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White Feminist Tears: Understanding Emotion, Embracing Discomfort, Exploring Dominant Femininities At Scripps College, and Stepping Towards a Critical White Anti-Racist Feminism

In this thesis, I trace my personal journey and the precursors of unlearning and conversation necessary to start to move towards anti-racism. With a focused look on specific aspects of feminist history, Scripps College as a place was historically contextualized. This allowed for an exploration of its student body, a look at the ways in which traditional gender meanings and expectations necessarily operate within that space. White students who claim the label feminist add complexity to that space, though their reactions to conversations of race can be traced back to the historic and gender over-determined systems of domination and victimhood that produce caustic white feminist tears. Finally, different ways of having difficult conversations are discussed, along with detailed understandings of why those conversations are necessary. In conclusion, I try to envision a kind of feminism that I would like myself and my peers to continue to work for, and emphasize again the sort of education that one must undergo in order to continue their awareness and work.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:CLAREMONT/oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:scripps_theses-1696
Date01 January 2015
CreatorsMietka, Helena Budzynska
PublisherScholarship @ Claremont
Source SetsClaremont Colleges
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceScripps Senior Theses
Rights© 2015 Helena B. Mietka, default

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