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Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism
A revealing, unsettling portrait of white nationalism, told through the lives of three women whose experiences with far-right extremism offer a new understanding of America today.
After the election of Donald J. Trump, journalist Seyward Darby went looking for the women of the so-called alt-right--really just white nationalism with a new label. The mainstream media depicted the alt-right as a bastion of angry white men, but was it? As women headlined resistance to the Trump administration's bigotry and sexism, most notably at the women's marches, Darby wanted to know why others were joining a movement espousing racism and anti-feminism. Who were these women, and what did their activism reveal about America's past, present, and future?
Darby researched dozens of women across the country before settling on three: Corinna Olsen, Ayla Stewart, and Lana Lokteff. Each was born in 1979 and became a white nationalist in the post-9/11 era. Their respective stories of radicalization upend much of what we assume about women, politics, and political extremism.
After the election of Donald J. Trump, journalist Seyward Darby went looking for the women of the so-called alt-right--really just white nationalism with a new label. The mainstream media depicted the alt-right as a bastion of angry white men, but was it? As women headlined resistance to the Trump administration's bigotry and sexism, most notably at the women's marches, Darby wanted to know why others were joining a movement espousing racism and anti-feminism. Who were these women, and what did their activism reveal about America's past, present, and future?
Darby researched dozens of women across the country before settling on three: Corinna Olsen, Ayla Stewart, and Lana Lokteff. Each was born in 1979 and became a white nationalist in the post-9/11 era. Their respective stories of radicalization upend much of what we assume about women, politics, and political extremism.
11 pages, Audio CD
First published July 21, 2020
About the author
Seyward Darby
1 book41 followersSeyward Darby is the editor in chief of The Atavist Magazine. She previously served as the deputy editor of Foreign Policy and the online editor and assistant managing editor of The New Republic. As a writer, she has contributed to The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, among other publications.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 478 reviews
November 12, 2020
Please be warned that this book is intense. There are graphic descriptions of racism and sexism in this book. Darby directly interviews those that a part of the white nationalist movement or have been a part of it. Due to this, opinions and thoughts about other racial, ethnic, and religious groups outside of the typical WASP community can be hard to read
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I made the decision to pick this up. Even as I write the review, I'm aware of how difficult it is to describe the experience that comes with reading Sisters in Hate. While I'm not surprised about the amount of information that has been coming out in regrad to the alt right and white nationalism, I was extremely surprised at the role that women play in the movement especially in terms of recruitment. Often white nationalism is associated with young white men. And that comes from this idea that all white women are serene and docile and harmless. Meanwhile, Darby interestingly captures how dedicated some white women are to the ideals that are heavily anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti Semitic, anti-feminist, racist, bigoted, and more. Even as a Black woman who is aware of the false narratives and characterizations of white women I still wanted to know how such a hateful group of men could even begin to lure them into such radicalized ideologies. I found my answers in the from of what I thought was a harmless hashtag #tradlife (short for traditional life). Women who are advocates for tradlife believe in a time in which a woman was more concerned with maintaining a household, having and taking care of children, and keeping herself beautiful for her husband. The same ideals are utilized to recruit White women into believing the radicalized idea that they are the preservers of the White race and White culture. These women are usually made to feel that they belong somewhere, that they are important, and that they have a purpose. In doing so, they transition from just believing in traditional values to believing that the White race is superior to others and that it is on the verge of extinction.
There were quite a few moments in reading this book where I had to stop and remove myself from the hateful rhetoric that was spewed by those being interviewed. While I found it fascinating to watch as these women went from liberal feminist to active members in the alt right and white nationalist movement, quite a few things mentioned were triggering and infuriating. Sometimes it's easy to say "how could you possibly believe something that stupid and ignorant?" But I often have to remind myself that a lot of the women described in this book have a strong emotional connection to the movement. It's reaffirming and gives them a feeling of fulfillment. A lot of them described in this book came from emotional and physically abusive households. While this isn't an excuse to perpetuate hateful rhetoric to any marginalized group, it does assist in understanding the psychological, emotional, and mental appeal of such a hate based organization/movement.
