Get (White Feminism) Out
One for all and all for one.
A Fight For All
Growing up as a female, I was always told the importance of our rights and the struggle women faced to get those rights. In school, we were always taught as women to fight for our rights to be equal with men, to rise against gender oppression, and to be not be limited to gender stereotypes. Before taking this course about Examining White Femininity with Postcolonial & Black Feminist Scholarship, I was not well educated about feminism nor was aware of that White Feminism existed. Through this course, I learned not all women are fighting for equal rights but rather rights that are more beneficial for them.
“Get Out” of White Feminism
In a recent film, Get Out, described an African American man (Chris) who goes to visit his white girlfriend’s (Rose) family, where he experiences what African Americans experience in the real world today, which is racial oppression. The main discussion of the movie was the talk of the obvious racism that exists in the movie, which correlates within what is going on with our world today. But, there is also an underlying dig against white feminism within the main character’s girlfriend, Rose.
Police Brutality
On their way to her parents’ home, Rose was pulled over by a white cop. Once the cop cleared Rose, he took a look at Chris and had the audacity to ask for his license, which in turn caused Rose to become angered and speak against the officer since Chris was not even the driver yet is being questioned by the police. After her outburst against the officer, even though Chris reassured her it was fine, the officer bid them riddance and left. If the roles were reversed and Chris was the one arguing with the cop, then the outcome could and would have been surely different. In this BuzzFeed article, Here’s A Timeline Of Unarmed Black People Killed By Police Over Past Year, lists only some of the many police brutality cases against African Americans that have occurred. Although she stood up against the unreasonable questioning towards Chris, what Rose did not realize theat her actions could have led to some severe consequences similar as to the African American men and women faced in the linked article. Her privileged self never had to experience the fear of facing the law enforcement, similarly to how many white, especially the privileged, Americans feel no fear towards officers, unlike many African Americans. Many of us (and by us I mean those who are privileged enough not to have to walk down the street and fear an encounter with the police) are either not aware that this horrifying behavior amongst the officers exist or worse, we are aware of it but do nothing to help stop this from happening again because we ourselves are not directly affected by it.
Fear Not the Privilege is Here
Throughout the movie, Rose kept disregarding Chris’ concern about how his parents will react towards him being African American and whenever anyone in her family will say anything remotely racist against him, she said nothing for them to stop. Instead, when they were alone and Chris would bring up his concerns about her family, she kept telling him that her family was the opposite of being racists and that they did not mean it in the way that he took it as. Rose’s character is the epitome of white feminism and resemble many white Americans because they disregard the fact that racial oppression still exists because they do not experience this firsthand. The issue amongst this ignorant group is that since they do not have to be subdued to this form of oppression, they feel no need to fight for those that do nor acknowledge its existence. Gloria Spivak states from her article, More On Power/Knowledge, that “being able to do something — only as you are able to make sense of it”. This is true for not only white feminists, but for many white, privileged Americans, who do not comprehend or are aware of the racial injustice many minorities face; therefore, they have no desire nor ability to help fight against it.
Having Knowledge and Raising Awareness is True Power
Feminism should not be broken down into different categories and issues, where only certain women fight for certain causes. Instead, as feminists and women, we should fight against all issues together to reach a common goal. Unity is power, but being united is easier said than done. As women, we should be helping one another rather than criticizing one another. Understanding that as women of different ethnic and financial background, we all face different hardships, but we should not make one hardship seem more significant than the other. All hardships are important; therefore, all should be fought for and against.
Gaining Perspective
Dorothy Lydia argues in her article, White Feminism: What Is It & How Do We Stop It, argues how white feminists are not only fighting for rights for their own racial benefit, but also ignoring the rights of women of color. In order to stand together against all issues, we need to be aware and educated in all issues. Meaning, we need to enlighten ourselves with issues that not only affect us, but affect all women and work together to achieve EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL. Spivak states that power “is not an institution, and it is not a structure; it is not a certain strength [puissance] that some are endowed with; it is the name that one lends [preter] to a complex strategical situation in a particular society”. At some point in time, we have been a Rose from Get Out, where we dismiss the importance of other issues due to our negligence being aware that these issues exist amongst minorities. But we do not have to be Rose. Instead we can be knowledgeable and aware; therefore, we can have power in numbers to help bring solutions to these controversies.
Spivak and Davis
In her article, More on Power, Spivak states “if the lines of making sense of something are laid down in a certain way, then you are able to do only those things with that something which are possible within and by the arrangement of those lines”. In relation, Davis argues how history has provided this ideology that the role of women is limited to the home, but for women of color not only are they forced to clean their own homes, but the homes of other women as well. This is seen in the film, Get Out, where Georgina, an African American woman, is “hired” to fulfill the household duties in white family’s home. Davis and Spivak’s ideologies intersect because Davis speaks about how women of color are criticized for having a job outside of the home and Spivak describes dogmatic philosophy as taking action without knowing the specifics. Those who judge women with a career do not learn to understand nor acknowledge as to why these women need to have a job beyond household chores. Spivak speaks about nominalism, which is the act of labeling, but he argues it to be incorrect. In correlation Davis states how ideal “household wife” was seen by bourgeois families, where the women are considered the husband’s “life-long servant”. The label of what a good housewife, which equalizes to a good woman, is irrevocably incorrect in the sense that the value of a woman is based on her ability to complete household chores. Labeling amongst women creates a divide in what issues each group women should be fighting for and the idea that one group is better than the other. Rather than labeling and then critiquing one another, we label ourselves so that as women we can comprehend the differences amongst each other and work together to help fight for equal rights for all women. Don’t be the Rose in the thousands of Chris that exists in our world today.
Gain knowledge.
Gain perception.
Comprehend and acknowledge variation amongst one another.
End girl on girl hate.
FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF ALL.
