Feminism and Race: A Critical Examination of White Feminism's Denial of Difference | Lecture notes Sociology of Gender

Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

bell hooks

Southend Press, 2000

Selection for reading: Chapter 10: Race and Gender

No intervention changed the face of American feminism more than the demand that feminist thinkers

acknowledge the reality of race and racism. All white women in this nation know that their status is

different from that of black women/women of color. They know this from the time they are little girls

watching television and seeing only their images, and looking at magazines and seeing only their images.

They know that the only reason nonwhites are absent/invisible is because they are not white. All white

women in this nation know that whiteness is a privileged caegory. The fact that white females may

choose to repress or deny this knowledge does not mean they are ignorant: it means that they are in

denial.

No group of white women understood the differences in their status and that of black women more than

the group of politically conscious white females who were active in the civil rights struggle. Diaries and

memoirs of this period in American history written by white women document this knowledge. Yet many of

these individuals moved from civil rights into women's liberation and spearheaded a feminist movement

where they suppressed and denied the awareness of a difference they had seen and heard articulated

firsthand in civil rights struggle. Just because they participated in anti-racist struggle did not mean that

they had divested of white supremacy, of notions that they were superior to black females, more informed,

better educated, more suited to "lead" a movement.

In many ways they were following in the footsteps of their abolitionist ancestors who had demanded that

everyone (white women and black people) be given the right to vote, but, when faced with the possibility

that black males might gain the right to vote while they were denied it on the basis of gender, they chose

to ally themselves with men, uniting under the rubrik of white supremacy. Contemporary white females

witnessing the militant demand for more rights for black people chose that moment to demand more rights

for themselves. Some of these individuals claim that it was working on behalf of civil rights that made

them aware of sexism and sexist opression. Yet if this was the whole picture one might think their

newfound political awareness of difference would have carried over into the way they theorized

contemporary feminist movement.

They entered the movement erasing and denying difference, not playing race alongside gender, but

eliminating race from the picture. Foregrounding gender meant that white women could take center

stage, could claim the movement as theirs, even as they called on all women to join. The utopian vision

of sisterhood evoked in a feminist movement that initially did not take racial difference or anti-racist

struggle seriously did not capture the imagination of most black women/women of color. Individual black

women who were active in the movemernt from its inception for the most part stayed in their place. When

the feminist movement began racial integration was still rare. Many black people were learning how to

interact with whites on the basis of being peers for the first time in their lives. No wonder individual black

women choosing feminism were reluctant to introduce their awareness of race. It must have felt so

awesome to have white women evoke sisterhood in a world where they had mainly experienced white

women as exploiters and oppressors.

A younger generation of black females/women of color in the late seventies and early eighties challenged

white female racism. Unlike our older black women allies we had for the most part been educated in

predominantly white settings. Most of us had never been in a subordinated position in relation to a white

female. Most of us had not been in the workforce. We had never been in our place. We were better

positioned to critique racism and white supremacy within the women's movement. Individual white

women who had attempted to organize the movement around the banner of common oppression evoking

the notion that women constituted a sexual class/caste were the most reluctant to acknowledge

differences among women, differences that overshadowed all the common experiences female shared.

Race was the most obvious difference.

In the seventies I wrote the first draft of Ain't I a Woman:Black Women and Feminism. I was 19 years

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Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics bell hooks Southend Press, 2000

Selection for reading: Chapter 10: Race and Gender

No intervention changed the face of American feminism more than the demand that feminist thinkers acknowledge the reality of race and racism. All white women in this nation know that their status is different from that of black women/women of color. They know this from the time they are little girls watching television and seeing only their images, and looking at magazines and seeing only their images. They know that the only reason nonwhites are absent/invisible is because they are not white. All white women in this nation know that whiteness is a privileged caegory. The fact that white females may choose to repress or deny this knowledge does not mean they are ignorant: it means that they are in denial.

No group of white women understood the differences in their status and that of black women more than the group of politically conscious white females who were active in the civil rights struggle. Diaries and memoirs of this period in American history written by white women document this knowledge. Yet many of these individuals moved from civil rights into women's liberation and spearheaded a feminist movement where they suppressed and denied the awareness of a difference they had seen and heard articulated firsthand in civil rights struggle. Just because they participated in anti-racist struggle did not mean that they had divested of white supremacy, of notions that they were superior to black females, more informed, better educated, more suited to "lead" a movement.

In many ways they were following in the footsteps of their abolitionist ancestors who had demanded that everyone (white women and black people) be given the right to vote, but, when faced with the possibility that black males might gain the right to vote while they were denied it on the basis of gender, they chose to ally themselves with men, uniting under the rubrik of white supremacy. Contemporary white females witnessing the militant demand for more rights for black people chose that moment to demand more rights for themselves. Some of these individuals claim that it was working on behalf of civil rights that made them aware of sexism and sexist opression. Yet if this was the whole picture one might think their newfound political awareness of difference would have carried over into the way they theorized contemporary feminist movement.

