Fabulous post by Betty Mamzelle on the white privilege of “White Feminism”.
This, in a nutshell, is about how white people feel they own the right to dominate a conversation (or a movement) and tell other people what can and cannot be discussed; who’s in and who’s out; what topics are allowable and which are not; and what’s important v. what is not … and how those beliefs extend to the battleground of feminism.
Even though feminism is supposedly about protecting women from other-abuse, “white feminists” feel perfectly comfortable browbeating or excluding women who don’t fit their concept of what feminism is supposed to be. Betty says,
White feminism is a set of beliefs that allows for the exclusion of issues that specifically affect women of colour. It is “one size-fits all” feminism, where middle class white women are the mould that others must fit. It is a method of practicing feminism, not an indictment of every individual white feminist, everywhere, always.
She goes on to list quite a few incidents of ways this truth has manifested itself in the world of feminism. Shockingly, each of the many incidents she mentions took place just within the past year – from publication of her post on 10 Jan 2014. Links to the stories are provided.
Go Betty!
Hat tip to Okaikor Aryee-Price for this fabulous find.