Let's jump right on in, shall we?
The other day an Anonymous left a comment on my personal blog, AngryBlackBitch.
"It's not too surprising that you are on welfare. Get a job, get a life, stop making me pay for you to stuff your face with fried chicken. If you have time to blog, you have time to work. Get a GED, and apply for a real job so you don't have to be a burden to us all."
Of all the trollish comments I've received in the four years I've been blogging this one was rather tame. 'Tis kind of precious...in an assumption laden old-school racist kind of way. I mean, to combine a call for this bitch to get off my lazy black ass and get my edumikation on with a fried chicken reference requires a level of internal confusion that is rarely articulated in just three sentences.
Mercy.
When I read that mess I thought of a post Renee of Womanist Musings wrote Looking at Fem2pt0 and the Feminist Web. The post and the discussion in the comment section that follows explore, among other things, the climate in which women of color blog...the assumptions, dismissive responses and lack of listening that aren't that far off from the sentiment behind the comment listed above.
Even as eyes roll.
Even as knees jerk in response.
Even as backs get up.
I can't get past the question of relevant conversations and who gets to decide what is relevant and what isn't.
I've felt the backlash that comes from daring to question and discuss race beyond the accepted areas of driving while black, shopping while black or working while black.
And I have received the warning that thou shalt not turn that critical lens on feminism.
I realized that, no matter how much I'd like to convince myself otherwise, those warnings...those comments and emails that defend by dismissing and chastise as a parent would a child...have had an impact on me.
As a matter of fact, I think trying to soldier through in silence has amplified that impact.
In the past few months I have avoided rather than confronted.
Blogging through this past election cycle about the issues of race, class and gender that emerged through it has been exhausting and in many ways deflating.
And I tried to move past that when working through it is what I really need to do.
Even as eyes roll...knees jerk...and backs get up.
So I confess my sins and offer a thank you to Renee for providing a vehicle through which I was able to see the truth of them.
They call it a struggle for a reason.
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Thank you for writing about this. Without a doubt invisibility of WOC is still a problem within feminism.
In one of my favorite books, But Some Of Us Are Brave Barbara Smith writes, Feminism in itself would be fine. The problems arise with the mortals who practice it.
You always have something important to say, so thank you for saying it.
It is a struggle when we confront issues of race and gender beyond the accepted limits. Thank you for writing this. Recently I was in a situation on whether or not I should confront someone, and I did, and it taught me that I shouldn't apologize for my views, even if they are against the norm.
I was so horrified by the heads-up-asses academics over on Womanist Musings, but thrilled that they weren't the only academics speaking up. It's hard to know what else to add to the conversation at this point, so I'm just going to say, as one more white, academic feminist- I'm still listening. And, when I can and when it seems appropriate, talking. But always listening.
To clarify, I was talking about the commenters on the thread at Womanist Musings, not the OP. Just realized that might sound weird to anyone who didn't go over and check out the thread.
I'm always a little confused at some of the complaints about feminism ignoring WOC, but maybe what I was missing was in the comments, rather than the actual OPs. The comment "Also, I consider WOC feminism and LGBT feminism to be subsets/offshoots of feminism" and the responses to it is far more enlightening than anything else I've read on the subject.
As a slight tangent, I haaaaaate anything to do with blogosphere popularity contests.
I am confused about what you are confused about... could you elaborate? It seems to be widely acknowledged, albeit begrudgingly, that white feminists, and white feminist bloggers, don't do remotely their part in helping to spotlight WOC bloggers, WOC feminists, etc.
I'd also like to know in what way you found the aforementioned comment to be more enlightening than anything else you've read on the subject. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here, b/c that sounded seriously offensive/ignorant. To relegate the realities of WOC and the LBGTIQ community to "offshoots," is just...well, seriously offensive/ignorant. I'm really hoping that's not what you meant.
The commenter on that thread was relegating them to an offshoot. Which struck me as not right, and the responses clarified why I felt that way.
Feminism has always seemed to be about all the 'isms, and in my women's studies classes in both undergrad and grad school, books by WOC were a big chunk of the syllabus. So the "we're against sexism/racism/heterosexism/etc." rally never seems to jive with the idea that POC are silenced by white feminists. Feministing is my feminism homebase online, and it's always seemed to speak about women of different situations thanks to the Community and the different editors.
However, seeing someone say that we have feminism, and then WOC and LGBT feminisms are "other" feminisms, or "offshoots," illustrates that silencing for me far more clearly than anything I've encountered. It's enlightening, because I didn't realize that this fragmented view of feminism was one people actually held - or more specifically, while I was aware of the concept of intersectionality, it took that comment for me to see the flip side, where intersectionality is seen as a different ballgame, rather than part and parcel of feminism.
