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

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

15 reviews

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This cutting and well-researched essay lays bare the foundations of white feminism and how it has often been mistaken for plain feminism whereas it has always excluded non-white women as well as non-cis women. The author, Ruby Hamad, started with an article published in Australia that went viral, and was then encouraged to turn it into a book. Needless to say there was ample material and it is not diluted. The original point was how white women use tears, honest or fake, as a tool to maintain their cultural and political superiority over women of colour who then cannot defend themselves without appearing angry or brutal. From then, Hamad goes back to the roots of white feminism and its deep links with patriarchy and racism, showing how all three are entangled and cannot be thought separately without leaving aside a significant part of the problem.

A must-read for all people who deem themselves feminists.

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snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative medium-paced

4.5

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sadhbhprice's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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maddie_can_read's review against another edition

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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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booknerderika's review against another edition

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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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