mercredi 16 octobre 2013

The "white woman" and racism

The "white woman" (an essential element in the construction of the white supremacist system of domination and a concept in it/herself) is often accused and sometimes deemed worse than the "white man" in the perpetuation and maintaining of white supremacy.

Indeed the "white woman" is the necessary official reproducer of the so-called "white race". Without her consent, that concept of "whiteness" simply vanishes.

So the system has to be harshest on her. She must obey the rules of whiteness because whiteness depends on her (therefore reproduce only with men classified as "white"). From her birth, in the most racist places, she is made to believe she has a special role in humanity (it's often implicit). She is manipulated into believing that she is "better", "more beautiful", and must maintain a moral superiority over "other" women.

Those who reproach her with being a perfectly working part in the clock of racism may realize that she is the one who is under the greatest amount of manipulation. She seldom realizes and recognizes it.
Why ?
 

Because she seemingly benefits from it. She receives praise and recognition in many ways. Her "other" counterparts undergo racism, its effects and consequences, which paradoxically makes it easier for them to decipher it but not so easy to fight it.

It is very difficult to reject manipulation when you benefit from it. It is often impossible to realize you are being manipulated in such circumstances. The victim of manipulation thinks things are "normal". Only bystanders, especially those who suffer from the manipulative schemes of white supremacy, can see it.

It is not an excuse for the "white woman's behavior", but it is an explanation.

When a woman classified as "white" in the racist classification system realizes she is being used as a reproduction machine, she has two choices: adhere and collaborate, or refuse and resist. The latter might mean rejecting her family and friends. It is not the easiest of things to do. She will be called a traitor and nobody likes that.

White supremacy is a well-oiled machinery that makes resisting it extremely complicated when one is not a victim but benefits from it. That is partly why it works so well.

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