Black Women Don't Owe You Feminism
Throughout History Black art, and cultural intellectual property have been co-opted, whitewashed and mass produced for white consumption. From Picasso to a racist Elvis Presley, for decades our culture has been sold back to us by white artists. It is reproduced in a style and language more consumable for white eyes and ears whilst we are told our women are undesirable, our men aggressive and our vernacular uncivilised.
I normally find difficulty in engaging with literature written by white Feminists but was captivated by Florence Given. More often than not she would divert the discussion back to intersectionality. As an attractive, slim and middle class white woman, she would highlight to those engaging with her that her narrative was from a position of privilege. Although the podcasts she featured in were hosted by white middle class women it felt good that she was bringing that dialogue into those spaces. In my naivety, I started to respect her for it.
But yesterday, Chidera Eggeruea, a friend of Florence’s who played a huge role in her early creative development as an illustrator, called out her Sunday times bestselling book-Women Don’t Owe You Pretty. In 2018, under the same publishing company, Chidera released “What a Time to be Alone". Chidera highlights the similarities and very clearly you see that Florence’s book adopts the same illustrative zine style, colour palette, vocabulary and even tone. My reaction: of fucking course :)
I began to realise that the reason for my admiration of Florence’s work was because of its strong ties to black Feminism. Angela Davis’ “Race, Women and Class” was the first time I read black Feminist theory and its links to abolition. For the first time, Davis’ book created a platform where she discussed the Black femme persona and explored where this derives from. She particularly draws a focus to the instinctual ‘strength’ that Black women carry and how this ties to slavery. Though there is a huge disconnect, we need to remember that the scars borne from 300 yeas of complete systematic destruction of the black family dynamic are undoubtedly prevalent today. Women were raped infront of their husbands, men taken from their children and our bodies were commodified.
Of course not all of us can trace our ancestry to slavery, but the systems of oppression that came with it are still upheld. They have, rather, manifested themselves differently over time. The mass incarceration of black men, the destruction of the black nuclear family and hyper-sexualisation of Black femme bodies are key common aspects in the oppression that Black people have experienced in the West until today. This has resulted in, not only, how Black women see themselves, but the role they uphold within their communities, and is shared by this intergenerational oppression. Chidera’s book doesn’t contain wholly original ideas, but like all social theory it builds on previous ideologies and works within her given socio-political climate.
This resulting definition of femininity shared by Black women does not only dictate the relationship we have with ourselves but with our Black men, and also, within female friendships. This is reinforced by the complexity of black female characters that we are shown on film and TV . In “Queen and Slim”, “I May Destroy You” and “Atlanta” we see Black female writers create a space where their fictional counterparts express a unique feminine power.
Black Feminism is about sisterhood and creating a community where we elevate each other because society never will. Davis refers to all women in her literature who are fighting the cause as her sisters regardless of race. The Black Girl Magic movement simply celebrates the very existence of Black women and their ability to exist beyond the oppression of both white supremacy and the patriarchy.
It’s important not to evangelise this. The very strength that black women appear to situationally develop has recently been unpacked given the amount of stress that we undergo in an unhealthy attempt at upholding this image and an inability to show vulnerability. This reactionary strength to systems of oppression is a coping mechanism but in itself it has become part of the burden we must carry - turning destructive in extreme cases. Our very identity in response to our oppressors has subjugated us further.
This very Black Feminism is what Florence looked towards when articulating female liberation. She absorbed a huge amount of Black Feminist literature, which she EXPLICITLY states in her book - all her opinions on “understanding [sic] prettiness, desirability, privilege, unconscious bias and systems of oppression” have been based on texts by Black women. She gives the readers a list of Black writers and journalists who have created the works she’s read and regurgitated. With the help of an all-white publicist team these ideas are transformed into a whitewashed iteration consumable for the white middle class Feminist.
The problem is clear: white people will never listen to Black voices. It’s taken the image of Florence, a middle class attractive white woman to share this information for white women to listen, and endlessly praise her for what she has “given” them. Her podcasts and illustrations talk of Black Feminist theory which she has claimed to have discovered through her lived experience. She talks about elevating other women but fails to do so when it comes to her very own black female inspirations. What she sees as enough is dedicating her Sunday Times best seller to these Black intellects but not highlight any of the ACTUAL work that she has imitated.
“The devil works hard but white supremacy works harder.” Florence’s marketing team have adopted direct strategies which have paid for her book to appear first on Chidera’s search engine results. She is so consumed by own privilege that she lacks the capacity to understand the very trauma of the black female experience and how publishing this work in itself is a labour.
Although Florence might speak of her white privilege as well as intersectionality within Feminism she forgets that this is what Black women have been asking their white sisters to acknowledge and embrace throughout history for their emancipation. These words coming from a Black woman are dismissed, and yet Florence is celebrated, even championed for her self awareness and how it is leading womenkind to liberation. When she speaks to her white audience they’re pandered to. They can find comfort in seeing someone who looks like them and, inherently, they do not have to feel any of their white guilt. The back of her book gives her readers a warning that it contains some uncomfortable truths, but don’t worry guys she won’t go as far as making you listen to a Black woman herself.
I’ve been told exclusively by white men that I express opinions too much like they are fact. Peers have repeated ideas and are praised by tutors where I’ve previously been dismissed, and been told that I am downright illogical. White people find it acceptable to play devils advocate in conversations or discuss their ‘opinions’ in matters of race. The though of not having a seat at the table is paralysing for many white people, and often they do not have the capacity to sit down and pass the mic. Their options have always held weight and value and the thought of information coming from a Black mouth is so difficult to digest. At times it is so subtle it manifests itself in being asked ‘hmmmm….but are you sure? Im going to check.’
But what we also see is, once again, white women succeeding off the back of Black activism. “I say Black lives matter and you get 20%”. The suffrage movement began as a group of white female abolitionists. Their cause was the emancipation of Black people and to fight for the right to vote in order to do so. Yet this was taken by the white middle class woman and she saw that the delivery of rights to the black man before her was a risk to her status in society. The fear of men from an ‘inferior' race surpassing her caused them to align with the patriarchy in order to be taken seriously and be given the vote. The suffragette movement became horrifically racist and undermined the abolitionist movement. Black Feminists were threatened by suffragettes and our white abolitionist allies were continuously insulted.
The systems of white supremacy that enabled this 150 years ago are being upheld today in the form of white publicists, white marketing teams and the white Feminist identity they are essentially selling. Your liberation is on the back of my subjection. Today the racial abuse lies in your lack of acknowledgement of this and pocketing the entirety of the sheer fucking profit you’ve made, as I see our communities pushed to the edge.
I guess the biggest red flag I missed so early on was Florences sermon’s on importance of discomfort, yet preaching in white spaces which held her very same privilege. It’s time to stop celebrating white women for doing the bare minimum of acknowledging their privilege. The work comes from using that privilege to dismantle racist systems and most of the time that means sitting the fuck down and “handing over the mic”.
Written by Heba Tabidi
Born and raised in the incredibly multicultural town of Slough, Heba is a second generation Sudanese female. From a young age (around 6 years old) Heba has been attending protests to fight global injustice. But she was first aware as her position as a black British muslim working class woman in society upon entering university. Attending the University of Bath and entering the industry of engineering, she was occupying majority white middle class spaces. Through the trauma of racism and genderism Heba faces, she fights for the right of her black and black female community through writing, speaking and protesting. She has recently organised two protests and was a speaker for the Bristol Labour Party at a meeting to discuss Black Lives Matter.