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

by Ruby Hamad

In other words, Indigenous society did not properly adhere to white notions of sex difference and sex roles. To white women, Indigenous women did not fit the white model of womanhood, and this made them either victims or perpetrators. They had different cultural norms around sex, which made them immoral. They labored outside the home to help provide for their families, which made them enslaved drudges. Ironically, the white response to this perceived oppression was to oppress them. Let’s repeat that. Because colonized women did not adhere to cultural roles akin to White Womanhood, white women assumed they were oppressed, and this status was used to actually oppress them further. One could fairly say that Indigenous cultures were not oppressive enough of women for the liking of white society.