White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color

by Ruby Hamad

The American School of Evolution, explains academic Kyla Schuller, acknowledged that both thinking and feeling—sentiment—were crucial to evolution and civilization; however, too much sentiment led to sentimentality, which could hinder objective thought. To solve this dilemma, evolutionary race scientists effectively split the civilized, a.k.a. white, body in two. To the male half went the higher intellectual faculties of reason, logic, and objectivity, and to the female went excessive sentimental responses and the accompanying tendency to irrationality and impulsivity. Women would take on the role of feeling, of sympathizing, of “letting emotions override the facts,” leaving men to carry on the important work of intellectual endeavors and empire-building. In this way, Western civilization would be secured and stabilized.