Alixana, thank you so much for clarifying that for me. I understand much better now where you're coming from, and I really appreciate it!
The original quote was about feminism's reach in the blogosphere and is pasted here: "Also, I consider WOC feminism and LGBT feminism to be subsets/offshoots of feminism. Thus, it's not surprising they don't have as wide an online audience as just feminism. It's the same reason the feminist blogosphere is smaller than the progressive blogosphere--feminism is also a subset of progressivism."
"as just feminism"
LOL That one still makes me giggle.
The treatment of POC is one of the reasons I don't check Feministing, Pandagon, and other A-list feminist sites (test: has a white feminist on the site gotten a book deal?) as much anymore. Because sometimes it's too frustrating. There's too much emphasis on media, body image, and reproductive/sex stuff and not nearly enough about colonialism, globalization and immigration.
And because white Western feminists like me get to define the core issues of feminism, issues affecting POC and WOC are relegated to niche issues, even if white Western feminists tell ourselves they're totally important to us, totally a key part of feminism. They aren't treated like that.
Too many of these blogs are becoming "Look at this sexist thing in the news or TV, let's all problematize it" and a) few of those examples centralize race and b) few of these posts open up discussion on how to negotiate issues of race - for both white feminists and WOC feminists. Race becomes parenthesized - "Oh yeah, and it's racist too." "Oh yeah, and this thing we're complaining about is probably even worse for women of colour."
Issues in the blogosphere aren't just about popularity. There have also been problems of WOC feminists saying, "Hey, my issue is important and I've done a lot of work and writing about it, you guys!" and being ignored or attacked for making a "non-feminist" issue a feminist one.
There are problems with white Western feminists who have a "commitment to anti-oppression" but don't or won't take the time to actively seek out these blogs and engage with these WOC bloggers - the WOC bloggers are expected to do all the educating, to show all the effort, so that the white feminist can tout their WOC involvement.
There are white Western feminists who haven't worked through their own privilege and how that can translate not just into page-hits and links but assessments of quality of writing, of relevance to the feminist community, of snappy interest value...not to mention "perks" like funding and book deals and events.
The problem with privilege, always, is that it's hard for us to see. It's hard to see how an online community we love and find liberating and accepting can also be, for someone else, an experience in feeling rejected, devalued, ignored, isolated, alienated, frustrated, angry, and very, very, hurt.
I mean, how many times have I seen a WOC feminist blogger do a call for donations in a life-or-death situation in a 2/3 world country, getting only contributions from their small readership, while Feministing solicits donations for blog development and actually over-raises their target goal?
How many times have I seen WOC stories shared, and the comments say "Now I feel much smarter about this" or "This story has really helped me think about this" or "What an important story!" and no questions like "What can we do?" or "How can I help?" or "I've thought about it, and I think I've participated negatively in the very issue this blogger is writing about"? How many times is the meagre interest in WOC writing only for the refinement of white women's feminisn?
How many times have I seen posts about how much it sucks to deal with one's privilege - how much we wish we could reject it, give it back - overpowering the comments section of stories about how much it sucks to *not* have privilege? Why does it always end up about us? Maybe it's because we're humans and humans tend to be a bit self-involved, but in this case being human also means being crappy at race politics and that means it's time to override those impulses.
How many times do visible things not happen, and invisible things do happen, before we recognize and admit that we in the white feminist community have serious fucking issues around race? And that we need to work through them, not under the careful hand of WOC feminists who have had to deal with enough already, but through our own education, our own exploration, and for once, not trying to comment or respond but maybe just shutting up and really listening?
Even as I write this, I know that WOC bloggers like BrownFemiPower have covered this shit before, time and time again, a long time ago, and significantly better than I have. But nobody cared to hear it.
Anyway, disclaimer - no, not all WOC feminists have had a bad experience, and not all white Western feminists are crappy around race, but I'm going to take that plunge and say that most of us are.
It never gets any easier but we cannot give up because there is simply too much at stake.
@Alixana what is there to be confused about? Simply put WOC are routinely silenced, not linked to, called angry and generally disciplined at every turn.
The racism of these people reminds me of Dr Strangelove's right arm.
Is it a backlash? Or business as usual, lol.
Part of the problem is that social circles for the most part are still pretty segregated along ethnic and orientation lines, etc; thus, the blogsphere tends to reflect these divisions. A lot of folks simply don't have a vested interested in understanding different experiences. And I'm not really sure how to make them see it any differently.
