my discomfort with white woman empowerment (as a white woman)
By: Becki Brown
Tags: White Feminism, White Supremacy, Female Empowerment

There’s an unease that pulses through me when I read these white woman authors, because there’s so much assumed and unaddressed privilege. Which is not to say that these women have not acknowledged their privilege. In fact, I’d say most of them have. And in varying degrees, they’ve contributed to efforts to call attention and action to injustices.

BUT, I’m not talking about these women themselves, I’m talking about their readership. The insecure, overworked, underappreciated white woman who picks up one of their books to figure out what’s missing from her life.

At the beginning of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert recognizes the fact that her endeavor to travel around the world to find herself was one of privilege that few of us could undertake. And yet I question, what’s the point in acknowledging this? Because the book then proceeds to become a means of empowering a group of people who could at least imagine themselves doing such a thing.

By mere subject matter, she chooses who it is she’s helping.

And look, I’m not trying to tell these women what to write about. That would be ridiculous and futile and incredibly self-righteous.

But I do want to address my own queasiness that caused me to put Eat, Pray, Love down after getting halfway through.

Or my unintentional eye roll when I engage with some of these women’s problems.

Which is not to say they’re not real. Problems are problems no matter class, religion, race, etc. But I’d also make the argument that problems function on a spectrum. Struggling to accept your bit of extra body weight isn’t on par with choosing between paying a bill or feeding your kids. Or wondering if your son’s going to be targeted by the police.

So what’s my point? Good question, cause I’m trying to figure it out as well. I’m trying to narrow down what my issue is with these works, and this seems it: when you empower a group that already has so much power, it’s dangerous for others. Not dangerous in that these women are now going to intentionally turn around and cause harm. In fact, quite the opposite:

As white women, most of the harm we cause in society is unintentional and done from a place of unawareness and ignorance.

I’m reminded of an On Being interview with author Resmaa Menakem in which he mentions that a white woman’s tears can move a nation (and have). That’s a lot of power to wield, and to do so without understanding the context in which we function (in service of white supremacy) is fucking scary. When the narrative is pushed to white women that their feelings matter without also teaching them about the power dynamics at play in society, they can become tools for harm (hello, white lady in Central Park).

It makes me think of the Red Pill on Reddit (or Jordan Peterson or the less blatantly problematic Tim Ferriss) and the movement to empower white men who feel as though they’ve lost power in society. If you read through the posts, you’ll find people who seem genuine in their desire to be better and to help. Taken out of context, it could seem innocent, even positive. But most of us understand where this type of thinking leads.

In my personal life, it led to the radicalization of a family friend who spewed white supremacist, misogynist bullshit all over Facebook (and felt totally justified to do so).

This may seem like an extreme comparison, but bear with me. Setting aside the many Karen examples of white women acting out in hateful ways, there’s the much more insidious non-aggressive, seemingly nice & caring white woman who exerts just as much if not arguably more harm on society.

Such a woman has received her white woman empowerment training, which gives her the false perception that she is now in-the-know and understands the complicated workings of life and how to solve them (such as the prominence of the “Lean In” messaging). This white woman believes that because she’s figured herself out, she’s got a pretty good hang on life as a whole.

That level of confidence paired with unconfronted white supremacy leads to harmful behavior dressed in a (white feminist) pants suit and heals.