It seems to have begun with a lengthy piece at The Nation entitled, “Feminism’s Toxic Twitter Wars,” in which Michelle Goldberg examines the Internet as “a crucial place for feminist organizing.” Not all feminists believe they have an equal place at the virtual table, however. The Washington Free Beacon’s Sonny Bunch noted that “the most striking aspect of Michelle Goldberg’s article is the way Twitter is being used to silence those deemed to be not progressive enough.”
“From a right-of-center standpoint,” Bunch observes, “it’s interesting to watch the left grapple with their norm that one need not intend to act as a racist to in fact be a racist…. I’ve always been bemused by the left’s insistence that a failure to intend offense wasn’t a defense against causing offense, so I’m glad to see some of these activists wrestling with the norms they have championed.”
That struggle surfaced Friday in the form of the #WhiteFeministRants hashtag, which landed among Twitter’s trending topics Friday. Which posts are sincere and which are parody we’ll leave for you to decide.
Been thinking a lot about white middle class neoliberal settler feminism. Let's give Michelle ideas 4 her next story w/ #WhiteFeministRants
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 31, 2014
"My Feminism is More Important Than Your Anti-Racism: How to Properly Rank Oppression"#WhiteFeministRants
— Steven Salaita (@stevesalaita) January 31, 2014
#WhiteFeministRants "What do Asian women have to complain about?"
— Alice Wong (@SFdirewolf) January 31, 2014
https://twitter.com/xMissTanisa/status/429391773547257856
https://twitter.com/MsJamshidi/status/429406201688764416
https://twitter.com/nabeyakiqueen/status/429392796358021120
#WhiteFeministRants Why are you being so divisive?
— This Machine Kills Fascists (@RoyalHoeliness) January 31, 2014
Only women with established platforms like magazines and think-tanks have meaningful things to say about patriarchy #WhiteFeministRants
— matt (@mattyspatula) January 31, 2014
"Ten Ways That Lena Dunham Is Revolutionizing America and The World" #WhiteFeministRants
— Hear Evil (@HearEvilNews) January 31, 2014
https://twitter.com/xMissTanisa/status/429394717306920960
https://twitter.com/kchamomile/status/429404546813943808
Please read my article "The Uppity Uppitification of the Uppified: Just Stop Talking" #WhiteFeministRants
— Bitchcoin (@SubMedina) February 1, 2014
"Everything is like slavery. Except slavery. Get it over it already." #WhiteFeministRants
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) February 1, 2014
https://twitter.com/DearLeader10/status/429406981300834305
"Why clutching my purse around black men isn't racism (I don't see color, just patriarchy)" #WhiteFeministRants
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 31, 2014
In the Black South we say: "If the shoe fits, wear it. If it hurts, take it off." If you feel offended by #WhiteFeministRants, fix yourself.
— Kayla C. Elliott, Ph.D. (@kaylaCelliott) February 1, 2014
Jezebel might have shamed Lena Dunham for page views, but that's part of the patriarchy since men built the internet.#whitefeministrants
— Yale Cohn (@YaleCohn) February 1, 2014
#WhiteFeministRants "I went into a Black community to do charity work & they didn't have a Starbucks & suddenly I knew how the slavery felt"
— Dr. Shay-Akil McLean (@Hood_Biologist) January 31, 2014
"This hashtag makes me feel unsafe" #WhiteFeministRants
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 31, 2014
https://twitter.com/AniqahC/status/429419544260919296
When Trader Joe's ran out of the quinoa casserole I love, I finally understood what it's like living in a food desert. #WhiteFeministRants
— Yale Cohn (@YaleCohn) February 1, 2014
https://twitter.com/nashwakay/status/429445348034351104
Do all WW experience privilege? Yet another day when Slavic women are rendered theoretically impossible by Western fem's #WhiteFeministRants
— Paulina Scheck ?️ (@soft_delete) February 1, 2014
https://twitter.com/IAMCLB/status/429449260569210880
#WhiteFeministRants my gender trumps your race trumps my sexuality trumps your socioeconomic group trumps my religion trumps your wait what.
— blue (@blue_prop) February 1, 2014
https://twitter.com/haleynwallace/status/429453925800886272
https://twitter.com/Regina_Universe/status/429426787647385601
#whitefeministrants isn't turning this white feminist off of feminism. I really, really need to hear this.
— LKid (@LKid) February 1, 2014
https://twitter.com/AblativMeatshld/status/429452364366364672
https://twitter.com/JeNeSaisTwat/status/429453198412087296
Related:
Twitter fight: #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen calls out progressives of pallor
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