The book itself is broken up into three parts that focus on three specific women and their journeys to (and in some cases from) the white nationalist movement. This method of relaying information made the book accessible to me as a reader. One topic that I wish Darby would have explored in more depth is the blatant misogyny that these women face as part of this movement. While there are women like Lana Lokteff who are active and vocal in the movement, there are many men who believe that they need to "learn their place" and adhere to the subservient standards that White men set for them which usually ends up meaning "shut up, look pretty, and have babies." I found this intriguing because it's a walking, talking contradiction. Women like Lokteff want recognition for the work that they do in the movement, yet the men in the movement want them to take a backseat and focus on having children. The psychology and sociology behind that is something that I would love to learn more about. The very challenges that these women fight against to recognized in male dominated spaces is quite similar to what feminists do yet they identify as anti-feminist.
I will actively admit that this book is a difficult read, but also an important read because we must recognize the role that women have in this movement. To underestimate their role and power seems to be equal to underestimating the power of white nationalism as a whole. This is definitely a topic that I would like to explore more, but I am aware that I would need to take it in small doses.
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I made the decision to pick this up. Even as I write the review, I'm aware of how difficult it is to describe the experience that comes with reading Sisters in Hate. While I'm not surprised about the amount of information that has been coming out in regrad to the alt right and white nationalism, I was extremely surprised at the role that women play in the movement especially in terms of recruitment. Often white nationalism is associated with young white men. And that comes from this idea that all white women are serene and docile and harmless. Meanwhile, Darby interestingly captures how dedicated some white women are to the ideals that are heavily anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti Semitic, anti-feminist, racist, bigoted, and more. Even as a Black woman who is aware of the false narratives and characterizations of white women I still wanted to know how such a hateful group of men could even begin to lure them into such radicalized ideologies. I found my answers in the from of what I thought was a harmless hashtag #tradlife (short for traditional life). Women who are advocates for tradlife believe in a time in which a woman was more concerned with maintaining a household, having and taking care of children, and keeping herself beautiful for her husband. The same ideals are utilized to recruit White women into believing the radicalized idea that they are the preservers of the White race and White culture. These women are usually made to feel that they belong somewhere, that they are important, and that they have a purpose. In doing so, they transition from just believing in traditional values to believing that the White race is superior to others and that it is on the verge of extinction.
There were quite a few moments in reading this book where I had to stop and remove myself from the hateful rhetoric that was spewed by those being interviewed. While I found it fascinating to watch as these women went from liberal feminist to active members in the alt right and white nationalist movement, quite a few things mentioned were triggering and infuriating. Sometimes it's easy to say "how could you possibly believe something that stupid and ignorant?" But I often have to remind myself that a lot of the women described in this book have a strong emotional connection to the movement. It's reaffirming and gives them a feeling of fulfillment. A lot of them described in this book came from emotional and physically abusive households. While this isn't an excuse to perpetuate hateful rhetoric to any marginalized group, it does assist in understanding the psychological, emotional, and mental appeal of such a hate based organization/movement.
The book itself is broken up into three parts that focus on three specific women and their journeys to (and in some cases from) the white nationalist movement. This method of relaying information made the book accessible to me as a reader. One topic that I wish Darby would have explored in more depth is the blatant misogyny that these women face as part of this movement. While there are women like Lana Lokteff who are active and vocal in the movement, there are many men who believe that they need to "learn their place" and adhere to the subservient standards that White men set for them which usually ends up meaning "shut up, look pretty, and have babies." I found this intriguing because it's a walking, talking contradiction. Women like Lokteff want recognition for the work that they do in the movement, yet the men in the movement want them to take a backseat and focus on having children. The psychology and sociology behind that is something that I would love to learn more about. The very challenges that these women fight against to recognized in male dominated spaces is quite similar to what feminists do yet they identify as anti-feminist.
I will actively admit that this book is a difficult read, but also an important read because we must recognize the role that women have in this movement. To underestimate their role and power seems to be equal to underestimating the power of white nationalism as a whole. This is definitely a topic that I would like to explore more, but I am aware that I would need to take it in small doses.
