White Tears/Brown Scars
2019 • 304 pages
Ratings6
Average rating4.5
15
Ratings6
Average rating4.5
Called “powerful and provocative" by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the New York Times bestselling How to be an Antiracist, this explosive book of history and cultural criticism reveals how white feminism has been used as a weapon of white supremacy and patriarchy deployed against Black and Indigenous women, and women of color. Taking us from the slave era, when white women fought in court to keep “ownership” of their slaves, through the centuries of colonialism, when they offered a soft face for brutal tactics, to the modern workplace, White Tears/Brown Scars tells a charged story of white women’s active participation in campaigns of oppression. It offers a long overdue validation of the experiences of women of color. Discussing subjects as varied as The Hunger Games, Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, the viral BBQ Becky video, and 19th century lynchings of Mexicans in the American Southwest, Ruby Hamad undertakes a new investigation of gender and race. She shows how the division between innocent white women and racialized, sexualized women of color was created, and why this division is crucial to confront. Along the way, there are revelatory responses to questions like: Why are white men not troubled by sexual assault on women? (See Christine Blasey Ford.) With rigor and precision, Hamad builds a powerful argument about the legacy of white superiority that we are socialized within, a reality that we must apprehend in order to fight. "A stunning and thorough look at White womanhood that should be required reading for anyone who claims to be an intersectional feminist. Hamad’s controlled urgency makes the book an illuminating and poignant read. Hamad is a purveyor of such bold thinking, the only question is, are we ready to listen?" —Rosa Boshier, The Washington Post
Reviews with the most likes.
Definitely more of a 4.5.
It's a new year and I have many arcs to read but as usual I'm in a horrible mood and don't wanna judge them harshly because I wasn't in the right headspace. So I turn to nonfiction because that seems to be the only genre I'm able to read these days. I've made a specific nonfiction tbr for this year with varied kinds of books, and this just happens to be the first one I managed to get from my library from that list. And it was as amazing as I thought it would be.
I remember getting it from the library once before, maybe a year or so ago but never did manage to get to it. But this time when I started it, I just couldn't stop. The author does a tremendous job making her points and in a way I wasn't expecting. From the title, I assumed that this book would be mostly contemporaneous but it's not just that.
The author starts off giving context why she wrote this book. But then the book details the historical origins of many racist/sexist tropes that have been used to always oppress women of color like Jezebels, Exotic orientals, angry sapphires, black velvets, dragon ladies and more. It was very eye opening to see how these historical terms still persist and are used to discriminate, if not by using the same words, atleast in the same spirit. And the author is very informative about how these harmful tropes are rooted both in white supremacy and patriarchy and how they can't be separated. We also get to know how femininity itself has been constructed over centuries in a way to put white women on a pedestal as damsels in distress and pure/innocent, while any woman of color was impure and not feminine and deserved to be
While the historical origins were interesting to know, it's how white women weaponize their tears and fears and femininity to silence Black and Brown women when any woman of color tries to talk about the oppression they are facing, was a very important revelation. The author lays out example after example of experiences of many women who have reached out to her, and incidents in the author's own life which show clearly how a white woman's pain at being maybe incidentally called a racist or oppressor is given more credence than the actual harm being perpetrated at women of color. It's a very clear throughline from the days of slavery to today and it's unbelievable but also inevitable in some ways.
Ultimately, what I appreciated was how the author lays out that any feminist movement or labor rights movement against classism will not work if race is not considered. Because race has been historically constructed for the explicit purpose of discrimination, and to divorce race from any conversations about misogyny or classism or rights of individuals is being disingenuous. It's a purposeful maneuver to ensure that racial discrimination continues and white supremacy cements its legacy. This is a very important book, especially if you are interested in what intersectional feminism actually means, and about how just using the words are not enough. It takes work to understand the role racial discrimination plays in every form of oppression and how it is about upholding white supremacy, and we are still just at beginning of understanding all this.
This is an incredible piece of work engaging in how race is ever more prevalent in society. It offers a deep insight into how we are all involved in racism and how it affects some more than others. A book that can be reread without losing its meaning and content.
