Guest post: How dare we?
Originally a comment by cluecat on Pretty wild indeed.
This kind of thing was raised against the Suffragettes right from the beginning: a “class problem” of wealthy white women doing things – any things, it doesn’t matter what – and being a “problem” somehow because of Who They Were. Not sticking to approved “Charidee!” work, my dears? Oh no! Women running wild!
This ignores the very reason that wealthy white women were doing most of that work; because working class women were busy working. A 12-hour shift at the factory, plus all the work when they got home, does not leave much time for organising. Nor does the life of a maid-of-all-work. Some of those women did it anyway; many lost jobs and families. They were dismissed as “not knowing their place”. Sound familiar?
Those “Ladies of Leisure” were the only ones who had the time, and often the connections, to make a real difference; a difference which then began to benefit all women, over time, no matter what work they were doing. They also worked together with working class women, helping them with things they couldn’t access due to class background and circumstances – legal issues, things that required a high level of literacy. etc., while the working class lassies told them how the world works for women like them. It wasn’t perfect, there was a fair bit of racism alongside, but it was a path to a better world.
These women were working together to benefit every woman; yes, even the ones they didn’t understand or like. Even those who were actively working against them.
[Yes, this is a massive simplification, and in a British, as opposed to American, context, but the argument remains valid]
All those old insults, slights, and belittlements are being recycled yet again. How dare any white woman thing she can do things?! How dare she think she can make any kind of difference?! She should be working on literally anything else! What if all women, of whatever background, really get hold of the idea that they aren’t just accessories for doodz?!
There are still issues of clueless middle-class women not understanding issues which primarily affect those of other heritages and backgrounds – each community has issues and solutions which are hard for outsiders to understand – but how much of this attack on the dreaded “Karen” is simply a rehash of all the old bitterness and cruelty towards women focusing on anything other than men?
How much of this demand to be the Eternal Mother and Nursey for the whole world is the same old bullshit? It just seems that this time, there are even more things to beat women with; why haven’t you solved Climate Change by yourself?! Why haven’t you coddled every single Failed Male to prevent his violence? That’s all womens’ fault! How dare you think you matter?!
Sure, there are still issues with racism in places – although I might note that the doodz aren’t doing too well on that front really – but the main problem seems to be the same old bullshit that our Great-Grandmothers were fighting; the very idea that women matter at all.
How dare we notice that women share experiences across backgrounds?
How dare we say that even a gilded cage is still a cage?
How dare we refuse to be the mirrors reflecting back the image of men at twice their natural size?
How dare we clearly note that males are not female?
How dare we draw boundaries, to say “NO!” to men?
How dare we recognise that women are fully human, not just an idea rattling around in some dood’s otherwise-empty head? Not a costume for a fetish, not a porn accessory, not smiling angels or dancing devils to coddle men or lead them astray, not an “Identitay” to be claimed.
Just people.
That cannot be allowed. Women cannot be permitted to be fully human. We are not permitted to reject the roles that men have forced upon us over the centuries, that designation of less-then-man because of our biology – that thing we cannot identify out of, however much we might like to do so.
And so we keep fighting, over and over again, for the recognition of our basic humanity
For the basic humanity of ALL WOMEN to be recognised – even the women we don’t like, even the women actively working against us.
I’m delighted that this comment became a guest post! It needs to be read widely. Excellent writing, cluecat.
Yes, I’m saving this one.
Another thing to note–which was brought to my attention when I was doing research about the women’s organisation I used to be involved in, which recently had its 100th anniversary–because of the war, a lot of these upper class British women who would otherwise have married and spent the rest of their lives serving husband and children had no men to marry and thus had the free time and personal autonomy to organise and agitate.
<3
Thanks, cluecat. I’ve been bashing my head against the very same wall with this argument for years. You expressed it eloquently, and it deserves to be heard. When I was poor, I didn’t have time to do things like that, I was too busy keeping my world together with safety pins and masking tape. Now I don’t have time because I am a full time working woman with a challenging job. So if there are women out there who have time, and they happen to be white, and they’re willing to do the work, I will continue to support them. And when I retire, I plan to join them,
This is a point I’ve been making for a while now: those who do a thing are those who can do the thing. If you demand that those who can do a thing not do it, then you demand that the thing not be done. It is not at all clear what alternative is on offer from those who vilify “whhhite” feminism. All I can imagine is a world wherein women of means stood by and did nothing, and so nothing was done.
There seems to be a distorted, inflated view of the past that dominates the discourse. It’s as though some people think that but for women “of leisure”, working class women would have risen up and built monuments to shame Ozymandias. To my generation X brain, that sounds suspiciously like protestations that Communism has only failed because capitalists have prevented the proletariat awakening.
As usual what’s implied whenever someone complains about “white feminism” is “I speak for all the non-whites, and they’re all on my side*”. If this is not appropriation, then nothing is. There is also something very Dear-Muslima-like about the whole thing. How exactly are women of color, working class women etc. supposed to benefit from forcing women of all colors or class-backgrounds to allow biological males into all their spaces? Once again, the only ones to benefit in any way from what’s proposed are males.
*Or, if they don’t, it’s because of “Cultural Whiteness” and doesn’t count. No true
ScotsmanPerson of Color disagrees with gender ideology.Wow, I never expected my rant to gain the honour of a guest post!
It was just the annoyance that all those women who hold the world together with their (un/under -paid and unappreciated) labour keep being forgotten, while any woman who has the ability to make those differences gets attacked for not being some perfect impossible ideal…
Usually I just lurk, nodding in agreement, thinking hard, and occasionally getting cross with things/making odd connections, and this is a wonderful place to put some of those things – so many brilliant people!
A fine rant is just the kind of thing that does become a guest post!