Notes on Privilege + White Feminism (Featuring Other Gross Societal Fails)

We are all aware at this point who run the world.

(Girls. It’s girls.)

We’re about to publish a post called “Wonder Women + Wonder Writers: 4 Dope Books from Female Authors”

Female authors are always going to feature heavily on I Read Therefore, but it needs to be acknowledged that all the women on this first list are white CIS women. We wanted a self-help, a non-fiction, a fiction, and a cookbook. While it’s a coincidence that these authors were Caucasian we all know it is NOT a coincidence that women of color, queer women, trans-women and other marginalized communities have never received equal opportunity in any category of publishing. In the next three months we have six posts on the calendar that celebrate and signal boost women of color, the LGBTQ community, female Native American authors and female first nations/indigenous authors from countries around the world. (They’re going to be really good, get hyped.)

A fair question: “Are you intentionally seeking out works by women in these categories so your book blog is less white and straight and male?” Yes. Hell yes. That’s exactly what we’re doing.

Another fair question: “How are you going to deal with white straight dudes having been published at such astronomically higher rates historically, when a big (cool) part of the blog is reaching way, way, way back for titles?” We’re not going to stress about it. “Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.” Shine the spotlight where it’s been too dark too long (Girls. It’s girls.)

Last question for today: “VIRTUE SIGNALLING?! PROBLEMATIC FAVES?! WHAT DO?!” Obviously that is not a question–it’s the anxiety vortex swirling in our brains about how to deal with these things. Frank answer: we don’t know. We’re going to figure it out as we go. A lot of this framework is unfolding before our very eyes on the world stage; we’re listening, learning, and bringing bucket loads of humility and awareness of our own ignorance to the table. (THAT’S virtue signalling.) Please please please please please comment anything and everything you have in your mind and/or heart on anything and everything we post. We are listening. And your time and energy is so appreciated.

Related: we are drained af now. It’s okay to admit that the discomfort of meditating on and discussing inequality, injustice, your own privilege and privilege at large makes your chest hurt and your ears ring. You get to feel your overwhelm and feel your queasy, sludgy feelings as they surface: just remember they’re no one else’s problem.

(Confession: we are so bad about this. “Ooo I, a middle class white person, need a hug and a nap because racism and heternormitivity are scary and I don’t know how to handle it.” Lame. Chill.)

We’re all in this together, us + you + everyone. And we’re reading books and talking about books, and reading books and talking about books turns ignorance to ash.

Humility. Humility. Humility. Humility.

– Host