It seems to have begun with a lengthy piece at The Nation entitled, “Feminism’s Toxic Twitter Wars,” in which Michelle Goldberg examines the Internet as “a crucial place for feminist organizing.” Not all feminists believe they have an equal place at the virtual table, however. The Washington Free Beacon’s Sonny Bunch noted that “the most striking aspect of Michelle Goldberg’s article is the way Twitter is being used to silence those deemed to be not progressive enough.”

“From a right-of-center standpoint,” Bunch observes, “it’s interesting to watch the left grapple with their norm that one need not intend to act as a racist to in fact be a racist…. I’ve always been bemused by the left’s insistence that a failure to intend offense wasn’t a defense against causing offense, so I’m glad to see some of these activists wrestling with the norms they have championed.”

That struggle surfaced Friday in the form of the #WhiteFeministRants hashtag, which landed among Twitter’s trending topics Friday. Which posts are sincere and which are parody we’ll leave for you to decide.

Been thinking a lot about white middle class neoliberal settler feminism. Let's give Michelle ideas 4 her next story w/ #WhiteFeministRants — Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 31, 2014

"My Feminism is More Important Than Your Anti-Racism: How to Properly Rank Oppression"#WhiteFeministRants — Steven Salaita (@stevesalaita) January 31, 2014

#WhiteFeministRants "What do Asian women have to complain about?" — alice wong (@SFdirewolf) January 31, 2014

#WhiteFeministRants "black feminists are bullies because they won't let me derail their conversations." — $plenda Daddy. (@xMissTanisa) January 31, 2014



https://twitter.com/MsJamshidi/status/429406201688764416

https://twitter.com/nabeyakiqueen/status/429392796358021120

#WhiteFeministRants Why are you being so divisive? — Politititties (@Auragasmic) January 31, 2014

Only women with established platforms like magazines and think-tanks have meaningful things to say about patriarchy #WhiteFeministRants — matt (@mattcharest) January 31, 2014

"Ten Ways That Lena Dunham Is Revolutionizing America and The World" #WhiteFeministRants — Hear Evil (@HearEvilNews) January 31, 2014

#WhiteFeministRants Yoga: A Safe Space For Me & My Whiteness, Even Though White People Are Appropriating Yoga & Its Practices. — $plenda Daddy. (@xMissTanisa) January 31, 2014

"You were NOT supposed to do twitter better than us. This was NOT agreed upon in the convo that we excluded you from" #whitefeministrants — Cham (@kchamomile) February 1, 2014

Please read my article "The Uppity Uppitification of the Uppified: Just Stop Talking" #WhiteFeministRants — SubMedina (@SubMedina) February 1, 2014

"Everything is like slavery. Except slavery. Get it over it already." #WhiteFeministRants — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) February 1, 2014

"I felt your racially charged anger in yoga class. It's not my fault I'm a size zero who can wear Hollister jeans." #whitefeministrants — Chief of Misandry (@DearLeader10) February 1, 2014

"Why clutching my purse around black men isn't racism (I don't see color, just patriarchy)" #WhiteFeministRants — Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 31, 2014

In the Black South we say: "If the shoe fits, wear it. If it hurts, take it off." If you feel offended by #WhiteFeministRants, fix yourself. — Kayla C. Elliott (@kaylaCelliott) February 1, 2014

Jezebel might have shamed Lena Dunham for page views, but that's part of the patriarchy since men built the internet.#whitefeministrants — Yale Cohn (@YaleCohn) February 1, 2014

#WhiteFeministRants "I went into a Black community to do charity work & they didn't have a Starbucks & suddenly I knew how the slavery felt" — Decolonial Scientist (@They_berian) January 31, 2014

"This hashtag makes me feel unsafe" #WhiteFeministRants — Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) January 31, 2014

"I know how you feel…I have anti-colonialist relatives"

never gets old#whitefeministrants — Aniqah C (@AniqahC) February 1, 2014

When Trader Joe's ran out of the quinoa casserole I love, I finally understood what it's like living in a food desert. #WhiteFeministRants — Yale Cohn (@YaleCohn) February 1, 2014

"When you bring up how white I am it's just as discriminatory as the patriarchy!" #WhiteFeministRants — feminism & burritos (@nashwakay) February 1, 2014

Do all WW experience privilege? Yet another day when Slavic women are rendered theoretically impossible by Western fem's #WhiteFeministRants — Tristan (@soft_delete) February 1, 2014

https://twitter.com/IAMCLB/status/429449260569210880

#WhiteFeministRants my gender trumps your race trumps my sexuality trumps your socioeconomic group trumps my religion trumps your wait what. — blue (@blue_prop) February 1, 2014

the feminist cannibalism happening on twitter right now is golden #WhiteFeministRants — Haley (@haleynwallace) February 1, 2014

https://twitter.com/Regina_Universe/status/429426787647385601

#whitefeministrants isn't turning this white feminist off of feminism. I really, really need to hear this. — LKid (@LKid) February 1, 2014

I can't tell if #WhiteFeministRants started as non-white feminists mocking white feminists, non-feminists mocking feminists, or what… — Argle Bargle (@AblativMeatshld) February 1, 2014



https://twitter.com/JeNeSaisTwat/status/429453198412087296

Related:

Twitter fight: #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen calls out progressives of pallor