Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

White Tears / Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad

12 reviews

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

Great discussion of race and gender issues and how white feminism does not equate to feminism for all. I think this would be a really great introduction to intersectionality for women. 

I thought the beginning was very strong, the discussion of archetypes and their history, the inclusion of modern and historical examples, and including the perspectives of different women.

I think the structure of the book might have been improved by having more chapters that were shorter. And some of the chapters did not seem as strong as others and some chapters could've been a bit tighter.

‘White’ is better understood as an indication of racial privilege: who is considered white is less about how pale they are (many Arabs have fair skin) and more about whether they are the right kind of pale. Whiteness is more than skin colour.

White women can oscillate between their gender and their race, between being the oppressed and the oppressor. Women of colour are never permitted to exist outside of these constraints: we are both women and people of colour and we are always seen and treated as such.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Slavery, Sexual violence, Violence, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Confinement, Islamophobia, and Racial slurs

booknerderika's review

informative reflective

5.0

I could list quote after quote of this book, but instead I will urge everyone to read it!

Hamad so eloquently put into words the struggles women of color have to deal with. She also provides historical evidence as to the inception of the racist caricatures created by white people and their racist behaviors towards people of color. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual assault, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Bullying, Sexism, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

leahkarge's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Trafficking, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Torture, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

ellaniji's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Classism, Genocide, Homophobia, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexism, Rape, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Body shaming, and Racism

Since this book is about white feminism, rasism and sexism are central in this book.

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Slavery, Racism, Genocide, Violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Death, Islamophobia, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: War, Torture, and Classism

Eugenics, Colorism, Blackface, White supremacy, Lynching

breanneisdeadinside's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Sexual assault, Genocide, Misogyny, Slavery, Colonisation, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Racial slurs

emilia_digi's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Slavery, War, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Violence, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Child death, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

jaiari12's review

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Genocide, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Death, Misogyny, Slavery, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Trafficking, and Violence

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Everything about this book is exceptional and so insightful and informative. Some parts of the book can be little hard to digest emotionally or academically and but I appreciated that when Ms. Hamad quoted another writer or thinker and the quote was a little too academically verbose she diluted it enough for the not so academic or deeply philosophical readers aka me. I really liked the international scope the book has and how the author gives so much perspective on the colonization of Aboriginal women. This book also gave me rationalization on why White American feminism never appealed to me and why in my most cringey adolescent moments I didn't identify with feminism. It was all white feminism's fault! As I kept reading and learning about all the ways white women upheld white supremacy and racism and class division I kept remembering that super creepy compilation of white women on Tik Tok all hysterically crying and then immediately stopping and then sinisterly smiling to the camera. Like none of them stopped to think about the history of harm those tears by their twisted ancestors caused to so many people of color and Black men, or rather, they KNOW the power of their tears and flaunted it for all to see which makes me wanna scream and also run far away from any white woman. Gonna have to be honest tho and say I didn't give it a full 5 bc it kinda rubbed me the wrong way that Ms. Hamad included the men that reached out to say they knew all too well about (white) women's tears bc they had experienced it firsthand. Like I'm glad she felt support from them but also I hope these men didn't use her article to use it as some sort of approval by a woman of color to them saying that any woman who cries during an emotional or stressful situation is just manipulative bullshit. I know that wasn't the intent of adding that here but men like to tergivisate and I just know most interpreted it that way. Other than that very small thing in the book I admit I'm amplyfing bc it bothered me personally, this book is amazing and should be read by every single white woman and those who think assimilating into whiteness is their way to power/making it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, and Rape

kayladaila's review

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Sexual violence