Koa Beck discusses White Feminism

In the 2010s, Americans saw an inspiring resurgence of feminism in the mainstream media. Hundreds of thousands of protestors swarmed D.C. during the 2017 Women’s March; “intersectionality” has become a popular talking point; and an international campaign against sexual harassment erupted just a few months later with the #MeToo movement. But as feminism reemerged as a political movement, so did a new class of professionals seeking to use it for corporate success. This set of careerists subscribe to a pernicious philosophy: “white feminism.” This is what former Jezebel editor-in-chief Koa Beck writes about in her new book, White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind. In the book, Beck argues that this style of feminism excludes people from marginalized communities at its best; it uses them for personal gain while replicating the very power structures it wants to rebel against at its worst. “What I found when I was researching this book is that the thread of what we might call lifestyle feminism […] is a white success model or an aspiration to whiteness,” she tells NBCBLK. Beck will discuss the book and the concept with journalists Ruby Hamad, the author of White Tears/Brown Scars, and Melissa Gira Grant in an event co-hosted by Politics and Prose and The New Republic on Monday, Jan. 11. The event will be streamed at 6 p.m. on Jan. 11. Registration is available at eventbrite.com. Free–$35.