Voices of Young Feminists

Even the largest movements begins small...

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack By Peggy McIntosh

I  decided  to  try  to  work  on myself  at  least  by  identifying some  of  the daily  effects of white privilege on my life. I have chosen those conditions which I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographical location, though of course all these other factors  are intricately intertwined.  As far  as I  can see, my African American co-workers, friends and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place, and line of work cannot count on most of these conditions.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area, which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

5. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

6. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

7. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

8. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

9. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

10. Whether I  use  checks,  credit  cards  or  cash, I  can  count  on my skin  color  not to work  against the appearance of my financial reliability.

11. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

12. I  can swear, or dress in second hand  clothes, or not  answer letters, without having people  attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.

13. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

14. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

15. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

16. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

17. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

18. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race.

19. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.

20. I  can  easily  buy  posters,  post-cards,  picture  books,  greeting  cards,  dolls,  toys,  and  children’s magazines featuring people of my race.

21. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.

22. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the job suspect that I got it because of race.

23. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the place I have chosen.

24. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help my race will not work against me.

25. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.

26. I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.

Filed under white privilege privilege race people of color 5 i's of oppression awareness peggy McIntosh empowerment

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Filmmaker Becomes the First Black Woman to Win Best Director at Sundance

Women directors may not have had much luck at the Oscars this year, but things are going very well for one female director at the Sundance. Ava DuVernay, director of the drama Middle of Nowhere just won the Best Director for Dramatic Film award at the festival. She is the first black woman to win the award. Middle of Nowhere, which follows the story of a woman whose husband is incarcerated, is the second feature film she’s made. In her acceptance speech today, she said she was “stunned” and talked about how important it was for “filmmakers of color to see one another’s films and have them seen.” We can bet we’ll be seeing a lot more of DuVernay in the future.

Filed under jezebel article female empowerment Ava DuVernay

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Why Doesn’t Facebook Have Any Women on Its Board?

“There’s been a lot of excitement surrounding Facebook’s IPO filing this week, but here’s a little Facebook news that’s not as exciting: There are zero women on its board of directors. In fact, it’s all rich white guys—not terribly representative of the wide open world Facebook claims to represent.

This oversight, if that’s what you want to call it, sets Facebook apart from other social media companies. (LinkedIn has one woman on its board, Google has three.) Only 11.3 percent of Fortune 500 companies don’t have a woman on their board. It’s even more odd because Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, is a well-known proponent of gender equality. You’d think she’d have pushed for some female representation.

Susan Stautberg, co-founder of Women Corporate Directors, which promotes female board membership, says a lack of women on the board is just plain bad for business:

It doesn’t make sense for a company that claims to be so forward looking to not have any women directors. If they just have an old boy’s network in the boardroom, they won’t have access to diverse ideas and strategies.

True, indeed. Not to mention that, according to a survey done by a non-profit called Catalyst, Fortune 500 companies with three or more female directors outperformed those with fewer women, achieving on average a 43 percent better return on equity.”

Filed under jezebel article facebook FB board members sexism glass ceiling

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Ten Lady Innovators Best Buy Could’ve Put in Its Super Bowl Ad

“On Sunday, Best Buy ran an ad showcasing a bunch of tech innovators — all of whom were dudes. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt — maybe those poor ad execs just didn’t know how to find cool women in tech. So we did the work for them. Here are ten awesome ladies they could’ve featured…”

Filed under female empowerment female recognition innovators men sexism technology jezebel article

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Violent Lothario Chris Brown Spawns Worst Twitter Trend Ever

“Well, this is depressing. After what seemed like 17 identical spasmodic performances and a Grammy award for Best R&B album, a contingent of Chris Brown’s female fans took to Twitter last night to congratulate and compliment the famously punch-happy singer— by offering themselves up for celebratory beatings. And all on a night that became a de facto memorial for a woman who was herself a victim of domestic violence. This is a whole rainbow of wrong.

Fans of Chris Brown’s greatest hits weren’t few and far between; if you tracked a #chrisbrown tag on Twitter last night, the number of messages supporting Chris Brown’s mission of hitmaking and chair throwing was discouraging. But none went as far as

This isn’t to say that the women tweeting messages like “Not gonna lie… I think I’d let Chris Brown beat me.” and “Chris Brown, please beat me ;)” deserve to actually be beaten or shamed— whoever raised these women should be. ”

Filed under jezebel articlie awareness domestic violence chris brown rihanna grammys 2012