The Overzealous White Woman

I don’t trust white women simply because I am one. One need only to look in the mirror for the ugly truth: white women are a problem. A more complicated explanation lies in the examination of experiences and the knowing of all women forced to live under colonialism.

In spaces of modern spirituality we see white women taking over. It’s not exactly that I distrust white women, it’s that I know them. Unassuming, torn between the world of injustice in class and gender but alternatively less oppressed than those of darker shades, she still feels unseen even in her own arena; especially in her own arena. Entitled, egocentrism runs rampant in the white female community as she looks for a foothold to call her own. Black and brown women, women who are non-white identifying not only understand the plight but live it, amongst added racism and classism. Yet, white women still only see far enough into the future to fend for themselves without giving a thought to the broader female community. She cannot see the forest beyond the trees. This is the overzealous white woman complex. Always looking for somewhere to be seen, but neglecting to recognize the perils of obtaining an identity in today's world.

I trust in non-white women because of this collective inherent sense of community, this unbreakable bond between her existence and the earth and the understanding of the tandem oneness in that experience. Along with that knowing, I find value in their being, in their stories and in their shared experiences as fellow human beings. The sum of these experiences combined with the global community mindset and unbreakable link to Mother Nature is what the future needs in order to heal - no person, no conscious being left behind. It is also undeniably the truth of existence. I trust people who operate in truth. These women who still retain their humanity are the leaders of the future. The question is, what do white women believe the fight for female leadership entails? To this they already have the wrong impression.

White women don’t realize that their weapons against patriarchy and extreme capitalism are limited. They are based in everything to which they subscribe which is in turn, based in the culture of the colonizer. Not to say that the white woman doesn’t have valuable experience, or stories worthy of sharing. Quite the opposite, everyone’s stories are worth leaving behind in legend. But the experience of the white woman who sees the world through the lens of purity culture, through the lens of approval as the solitary means of survival of white men is distorted, unintentionally corrupt. A need of proximity to the oppressor class leaves her vulnerable in the ability to tell herself the whole truth. The truth being that white women use the colonizers system to survive. White women give into colonizer culture to gain status, power, and rank within the modern system of patriarchal survival. While it suits them well, what about the rest of the women of the world, our sisters in arms? How can they trust women who do not trust themselves? Women who lie to their core for proximity to the ruling class? Who kill off their intuition, their capacity for compassion? How can she trust the oppressor's bedmate?

Indigenous women and women of color share a wisdom of the land, of the spirit of the world which white women do not possess. White women don’t retain our roots, the culture of wild woman-hood. Instead for centuries we have been corralled like farm animals, taught when to eat, when to sleep, and when to die. Colonialism stripped white women of not only our intuition, our culture, and our communities, but also of our will.

Purity culture trapped the white women inside and excluded the rest. The rest were considered of no consequence, subhuman. Killed, enslaved, or ignored they persisted - persisted in the face of persecution of purity culture but lesser defined by it as a people. Whereas the modern white woman knows nothing outside of the will of white men. No wildness, no independence, no education. Their very existence depends on the definition created for them by white men, by purity culture, by colonization. Think of a farm.

The animals are well-cared for most of the time, given their proximity to the farmer who is driven by his desires or needs. The animals are fed, treated well, and given permission to roam. Wild animals who visit the farm are considered pests, chased out of the bounds of the land, forced out without access to food, water, or shelter. The farm animals are used for entertainment purposes, ignorantly awaiting their inevitable demise. But, until then, they'll live well as the farmer sees fit.

The wild animals are guaranteed nothing and shown little attention, but they have the knowledge of the land. They have their intuitive wildness in the face of boundless threats. Life is more difficult, but they remain truly free and the masters of their own destiny. The farm animals have a simpler life, cared for until the very end when they're called upon for their one ultimate purpose - sacrificing their lives for the needs of the farmer. These are the differences (albeit an under-developed and crude example) between the experiences of white women and most other women.

So why do I not trust fellow white women, women who may be vital to the turning of the tide? Because they know not their own power, or themselves. In not knowing they’ve given up a life, a wild power, a freedom, but more than that they’ve given up truth, compassion, and accountability in exchange for the warm blanket of acceptance through obedience. I cannot trust a woman who absorbs another’s identity, or a woman who emulates another without care and consideration, without knowing, and takes no accountability for how she got to the top of the food chain in the first place. I cannot trust a woman who culturally appropriates without taking accountability when confronted with a harsh truth. I cannot trust a woman who still lives by the rules of the colonizer. I cannot trust someone who would put their own comfort over another’s life. I cannot trust those who know and do nothing, myself included. 

The answer is not to expect more of white women, and certainly not is it to expect more of indigenous heritage or women of color. Rather, the answer is accountability, education, and a concerted, cohesive effort in the dismantling of colonization made by all women.

White women, quite frankly, don't know what they don't know. Ignorance is never an excuse, but when you're raised solely in an environment which washes away the identities of others and your own to singularly replace it with the colonizer's narrative, you begin to believe what you hear. Brainwashing is the greatest tool of the colonizer. White women cater to white men because we have been conditioned to do so since birth. White women never question white men because we were taught that they're stronger, smarter, wiser. White women have been stripped of their spirit from their toddler years and onward, stripped of their own autonomy for centuries. Their mothers and grandmothers only reinforce the narrative of the colonizer. There is no wise-elder in our communities, only barren wastelands of destruction left in the wake of our centuries-long dehumanization. White women do not know what they do not know.

Recognizing the truth takes an encounter with someone outside the framework of colonization. Conflict of opinions, differences in viewpoints are the catalyst mirrors in which white women need to take a lingering look. This is where it all begins.

A confrontation of self is critical to the recovery of white femininity. White women - it is vital in this moment that you take a look at yourselves. Not only a look into the mirror of what you've become, but a look at who you really are underneath these layers of farces perpetrated by white men on our souls and the women of past generations. Reconcile your ingrained need for approval with the truth. See yourself for who you really are, a wild woman waiting to be freed.

Discovering and creating who you really are outside the framework of patriarchy and the colonizer mind is crucial. Chasing a new identity is no substitute for doing the work of becoming. Many of our people get lost in this step, appropriating what and who is not theirs. Do not substitute emulation for being. Look at yourself with compassion, but also with accountability. Educate yourself on all that is that you do not know from being under the male colonizer's thumb. Ask questions. Work collaboratively. Listen. Believe.

All women should listen now, as this is difficult but important to hear. It is undecidedly up to us to work together to abolish the ways of old and to regain our autonomy, our power as wild women. We must make allowances for ignorance, but we also must establish boundaries when accountability is not present. We must make broad-reaching education and civil discourse the forefront of our movement. We must acknowledge the truth, all truth about all women in our society including their histories, their prejudices, and their privilege. We must listen to and believe one another when our stories are being shared. We must accept when we are wrong and take accountability in our actions and words. Most importantly, we must react from a place of compassion for other women and for ourselves. None of us wanted to be here in this way in which we are today, but nonetheless we are here. Our experiences have molded us, shaped us for better and for worse. Radical acknowledgement of our shortcomings and our strengths remains vital to our success in collaboration in dismantling the ways of the colonizer. Compassion is the key.