This week, I'm joined by KOA BECK, author of the incredible new book, "White Feminism". The book is a blistering examination of how white feminism aligns with capitalism, individual ambition and, ultimately, patriarchy in order to secure some version of liberation for the minority while ignoring the masses of women whose labour and subjugation is required to maintain those systems. I found myself writing notes furiously throughout it but also feeling deeply uncomfortable in parts, which is what any good book should do!

In this wide ranging conversation, Koa and I discuss the roots of white supremacy in the suffragette movement how white feminism and capitalism have always been bedfellows invested in the same end goals; how heteronormativity and homophobia have worked to placate patriarchal ideals of womanhood even within a movement supposedly invested in women’s liberation; and how all of this supposed “freedom” women enjoy now actually comes at the expense of women still marginalised by race, class, body politics and economics.

One of the resounding things I walked away with both after reading this book and speaking to Koa was the urge to think more consciously about truly collective liberation versus a collective “we” of whiteness that ensures capitalist success for some at the expense of the whole. 

I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time and urging everyone I know to read it. It’s comprehensive and uncompromising, and it’s also profoundly hopeful and visionary. I really hope you enjoy this episode, and if you are white like me I encourage you to discuss it with your friends!

Buy Koa Beck's "White Feminism": https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/O6PaP

Follow Koa on Twitter:@koalani

Follow Koa on Instagram: @koabeck

**

Feedback/Question submission: bigsisterhotline@gmail.com

Patreon: www.patreon.com/clementineford

Instagram: www.instragram.com/clementine_ford

(And remember, if you like the show then please consider rating and reviewing it and subscribing!)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/clementineford-bigsisterhotline.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.