I’ve seen a lot of articles and posts lately and it makes me want to delete my presence from the internet and disappear into a cave and hope everything magically becomes okay. But you know what? That’s how they win, that’s how the masses of Trump supporters who now somehow believe the being openly xenophobic and hateful is okay. I even have a handful of people I am Facebook friends with who have posted things that make me want to post “Your privilege is showing.” on every single trash article and meme I see.
This is probably old news now, but there was a white girl who wrote a post entitled “I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists.” It’s been a long time since I read something that made my jaw literally fall open in disgust. I won’t go into details beyond that fact that this pretty, middle class, white woman from Florida uses antiquated and minority statistics on feminism that represent a small portion of people who aren’t actually feminists to say that she doesn’t like feminism because “We’re doing just fine.”
First off, they’re radical feminists, to give them a name. These are women who hate men, due to preference and difficult pasts, that make it so destroying men is their goal, not equality. They exist, but they’re a small statistic. Secondly, CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE. We are not okay, you are using “we” to represent the sliver of white women who as a majority, voted for Trump. Be honest with yourself, you don’t care about any other woman’s struggles, because they aren’t that bad. Being unable to get a legal abortion, afford birth control, or get a job that pays the same as your male counterparts, that’s just asking too much. Did you know that a white woman makes 79 cents to every dollar a white man makes, while a woman of color will only make 54 or 64 cents? No, because you’re what we in the community of Women of Color like to refer to as a “Pretty Racist.” These are women who are Aryan as they come and can get away with their racism because they’re pretty, *cough* Tomi Lahren *cough*
Did you read the viral twitter thread from Sydne Rain after the Women’s March? If not you can read it here. In a brief summation, herself and other Native American women wore traditional outfits that were referred to a costumes and photographed, but when they asked people to take flyers about the pipelines and fracking, they refused. White women mocked their war cries, their clothing, and their presence saying that they had nothing to do with their stolen land. They were treated as spectacles, not people, a museum to a past that white women had no intention of acknowledging. I’ll quote one of her tweets, “White feminists treat us like we are burdens or that we are divisive. Because it’s inconvenient for you to let go of your whiteness.” Sound familiar?
Being hateful towards other women is a sign of privilege, it means you see what you are doing as superior enough to denounce the actions of others. “Pretty Racists” are this new generation of women who hide behind their appearance while spouting out pure ignorance. The author of the piece I mentioned? Yeah, she also wrote a piece in support of Tomi Lahren. Surprise, surprise, am I right? People go easy on these types of racists because they’re fragile weak women who can’t handle slander and hate. Oh wait, what the fuck were people doing to Hillary for the last few years? Maybe if Hillary had less wrinkles, a tighter body, and blonder hair we’d have her as a president and not the piece of scum that white women elected.
Did I tell you that after the Women’s March I was walking to my car and a guy asked my experience about the march and not my white friend? Because I was wearing a turban and looked “ethnic.” There’s no other explanation, he wanted to make the march out to be more diverse than it was. How many white women glowing with energy can you interview before it becomes a blinding sign of white privilege. People don’t want to be feminists anymore because white women have taken it over and made it about their issues. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again until it’s drilled in everyone’s head, intersectionality exists because it has become a necessity. White feminism exists and is debunking decades of work done by women of color because now this shit effects them.
So as this has been rather angry, I’ll leave you with this. Check your privilege, all of you. Don’t perpetuate ideas without first knowing the reason you feel that way. Why does Black Lives Matter make you uncomfortable? Why does a Native American chanting “You stole our land” make you want to walk away? Why does the idea of having a vagina is the only way you can be female drilled into your head? Because you are privileged.
Feminism has shaped into something that should promote equality for all, that’s the goal. We use the umbrella term because the word “feminism” still makes people squirm. We have the power, we have the numbers, we have the perseverance to create change, just stop putting your white privilege as the front runner. There are issues that may not personally effect you that deserve your support. We must continue to fight against white feminism, “pretty racists,” and everything that has degraded the integrity of the feminist movement.
Feminism matters. Intersectionality matters. We matter.