I would like to start by saying that I am a white woman who is still learning about feminism and racism, so I'm open to discussion and criticism about my analysis. I also use "us" and "our" in this article to describe white women.

That being said, let's dive in.

What is white feminism?

It’s hard to characterize and define. White feminism gets the most publicity. In fact, it gets so much publicity that people think that it’s the only form of feminism. White feminism is ultimately feminism that is infected with the project of whiteness, that favors white women’s needs over that of women of color (WoC).

What makes white feminism dangerous?

1. Generalizations

The white feminist movement is especially dangerous because it assumes a generalization of all women, meaning it assumes all women have the same positioning as white women. Women of color come from a different social location than white women: our needs are different, we are viewed differently by the world, we navigate power relations differently. By assuming that we all want the same thing, we necessarily exclude the actual need of women of color.

As a white woman, I have no semblance of understanding about women of color’s needs or desires or struggles, and I’m not going to try because I recognize that I can never fully understand the impact of white supremacy. White feminism assumes that it knows what WoC need, and ergo, focus resorts from important discussions that directly affect WoC such as anti-Black police violence to that of equal pay for white women. (We complain about earning 76 cents on the dollar compared to men when Latina women earn 56.)

2. Respectability Politics

EWWWWWWWWWW! White women have these white supremacist notions of what is considered a “proper” and “respectable” woman. This woman is often times reserved, sexually confined, professional, and white. Of course, when certain women do not fit our image of the “perfect woman,” we shame her. That’s why I also call respectability politics “shaming politics.”

Shaming politics are commonly applied by white women onto women of color. For example, white feminists construct Nicki Minaj as too-exposed, too-sexual, and “operating through the male gaze.” This is ridiculous. Nicki Minaj literally destroys the male gaze in her music video “Lookin Ass.” In "Anaconda", Nicki Minaj proves that there are ways to love yourself, your body, and your sexuality without submitting to the patriarchy. She gives Drake a lap dance, but the second he tries to touch her, she pushes him off. There’s a scene where she’s in the kitchen cutting phallus-shaped objects in half. The symbolism there is pretty obvious to me.

And look at the way the media and white feminists portray Nicki Minaj. She’s portrayed as “too radical” or “too hysterical,” and because of that, people (mainly white people) don’t actually do any research into her politics and message; and therefore, her extremely important message doesn’t reach the demographics who need to hear it most. Also, forcing respectability politics onto women of color consequently results in the continued dismissal of their culture by white culture.

3. Tunnel Focus

Fact: the white feminist movement sucks up all media attention (when the media focuses on feminism at all.) When white feminists get all of the spotlight, it serves to erase that of more inclusive forms of feminism such as intersectional feminism. Everyday, I hear a lot about white feminism: in the media, on Facebook, in classes, but the only reason I found out that there was such a thing as Black feminism was because of my own research.

Systems of domination (I’m referencing that of white supremacy, patriarchy, cisheteronormitivity, etc.) don’t like to give attention to any movement of social justice unless they can somehow turn that movement around to benefit themselves. That’s what white feminism is. The mindset of white women favoritism produced by white feminism only serves to benefit white supremacy: making the biggest and most important conversation to be about white women and our struggles.

You know, it’s very interesting how these power dynamics work. In debate rounds, I will watch a cis white man talk over a cis white woman and the white woman would assume the position of submissive (something that we’ve been taught since we were young, that is, to submit to white men.) Yet, that same white woman would have no problem talking over a Black man, woman, or gender non-identifying person. This is the power dynamic that white women are raised with, is it really such a surprise that those same power dynamics operate within white feminism?