Available Now
White feminism is feminism. As Koa Beck lays out in her new book, feminism, whether led by suffragettes or Lean In types, has often focused on goals that benefited middle class, cis, straight, white women more than women of color or queer, trans, or poor women. Even as Black feminists have done the work of organizing and building, their efforts have been overshadowed or ignored in favor of glossy #Girlboss-style feminism. Why? As Beck explains, its capitalism. Instead of forming more intersectional coalitions that addressed the needs of, say, Latinx women or trans sex workers, feminism has become about a form of individualism that adheres to the notion that making a lot of money or finding success in business as a woman is a feminist act. To do that, to stop at personal achievement, ignores the need of feminism to address the struggles of all women, to organize for, say, a federal Domestic Workers Bill of Rights or Black Lives Matter. This is wrong. The revolution, Beck writes, will not be you alone, despite what white feminism has told you. In other words, more smashing of the patriarchy and white supremacy, less #feminism. Angela Watercutter