#Solidarity

The news outlets that asked, “Is feminism racist?” obviously missed the point.

Thousands of tweets from women of color resoundingly asserted yes, feminism has a race problem.

Writer Mikki Kendall started the hashtag when famous feminist bloggers like Jessica Valenti failed to properly admit their complicity in allowing controversial nut-job Hugo Schwyzer a platform to promote himself and white feminism at the expense of women of color.

Though it was not cited as a reason for starting the hashtag, it feels like it wasn’t a coincidence that #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen trended shortly after British feminists participated in a boycott of Twitter to stand in solidarity with women like Caroline Criado-Perez, who received a mass of rape threats following her successful campaign to get female faces on British money.

While Twitter should do more to address users who are threatening others, boycotting the site does more harm than good.

Feminists use Twitter for consciousness raising, to discuss current events and to support each other. Voluntarily giving up this avenue for expression seems counterproductive.

Especially for feminists of color, who are often ignored by mainstream white feminists no matter how many different social media sites they use, no matter how loudly they shout from the mountaintop.

In this case, it seems that solidarity really is for white women.

#SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen became an avenue for women whose voices had been systematically suppressed and undervalued to air their grievances. It was a resounding chorus of voices questioning why mainstream feminism had ignored women of color for so long.

It was really cool.

For a white feminist like me, it was an important exercise in remembering how to listen.  

And so, because Twitter accounts are fairly common, but columns printed in newspapers are not (or at least less common), I am donating the rest of my space to #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen.

The following is just a taste of the conversation. Find more on Twitter under #SolidarityIsForWhite-Women.
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— casefarr@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Casey Farrington on Twitter @casefarr.