If there is one indisputable truth when it comes to feminism it is this: Regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality or socioeconomic status, within each of these spheres women are seen as second class to men of their same group.
In 2016, I like many other women, was horrified that Trump had been elected. A white woman named Bob Bland spread the idea of The 2017 Women's March to protest not only Trump's election, but what it would mean for women's reproductive rights if Trump made more Supreme Court appointments.
Shortly after, people became angry that women of color were not also leaders and organizers of this protest. To ensure that the march was led by women of differing races and backgrounds, Vanessa Wruble, co-founder, and co-president of Okayafrica, served as Head of Campaign Operations and brought on Tamika D. Mallory, Carmen Perez and Linda Sarsour to serve as National Co-Chairs alongside Bland. Former Miss New Jersey USA Janaye Ingram served as Head of Logistics. Filmmaker Paola Mendoza served as Artistic Director and a National Organizer.
What happened next? Trans identified men became angry at the "pussy hat" idea and started complaining that women's reproductive rights should not be centered in the march because "not all women had uteruses." All of a sudden wearing hijab became a feminist choice, and Louis Farrakhan was called the GOAT by Tamika Mallory. Serious infighting and accusations of antisemitism and more hit the major media.
The march became so "inclusive" that it was viewed as ridiculous and hypocritical. It lost it's teeth and became the butt of jokes rather than a powerful show of women's anger.
In more recent years "Karen" has been used as a pejorative term to describe any woman of a certain age who speaks up about something. We are told this term originated on Black Twitter as a way to describe middle aged white women who give black people in customer service roles a difficult time. One must ask, does "Karen" only complain to/about the black customer service workers? Or are white workers also subject to her ire? In any case the black community coined the name and now here we are, all of us Karens, regardless of color for daring to speak our minds about almost anything.
We are told that "Karen" is responsible for much of the racism against black people in the US. She need only snap her fingers or shed a few tears and hordes of her menfolk appear to kill and maim. Is this really true?
Here are the leading causes of death of black males: https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/lcod/men/2017/nonhispanic-black/index.htm 5% of all deaths of black males in the US are caused by homicide.
Who is killing them: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_6_murder_race_and_sex_of_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2013.xls By a very large margin it's other black men.
This is not to say racism is not a real and very serious problem in this country. What I am saying is that middle aged white women are not the catalyst, not by a long shot. In fact the largest danger to black women is black men - not Karen, or any other white woman.
I would posit that the vast majority of liberal, college educated white women have bent over backwards and tied themselves in knots to be intersectional and inclusive. They have self flagellated over their whiteness and privilege to their own detriment for at least two decades if not much longer. We can see examples of this cowering obsequiousness all over the internet in multiple spheres. They want to be good girls and get the proverbial pat on the head for being an ally while obediently admitting to the internalized racism they are told they have. And still they are blamed for violence against MOC and election losses. Who knew soccer moms had so much sinister influence?
Has any one movement handled itself perfectly when it comes to race and class? No.
However, middle class white women, more than any other group I can think of, have made every effort within their power to rectify the sins of the past and try to do right. Now we are being told to sit down and shut up because we are Karens. When we do keep quiet and cede the floor to other voices we are told that our silence means we don't care. I'm not going to blame all black women for this because, just like white women, they are not a monolith and not responsible for what anyone of their same color and sex chooses to say or do.
At the end of the day as women, no man, not even one of your own community, will hold you in higher esteem than another man. You will always be not quite human in his eyes. This is why women need to align with one another first and always. If we could do that we could enact major change based on our numbers alone. But sadly that does not seem to be in the cards.
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Too many women fall into the trap of being loyal to race first over other women. Give me ONE example of men fighting for women's rights solely. Just ONE. White men weren't fighting with the Suffragettes over the right to vote. Dave Chappelle isn't organizing legal funds to help imprisoned black women stay safe from rape in prison from trannies. Afghan men aren't fighting the new oppressive regime to ensure women can still be educated and hold jobs and not wear hijabs. All of these men have monetary and political power to drastically alter women's lives for the better but where are they? Talk is cheap when women are being raped, murdered, and married off at 8 years old everyday.
