OPPRESSION

AND RACE
By: Dominique Dumas

WHAT CAN WESTERN FEMINISM DO TO BE

INCLUSIVE OF THE LIVES AND
EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN OF COLOR?

Western feminism needs to acknowledge white privilege and practice

playful world travel in order to be inclusive to women of color.

WHAT IS WHITE PRIVILEGE?

White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special

provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas,

clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks., (McIntosh, 62).

To be conditioned into oblivion about its existence, unable to see that it

[me] ahead, overrewarding [us] and yet also paradoxically damaging [us]
, (McIntosh, 63).

In simplest terms, to be granted advantages and to have everything

tailored to your comfort because of your skin color; white skin color.

WHY IS ACKNOWLEDGING
WHITE PRIVILEGE
IMPORTANT?
the frequent charges from women of color that white women whom they

encounter are oppressive. I began to understand why we justly seen as

oppressive, even when we dont see ourselves that way. At the very least,
obliviousness of ones privileged state can make a person of group
irritating to be with, (McIntosh, 63).

When majority groups can acknowledge their privilege, change can start to

come about. It is hard to explain oppression from a minority standpoint to

people who cannot see or who are not willing to acknowledge that they
have privilege.

PLAYFUL WORLD TRAVEL

Those of us who are world travelers have the distinct experience of being

different in different worlds and ourselves in them, (Lugones, 11).

Example: I am different at home than I am at school.

the playful attitude involves openness to surprise, openness to being a

fool, openness to self-construction or reconstruction and to construction or

reconstruction of the worlds we inhabit playfully, (Lugones, 17).

SO, WHATS THE POINT?

Firstly in checking your privilege, you are able to make everyone feel

involved and comfortable.

Women of color need to feel apart of the narrative when we discuss

feminism.

The personal is the political.

Without the narratives of women of color, we are not united as women. We

are being exclusionary, just as the very system that excludes us.

AND THEN?
When we practice world travel, we are able to truly understand where

each other is coming from.

Women of color travel out of necessity (conformity and assimilation). White

women, a lot of the time, dont have to travel out of necessity.

When we talk about feminism we speak about the rights and oppression of

women. Usually, women of colors experiences are left out of the

conversation because Western Feminism doesnt always practice world
travel.

CLOSING
Lorde says, The masters tools will never dismantle the masters house.
This means that if we keep using the same practices that men use, we will

never progress in our cause. We can never be united if we dont show

representation of all women. We must always remember to be inclusive.