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

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Mridula Nath Chakraborty in The Sydney Morning Herald commends White Tears/Brown Scars as “a compelling critique of the ways in which the woman of colour is pilloried and crucified at the altar of white fragility”, while Rashida Murphy applauds Hamad for exposing “tough, unpalatable truths” in a review in ArtsHub.

My confidence diminished and second-guessing myself, I either flare up in frustration at not being heard (which only seems to prove her point) or I back down immediately, apologising and consoling the very person causing me harm. 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. Women of color have to not only battle white patriarchy and that of their own culture, but must also contend with colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, and other forms of racism.

As I explained in the column, it was not weakness or guilt that had led me to capitulate to these white women so many times but an awful realisation that I could not win, that there was simply no way I could convince others to see the issue from my perspective. In her debut book, journalist Ruby Hamad explores the connections between white feminism and white supremacy . It's a misattribution I think stems from some awkward footnoting in a 1998 feminist article by Sunny Woan.

But for the first time in my career, and on the piece where I had perhaps least expected it, the positive response tipped the balance and shouted down the very loud, very outraged and very numerous haters. With scholarly but highly engaging prose, Hamad details white women’s roles in oppression across continents, a much–needed history lesson for those inclined to reduce racism to individual behavior . These dynamics also shape and taint interactions between white women and women of colour in social situations.An extraordinary book for anyone who wishes to pay more than lip service to truly inclusive, intersectional feminism. A Mohican word (from a different geographical location and language family) sounds similar and does have the pejorative meaning. In September 2019 she joined Hella Ibrahim and Celeste Liddle for a discussion on Toxic Femininity with The Wheeler Centre. I need to stress that the interactions I discuss in this book—my own and those involving other women—are all incidents where the woman of colour is responding to the actions or words of the white woman or women.