Men will never help us. They've proven it time and time again. Even when they view men of other races as inferior, they will still help them over us like the white men in the USA who gave black slave men the right to vote over ALL women.
Exactly. This is why women will always be outsmarted by men.
Cheekymonkey defended the move white women made not to support Shirley as a sound political decision. Not realising royalty to your brethren in our case sisters is more important than passing intangible gains or losses. Women will stay losing if folx can't even learn how to play ball by watching men & correcting past mistakes. Chess not checkers. It's a long game here. Women are just sleeping. Not even viable opponents. Just a threat men already know how to appropriately neutralize. Trans rights also a bomb blasted by dumb women. Today because women stay playing checkers little girls are now getting raped in girls bathrooms by little boys wearing skirts. It's a shit show out here 😵.
Everything in your post is correct. It all comes down to solidarity, and men have it in spades. As long as women keep being loyal to dick over other each other, we're never getting anywhere. It's why we will continue to be oppressed as a class. These pickmes really think men are coming to save us 🤣
Men ain't EVER loyal to pussy. Not even their own mums.
Women stay sleeping. It's more comfortable being sleeping beauty awaiting your prince to kiss you awake & delivere you to freedom.
Just unclench that claw that's gripping dick. I promise, you'll like being free once you get over the fear of being dickless😂😂
damn thats a great metaphor
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Except getting abortion legalized was not an intangible gain or loss. It was life or death for many women.
That was the 1972 election when Nixon was re-elected though. So while it’s understandable why they thought it would matter, in the end it didn’t. Sadly, it mattered in 2016.
Where did you learn about this? I had to piece a lot of it together myself and my knowledge of this stuff from the perspective of 2nd wave happenings is lacking.
I lived through a lot of it. Also, I minored in Women's Studies in college in the 80s. We learned a lot of radical feminist theory then. Over the years I continued to read and learn but stepped away for a bit when I saw how things were turning to liberal feminism. It makes me sick to see the state of things now.
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Great post. I completely agree with you. I've always said white women are more advanced in their rf theory even though black women are more so in praxis.
Yes there's racism within the feminist movement. But it goes both ways. Black women care more for black rights than black women's rights. As a consequence they always end up as black mens foot soldiers while the biggest threat to black women is black men. Black women are statistically safer around white men than they are around black men.
The race is more prevalent in poc societies because that's a cause that also harms men.
My opinion, let the men fight for racial equity. And black women focus on women's rights. But they don't see it that way.
Exactly. I have seen a lot of online activity lately in feminist spaces where the poster claims to be a black woman and is basically stirring shit using the Karen trope. I don't know if this is real or if these are saboteurs. If they can keep women divided by race they will always win. We should always prioritize sisters before misters. I frequently listen to Deborrah Cooper. I want to know what black women are saying and thinking. There is a pretty large "divestment" movement going on because many of these women realize black men are not making their lives better. However, what is missing in a lot of this is the feminist analysis and solidarity with other women regardless of race.
My biggest shocker is how black women blame white women for male violence. They don't see white women as sisters in arms. I don't blame them. Politically white women have made some shady decisions in the 60s/70s. There will always be a racial divide. Because white women have white privilege.
Black women want to live the way white women did & do now. Yet white women are past it & are privileged enough to dream of being president eg. Hilary Clinton.
We need more critical thinkers on this subject in the rf community. Because it's a problem.
As well as a union between feminism in the global north & south. Integrating third world women. How to make universal feminist tenants that every woman in the world can recognise & have access to irrespective of religious and cultural beliefs. Education, abortion, no childbrides, equal pay, right to move freely, lesbian rights etc.