August 29, 2020
It's about time women get equality as villains. This book was thoroughly absorbing and I learned a lot, but mostly this: it occurs to me that maybe people become white supremacists because they are dumb? I am being serious here. I have read a lot of these books and when you hear how these white supremacist "reasoned" their way into white supremacy, it just seems like they don't have really great critical reasoning skills? I mean, imagine how much of world history you have to ignore to think that the vikings were the inventors of civilization? Or how ignorant you have to be of human genetic biology, or any philosophy, or econ, or theory, or history to believe in some of this stuff?
July 22, 2022
‘Combating hate requires understanding it,’ writes Seyward Darby, ‘not what it seems to be or what we hope it amounts to, but what it actually is.’ Her book, Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism aims toward this understanding, chronicling the stories of three women in order to understand the hows and the whys to these women becoming key members of white supremacist hate groups. This is a rough read, one likely to bring a lot of visceral reactions (trigger warnings basically up and down the board here), but it is an really insightful examination as to the motivations people have for joining groups such as these (beyond the overt racism) and also the complex aspects of these groups needing women to function while also being massively misogynist and oppressive. A key element of these groups belief is the unfounded Great Replacement theory, and in each of these women’s stories we see them viewed almost solely on their ability to create more white babies, shamed if they aren’t having enough, and then a very unsettling fixation within the men of the community around their underaged daughters. These are all first hand accounts, some have left the community (one became FBI informant), one becomes a Mormon and a “tradwife”, while others have not and, while initially willing to give their story, back out after becoming suspicious of Darby. This book came highly recommended and is a valuable yet deeply disturbing look into the psychology of neo-Nazi and other hate groups from the perspective of the women within them, as well as a cursory look at how online platforms became safe havens and radicalization cesspools, and this is a book I cannot stop thinking about.
‘White supremacy lurks in mediocrity and civility as much as it fuels slurs and violence.’
To be clear, this book specifically addresses self-proclaimed neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups (the ANP is prominently featured) and for the purpose of the review I am remaining faithful to Darby’s terminology. She sites legal scholar Frances Le Ansley’s definition of white supremacy as the baseline for her usage of the term:
It should be noted that whiteness is a structural term that collects different usually-white skinned ethnicities and nationalities for the purpose of power rather than a commentary on color of skin on its own, something very well discussed in What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition by Emma Dabiri for those who are interested. Darby discusses how she began to interview and research into the women that are active participants in these groups due to an interest in why people often vote against their own self-preservation, such as the 47% of white women who voted for Trump in 2016 being something she wanted to understand more fully. She reached out to three women who all provided in-person interviews: Corinna Olsen (an interesting NYT article about her here), Ayla Stewart, and radio antisemtic conspiracy theorist Lana Lokteff. All three were prominent figures in neo-Nazi groups, all three used online blogs and social media to spread their messages of hate, all three faced extreme demands to produce white babies or be shunned. And each has a story that will make your skin crawl.
‘Hate becomes a cure for loneliness’
Darby refers to all three women as ‘seekers’, people who looked for a community as a sort of escape or thrill seeking adventure. Corinna, for example, is someone that does everything to the extreme with an addictive personality, rotating from one thing to the next, being a body builder, having been homeless by choice, and giving her interviews while embalming a dead body in her current line of work. Each had an inkling towards white supremacy to begin with, but found communities that encouraged that behavior and found companionship in shared hatred. Darby describes it as ‘looking for a narrative’ that they can belong within:
It should be noted that understanding does not mean condoning, but Darby does an excellent job of dissecting the mind of women in neo-nazi groups to show how radicalization is able to take root. She cites criminal psychologists who describe radicalization ‘likened to quenching a long-standing thirst for ‘truth’,’ and the validity of opinions matter much less than the community that shares them and props them up to these people. It is what Kurt Vonnegut Jr. describes in Mother Night as ‘the wilful filling off a gear teeth, the wilful doing without certain obvious pieces of information,’ the abandonment of reason for the false reality that they can play the main character within where they can ‘reap social and political rewards.’ Hold on to your hats, this gets disturbing.
‘America’s contemporary hate movement, where animus is justified, incentivized, learned and performed.’
