So many other women, nonbinary, and two-spirit people have envisioned such complex and varied approaches to the concept of gender equality. While I've always been aware of different approaches to feminism and women's history, studying white feminism this closely really underscored to me how anomalous white feminism is in its practices and ideology. I learned while researching my book that many values and metrics that had been messaged to me as inherently ' feminist,' specifically as a middle-class woman in the white-collar workforce, were actually just representative of one type of feminism-not Feminism. What did you learn about yourself while writing “ White Feminism”? I've always reported on and been fascinated by the mechanics of racism, sexism, brutal misogyny, and queer rights.Ģ. I see a real through line between the pieces I was pitching, writing, and editing when I was younger and the culmination of this book.

My 10-year career in journalism evidences the latter. Was this courage a skill that you’ve developed over time as a writer or is it an intrinsic piece of your personality that just shines through? Readers praise your ability to highlight, call out, and speak truth to power. In 2019, Koa was was awarded the Joan Shorenstein Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School, publishing an academic paper entitled “Self-Optimization in the Face of Patriarchy: How Mainstream Women’s Media Facilitates White Feminism.”ġ. Koa was a guest editor for the 2019 special Pride section of The New York Times commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, editing such prominent voices as Kate Bornstein, Gavin Grimm, Julia Serano, and Barbara Smith, among other activists. She has also been interviewed by the BBC for her insight into American feminism. She has spoken at Harvard Law School, Columbia Journalism School, The New York Times, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, among other institutions.

Her reporting and analysis on gender, identity, race, and culture have been published in, Out magazine, TIME, , The Globe and Mail, , among others. Patrisse Khan-Cullors, the cofounder of Black Lives Matter, describes Koa’s work as “intellectually smart and emotionally intelligent” while the Boston Globe has deemed her “a perceptive cultural critic” and “a visionary.” Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of Jezebel, the executive editor of, and the senior features editor at. Koa Beck is the author of the acclaimed nonfiction book White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind (Simon & Schuster, January 2021), praised by feminist writers Gloria Steinem and Rebecca Traister.

Koa beck white feminism review