Are you referring to the decision of abortion rights advocates to support the male democratic candidate instead of Shirley Chisholm? If that is the situation you mean it was purely pragmatic and not racist. I'm not saying I agree and yes, they did betray Shirley Chisholm but they knew they had a better chance of the legislation passing if their candidate won. Although she was a trailblazer Chisholm's chances of winning the presidential nomination were slim to none at that time. The choice was to pass legislation to help all women or keep their promise to Chisholm. There was no good choice. A lot of politics is like that.
That & amongst other things. The reality of it is white women were the face & main leadership of the feminist movement. When they chose to align with a white male power, they broke ties with their non white sisters. That is the politics white women missed & continue to miss.
You cannot preach sisterhood & continue to bed the white man politically. It is a symbol. A symbol of the white woman being inline with the white man. Hence why black women do not see why they should drop black men.
In the end as women, sisterhood is what will save us. Not political correctness(no such thing).
The same way it is practical for a white woman to deny her white son a rapist to preserve her family. Yet detrimental to the bigger saga of women's rights. Can't bed your oppressor & shout sisterhood.
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I hope I live to see the day that men get off their asses and actually fight for equality for men AND women. Sadly I don't think I will though.
No they won't. During the civil rights movement, most of the foot soldiers and some of the leadership were female but as far as everybody is concerned it was the black males that fought that war. White male allies joined the movement because they believed the black MAN had the right to freedom like all other men. The blm movement was started by black women because of The killing of a black MAN despite the fact that black women die in large numbers at the hands of black men. White cops present in black neighborhoods keep black women & children safer.
It's a difficult topic to comprehend for most black women due to their history & lack of education. Black women cling on to black men because they have already been rejected by the world, they hold hope for black men
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The refusal of other schools of feminism to acknowledge that white women are not unique in prioritizing men of their own race is weird. At the same time I’m not going to pretend white women doing this in the west isn’t more detrimental overall. Intersectionalism isn’t complete bunk and I’m a bit sick of some white women’s bs in radical spaces. I’ve also seen white women get bs accusations of racism while self-centered instigators get coddled because everybody else is afraid being seen as racist. I fully expect to be accused of being racist for saying this.
I’m equally as sick of poc’s racism towards each other. Some of the stuff I’ve seen in black spaces and Asian spaces is worse than what people harp on white feminists for.
White women have their race intersect with the misogyny they experience. Rotherham anyone? White women are also fetishized by non-white men. I’ve had a front row seat to that. I also have have had a front row seat to what happens when a white woman suffers the consequences of being in proximity to foreign men who jack off to what’s mostly white men abusing white women. The gall of the white men to act like innocent little victims of a (((conspiracy))) when all men exactly like each other would be hilarious if it weren’t ruining our lives.
I’m not sure at this point if this a solvable problem. If it’s not choosing men of our own race over other women, then it’s the men in our beds, the men we rely on for economic stability so we could be mothers, and also the males we mother.
We need to get our shit together.
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It is very true that until white women stop clinging to the scraps of power plus the comforts and privilege white men grant them and black women to the black men savior complex and blind hatred of all white women there's not gonna be much progress. The powerful momentum disintegrated when white women accepted empowerement from the system instead of transforming the system. The ones who understood the error scattered as separatists.
Yup. This move right here birthed liberal feminism. A vehicle of intangible freedom that naturally allows men greater access to women. Pornography boomed, prostitution as a career prospect boomed, unsavory sexual practices towards women boomed, trans rights boomed, 50/50 boomed(even though women did not have the same access to jobs & finance like men.)
This is why I believe in the "conspiracy" that many of the top leaders of the feminist movement at the time were actually in the pockets of the CIA. No way a movement that had that much traction & bite could disintegrate so quickly the way it did. Unless it's disintegration was part of the governmental plan.
Men absolutely hijacked everything and successfully brain-slugged women again. I also question the swiftness of it. It was noted that there were definitely bad faith actors among the leaders (exhibiting power tripping, internalized misogyny, male identification). It's also possible they thought the only way forward is an uprising and that it would be crushed through violence so they thought settling for improvement is better.
