Feminism is often seen as a movement seeking equality between males and females. Its ideas are centered around the fact of male privilege; however, the most blatant flaw with the current feminist movement is that it ignores the inequality amongst women. White feminism fails to encompass race, gender, and sexuality issues as its own. To further this problem, powerful feminists are usually white. Take for example Taylor Swift and Emma Watson, two cis, straight, and white celebrities. Both fail to acknowledge certain societal privileges that some women have over others. They treat feminism as though all women experience the same type and extent of gender inequality; this simply is not true.
Quote by 13-year-old "Girl Meets World" star, Rowan Blanchard.
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The finest example of white feminism is displayed by Taylor Swift's reaction to Nicki Minaj's tweet.
After being disappointed at her loss for the MTV VMA Music Video of the Year Award for "Anaconda," Nicki tweeted:
At first glance, it seems as though Nicki Minaj is throwing shade at Taylor Swift; however, her tweet is targeted more towards the politics of the system behind the MTV VMAs.
Nicki later added that she was never referencing Taylor Swift at all. What is important to note is that Taylor Swift is completely oblivious to the racial disparity and body image stereotypes that actually influenced Nicki's initial tweet.
Taylor Swift transforms this into a women vs. male battle and generalizes all women to be similar to her. This isn't to say that all white people are white feminists or that white feminists are racist and should be demonized. Quite the contrary--it is to emphasize that feminists that come from privileged backgrounds should take into account that privilege and understand that not all women experience the same type of inequality. By focusing the attention on herself, Taylor Swift diverges from the sentiments of discrimination that Nicki Minaj was trying to express. Ironically enough, it was unlike Swift to "pit women against each other."
White feminism is also seen in a very popular, yet inaccurate statistic:
Women earn 78 cents to the man's dollar.
In actuality, it is simply misleading to generalize all women into that statistic. The fact is that women of color face an even greater income disparity.
Diagram from New Republic, April 14, 2015.
Considering the fact that many Hispanic and African-American women work service jobs that have long hours and minimum wage, the statistic should really be:
White women earn 78 cents to the man's dollar.
Emma Watson gave a speech on feminism at the UN late last year which mainly involved inviting males to join the feminist movement. For the most part, it received positive feedback from followers and press. Unfortunately, even Emma Watson has failed to realize that the gender pay gap is higher for women of color. She has failed to acknowledge that the objectification of women and sex work are experienced differently by women that are transgender. Just like Swift, she is oblivious to the differences among women (such as race, class, ability, and ethnicity) and how they contribute to gender inequality as a whole. Like Swift, Watson showed a false aplomb in addressing gender inequality by treating all women as the same. In addition, Watson centered her speech around begging men to join the feminist movement because of course no one had ever thought of just asking males to believe in gender equality!
The only hope in reversing this is for women to do some introspection and acknowledge that they may have privileges other women don't--whether that involves being white, straight, cis, or wealthy. The rise to a better idea of feminism involves intersectionality--a type of feminism that looks at how women of different circumstances and backgrounds experience inequality and oppression. Intersectional feminism is representative of all women, and encompasses the idea of true equality between the genders. Hopefully in the future, the United Nations starts a feminist panel with Laverne Cox and Emma Watson addressing gender inequality together. Perhaps one day, Taylor Swift will speak with Nicki Minaj instead of against her. Maybe one day, we will dye the flag with various flesh-toned hues instead of bleaching and simplifying it to only white.
