August 13, 2017August 13, 2017 by fobettarh

Equality is Not Pie; Libraries and the

Insidiousness of Subtle Racism
It’s funny. I started this blog post over a week ago. The original catalyst for the post was
affirmative action, google guy, and personal experiences in my own life. The reason it was
taking so long was because I wanted to make sure it had the best mix of personal and
professional tone. And primarily, because librarianship is a very white and female field. And a
post like this, if not done right, could hurt me professionally in the long run. So, I really wanted
to make sure that the information was portrayed in a way most palatable to what would most
likely also be the post’s biggest audience — white women.

And then this weekend happened. And now, honestly, I do not care about palatability. This
weekend has reinforced what most people of color know to be true—“civil” discourse is only
reserved for white people. The differences in response between Charlottesville when the alt-
right/Nazis marched and all of the Black Lives Matters protests are telling. The system isn’t
broken. The system is doing what it was built for—the suppression and oppression of Black
people and other people of color.

But this post isn’t about white male aggression. White male aggression is easily seen and
understood. It’s all over Charlottesville (though white women marched as well and have actively
supported them). White male aggression manifests as outwardly physical aggression. The goal is
to take up as much space as possible whether it be physically (making themselves bigger,
crowding your space, etc.) or verbally (the ten page antidiversity screed, the reason “are men
talking too much” was created, and why certain library and archive listservs are rendered
unusable, etc.). There are a lot of great articles about how white male aggression is deployed in
multiple contexts.

But I’m in librarianship which is a predominantly female field. And so this post is about white
female aggression. White female aggression, like its male counterpart, is also born of white
resentment. But it manifests in drastically different ways. In fact, while instinctually I knew what
it was, it wasn’t until Leslie Mac broke down the exchange with White House Press Secretary
Sanders and White House Press Correspondent, April Ryan that it all came together. Similar to
my experience with the word microaggression, reading the breakdown suddenly put a name to
various experiences I had had in my personal and professional life.

So, what exactly is white female aggression? It is the indirect, and often passive aggressive, ways
that white women exert control and establish dominance over people of color, especially Black
women. Unlike white male aggression, it is executed in phrasing and tone, and the goal is to
damage or destroy one’s social standing. Like other types of relational aggression, it uses
psychological manipulation to advance their own interests, while claiming ignorance of its harm
to others. A great visual example of this is Kirsten Dunst’s role in Hidden Figures as the head of
the computing women’s unit. Throughout the movie she actively builds roadblocks and attempts

1
to stall careers, but maintains that she is not a bad person. Not only does her character maintain
that she is not a bad person, but the movie does so as well, by having the scene where she shows
a grudging modicum of respect to the Black women, as if the bare minimum is all that is needed
to no longer be racist.

White female aggression often uses the constructed idea of white womanhood (a precious fragile
thing that must be protected at all costs) as a weapon and patriarchy as a shield against critique.
It’s how we can know that 53% of white women voted for Trump, but still get stuff like this:

2
3
Many white women will tone police, dominate conversation, and then when challenged follow
the following playbook— cry, accuse people of bullying, and/or attempt to excuse their behavior
using self-care (check out this thread for numerous examples).

If you know me at all, you know I’m all about self care; here I speak to the specific tone policing
reaction that occurs when many white women are challenged on their problematic behaviour, and
they in turn bow out of the conversation because of their need for self-care.

Like I said in my previous post, “nice white women” will lash out as soon as their allyship no
longer maintains their own personal comfort. And this lashing out is often not loud and can be
said with a smile as often as a frown. It’s insidiousness lies in its openness to “interpretation.”

And in libraries, many white women will fight together with women of color against the
injustices of sexism and male domination in libraries (e.g. the fast-tracking of men to leadership),
but are offended when confronted with the many ways they often fulfill their roles as oppressors.
The equality white women strive for then, appears to women of color, as not equality but the
freedom to oppress, when in fact, equality is not a pie. Uplifting women of color doesn’t mean
less equality for white women, just like uplifting women as a whole doesn’t mean less equality
for men. (Check out the root word of equality ya’ll, by definition no one is supposed to get
more.)

Now that the macro has been covered, here is how white female aggression plays out in the
micro. These are a few ways it has impacted me specifically, as well as other people of color I
know.

 The constant undermining of achievements. This is across the board. So it manifests in

discussions about:
o Me winning scholarships and travel grants: (“Well, it was probably one targeted
for diversity, right? It’s hard because I’m X, but that isn’t considered diverse.”)
o Me getting job offers: (“Congrats! Yeah, it must be nice that the field is trying to
increase diversity.” This statement is sometimes followed with a “poor so and so”
(white person) still hasn’t found a position,” or with a statement of how long it
took them to obtain a full-time job with benefits.)
o Money, negotiating, and salary: Conflation of pay statistics, as if all women are in
the 77 cents to a white man’s dollar stat. In reality, Black women make 64 cents
and Latinas make even less at 54 cents. Also, the insinuation (or direct
accusation) that you are being paid more for adding to the institution’s diversity.
It is often suggested, that this is, of course, at a more qualified white person’s
expense.
o Cultural fit. And all of the horror those two words contain.

4
And finally, vocational awe is most often and most dangerously deployed against POC in
libraries. With the loaded history of stereotyping of Black and Latina women as lazy and not
team players, as well as the stereotype of Black women as loud and aggressive, many white
women use these stereotypes, and their own racist assumptions, to justify the exclusion of
women of color from professional fields. And while the exclusion may not be from the field
totally, white female aggression created the roadblocks that keep women of color in staff
positions and/or those with lower pay. Things POC hear in the workplace time and again:

 “It must be so nice to have supervisors who allow you to flex your time.”
 “Wow, you’re really serious about taking your lunch break…”
 “What, so now it’s PC not to sacrifice for your job? I’m happy to sacrifice pay to do what
I love. (This deployment of “professionalism” and “sacrifice” is still used against POC
constantly.)

Statements like these intersect with these racist assumptions about qualifications, and ultimately
exclude those who do not fit their standards of success.

Ultimately, white female aggression can be as violent, if not more so, than white male
aggression. It operates within the most socially acceptable forms of white supremacy. By using
passive aggressive and indirect methods of control and oppression it is hard to parse out,
identify, and call out injustice, let alone fight against it. But just like microaggressions, once it is
recognized, it can be challenged. Remember, equality is not pie. White women in libraries need
not break the glass ceiling on the backs of WOC.

https://fobaziettarh.wordpress.com/2017/08/13/white-female-aggression/