Why is it socially acceptable to stereotype and vilify white women as a whole?

[TheTERFnextDoor]

I've seen this a lot recently, often from other white women bizarrely, and I don't understand why it's socially acceptable?

I think it goes without saying that in most groups, you get good and bad people. White women are surely no different in that respect? Yes, many of them are privileged, and they don't face the discrimination that other categories might. I accept that. However, that doesn't change the fact that they aren't some homogeneous mass of people, surely?

I am genuinely trying to learn here, so I'd appreciate all responses, particularly those that disagree

White women and women in general are arguably one of the most oppressed and exploited groups in the UK let alone the world. Literally any chance at a useable slur and people will take it, even the women themselves. They're socialised into believing they're lesser than. If only they knew the power they actually had.

Yes, it is.

I have learned about those things and I still disagree. Luckily it is possible to disagree without being offended, so my energy levels are fully intact.

I assume it's to detract negative attention from white men.

A bit like, at my friend Sophie's 30th birthday party, Sophie kept whispering, "Look at Claire, she's not drinking, I bet she's pregnant!" in an effort to disguise the fact that she was feeding her own champagne to the house plants.

…..is it really fair to blame men’s behaviour on all men?

No

I find the phrase "white women's tears" horribly dismissive and offensive. I've never ever seen it used in a non-derogatory way.
The most recent example that springs to mind is the pregnant New York nurse harrassed by a group of men over a bike rental. Such was the power of her tears that she was torn to pieces online and lost her job.

I find it bullying, like when my abusive ex used to call me manipulative for crying when he hurt me or was controlling. A lot of "social justice" revolves around bullying though, frankly.

Why not try to learn about micro aggressions, systematic racism, privilege?

Privilege is a completely overused concept. It works at the class analysis level, but not at the individual level. Racism and sexism don't always trump being born into the lowest social class, and the "oppression Olympics" isn't helpful.

That doesn’t make sense. Feminism isn’t about picking on women. 🫤

Why is Karen an acceptable meme.

Same thing.

All the white women I know except for operational managers at work are very much underprivileged and living in social housing

plus I hate when people say white, what defines a white woman?
lots of underprivileged minorities can be described as white in this country, such as Romanians, Middle Eastern women , east Europeans of which mostly they aren’t over privileged

Because by making it white and women, you've got the men onside too.

If you just said 'white people' however representative of the group you're talking about that might be, or worse 'white men' then you get men's backs up - and men are dangerous.

If you say white women, then the white blokes can join in the bashing too.

Because by making it white and women, you've got the men onside too.

If you just said 'white people' however representative of the group you're talking about that might be, or worse 'white men' then you get men's backs up - and men are dangerous.

If you say white women, then the white blokes can join in the bashing too.

This.

Take it up with the OP then if you think the thread should be moved.

The thread is about white women being picked on and it is located in the feminist section.

The reality of white tears isn’t feminism but it also isn’t “picking on women” FFS.

The reality of white tears isn’t feminism but it also isn’t “picking on women”

So how do women know when they are crying "white tears" vs just crying? When is it acceptable to feel compassion for their distress vs weaponising it against them?

Really? That's not been my experience, but I wondered if perhaps I'd just not noticed.

So I googled the term 'White Women's Tears' and the main results I got were by or about, Nicolle Cardoza, Ruby Hamad, Penny Wangari-Jones, Mamta Motwani Accapadi, Rachel Cargle, none of whom are white.

Essentially, to the people who do this sort of thing, sex no longer counts as an axis of oppression.

Old-style intersectional theory would have recognised that white women are oppressed on the basis of their sex, and black men on the basis of their race. Different experiences, but both are disadvantaged by those characteristics. The 'intersectional' part comes from looking holistically at it - obviously, black women are disadvantaged in both those ways, and there are other factors like class, disability, etc. But it's not a competition ('oppression Olympics') or a hierarchy. It's a mean of understanding and talking about some complex social phenomena and how people's lives and experiences are affected by their positionality.

Today? Sex doesn't matter, or according to some, doesn't even really exist - so those same white women are privileged cis Karens.

It's just another modern form of divide and conquer.

You can't say a white woman from a poorer European country is privileged. Or a woman fleeing war in Ukraine. Or a woman sex trafficked in the middle East.

Just another way of diving people.

Why don't we have white men's tears?
Or would that be white men's rage. But that's not really talked about unless it's a very specific context like Trump suporters or something.

Essentially, to the people who do this sort of thing, sex no longer counts as an axis of oppression.

Exactly. This is the heart of it. It's bollocks.

It also ignores that the white working class are one of the most ignored groups in the country.

She wasn’t harassed.
But I see to you that being Black and calmly saying this is not your bike, I rented this bike it is on my account while your Black friend sits on the other bike saying nothing and looking at his phone is apparently harassment.

Meanwhile the woman is shouting “Help me!” “Please help me!!” And “Get off me” (when he’s not even touching her- in fact she pushes on him) and then does a fake crying act- oh she’s done nothing wrong, she’s not trying to get anyone violently attacked for thinking these young Black men are attacking her.

She was rightly put on admin leave pending investigation as she was not in any danger and you don’t shout “Help me” and “Get off me” in a country where Black children are being shot in broad daylight for merely ringing the wrong doorbell.

It seems her receipt for the bike was only for 1 minute and so it looks like she was doing a bit of fraud too. Rent a bike one minute, get on and ride off and not pay for full rental time. Problem was her 1 minute rental expired before she could ride off and the young man had then rented the bike so it was his.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nyc-hospital-employee-seen-viral-video-appearing-take-bike-young-black-rcna85352

If you look at the intersecting ‘oppressions’ (if you think in terms of class analysis), it really doesn’t make any sense to pick on a group, who in part shares your oppression as being responsible for it.

Because it is too taboo to use race as an example, I will go to social class.

How would it go down if instead, if working class women chose to focus on blaming working class men for everything, releasing books and podcasts talking about their ‘working class men’s privilege’ and their ‘working class men’s tears’ people would rightly be wtf? It would show total insensitivity and classism to focus exclusively on the male privilege of working class men.

So it is with ‘white privilege’ - it is shared by all white people, there isn’t some special deluxe version of white privilege enjoyed exclusively by white women, just as there isn’t a special deluxe version of male privilege enjoyed exclusively by black men.

This concoction of a deluxe privilege purportedly enjoyed by ‘white women’ is just picking on women because women are an easy target to blame, shame and demonise. Misogynist spite and cruelty is a pleasurable pursuit for many, particularly since it seems that women are socialised like the Ameglian Major Cow in The Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy to serve ourselves up on a platter. https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Ameglian_Major_Cow It’s misogyny.

And to use their own lingo, maybe those who peddle this misogyny to not be ‘defensive’ about this, but ‘reflect upon it’.

I've always wondered about this. White men are always talked about as the absolute worst form of patriarchy. Ignoring sexism in the Middle East, or Africa, or China, or India.

I find it all very strange.