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White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color
Ruby Hamad
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Called “powerful and provocative" by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the New York Times bestselling How to be an Antiracist, this explosive book of history and cultural criticism reveals how white feminism has been used as a weapon of white supremacy and patriarchy deployed against Black and Indigenous women, and women of color.
Taking us from the slave era, when white women fought in court to keep “ownership” of their slaves, through the centuries of colonialism, when they offered a soft face for brutal tactics, to the modern workplace, White Tears/Brown Scars tells a charged story of white women’s active participation in campaigns of oppression. It offers a long overdue validation of the experiences of women of color.
Discussing subjects as varied as The Hunger Games, Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, the viral BBQ Becky video, and 19th century lynchings of Mexicans in the American Southwest, Ruby Hamad undertakes a new investigation of gender and race. She shows how the division between innocent white women and racialized, sexualized women of color was created, and why this division is crucial to confront.
Along the way, there are revelatory responses to questions like: Why are white men not troubled by sexual assault on women? (See Christine Blasey Ford.) With rigor and precision, Hamad builds a powerful argument about the legacy of white superiority that we are socialized within, a reality that we must apprehend in order to fight.
A stunning and thorough look at White womanhood that should be required reading for anyone who claims to be an intersectional feminist. Hamad’s controlled urgency makes the book an illuminating and poignant read. Hamad is a purveyor of such bold thinking, the only question is, are we ready to listen? —Rosa Boshier, The Washington Post
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Posts about this title from Celestial
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jun 21
makeup and books tag! | GRWM and chat about reading
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jun 20 2025
there’s so much value in fiction & storytelling in all forms, but it’s important to pick up some nonfiction books, too! here are some recommendations.
📚 books mentioned: - Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden From Us by Anna Malaika Tubbs - Detained: A Boy’s Journal of Survival and Resilience by D. Esperanza and Gerardo Iván Morales - White Tears Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad - Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe - Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
thank you to Flatiron Books and Atria/Primero Sueño Press for the free copies!
#nonfictionbooks #nonfictionbookreviews #nonfictionbookrecs #socialjusticebookrecs #socialissuesbookrecs #diversebooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @flatiron_books @primerosuenopress @catapult @versobooks @sealpress
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 16 2024
happy birthday to me; read these books because i said so (or face my wrath).
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Posts about this book from across Bindery
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jun 21
makeup and books tag! | GRWM and chat about reading
17 books
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Bien Leidos\ \ tomesandtextiles\ \ • Nov 3 2025
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Do we have any overlap in our November possibilities pile? #novembertbr #tiktokbookrecscontest #booktok #tomesandtextiles
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jun 20 2025
there’s so much value in fiction & storytelling in all forms, but it’s important to pick up some nonfiction books, too! here are some recommendations.
thank you to Flatiron Books and Atria/Primero Sueño Press for the free copies!
5 books
Mareas\ \ Marines\ \ • Nov 20 2024
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the politics of booktok: reading, comfort, and white supremacy
The morning after the election, as I was processing my feelings in real-time, I dropped this little prediction in my Discord:
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Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 16 2024
happy birthday to me; read these books because i said so (or face my wrath).
17 books