#Thread As Savarna womxn we need to start talking openly about ending our complicity in casteist tragedies, of divesting from Brahmanical supremacy. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of what you should *not* be doing. (Please feel free to add/make your own list) #Hathras 1/

Weeping profusely in public for ALL womxn but finding it hard to say that the rape of a Dalit womxn by upper caste men has everything to do with caste. Erasing the pain and oppression of Dalit womxn and refusing to re-examine your position #Hathras 2/

Watching silently, caring for, and loving (ugh) upper caste men around you who, in their roles as magistrates, police officials, army personnel, judges, ministers, perpetrate atrocities against oppressed castes/communities or shield perpetrators. #Hathras 3/

Refusing to acknowledge that Savarna womxn can be, have been, and are complicit in upholding Brahmanical patriarchy/caste hierarchies. Remember #Khairlanji and how womxn were an active part of that lynch mob. #Hathras 4/

Calling for public hangings of rapists because performing your rage and getting noticed for it is more important than the long, hard feminist labour required to dismantle rape and brahmanical culture. #Hathras 5/

Generally being very “martial” in your public (social media) discourse- "heads must roll", "hang them", ("off with his head" because you are the Queen of Hearts of entitlement) Being a fangirl diehard bhakt of the police/army/incarceration/death penalty etc. #Hathras 6/

Feeling at home with the lack of humanity and brutality that forms the core of casteist, patriarchal violence. Remaining silent when Dalit womxn make appeals to you because you are squatting over funds, platforms, resources you don't want to share #Hathras 7/

Forgetting to invite Dalit feminists to a panel you are hosting to discuss the rape of a Dalit womxn. Not getting more Dalit folx into your newsroom staff even though you are managing editors #Hathras 8/

Holding the Yogi government accountable for #Hathras (rightly so) but only to feel less guilty and forgetting that previous governments you voted for or a party that your uncle was MP or MLA in, did nothing against caste brutality either (to say the least). 9/

Harping about “bestiality” when the rape accused are not upper caste/are poor. And making a rape about an isolated pathology of deviance when the perpetrators *are* upper caste (rather than see it as violence committed by the dominant group that you belong to) #Hathras 10/

Gloating that you are part of hot shot committees and on lists of “most powerful” womxn but never sharing resources or talking with Dalit/Adivasi women or making sure they are seated at the same table. #Hathras 11/

Dismissing it as a problem “these people” have when a Dalit womxn tells you her husband is alcoholic/abusive w/o understanding that systemic caste violence and the abject poverty it maintains causes trauma and you are a beneficiary of this system. #Hathras 12/

Worrying about men being falsely accused of rape in #MeToo (because some of them are/could be your friends) and telling oppressed caste women not to “call out” perpetrators but to properly follow “due process” (run by the same perpetrators, your friends). #Hathras 13/

Shaming those “woking up” late because you were apparently born with an intersectional core and will forever be superior (and therefore no one can question you). Remaining insulated in ivory towers and only speaking yourself but not amplifying Dalit voices #Hathras 14/

Just because we are oppressed as womxn and have our own traumas to deal with doesn’t mean we cannot also be vile oppressors. But Savarna womxn are not bound to practice Savarna (casteist) feminism. DIVESTING ourselves from Brahminism is critical #Hathras 15/

PS: Am not trying to say am better than anyone (for those groaning about this being another thread in "virtue signalling"). I'm interested in stopping Savarna women and myself from devaluing Dalit lives and getting closer to our/my own humanity. #Hathras 16/16