Just so we’re all aware…
Precisely half of the regular Feministe bloggers right now are white, and half are not.
If I read that Feministe is a white or a mostly white blog one. more. time…
See: Representing.
sorry, it is still a blog that centers whiteness. it IS a white blog. just because some women of color write on it, read it, comment now does not change the reality that it centers a very specific outlook that is entrenched in white privilege and is openly silencing of non-whiteness-centering anything.
ETA: more than feeling erased (which i do understand) by people calling it a white blog despite it featuring some woc writers, you as one of those woc writers should strive to CHANGE how completely fucked up the site is. stop getting pissed at people for seeing it as white because it is so fucked up, and instead get pissed at why you choose to write for such a fucked up site, and work with so much fucked up on-going whiteness.
I’m not sure if you clicked through to that post, otherwise, please see my latest tumblr post.
I am striving really hard, every day, to change the status quo there. I am doing my absolute best, at all times of day, writing as hard as I can about race issues, on the blog and in comments. I’m going to keep getting pissed at people who erase my work, and I’m going to keep getting pissed at that status quo. I don’t see why that work isn’t worth recognising.
i didn’t say it isn’t worth recognizing. i just don’t see it happening. i frankly think it’s sickening that all i see from you is bitching that your work isn’t recognized because you aren’t white and it’s oh-so-wrong for people to view it as a white blog. frankly, not everything is about YOU. i don’t think you challenge the status quo, that’s my personal opinion. i think you are a brown person who is supporting the status quo and the fact that you write shit like this is exactly why i feel that way. you are a token who denies being a token and you put more effort and angst into being pissed that people hate that complete bull-shit blog that you choose to defend than about actually fixing what is really fucked up. we’ve had this discussion before. you contribute to a fucked up system, defend that fucked up system, and then complain that people don’t recognize you as challenging the status quo of that system. but you never seem to recognize that the critiques are valid or to really engage those critiques beyond saying “but i’m brown and i’m there, notice me!”. it has been almost a year since Mai’a wrote there and that site is still just as fucked up now as it was then. so no, don’t tell me what you challenge if none of us can see any actual change happening. don’t make critiques of the site all about you. also - look up the difference between “white” and “whiteness”. whiteness is a system, and Feministe is all about the whiteness, not necessarily the white.
I know that not everything is about me, and I’ve written perhaps two posts total on Feministe which mentioned the erasure, where I’ve written a lot about racial issues that are not that. If you don’t read my other work, or if you don’t recognise it as challenging the status quo, well, of course that is how you see it. But I’ve heard from a lot of people of colour who feel differently. That’s not “none of us,” that is people. And I do spend a lot of time acknowledging those critiques. I know the difference between white and whiteness, hence my complaining about people calling Feministe a white blog. My feelings are not shit, and please don’t call me a token: I’m not a token making no difference, doing what white people tell me. I am not angry that people hate Feministe, I understand, and please don’t tell me how I feel. I put a lot of effort into fixing things, whether you recognise it or not, and a lot less into blowing off steam about it. I’m not defending anything but my existence as a human being.
If you only recognise some of what I write, or don’t think the rest is valuable, okay, but please don’t act as though I am not doign my absolute best to change the status quo, or to ascribe proportions of actions and experiences to me that aren’t actually the case.
Look, I don’t want to engage with someone who calls me a token and describe my feelings as shit or ignores the bulk of what I do.
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2 years ago • 69 notes
