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Against White Feminism: Notes on Disruption by Rafia Zakaria
6 reviews
augustpeach_'s review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Excellent. Planning to buy a physical copy so I can annotate and use as a reference. Loved the historical and globally-inclusive references as well as modern examples of what the author describes as white feminism. As I black woman I felt represented. Zakaria also shares her story authentically.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse
Great for anti-racism/social Justice book clubs.iamsammie27's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
unsuccessfulbookclub's review
challenging
informative
fast-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Abortion
Minor: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Torture
sunn_bleach's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
This book seeks to counteract and provide potential answers to the overarching issue of "whiteness" (as in, the paradigm of implicit white supremacy masquerading as solidarity) within feminism. It contains several in-depth and impassioned arguments about how white feminism has been historically and currently practiced has been about the support of white women and white women's issues while facilitating patriarchal norms and diminishing the voices of non-white persons.
Some of these essays are phenomenal and extremely eye-opening. The chapters on tokenist solidarity within women's organizations in the USA, the impression of NGOs' "solving" problems without consulting the people impacted, and the imperialist/capitalist hegemonic forces of whiteness in (for example) military dramas are... painful, in a good way.
But then there's the Female Genital Mutilation chapter, which Zakaria tries to euphemistically obfuscate by calling it Female Genital Cutting and saying it is often performed voluntarily. Here, Zakaria can't adequately state her opinions on the practice, at one point saying it's not really a problem and then another time saying how Black women have overwhelmingly rallied around reducing the practice prior to/without white NGOs' involvement. She also references a study that compares opinions of breast augmentation to FGM - saying it's not to conflate the two, then immediately does so anyway, almost implying a defense of extreme cultural relativism. Then there are her multiple assumptions (such as the very beginning of the book) that white women around her cannot have possibly experienced what she has, which provides the exact kind of identity-assumptions Zakaria eviscerates when applied to women of color.
There's also the "sex positivity" chapter, in which there's an important kernel of truth in how sex-as-empowerment is so strongly pushed among women. But Zakaria completely misdefines "sex positivity" to the extent I was pretty surprised it got through the publisher. Sex positivity is *not*, as she claims, the idea of talking openly about having sex or lots of sex as feminist empowerment. Sex positivity in all literature is defined as the ability to make personal decisions about sex based on one's own virtues free of coercion - be it from partners or social constructs. This is such a glaring omission that it undercuts the real importance of the rest of the text.
These aren't the only examples of this kind of inconsistency, but they are the most glaring ones - an inconsistency and implied inability to argue against it without defending whiteness that is similar to "White Fragility", though the latter is far more egregious.
Still, I cannot say I was bored by this book - and it certainly gave me plenty of things to consider and critique both toward white feminism and the answers provided here.
Some of these essays are phenomenal and extremely eye-opening. The chapters on tokenist solidarity within women's organizations in the USA, the impression of NGOs' "solving" problems without consulting the people impacted, and the imperialist/capitalist hegemonic forces of whiteness in (for example) military dramas are... painful, in a good way.
But then there's the Female Genital Mutilation chapter, which Zakaria tries to euphemistically obfuscate by calling it Female Genital Cutting and saying it is often performed voluntarily. Here, Zakaria can't adequately state her opinions on the practice, at one point saying it's not really a problem and then another time saying how Black women have overwhelmingly rallied around reducing the practice prior to/without white NGOs' involvement. She also references a study that compares opinions of breast augmentation to FGM - saying it's not to conflate the two, then immediately does so anyway, almost implying a defense of extreme cultural relativism. Then there are her multiple assumptions (such as the very beginning of the book) that white women around her cannot have possibly experienced what she has, which provides the exact kind of identity-assumptions Zakaria eviscerates when applied to women of color.
There's also the "sex positivity" chapter, in which there's an important kernel of truth in how sex-as-empowerment is so strongly pushed among women. But Zakaria completely misdefines "sex positivity" to the extent I was pretty surprised it got through the publisher. Sex positivity is *not*, as she claims, the idea of talking openly about having sex or lots of sex as feminist empowerment. Sex positivity in all literature is defined as the ability to make personal decisions about sex based on one's own virtues free of coercion - be it from partners or social constructs. This is such a glaring omission that it undercuts the real importance of the rest of the text.
These aren't the only examples of this kind of inconsistency, but they are the most glaring ones - an inconsistency and implied inability to argue against it without defending whiteness that is similar to "White Fragility", though the latter is far more egregious.
Still, I cannot say I was bored by this book - and it certainly gave me plenty of things to consider and critique both toward white feminism and the answers provided here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Racism, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Transphobia and Murder
mscalls's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, and Violence
booksmellers's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Thank you, NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In Against White Feminism, Zakaria highlights how feminism has continuously ignored the needs of women of color. She effortlessly blends examples from her own life and connects them to white feminist movements throughout history and the present day. Zakaria has obviously done her homework and is well-spoken on the topic. I think this is an important work for any feminist to read.
Zakaria states her thoughts clearly and includes many examples to make her point. I have found myself taking my time to read through each chapter because it's a lot to digest. There are a lot of different ideas in this book (and some new ideas to me, although they're probably not new to non-white folk) and it's also helped me view the world and womanhood from a different perspective. I'm interested to read more non-white feminist theory, specifically Muslim feminist theory, and I'd like to learn more about the time periods and historical references she made throughout the book.
In Against White Feminism, Zakaria highlights how feminism has continuously ignored the needs of women of color. She effortlessly blends examples from her own life and connects them to white feminist movements throughout history and the present day. Zakaria has obviously done her homework and is well-spoken on the topic. I think this is an important work for any feminist to read.
Zakaria states her thoughts clearly and includes many examples to make her point. I have found myself taking my time to read through each chapter because it's a lot to digest. There are a lot of different ideas in this book (and some new ideas to me, although they're probably not new to non-white folk) and it's also helped me view the world and womanhood from a different perspective. I'm interested to read more non-white feminist theory, specifically Muslim feminist theory, and I'd like to learn more about the time periods and historical references she made throughout the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexism, Racism, Pregnancy, and Misogyny
Minor: Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Religious bigotry
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