Hey white women, it’s not all about us

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Hey white women, it’s not all about us

A concept

Nobody is saying being a girl isn't annoying. Tampons are pricy, guys are usually creepy and weird and it feels like every Friday we're peer-pressured into shaving our legs.

But you know what? Nearly HALF the population is female, and particularly in America, it's not a damn bad lot white women have been handed — something self proclaimed feminist activists like Rose McGowan don't seem to understand.

Proof? Just last week, McGowan challenged one of Ellen DeGeneres' tweets about gay and trans people being refused service and treatment, asking why it couldn't be about women instead (because being a woman and being gay or trans are apparently mutually exclusive???).

And for many cis, straight white women, what she'd done was nothing out of the ordinary.

There was nothing ~weird~ about the fact she was not only demanding recognition for her issues, and her issues alone, but that in doing so, she made sure to simultaneously trivialize the unjust treatment of much more rightfully disgruntles minorities.

"Speak for women as well," she wrote, "Huge platform."

And you know what? She has a point. Twitter is a huge fucking platform, which means there's space for ignorant-ass tweets about the rampant "oppression" of people like her — people like me — elsewhere.

We don't get to be selective in our activism — you don't get to suddenly decide you're singlehandedly pioneering the feminist movement because you got a buzz cut and a follow back from the Women's March on Twitter. But again, this isn't just about Rose McGowan.

Historically, when white feminists have cried out about the injustices of sexism, we've ignored racism, or worse, perpetuated it. This is about me, this may be about you, this is about every white woman out there who doesn't understand that's not how feminism works.

It can't always be our turn to talk, and particularly when people far more oppressed can't be heard over our incessant screeching. We should be using our voices with them, not against them; feminism is about amplifying the concerns of people working towards a similar cause, who, unlike us, aren't being heard.

A lot of gay and trans people require birth control, too. A lot of gay and trans people have to buy tampons, too. Women of color need all of the same things we do, too. But you know what else they have to deal with? The fear of inhabiting certain spaces — the inability, in many cases, to marry the person they want, or exist in the bodies they were meant to.

If you need to belittle the issues of others to make your own seem more legitimate, not only are you a tremendous coward, but you certainly aren’t a feminist.

In many ways, we're the only women who can afford to stay silent, which is why white feminism isn't just a nuisance, it's oppression.

@carolinephinney