Innocent Subjects Feminism and Whiteness

Despite a rich history of black critique of racist and imperial feminist politics, racism still exists within contemporary British feminist movements. To explain why, Terese Jonsson examines the history of feminism over the last forty years. She argues that black British feminism's central role in shaping the movement has been marginalised through narratives which repeatedly position white women at the centre of the story, from the women's liberation movement in the 1960s to today.
Analysing the ways in which whiteness continues to pervade both academic and popular feminist literature, as well as feminist debates in the liberal media, Jonsson demonstrates that, despite an increased attention to race, intersectionality and difference, stories told by white feminists are shaped by their desire to maintain an 'innocent' position towards racism.