Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - White Feminism vs Racist Feminism
Aired: 2015-08-17
Duration: 04:56


=== Why White Feminism Matters (04:56) ===

[00:00:00]  You might have heard the term white feminism used lately.
[00:00:03]  Of course I have, and I'll tell you why.
[00:00:05]  Because I am a shitlord and I educated myself.
[00:00:09]  Because I have listened to feminists and believed what they said.
[00:00:12]  So tell me what's wrong with white feminists.
[00:00:15]  After Nikki Minaj and Tara Swift's Twitter exchange or when people critique HBO's girls.
[00:00:21]  You see, these should be red flags right here for feminists.
[00:00:25]  If the people who are commanding the feminist dialogue are Nikki Minaj and Taylor Swift or Lena Dunham's fucking TV program.
[00:00:34]  My point being, if Christopher Hitchens had had a big blowout with Richard Dawkins, it would be worth talking about.
[00:00:40]  If Taylor Swift and Nikki Minaj have a little Twitter spat, it's not.
[00:00:46]  But what does it mean?
[00:00:47]  It means that Western feminists have no greater issue than what some dipshit says to another dipshit on Twitter.
[00:00:54]  Yes, yes, I know that you are talking about what does white feminism mean.
[00:00:58]  Go on, go ahead and be racist.
[00:01:00]  Basically, white feminism is feminism that ignores intersectionality.
[00:01:05]  Then why call it white feminism?
[00:01:07]  Why not just call it simple feminism or basic feminism?
[00:01:10]  Why don't you call intersectional feminism feminism plus or something?
[00:01:14]  So not all feminists who are white are white feminists.
[00:01:17]  Yeah, I can see where the confusion's coming from.
[00:01:19]  But I mean, I understand what you're saying.
[00:01:21]  But most white feminists are white.
[00:01:25]  Because white people just don't have to think about things like race on a daily basis.
[00:01:29]  Unless you're a progressive and then you have to think about race constantly.
[00:01:32]  And we're not just pulling the race card.
[00:01:34]  You see the expression and the way you've done that?
[00:01:36]  It tells me that you are just pulling the race card.
[00:01:39]  White feminism excludes the experiences of basically anyone who's not white, fist, and straight.
[00:01:45]  And female.
[00:01:45]  But go on, tell me why that's problematic.
[00:01:48]  Here's why that's so problematic.
[00:01:50]  Sorry, tell me why it's so problematic.
[00:01:53]  First, it assumes the way white women experience misogyny is the way all women experience misogyny.
[00:01:59]  Could you try to have a slightly more judgy, entitled expression and tone of voice, please?
[00:02:04]  With a little bit more condescension.
[00:02:06]  And then please go on and tell me how each individual's experiences slightly differ due to their own circumstances.
[00:02:13]  And that's just not true.
[00:02:14]  I believe you.
[00:02:16]  White feminism aims to close the wage gap between men and women.
[00:02:20]  But what it fails to recognize is that most of the time, Latina and black women make even less than white women.
[00:02:26]  Yeah, but that doesn't change the stated goal because, believe it or not, black and Latina women are still women.
[00:02:32]  God, I can't believe I'm defending white feminism.
[00:02:35]  And police brutality should be viewed as a feminist issue.
[00:02:38]  Um, what, in the same way that, like, animal rights are a feminist issue.
[00:02:43]  But it doesn't affect white women the way it affects women of color.
[00:02:46]  If Sandra Bland had been a white woman, would a simple traffic stop have resulted in an arrest?
[00:02:51]  Categorically, yes.
[00:02:53]  Here is the footage from Sandra Bland's arrest.
[00:02:56]  Get out of the car now, or I'm gonna remove you.
[00:02:59]  And I'm calling my mother.
[00:03:00]  I'm gonna yank you out of here.
[00:03:01]  Okay, you're gonna yank me out of my car?
[00:03:03]  Okay, all right.
[00:03:04]  25, let's do this.
[00:03:06]  Yeah, we're going to.
[00:03:08]  Don't touch me.
[00:03:09]  Get out of the car.
[00:03:10]  Don't touch me.
[00:03:11]  I'm not under arrest.
[00:03:12]  You don't have the right to say.
[00:03:13]  You are under arrest.
[00:03:14]  And compare that to the footage of a white woman being arrested during a traffic stop.
[00:03:18]  Alright, well, you're not free to leave.
[00:03:20]  You're gonna take the bag off.
[00:03:21]  No, no, I'm not.
[00:03:22]  Take the bag off.
[00:03:23]  No, I'm not!
[00:03:26]  This is fuck!
[00:03:26]  You're raping me!
[00:03:28]  This is race!
[00:03:29]  This is rape!
[00:03:30]  This is right!
[00:03:34]  Okay!
[00:03:35]  Relax your arms!
[00:03:36]  It's relaxed!
[00:03:37]  Stop fighting me!
[00:03:37]  It's relaxed!
[00:03:38]  Stop fighting with me!
[00:03:40]  These women weren't being treated in this way because they were female, because they were black, or because they were white.
[00:03:45]  They were being treated this way because they were challenging the cops' authority.
[00:03:49]  And if you hadn't noticed, female privilege isn't working here.
[00:03:52]  They're being treated like a man.
[00:03:54]  White feminism ignores the role that whiteness plays in creating things like beauty standards.
[00:04:00]  For example, this is okay, but this isn't.
[00:04:06]  According to who?
[00:04:07]  By what standard?
[00:04:09]  You know that the content warning on the album cover isn't actually to do with the cover and to do with the content within it.
[00:04:17]  White women are most often the faces of feminism.
[00:04:20]  Tina Faye, Tara Swift, Amy Schumer have been able to break into industries that have been dominated by cis white men.
[00:04:28]  But black women, women of color, we face barriers that white women don't.
[00:04:32]  Only if you're saying the entire industry that you're trying to get into is racist.
[00:04:36]  Being a white feminist doesn't make you a bad person.
[00:04:39]  It just means you have a lot to learn.
[00:04:42]  Yeah, I mean, racism isn't something people are born with.
[00:04:45]  It does have to be learned.
[00:04:47]  The most important thing any white feminist can do is educate herself and listen and engage with the experiences of women of color without silencing them.