They entered the movement erasing and denying difference, not playing race alongside gender, but eliminating race from the picture. Foregrounding gender meant that white women could take center stage, could claim the movement as theirs, even as they called on all women to join. The utopian vision of sisterhood evoked in a feminist movement that initially did not take racial difference or anti-racist struggle seriously did not capture the imagination of most black women/women of color. Individual black women who were active in the movemernt from its inception for the most part stayed in their place. When the feminist movement began racial integration was still rare. Many black people were learning how to interact with whites on the basis of being peers for the first time in their lives. No wonder individual black women choosing feminism were reluctant to introduce their awareness of race. It must have felt so awesome to have white women evoke sisterhood in a world where they had mainly experienced white women as exploiters and oppressors.

A younger generation of black females/women of color in the late seventies and early eighties challenged white female racism. Unlike our older black women allies we had for the most part been educated in predominantly white settings. Most of us had never been in a subordinated position in relation to a white female. Most of us had not been in the workforce. We had never been in our place. We were better positioned to critique racism and white supremacy within the women's movement. Individual white women who had attempted to organize the movement around the banner of common oppression evoking the notion that women constituted a sexual class/caste were the most reluctant to acknowledge differences among women, differences that overshadowed all the common experiences female shared. Race was the most obvious difference.

In the seventies I wrote the first draft of Ain't I a Woman:Black Women and Feminism. I was 19 years

old. I had never worked a full time job. I had come from a racially segregated small town in the south to Stanford University. While I had grown up resisting patriarchal thinking, college was the place where I embraced feminist politics. It was there as the only black female present in feminist classrooms, in consciousness-raising, that I began to engage race and gender theoretically. It was there that I began to demand recognition of the way in which racist biases were shaping feminist thinking and call for change. At other locations individual black women/women of color were making the same critique.

In those days white women who were unwilling to face the reality of racism and racial difference accused us of being traitors by introducing race. Wrongly they saw us deflecting focus away from gender. In reality,we were demanding that we look at the status of females realistically, and that realistic understanding serve as the foundation for a real feminist politic. Our intent was not to diminish the vision of sisterhood. We sought to put in place a concrete politics of solidarity that would make genuine sisterhood possible. We knew that there could be no real sisterhood between white women and women of color if white women were not able to divest of white supremacy, if the feminist movement were not fundamentally anti-racist.

Critical interventions around race did not destroy the women's movement; it became stronger. Breaking through denial about race helped women face the reality of difference on all levels. And we were finally putting in place a movement that did not place the class interests of priviledged women, especially white women, over that of all other women. We put in place a vision of sisterhood where all our realities could be spoken. There has been no contemporary movement for social justice where individual participants engaged in the dialectical exchange that occurred among feminist thinkers about race which lead to the re-thinking of much feminist theory and practice. The fact that participants in the feminist movement could face critique and challenge while still remaining wholeheartedly comitted to a vision of justice, of liberation, is a testament to the movement's strength and power. It shows us that no matter how misguided feminist thinkers have been in the past, the will to change, the will to create the context for struggle and liberation, remains stronger than the need to hold on to wrong beliefs and assumptions.

For years I witnessed the reluctance of white feminist thinkers to acknowledge the importance of race. I witnessed their refusal to divest of white supremacy, their unwillingness to acknowledge that an anti-racist feminist movement was the only political foundatin that would make sisterhood be a reality. And I witnessed the revolution in conciousness that occurred as individual women began to break free of denial, to break free of white supremacist thinking. These awesome changes restore my faith in feminist movement and strengthen the solidarity I feel towards all women.

Over all feminist thinking and feminist theory has benefited from all critical interventions on the issue of race. The only problematic arena has been that of translating theory into practice. While individual white women have incorperated an analysis of race into much feminist scholarship, these insights have not had as much impact on the day to day relations of white women and women of color. Anti-racist interactions between women are difficult in a society that remains racially segregated. Despite diverse work settings a vast majority of folks still socialize with people of their own group. Racism and sexism combined create harmful barriers between women. So far feminist strategies to change this have not been very useful.

Individual white women and women of color who have worked through difficulties to make the space where bonds of love and political solidarity can emerge need to share the methods and strategies that we have successfully employed. Almost no attention is given the relationship between girls of different races. Biased feminist scholarship which attempts to show that white girls are somehow more vulnerable to sexist conditioning than girls of color simply perpetuates the white supremacist assumption that white females require and deserve more attention to their concerns and ills than other groups. Indeed while girls of color may express different behavior than their white counterparts they are not only internalizing sexist conditioning, they are far more likely to be victimized by sexism in ways that are irreparable.

Feminist movement,especially the work of visionary black activists, paved the way for a reconsideration of race and racism that has had positive impact on our society as a whole. Rarely do mainstream social critiques acknowledge this fact. As a feminist theorist who has written extensively about the issue of race and racism within feminist movement, I know that there remains much that needs to be challenged and

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