Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color

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.

Content Warnings

kayladaila's review

Go to review page

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

lucilaroife's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

sunnyreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

readwithcindy's review

Go to review page

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I fluctuate between rating this 4 or 5 stars, but will go ahead and bump this to 5 because we need more race and feminism discussions that specifically focus on Indigenous and Middle Eastern women, especially from a non-US perspective. The book is insightful, concise, and comprehensive, blending both historical contexts for how these power dynamics came to be along with modern-day examples of the ways white women oppress or shut the door on women of color. It also does a great job at explaining how the vulnerability of white women is both a weakness (under white patriarchy) and a weapon (against people of color), then expertly marks the difference between “equality” for white women and “justice” for people of color.

I have minor issues with the consistency of the book, since not all chapters were as strong as others. Earlier chapters go over racial stereotypes across multiple races to provide context, but not all groups had as strong or in-depth of an argument. I liked the seeds that she planted with the China Doll vs Dragon Lady stereotype that Asians face, but thought it was a huge stretch to compare the Dragon Lady stereotype to the To All the Boys franchise (I don’t think that's true at all, and it’s a bit odd to critique a story written by an Asian woman). I wonder if the book would have been better if Ruby Hamad focused solely on Indigenous and Middle Eastern women and expanded upon those topics so we could get even more in-depth discussions. She did the most research on those groups (and has her own experience) with tons of examples and strong arguments, and that’s where the book really shined.

Still, the book is very solid, and I’ll leave this with one of my favorite quotes. I find this especially resonant after seeing white women celebrating the US government’s decision to bomb Syria. After she points out the multiple white women who take leadership positions in the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security organizations, she asks: “What does it mean for the rest of us that white women can be in control of almost all of the weapons belonging to the world’s most powerful country and still claim to be an oppressed group on the same level as other women?”

Content Warnings

More...