For readers of White Fragility, White Tears/Brown Scars is an explosive book of history and cultural criticism that argues that white feminism, from Australia to Zimbabwe to the United States, has been 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 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 …
For readers of White Fragility, White Tears/Brown Scars is an explosive book of history and cultural criticism that argues that white feminism, from Australia to Zimbabwe to the United States, has been 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 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 are revelatory responses to questions such as: Why are white men not troubled by sexual assault of women? With rigor and precision, Hamad builds a powerful argument about the legacy of white superiority we are socialized in, a reality we must apprehend in order to fight.
An Urgent, Important Addition to the Philosophical Canon
4 stars
Hamad has penned an incisive, well-researched, and essential work that skewers white feminism, white supremacy, and American exceptionalism (among other things) in a book that reads as an evolution of bell hooks' writings. This book combines historical analysis, philosophy, and deep qualitative analysis in an enlightening and engaging fashion, making it for my money one of the most accessible critical studies books I've ever read. Also there are multiple Helen Lovejoy references! Highly recommend.
White Tears / Brown Scars is a powerfully argued and detailed survey of how white women as a group have fought for increased rights and power for themselves, claiming successes for all women, but actually achieving progess more often than not at the expense of women of colour. Hamad looks back through several centuries of oppressive behaviours to prove her point historically and, most importantly, for all protestations to the contrary, demonstrates how little has actually changed below the surface in the twenty-first century. I was fascinated and appalled by her explanations of how women of colour have typically been portrayed as the exact opposite of any era's prevailing white morality in order to devalue them as people, and how white women generally were and still are active in maintaining the idea of white Western culture as a gold standard, bemoaning our position as lesser than white men yet jealously …
White Tears / Brown Scars is a powerfully argued and detailed survey of how white women as a group have fought for increased rights and power for themselves, claiming successes for all women, but actually achieving progess more often than not at the expense of women of colour. Hamad looks back through several centuries of oppressive behaviours to prove her point historically and, most importantly, for all protestations to the contrary, demonstrates how little has actually changed below the surface in the twenty-first century. I was fascinated and appalled by her explanations of how women of colour have typically been portrayed as the exact opposite of any era's prevailing white morality in order to devalue them as people, and how white women generally were and still are active in maintaining the idea of white Western culture as a gold standard, bemoaning our position as lesser than white men yet jealously guarding our 'silver medal' pedestal.
Hamad's words made uncomfortable reading for me, a white British woman. While I don't recall ever having resorted to waterworks myself, I do remember occasions when I felt my hackles rise unjustly at something a woman of colour said or wrote, illogically leaping to the assumption her words were an attack on me personally - just as Hamad illustrates - even when that could obviously not be the intention. I think White Tears / Brown Scars is an important and timely read, perhaps even more so for women such as myself who are trying to make our feminism inclusive, but who aren't aware of this huge ingrained blind spot.
White womanhood is instrumental in upholding white supremacy
5 stars
Argues forcefully & convincingly that white womanhood has been (and still is) instrumental in upholding #WhiteSupremacy. I will never see the #intersection of #race & #gender so naively again. A must read for all - for solidarity & reflection.
