Is this a site that is safe for all women, or just some? I think I got my answer today.
I have been putting off writing several diaries the past couple of months because my health has been pretty shitty. But something happened today that made me decide to suck it up through the pain so I can discuss something that I find genuinely infuriating and even frightening.
When I woke up today, I found Eclectablog's diary detailing what a black woman endured at a Netroots Nation after party from a much bigger white man.
I tried to engage with many people, until one guy cornered me at the Netroots Nation after-party, put his hands on my shoulders, and told me that the protestors had no class and that Bernie Sanders deserves our respect for 50 years of fighting for civil rights. I stopped engaging at that point. I no longer felt safe in a progressive space.
That's assault people. Clear and simple. After reading the diary, what I expected from most of the people at this site was horror that a woman was assaulted in what should have been a safe, progressive space. Instead, what I saw was a bunch of white men equating what happened to her to someone in the internet saying something mean to Bernie Sanders. If they acknowledged she was assaulted at all. I saw people making comments shrugging their shoulders. People saying that black women were "milking" this.
What I did not see, what I expected to see, was the many, many white women I know who are here shouting this sexism down. There were some, and you all know who you are. But we white women are not a small force at this site. We have a history of speaking our minds forcefully when we see men disregarding attacks on women. Anyone who was here for last year during the whole Elliot Rodgers thing knows how loud we women, we white women, can get when we see a lot of sexism at this site. We are not afraid to bring this site to a fucking standstill if we think there's a problem. So why is there no pushback from more white women in that diary? Follow below for my thoughts.
Anyone who has been paying attention to the feminist movement as it is now knows that there has been pushback from women of color about how white it often is, and how many white women in the movement have a bad habit of centering feminism on the middle class white woman's experience. Writer Mikki Kendall, who co-runs hoodfeminism.com, started the hashtag #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen back in 2013. It received a lot of attention on Twitter, particularly because so many women of color could identify with the experience of always feeling like they were left out in the cold by white women.
Well, from what I can see, right here at Daily Kos, once again, many white women are leaving their black sisters out in the cold. And it's not right. As women, we should be screaming from the rooftops that so many men on this site feel safe shrugging off an assault on a woman. We should be worried that men in progressive spaces feel safe enough to assault women in plain sight. Sure, it's black women now, but I guarantee you my fellow white women - if we let this shit stand, some white men will get the message that assault is all right and they will be coming for us next. Don't fucking sit on the sidelines thinking this is just a stupid primary fight. This is about whether or not we progressives respect all women's body autonomy, or just some. It's about not letting sexism get even worse at this site.
I suspect - I hope - that many of you white women just stayed away from the diary because you are tired of the primary fights already. I know that there is a current of sexism that tends to run through this site at all times, and that gets heightened during primary season because a lot of men still haven't learned how to keep from throwing sexual slurs when they argue. Believe me, I get that. I am exhausted from it, and I skip most primary diaries. But right now, I need you to stand up. Black women shouldn't have to shoulder this burden alone. We cannot allow an assault on a woman in what should have been a safe space to be minimized by anyone. We must stand up to make this space a safe one for black women, as any progressive site should be.