Upper-middle-class white women have long been heralded as "experts"
on feminism. They have presided over multinational feminist
organizations and written much of what we consider the feminist
canon, espousing sexual liberation and satisfaction, LGBTQ inclusion,
and racial solidarity, all while branding the language of the
movement itself in whiteness and speaking over Black and Brown women
in an effort to uphold privilege and perceived cultural superiority.
An American Muslim woman, attorney, and political philosopher, Rafia
Zakaria champions a reconstruction of feminism in Against White
Feminism, centering women of color in this transformative
overview and counter-manifesto to white feminism's global,
long-standing affinity with colonial, patriarchal, and white
supremacist ideals.
Covering
such ground as the legacy of the British feminist imperialist savior
complex and "the colonial thesis that all reform comes from the
West" to the condescension of the white feminist-led "aid
industrial complex" and the conflation of sexual liberation as
the "sum total of empowerment," Zakaria follows in the
tradition of intersectional feminist forebears Kimberlé Crenshaw,
Adrienne Rich, and Audre Lorde. Zakaria ultimately refutes and
reimagines the apolitical aspirations of white feminist empowerment
in this staggering, radical critique, with Black and Brown feminist
thought at the forefront.