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White Women

Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better

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White Women

Written by: Regina Jackson, Saira Rao
Narrated by: Regina Jackson, Saira Rao, Deanna Anthony
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About this listen

An instant New York Times Bestseller!

A no-holds-barred guidebook aimed at white women who want to stop being nice and start dismantling white supremacy from the team behind Race2Dinner and the documentary film, Deconstructing Karen.

It's no secret that white women are conditioned to be "nice," but did you know that the desire to be perfect and to avoid conflict at all costs are characteristics of white supremacy culture?

As the founders of Race2Dinner, an organization which facilitates conversations between white women about racism and white supremacy, Regina Jackson and Saira Rao have noticed white women's tendency to maintain a veneer of niceness, and strive for perfection, even at the expense of anti-racism work.

In this book, Jackson and Rao pose these urgent questions: how has being "nice" helped Black women, Indigenous women and other women of color? How has being "nice" helped you in your quest to end sexism? Has being "nice" earned you economic parity with white men? Beginning with freeing white women from this oppressive need to be nice, they deconstruct and analyze nine aspects of traditional white woman behavior—from tone-policing to weaponizing tears—that uphold white supremacy society, and hurt all of us who are trying to live a freer, more equitable life.

White Women is a call to action to those of you who are looking to take the next steps in dismantling white supremacy. Your white supremacy. If you are in fact doing real anti-racism work, you will find few reasons to be nice, as other white people want to limit your membership in the club. If you are not ticking white people off on a regular basis, you are not doing it right.

©2022 Regina Jackson (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Gender Studies Racism & Discrimination
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What the critics say

“Deconstructing white women and white supremacy has never been more necessary than it is right now, and I am always looking for ways to learn, grow, shut the F up, and listen. This book gives you the tools to do just that.”–Chelsea Handler

“This book dares to tell necessary truths. The kind of truths that can save lives, and if heard with an open mind and heart—may even help save the soul of this lost nation.”–Frederick Joseph, author of New York Times bestsellers Patriarchy Blues and The Black Friend

"In their recent The New York Times bestseller White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How To Do Better, Jackson and Rao are clearly more interested in confronting and challenging the subtle yet devastating ways that racism shows up than soothing, coaxing and coddling individual egos."Forbes

What listeners say about White Women

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This book is changing me

I can feel myself waking up to some hard truths about myself. This book is impacting me profoundly. It’s hard. It’s important. I’m really grateful for the authors’ courage and vulnerability.

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Share this With You White Friends

This book is a must read and a book you must share with your white friends. Like the book says, we white women must hold each other accountable and I feel part of that is encouraging all the white women we know of to read this book!!!!!

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What every Black & WoC really wants to say

I bought this book from Audible. I love hearing the authors reading it, for their authenticity, education and conviction are apparent. I had to pause at many points and catch my breath because I have tried to put my own feelings into words as a PoC (socialized female) and this book articulates word for word my experiences in the US and yes, even in Canada. The denial from Canadians is hilarious to me, their PR of being friendly and "better" than the US is laughable, but I digress. I see reviews on Amazon and here on Audible that say that this book is indelicate - a topic that is handled superbly in the book itself if such readers/listeners would have bothered to truly pay attention beyond their initial b*tt clenching. As Regina and Saira say, you could put it on a cake with nice lettering and w**te women will still miss the memo. This has been my experience as a first generation immigrant in the US and Canada.

The book superbly outlines the blatant tactics employed by w**te women and what they can do to, in fact, move from their superficial niceties to co-conspirator. The book emphasizes that w**te women need to understand that their bs is harming ALL WOMEN, NON-BINARY and TRANS folks and these issues are not just for Black and Brown people to address, but their own, because it impacts them as well. I love the parallels between patriarchy and w**te supremacy because it may truly help those interested (key word being interested) in dismantling w**te supremacy.

The book is wide in scope and covers a lot. A must-read for any so-called "not racists".

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Important and necessary

In a world where many deny the existence of white supremacy while perpetuating its harm, this is an important and necessary read. Dismantling white supremacy and practicing anti-racism isn't about whether people are good or bad, every person has the capacity for good and bad; it's about investigating our biases and understanding our conditioning. It's about making space for other people's stories; making space for Black stories and experiences, something white supremacy has restricted and denied. I suspect many who identify as white will find this a challenging read and will find it hard to look towards their darkness because white supremacy teaches there is no darkness in whiteness, only enlightenment. In the words of Seth Adam "you cannot defeat darkness by running from it, nor can you conquer your inner demons by hiding them from the world. In order to defeat the darkness, you just bring it to the light." This book challenges readers to bring their darkness to the light and for that reason, many will feel triggered by it. But for those that want to be world changers, this is a conversation that must be had.

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Full of many stories that clearly illustrate their points.

I chose this book to learn more about myself as a white woman. The authors clearly understand some of our key struggles, such as competitiveness. Based on other books that I have listened to, such as So You Want to Talk About Race? I understood their concepts of race/racism and understood the role I play. I applaud them for their efforts to get us to open our minds to their perspective through the Race to Dinner and other efforts. Well worth listening to if you are willing to be open to it.

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Misleading Sample. Buyer beware.

I have listened to close to 50 audio books on Audible. This is the first time I have felt decieved by the audio sample of a book. The expectations set by the sample are not representative of this audio book so buyer beware.

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Read this book.

This book is interesting, and would be a great first read for someone starting to learn and reflect on their whiteness. I would also recommend reading love and rage (Llama Rod Owens) and reflecting on your own healing process, ancestor work and identity in conjunction with exploring these perspectives. What is most challenging is how insistent and unilateral the concepts are presented, without nuance or intersectionality. I’m not sure if this is partially a facet of being Canadian (we are also racist here), but some of the dichotomies and embedded blanket and inaccurate assumptions (all white women pay $600 for yoga classes, therapy and purses?? Only white children misbehave without reprimand? Teachers are mainly racist white women? White women are unsupportive of each other and don’t have real friendships?) made it hard to keep listening. Keep listening. It’s part of the work. Sit with your feelings. This is part of the conversation. Right now our role is to listen, watch ourselves, meet ourselves, see ourselves, and reflect on how we want to change. This book doesn’t exactly empathetically do that - some people might need more compassion rather than the tough love offered by this book. There are other books out there to hopefully help you do that. It’s certainly a tour de force that will hopefully passionately incite emotional reactions and conversations, and I can’t wait to talk more about it. It also felt like a swift kick to do better and leverage my own power. That it’s not enough to not be racist, but that it’s my duty to be an anti racist and a co-conspirator in actively dismantling the oppressive, misogynist, capitalist and patriarchal racist systems that we live in. And that my oppression is tied up in this l, and there is no other path. This book is not perfect but it is a book you will want and need to talk about. Read it.

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