Against White Feminism
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Walzer, Michael, 111–12
War on Terror and feminism
overview, 79–81
double agents, 82–83, 88–91
doublespeak, 91–93
and female soldiers, 81–82
and female torturers, 77–79
Feminist Majority Foundation, 182
journalists, 94–102
Muslim women implicated, 110–11
and Steinem, 110
white savior complex, 82, 83–88, 95
Weeks, Monica, 180–81, 186
Weigel, Moira, 117
Wells, Ida B., 38, 39
West-centric ideas
de Beauvoir on Asia, 45–46
equality in professional spaces, 58–59
individual as entrepreneur, 68–69
and Iraqi women’s rights, 87
Millett in Iran, 51–54
sexual liberation seminar, 109
trade, 64–65
See also othering; white savior complex
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (film), 94–95
white feminists
de Beauvoir’s othering, 43–46
as defacto feminism, 55
definition, ix
Millett in Iran, 51–55
and positions of power, 6–8
recognizing feminists of color (see recognition)
taking charge, 51–54, 55, 197–98
unintentional whiteness, 11
values, 95
and wave structure, 199–200
vs. whiteness, 200, 207–8
See also suffrage
white fragility, 26–28, 199
white men, 11, 22, 58, 75
white privilege
and choice, 138
and colonialism, 18–19, 20–22, 80
and colorblind feminism, 10
examining, 172
feminist organizations, 183–84
Millett in Iran, 51–55
and self-made mythology, 168–69, 173
white savior complex
adoption of babies of color, 128
aid industrial complex overview, 72–73
chicken entrepreneurship, 68–69
in classroom, 176–77
clean stoves in India, 56–57, 64, 66–67
consultations, 39, 66, 69, 71, 162
dismissing political agitation (see politics, erasure of)
as distraction/cover-up, 65, 70–71, 75
economic empowerment, 62–66, 68–69
erasing people of color, 16–18
and FGC, 158–59, 160–62
and gratitude, 28
PROMOTE in Afghanistan, 71–72
racism, 73–74
and sati, 148
shelter systems, 5
War on Terror and feminism, 82, 83–88, 95
and white goals, 58
white men vs. men of color, 11, 75, 83
See also imperial superiority; suffrage; West-centric ideas
white-supremacist hierarchy, 80
white supremacy, 9, 12–13, 196–97, 208
whiteness
centering, 15–18, 23, 26–27, 51–52, 175
expelling, x, 187, 200–201, 209
exposing for solidarity, 48, 186–87, 200
and imbalance in feminism, 12–13
of NGOs, 73–74
and term “woman,” 54
and trauma, 6
as unintentional, 11
and white feminism, ix
vs. white feminists, 200, 207–8
and white supremacy, 208
and womanhood intersection, 172–74
“Who Defines ‘Mutilation’?” (Smith), 156
wokeness, 175–76
A Woman’s Place: US Counterterrorism Since 9/11 (Cook), 80
“Women and Islamic Militancy” (Zakaria), 111–12
“Women Left for Dead— And the Man Who’s Saving Them” (Ensler), 15–17
women of color. See feminists/women of color
Women’s Caucus of the Indiana General Assembly, 177–79
Women’s Indian Association, 29–30
Women’s March, 194–96, 197
women’s shelters, 5, 85–86, 94
World Bank, 62–63, 65
World’s Columbian Exposition, 36–41
Yemen, 92, 93
Zakaria, Rafia
about, 2–4
at Amnesty International USA, 173, 174, 197–98
compulsory sexuality article, 132–33
domestic abuse, 140
and feminist art fair, 32–36, 41
goal of book, 206–10
graduate school paper, 129–30, 139
as lawyer, 187–90, 191–92
Manhattan wine bar, 1–2, 9–10
rejecting feminist waves, 199
sexual liberation seminar, 104–7, 108–10
and truth about hardships, 6–7, 9–10
“Women and Islamic Militancy,” 111–12
women in family, 10–11
Women’s Caucus of the Indiana General Assembly, 177–79
zenana visits, 21
Zero Dark Thirty (film), 77–79, 91
Zoepf, Katherine, 100–102
ALSO BY RAFIA ZAKARIA
The Upstairs Wife
Veil
Against White Feminism is a work of nonfiction. Certain names and potentially identifying details have been changed.
Copyright © 2021 by Rafia Zakaria
All rights reserved
First Edition
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Jacket design: Chindo Nkenke-Smith
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Zakaria, Rafia, 1978– author.
Title: Against white feminism : notes on disruption / Rafia Zakaria.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company,
[2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021011715 | ISBN 9781324006619 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9781324006626 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Feminism. | Feminism—Moral and ethical aspects.
| Women’s rights—Moral and ethical aspects. | Women, white—Civil
rights. | Minority women—Civil rights.
Classification: LCC HQ1155 .Z35 2021 | DDC 305.42—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011715
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