By: Angie Appah (’20), Staff Writer
When speaking about the legacy of feminism, there is one important fact that many people are determined to leave out: black women have historically been pushed out of mainstream feminism. From the blatant racists that led the suffrage movement to the lack of feminist outrage over the forced sterilization of rural black women right here in North Carolina, black women have consistently found themselves ignored and forced to choose between their struggles as women and their struggles as black people.
Today, the term white feminism has been coined in order to describe the contemporary brand of feminism that ignores how other identities affect a woman’s experience of sexism. Even when this intersectionality is acknowledged, the proponents of white feminism force the idea that these experiences should be placed aside in order to somehow create a more united form of feminism.
This idea is inherently racist and exemplifies white feminism’s biggest flaw: its refusal to actively acknowledge how racism shapes the inequality black women face as women. This brand of feminism ignores the fact that racism and sexism merge together to form an experience of inequality that in many ways is starkly different than that of a white woman.
White feminism, however, is not just some poorly executed idea that is rooted in the noble cause of “unified” feminism. While white feminists themselves may or may not be intentional about the repercussions of their actions, the movement as a whole has a very clear purpose. White feminism works through the privilege of white women to obtain gender equality. It does not care if all women reach this equality, nor does it care if this equality is at the expense of black women. White feminism only cares about those who fit the definition of a woman as constructed by the very patriarchy that oppresses them.
So it’s no surprise today that black women are reluctant to participate in the same feminist movements that view oppression solely through the lens of cis middle-class whiteness. Even the Women’s March of 2017 – which was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history – received criticism for being centered around the experience of cis white women.
White feminism is not only frustrating for black women but dangerous. By defining whiteness as the standard within the feminist movement, black women are left voiceless when it comes to important issues such as sexual assault and are not allowed in the already small spaces white women have to speak up. This danger is seen in movements as recent as the #MeToo social media movement. This hashtag, which gained popularity in late 2017, encouraged women to speak up about sexual assault in order to demonstrate just how widespread the issue is. As an important movement that has generated much-needed conversation about sexual harassment – something that black women face at higher rates than white women – it is difficult to stomach the fact that black women have been excluded from it as well.
In many instances, Alyssa Milano – a white actress – is credited with the birth of the movement. Though in actuality, civil rights activist Tarana Burke – a black woman – coined the phrase and started the movement more than a decade prior to Milano’s viral tweet.
The movement also demonstrates how there is a certain type of woman who is granted believability – and that woman is almost never black. When black actress Lupita Nyong’o spoke up against producer Harvey Weinstein, Weinstein issued a statement that discredited her account, after remaining silent on almost every other accusation thrown his way. Even more sickening is the reluctance of white feminists themselves to allow all black women to speak up about their experiences of sexual assault or harassment. Lena Dunham – a notorious white feminist actress – went so far as to publicly denounce the account of Aurora Perrineau, a 23-year old woman of color. By not speaking up about disparities like these, white feminism continuously proves that it does not care about black women. So asking black women to focus on this so-called “generic” form of sexism is equivalent to asking us to fight for one group’s equality while ours has not been promised. It’s almost laughable.
Feminism, as it is today, insinuates that the freedom of black women is not as important as that of white women. It’s disrespectful and outright insulting. In fighting for my equality, I should be able to trust that the groups that claim to be working for me are actually working for me. I should not have to simultaneously fight the patriarchy and the group I am fighting it with. It is the job of feminists everywhere to take a hard look at their own feminism and ask themselves if it is real, or simply a diluted, white-washed joke.
