The Trouble with White Women

A Counterhistory of Feminism

By: Kyla Schuller, Brittney Cooper - introduction

Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Mela Lee

An incisive history of self-serving white feminists and the inspiring women who’ve continually defied them

Women including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Sanger, and Sheryl Sandberg are commonly celebrated as leaders of feminism. Yet they have fought for the few, not the many. As award-winning scholar Kyla Schuller argues, their white feminist politics dispossess the most marginalized to liberate themselves.

In The Trouble with White Women, Schuller brings to life the two-hundred-year counter history of Black, Indigenous, Latina, poor, queer, and trans women pushing back against white feminists and uniting to dismantle systemic injustice. These feminist heroes such as Frances Harper, Harriet Jacobs, and Pauli Murray have created an anti-racist feminism for all. But we don’t speak their names and we don’t know their legacies. Unaware of these intersectional leaders, feminists have been led down the same dead-end alleys generation after generation, often working within the structures of racism, capitalism, homophobia, and transphobia rather than against them.

Building a more just feminist politics for today requires a reawakening, a return to the movement’s genuine vanguards and visionaries. Their compelling stories, campaigns, and conflicts reveal the true potential of feminist liberation. The Trouble with White Women gives feminists today the tools to fight for the flourishing of all.

So informative

Wow. I learned so much listening to this book. I have no idea HOW to join the intersectionality movement, but I sure want to do something.

Excellent read!

This book was so informative, and really highlights how sex, race, gender, and economic status intersect in various feminist movements. I loved how the author compared white feminists with feminists of color in each chapter, really giving the reader a more detailed view of each persons background and perspective. This should be required reading at the high school level!

A Must Read

If you consider yourself a feminist, you must read this. White women need to do better.

astounding

blew apart my conceptions of what feminism is and who "does" feminism. As a white person, I was humbled by my lack of knowledge regarding intersectional feminism, and this book has provided me an amazing introduction to educating myself about the real history of feminism, and about the deep flaws and cracks in mainstream white feminism.

The history of Feminism

It was an outstanding read, and I highly recommend to others. I'm tired of writing this review.