Resist the Façade

“In such a culture of anti-feminism or "family values," as its supporters proclaimed, women remained shielded from the harder decisions of life and were allowed to be morally passive in times of public crisis. Equality thus meant more than just a fair wage. It meant choice, which is, of course, what feminism was supposed to champion. But southern white culture depended on political monopolies, hierarchy, and social control. Choice was kryptonite.

“This southern white way of life, however, is not based solely on white superiority. Rather, it is best viewed as a triptych with religious fundamentalism and patriarchy standing as separate hinged panels that can be folded inward--bent to cover or reinforce white supremacy throughout much of the region's history. The stereotype of southern white womanhood, for example, by which delicate, sacred white women of privilege need constant protection from black males, was constructed and maintained to justify everything from slavery, to lynchings, to segregation. It was a red herring from its inception, promoted to cast white su-premacy as chivalry while relegating southern white women to a distant pedestal where they could be seen and not heard. This two-for-one deal criminalized black men while silencing white women and kept southern white male power unchallenged. Any threat to such authority by African Americans could be met with swift violence. Southern white women, on the other hand, needed cultural reinforcement of their "special" status as the fairer of the sexes, or so they were taught from childhood via countless Sunday sermons where patriarchy came wrapped in scripture. As a result, the cult of southern white womanhood requires women to participate in misogyny—or at least in the way that philosopher Kate Manne describes in her 2018 book, Down Girl, where misogyny is defined as the constant practice of correcting and policing women's behavior to maintain male power. For many southern white women, at a subconscious level, submissiveness became their duty. Their oppression became their privilege. Tradition became their cause, and faith became their defense, just as it had been for much of the Confederacy.”