Duggaibah, or 'place of whiteness' : Australian feminist and race

Abstract

Our society operates in such a way as to put whiteness at the center of everything, including individual consciousness--so much so that we seldom question the centrality of white-
ness, and most people, on hearing 'race', hear 'black'. That is, whiteness is treated as the
norm, against which all differences are measured. 1

Race shapes white women's lives. In the same way that both men's and women's lives are
shaped by their gender, and that both heterosexual and lesbian women's experiences in the
world are marked by their sexuality, white people and people of color live racially structured
lives. In other words, any system of differentiation shapes those on whom it bestows privi-
lege as well as those it oppresses. White people are 'raced' just as men are 'gendered'. 2