White Feminists, I Have a Bone to Pick:
I have a major bone to pick ever since the popularity of being a feminist after the 2016 election grew. This bone is not specifically targeted at feminism, but is targeted at a type of feminism that is not inclusive. Do not get me wrong, I fully support the recent feminist movement; however there has been a rise of white feminism in my generation and being a young woman of color, I cannot allow this to slide under the rug.
Some of you might be starting to get defensive or even just confused about what white feminism is so let me enlighten you about what it is and how to curb this problematic feminism.
1. Understand the Premise of Feminism
Feminism in the words of Gloria Steinem, is “complete social and economic equality between men and women — not man-hating, [or] angry women, as pop culture often makes feminists out to be”. It is the notion of fighting for equality for EVERYONE, but it was started from the inequality of women. Feminist actions and ideals can be found long before when the term “feminism” was coined. This ever-changing movement has evolved through the last century at an incredibly rapid rate.
First Wave Feminism: brought many changes, most noticeably the women’s suffrage
Second Wave Feminism: brought the social change movement that went more in-depth in inequality compared to first wave feminism
Third Wave Feminism: brought a variety of feminisms, stressing diversity such as race, gender, class, sexuality, political views and lifestyle
2. Know Who is Important in The Community
There are so many influential people in the feminist community. Here are a few of the preeminent people:
Gloria Steinem: an American feminist who became critically acclaimed after her article, “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation”, in Ms. magazine. This article gained a lot of attention because it was one of the first serious journalistic reports on the new feminist movement, second wave feminism.
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw: the founder of the intersectionality theory as applied to the feminist theory. Crenshaw is an influential person of the feminist community because the intersectionality lense is very important to a holist feminist theory, viewing inequality with many intersections such as race, class, gender and sexuality… etc.
Susan B. Anthony/Elizabeth Stanton: famous American women’s rights activists that played a vital role in the women’s suffrage movement.
Audre Lorde: a poet who stressed social issues in her work. She was an advocate of intersectional feminism because in her work she examined her identity as black and being a woman.
3. Understand Different Types of Feminism
This is a fairly large list so I’m just going to list the most notable/important ones.
Intersectional Feminism: focuses on the analysis of discrimination faced by anyone who identifies with the multiple social, biological, and cultural groups. It is to recognize intersecting parts of a person or situation because it identifies discrimination in complex ways.
White Feminism: is to not advocate for women of color or lesser privileges. These privileges in summary are advantages in society that specifically white middle class people have, while people of color, the LBGTQi+ community… etc. do not have. In short, white feminists are not concerned, or even knowledgeable, of oppression or discrimination of women of lesser privileges.
Liberal Feminism: focuses on individual women’s choices and on the notion of empowerment. It attempts to support women through legal reforms, but often also puts pressure on women to make an effort to, for instance, aspire to leadership even if leadership is not their interest or focus.
Radical Feminism: focuses on social gender norms and gender oppression as something complex. Radical feminism recognizes gender oppression in cultural customs, language, education, and just about every context.
4. Understand Why White Feminism is Bad
White feminism has serious consequences because it lacks an intersectional view. If one does not acknowledge discrimination of other women and even just people, they condone oppressive behaviors that are not for the better good in the world which prioritize people with more power in society.
5. Call to Action/Conclusion
I want to make something clear, I’m not against feminism. As a matter of fact, I’m a giant supporter of feminism and consider myself an intersectional feminist. I am only against white feminism. I am against white feminism because it lacks fighting for equality for people like myself. I want my blackness, Mexicanness and womanness to be recognized by the larger feminist community.
To fight and curb white feminism, feminists like myself need to start supporting people of lesser privileges compared to the middle-classed, heterosexual and white woman. To do this everyone should be educated about the various oppressions with different intersecting identities experience.
