, privileged groups need to be engaging in genuine and respectful allyship. Otherwise, it's all bullshit.
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