Anyhoo, commenter extraordinaire Okra did an excellent post on the community side about privilege (230 or so comments and counting). I think the conversation revealed a lot about the various lenses through which people view the world and about the challenges in coming together.
What a dreadful remark. I'd like to assume it's from someone as anti-feminist as he is anti-Black, but given the anonymity, who knows?
The more people don't want you to speak your truth, the more important it is to speak it. But god, it is tiring. I hope you and women like you will continue to blog about your experiences. Sure, it can make white people uncomfortable--I should know, being white--but that's exactly the issue, isn't it? Being confronted with evidence of your own privilege is unsettling. Those things that discomfort us, that make us question our own actions, indicate the sites of potential change.
Sear Sharkfu,
Sorry to hear about the nasty things said to you. I want you to know I find your writing awesome and I appreciate the words of yours: "I have received the warning that thou shalt not turn that critical lens on feminism." I have been recently been trying to chronicle some of the censorship in the progressive movement and the Feminist movement. Much like the awesome article that Renee wrote shows, the measuring stick used to define the best blogs only increases racism in the feminist movement.
Essence magazine named McCauley (a popular Black blogger of the blog 'What About Our Daughters') one of its 25 most influential people last year alongside Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and filmmaker Tyler Perry. "Black bloggers link to other black bloggers, and progressive white bloggers link to other white progressive bloggers," she said.
I find Black radical feminists are censored but very moderate Black feminists who bite their tongue about racism are promoted, much like you said. Keep up your awesome work and keep speaking up for those without a voice please.
I would also like to say a great thank you to ghostorchid for your detailed comment. I am kind of sad...that is true... but also very happy to say that I agree with every word you said. I hope no one deletes your comment because what I am also noticing more all the time is that long comments with detailed explanations are horribly censored in favor of short, quick comments and it is sad to see because we have to have time to explain ourselves or we are dismissed so much faster.
Thanks everyone.
Love for the people,
-T
Also, I would like to float the idea of People of Color Blogs (and their allies) boycotting all 2009 Blog Awards. As many people who know about Rap can attest to, it is when many of the major rappers, and their friends and supporters, boycotted the Grammy's in 1989 that the Grammy's truly began to give them respect in the following years.
Article here: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1452234/20020211/salt_n_pepa.jhtml
What would be the demands made of such a Blog Awards boycott? Simple...
1. Have more women of color on the decision panels on major Blog Awards,
2. not simply using links to determine popularity but to also use.... gasp... examples of blog posts with unique insight (not the Euro-Centric "well written articles" trash which is racist and classist in itself)... and/or
3.at the very least to have more niche categories to include women and feminists. If the Olympics can include such Niche categories as a Trampolince contest (yes, it is real) that Blog Awards need more niche categories. As much as people dislike Blog Awards, they will continue to exist and continue to drive up traffic. Anyway, I thought I would float the idea.
Ghostchild said “I don't check Feministing, Pandagon, and other A-list feminist sites...as much anymore. There's too much emphasis on media, body image, and reproductive/sex stuff and not nearly enough about colonialism, globalization and immigration.”
Maybe if we could get some of the major Blog Awards to make a separate category for Radical Feminists who are more focused on 'colonialism, globalization and immigration' than it wouldn't put Feminist's devoted to 'media, body image, and reproductive/sex' in direct competition with one another.
Womanist-Musings has already listed as one of top 30 feminist blogs from a feminist conference and listed as an honorable mention on the top ten Black Blogs list at Electric Village. SharkFu's Blog was listed as one of the top 50 most powerful blogs in the entire world (on the same short list with the Huffington Post) by the Guardian overseas, but is still passed over for awards here in the USA in much the same way that Black Soldiers found they were treated well overseas in the 60's but when they came back to the USA they were treated as less than human and told not to even use the restrooms...that the prisoners they brought back were permitted to use. That was one of the many catalysts to the Civil Rights movement. We need our own civil rights movement in the progressive blogosphere because the digital segregation and censorship is getting worse in the Feminist Movement and the entire Progressive movement and much as ghostchild stated, it is indeed done by many of the A-list feminist sites.
I think all people of color, feminists, of all races and genders including LGBTQI and our allies will benefit if we take a united stand and all ask at the same time, with a boycott, that we link to on our blogs asking: "who gets to decide what is relevant and what isn't?"
Love for the people,
-T
p.s.
If that is not an idea, what about Renee and SharkFu starting their own Awards for all Marginalized People..and have rotating judges each year so that the judges are recognized in alternating years? I think it would be immensely popular. I bet we could easily get some radical feminist musicians and artists involved too and create something that even reaches mainstream media interest. :)