Emphatic Syllable
Sexist White Male Leftism
“Fuck White women.”
I am uncomfortable whoever I hear this from, but especially from White men.
While it is true that according to an exit poll, a narrow majority of White women voted for Trump, it is also true that according to that same poll, nearly two thirds of White men, over two million more votes, also went for the fascist, and even a majority of the ones who were graduated from college. White women graduated from college flipped for Clinton.
How many times do we say, or hear, “White men elected Trump?”
To be clear, I am very aware that Clinton is also part of the problem. And yet, when I hear some White male Leftists speak of her, she is seen as particularly vile, while Trump gets passed off as a symptom, or just America revealing itself. Clinton is the cause.
Side Question: If climate denial, White supremacy, and toxic masculinity can survive through college, what are we teaching our (male) students?
Mainstream economics?
Higher expectations on women than men to cure themselves of Whiteness, including giving up on White men altogether, only furthers Male Supremacy via a politics of resentment against women — including Black women, and other women of color. Scapegoating women lets men off the hook.
Leftist White men: Not all feminism is White feminism. Get on board with dismantling our internalized toxic masculinity, part and parcel with White Supremacy. We are the problem. White men. Especially wealthy White men, and all the other privileged groups we may belong to.
Fuck White supremacy. Fuck Whiteness. But White men saying “Fuck White Women” just co-opts Women of Color’s sense of betrayal by White women to increase sexism and rape culture, so we can lash out our own sexually frustrated resentment, in the name of racial justice — which is fucked.
That is why this piece is called Emphatic Syllable. White males use the “White” in “Fuck White women” as a cover, as a socially acceptable way to say, “Fuck women.”
We White men have plenty of things to critique, attack, even be angry about. We can be angry about Capitalism and Whiteness and Toxic Masculinity and more. We can even lament that women internalize Whiteness just as we do. But “Fuck White women,” without, at the very least, “But fuck White men way more,” does a grand disservice.
Some White men seem to feel like they can get away with lashing out against women this way — and I fear they are right.
So White men: Let’s hold each other accountable. Call each other in. Do better.
Let’s punch up. Punch oppressions. Punch Empire. Punch systems. In a way that works.
