Back when I was first introduced to feminism, I started off reading Ariella Drakes ‘Anti-oppression Link Round Ups’, and then moved on to regularly read Pandagon, Feministing, Feministe and Hugo Schwyzer.
For a long time I read the words of the Big Bloggers… the one’s who are primarily white, straight, cisgendered, middle-class American feminists, and when they spoke for minority groups, I simply accepted what they said.

As time went on, I started to look for more information on issues regarding sexuality and gender, and then got kinda curious about other minority issues, but I made a common mistake. I started to TALK FOR minorities, instead of listening to them. I am pretty ashamed of some of the things I have said both off line and on, about Aboriginal rights, sex workers, porn, disabled people, and so on.
These days I am much more careful, because I got sick of having to eat my words, finding out after that fact, that what I have said has been wrong, ignorant and offensive, even if it was said with the very best of intentions.

You have probably heard of the shit fight surrounding Amanda Marcotte and Brownfemipower. In a nutshell, Amanda wrote an article, Sexual Abuse Fueled by Abusive Immigration Language, that was published on Alternet. This article doesn’t reference the work of any WoC bloggers that have been talking about this very issue for at least a year.

I planned on staying well out of the debate… I actually haven’t read any of Brownfemipowers writing, and I am almost ashamed to admit that in the current climate. I feel like I should have a good excuse for not reading it. I don’t… I just hadn’t gotten around to it.

The reason that I am posting about this debate is because of two posts. One by Hugo, in which he makes an arse of himself multiple times in the post, and in the comments thread. It reminded me that sometimes bloggers with privilege need to be reminded to listen before they speak, and sometimes they forget Feminism101 things like there is no reverse racism.

The other post is this wonderful piece by Holly at Feministe, which I think is the best critique of the scenario I have seen yet, and it makes the point that silence on the matter makes a loud statement in and of itself. I recommend reading the comments thread too, because there are lots of illuminating discussions taking place there. (Although last time I looked at it, it appeared that Amanda has gone completely crackers!)

I also read this article in alternet, an Open Letter to White Feminists which I think that people should go look at. It very coherently outlines the marginalisation and appropriation of work by women of colour.

So in a nutshell, listen before you speak. Allow the minority voices be heard. Amplify them, draw attention to them, but do not appropriate their words.