The Intergroup Relations Program at UCLA held a dinner with students to address and discuss their concern that feminism has ties to white supremacy.
According to The Daily Bruin, the student newspaper of UCLA, students decried the lack of “intersectionality” in mainstream feminism. For the uninitiated, intersectional feminism is defined by a 1989 textbook incorporating the diverse plight of women across different demographic backgrounds.
The view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. Cultural patterns of oppression are not only interrelated, but are bound together and influenced by the intersectional systems of society. Examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity.
The Daily Bruin spoke with several students who attended the event, including Celia Cody-Carrese, an intern with Intergroup Relations Program. She spoke specifically of her concerns that feminism has ties to white supremacy, arguing that the word “feminism” typically conjures up images of white women.
Cody-Carrese said the organizers chose white feminism as the topic of Wednesday’s event because they think feminism has traditional ties with white supremacies. The organizers wanted to give students the opportunity to discuss the topic and break the stigma.
Intergroup Relations leaders discussed how celebrities approach feminism. Some asked the group what the difference was between the empowerment messages in Taylor Swift’s vs. Beyonce’s music.
Some students said they thought Swift’s music does not have the same impact as Beyonce’s because of her privilege, even if her music has messages of empowerment. Conversation later spread into European patriarchy as an instrument of subjugation during the colonial era in world history.
Anna Yeakly, the director of the Intergroup Relations Program explained that white feminism was a topic that was chosen by the students themselves: “White feminism was a topic suggested by the students, based on their interest in discussing the issue of intersectionality that is often left out of conversations about feminism,” Yeakly said.
Cody-Carrese also claims that it’s the group’s intention to create a space on campus where students can discuss overlooked topics. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that Cody-Carrese has any interest in promoting the discussion of conservative and libertarian topics, which are significantly overlooked at progressive west coast universities like UCLA.
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
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