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To anyone interested in the complex relationships between black women, white women and men of their respective races, Ain't I A Woman by Bell Hooks is the most enlightening material I've been able to find on the subject. Of course the book focuses most on black women being that the author herself is black. Hooks is so much more insightful on the subject then I ever could be, so certainly feel free to skip my own words and check out her book instead!
All of us women are so guilty of betraying one another. We don't learn from history and the cycle continues on and on, assuring that those in power remain in power. It's kind of sad how long this has been going on.
To me it seems important that we recongize as you said, no group is a monolith. Our lives are going to be filled with small betrayals, and we can't cut out solidarity and blame a whole group for the individual actions of a few particular women. It's unfortunate we live in an era of great capability of social manipulation and disinformation. Those in power use these tools well to cut us up and divide us in new ways never before possible without these technologies.
So easy for a man to be like "yep I am for reals a woman on the internet" and incite further hate within our own groups. And it goes so much further then that, with masses of bots and the creations of new social movements, etc... Real people get caught up in these manipulations and work as soldiers to create hatred and division...
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You are brilliant and your comments here need to be in every feminist space you can find.
I’m dying to know what’s on your reading list.
Thank you. I plan to write a book someday. Haha. We need to further the theory some way. We can't let the great work be stagnant cause Dworkin & them are no longer with us.
I read everything hey. Dworkin, Malcom x, Howard Zinn, z budaest, anthropology, psychology books etc. It's a mix mash. To me, this is how you are able to be better informed & connect the dots.
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I can only speak for myself but solidarity, especially in these times, is difficult. No one seems to be on the same page and I see it when I read posts from the blackpillers, radfems, and everyone in between. There’s actual rape, violence, and disgusting exploitation against women and young girls then the types on here that act like being called ugly is far worse. All that matters is being validated by men. They could honestly care less and it’s easy to swallow the blackpill when you see this system for what it is. You see the same people in power time and time again who are the ones that built these systems and expect us to be grateful for it. This route, however, is not practical and I got to hand it to the radfems for at least trying to find practical approaches despite the massive uphill battle.
The infighting among women and POC is infuriating but you have to consider the fact that A LOT of people have had traumatic experiences and most of the time it comes from a place of hurt. Becoming aware of being TRULY viewed as lesser than because you’re female is bad enough. Being a female + POC is an extra layer of BS to deal with. It’s worse when you get disrespected by people that expect you to be allies and then turn around and talk down to you because your life experience gave you a different perspective on certain issues. I’ve had white feminists (usually older) who shouted at me for disagreeing with them or correcting them when they try to act like an expert on cultures that they aren’t a part of that I actually grew up in. Then there’s ones that talked to me like I’m a stupid and illiterate child just because of how I look plus being quiet. Then there’s the rage that bubbles when you dare defend yourself against them. A rage I didn’t see with other people in the groups that I was in when they disagreed. Mask fell off I guess.
The vicious infighting between POC is so exhausting and hypocritical as well. You’d think non-whites would know better but no, some always feed right back into it. I'm a POC but still had my fair share of racist incidents with non-whites in the form of nasty looks, ignorant comments & jokes based on whatever stereotype they had of me based off of my looks, and general hateful vibes. Reading the same nasty stuff racist white folks write but written by a non-white. Then asked to be an ally after they make it subtly known what they really think of you.....
It’s really heartbreaking seeing the amount of self-hating posts on here because all these factors of the system made them feel that way. You go online and it’s bombarded with more material to keep reinforcing it. I don’t feel bad for being my race but there is so much socially acceptable sentiment & vile material out there that tries to tell me that I’m racially, religiously, culturally, and sexually inferior. All it makes me want to do is jam my middle finger in their face. For others it just destroys them because they have absolutely no support and there are jerks that actually tell them they deserve it.
For true solidarity to work you really need to feel like someone genuinely has your back but everyone changes so much based on whatever suits them that it’s hard to trust. Or they simply don’t care. It ends up feeling like nothing but agendas. But who really wins? Always feels like it’s the same people that do. Nothing changes. Anyway, not trying to instigate or be a bitch. Just expressing how I feel about this matter.
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