Six years in and no one's ever told me what "white women" are supposed to do to be "held accountable" for the purported fact that the majority of white women voted for Trump. A lot of men with misogynistic streaks have, however, managed to get away with saying some very vile stuff about women just by appending "white" to the front.
I would add that the whole "controversy as advertising" scheme really took off with Trump during his first presidential campaign. When Nike signed Colin Kaepernick to an advertising deal I wrote that the company was taking a page out of Trump's play book: why waste money on paying for ads when CNN/Fox/etc. will do your publicity for you?
The downside of course is that it's a race to the bottom. If there's no such thing as bad publicity and what counts is generating controversy then each new public announcement has to push the envelope, has to be ever more outrageous than the last. The effect on the public discourse is obviously going to be corrosive.
I would say the issue for progressive white women is they spent way too much time pushing unpopular ideas and not enough time protecting what they had. It’s like the idea that things could go backward never entered their minds.
The thing I found even more appalling than Forster’s suggestion that white women are only suited to secretarial work were some of the responses, for example:
“YES MA'AM. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 We're late, we're unprepared, and we don't get to walk in like that and lead the meeting. But we can bring everyone a coffee and take allll the notes, and do it happily and humbly.”
Decades of work to get society to see women as capable of more than taking notes and getting coffee, years of saying “I don’t have to smile just because you ask me to” have shifted with absolute whiplash pace to the most progressive white women willing to eat it up and say thank you.
Absolutely nothing wrong with secretarial work, nor telling new recruits to activism that they have to start with the grunt work, but the explicitly gendered language and attitude here is straight out of the 1950s.
The far Left (definitely including the Socialists) has been gaslighting women for many years now, completely ignoring the urgent need to protect the most important women's rights (bodily autonomy) when not actively working against them (backing men who claim the right to invade women's spaces), and deciding to walk away when an actual woman (HRC) was in sight of actual power (POTUS), because said woman was just not cool enough for them.
Apparently, being a ww (note the lowercase) is some kind of disability that one must overcome in order to become an "activist"?
I understand the criticism that much of the SJW movement is just Militant Karenism, privileged and overeducated white women confusing their banal insights with universal truths and expecting the rest of the world to treat their personal gripes as cosmic injustices and to lend a hand in getting the manager in here to fix this, already!
That said, it is equally absurd to start from the assumption that ww have nothing and can for the time being have nothing to say, nothing to contribute, all because of the simple fact that they are ww.
"Alright, alright, fine: besides the 19th Amendment, the Catholic Worker's Movement, criminalizing marital rape, establishing workplace protections against sexual harassment, Title IX, the first birth control clinics, the Equal Pay Act, and the Violence Against Women Act, and establishing the basic framework of American women's rights activism, WHAT HAVE THE WHITE WOMEN EVER DONE FOR US?!"
The thing about great white sharks is that everyone thinks they’re the bosses of the ocean, but ACTUALLY they need to learn that they are the interns.
(Actual quote from the book, probably.)
Six years in and no one's ever told me what "white women" are supposed to do to be "held accountable" for the purported fact that the majority of white women voted for Trump. A lot of men with misogynistic streaks have, however, managed to get away with saying some very vile stuff about women just by appending "white" to the front.
The fanatical self-regard of some people and their desire to exercise zeal on others. . . is weirdly fascinating.
Great article.
I would add that the whole "controversy as advertising" scheme really took off with Trump during his first presidential campaign. When Nike signed Colin Kaepernick to an advertising deal I wrote that the company was taking a page out of Trump's play book: why waste money on paying for ads when CNN/Fox/etc. will do your publicity for you?
The downside of course is that it's a race to the bottom. If there's no such thing as bad publicity and what counts is generating controversy then each new public announcement has to push the envelope, has to be ever more outrageous than the last. The effect on the public discourse is obviously going to be corrosive.
All in the service of selling a shark book.
Love the idea of curated guest authors. Happy to use you as a "gateway drug" to additional interesting writers :)
I'm guessing the shark opus isn't going to make 'book club' status around here?
I would say the issue for progressive white women is they spent way too much time pushing unpopular ideas and not enough time protecting what they had. It’s like the idea that things could go backward never entered their minds.
The thing I found even more appalling than Forster’s suggestion that white women are only suited to secretarial work were some of the responses, for example:
“YES MA'AM. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 We're late, we're unprepared, and we don't get to walk in like that and lead the meeting. But we can bring everyone a coffee and take allll the notes, and do it happily and humbly.”
Decades of work to get society to see women as capable of more than taking notes and getting coffee, years of saying “I don’t have to smile just because you ask me to” have shifted with absolute whiplash pace to the most progressive white women willing to eat it up and say thank you.
Absolutely nothing wrong with secretarial work, nor telling new recruits to activism that they have to start with the grunt work, but the explicitly gendered language and attitude here is straight out of the 1950s.
The far Left (definitely including the Socialists) has been gaslighting women for many years now, completely ignoring the urgent need to protect the most important women's rights (bodily autonomy) when not actively working against them (backing men who claim the right to invade women's spaces), and deciding to walk away when an actual woman (HRC) was in sight of actual power (POTUS), because said woman was just not cool enough for them.
Love Phoebe! Good call Freddie. You’ll make a good middle-manger yet!
Apparently, being a ww (note the lowercase) is some kind of disability that one must overcome in order to become an "activist"?
I understand the criticism that much of the SJW movement is just Militant Karenism, privileged and overeducated white women confusing their banal insights with universal truths and expecting the rest of the world to treat their personal gripes as cosmic injustices and to lend a hand in getting the manager in here to fix this, already!
That said, it is equally absurd to start from the assumption that ww have nothing and can for the time being have nothing to say, nothing to contribute, all because of the simple fact that they are ww.
Lordy, being a cat is so much easier!
[John Cleese voice]
"Alright, alright, fine: besides the 19th Amendment, the Catholic Worker's Movement, criminalizing marital rape, establishing workplace protections against sexual harassment, Title IX, the first birth control clinics, the Equal Pay Act, and the Violence Against Women Act, and establishing the basic framework of American women's rights activism, WHAT HAVE THE WHITE WOMEN EVER DONE FOR US?!"
Can sharks survive being passive aggressive and over-represented in mental health problems?