I won’t spoil anything but there were constant moments reading this where I said ‘what the actual fuck!?’ I mean, we all have an idea what white supremacists are all about but this book really breaks it down into some chilling details. Absolutely terrifying things happen in this book, and half the time the women here just shrug them off and keep promoting it. Which is where social media comes into play because these women were Very Online and amassed huge followers with their frequent hate rants. ‘The aim of these groups,’ Darby is told by Corinna, ‘is to make it normal,’ and their vitriolic postings become so commonplace to their readers that it begins to seem like common ideas. Tradwife Ayla uses motherhood in toxic ways, promoting challenges to have as many white babies as possible and preaching that women should be subservient to men. The internalized misogyny and patriarchal oppression is beyond belief in this book, and often dressed up as christian niceness (paging West Michigan…). These online groups seek out targets to radicalize, most notably the natural health and wellness communities. It has been frequently examined recently how the online wellness community, for example, became an antivax stronghold, which is all part of what has been termed as the wellness-to-white supremacy pipeline, which you can read about here or here. This and many other groups that tend to attract ‘seekers’ were targets for these women to recruit members into their white nationalist movements. These same targets have been weaponized towards anti-public institutions and anti-lgbtq+ movements.
‘Children functioned as stamps of legitimacy,’ Darby writes, ‘white nationalism’s professed goal is protecting the white race from extinction, which necessarily requires having babies.’ This gets gross. Corinna has men who plot to kidnap her pre-teen daughters from her ex husband in order to ‘breed’ them, Lana is shamed for not having enough babies, and bodily autonomy is not even a question. Kate Manne discusses in Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women that ‘there is a prevalent sense of entitlement on the part of privileged men to regulate, control, and rule over the bodies of girls and women – cisgender and trans alike,’ and this wrapped up in cultish hate group control with a fascade of christian beliefs to hide behind becomes a really perverse aim. This is entwined with current US movements to outlaw abortion and contraceptives, as well as fear mongering about immigration and all the other issues scapegoated as reasons to preach Great Replacement Theory (if you are fortunate to not have heard of this, it is a belief that white people are being made a minority in the US by a coordinated effort to have non-white people reproduce more in order to eradicate white people or oppress them). This theory is central to the lives of the women in this book and they are driven to preach about it, though they are quite quickly pushed out of their roles by men once their purpose is thought to be expired.
None of this is to condone these women’s actions, to be clear. Darby writes ‘It’s possible to acknowledge the rampant, persistent sexism of the far right while also giving women the credit they deserve,’ adding, ‘we risk stripping them of responsibility when we suggest that the harm they do is merely a way of coping with their own oppression.’ This book is not intended to make excuses for them, if anything it is a strong criticism but wrapped up in one that seeks to understand how they got here. Along the way Darby also discusses the history of white supremacist movements and puts modern day groups into that context, such as a long section on George Lincoln Rockwell who founded the American Nazi Party in the 50s and is the icon of clean-cut white supremacists look that David Duke and Richard Spencer aimed to replicate in order to mask their violent bigotry. Darby also investigates how hate groups hide amongst and influence evangelical communities, though this is better examined in the highly recommended Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez (who is actually a local author here).
This book is a lot. And it’s a lot of ugly events involving actual nazis, so read at your own risk. It is, however, quite well done and gets its point across in an effective manner. I’ve only scratched the surface of what goes on it this book, as the book likely only uncovers a small amount of the terror and terrible actions of the people in groups such as this, but it is an interesting look specifically at white supremacist women. It is also a warning about online radicalization and the behaviors and personalities that are more easily swayed by hate groups. If you can stomach it, this is worth reading.
‘White supremacy lurks in mediocrity and civility as much as it fuels slurs and violence.’
To be clear, this book specifically addresses self-proclaimed neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups (the ANP is prominently featured) and for the purpose of the review I am remaining faithful to Darby’s terminology. She sites legal scholar Frances Le Ansley’s definition of white supremacy as the baseline for her usage of the term:
‘a political, economic and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of of white superiority and entitlements are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings.’
It should be noted that whiteness is a structural term that collects different usually-white skinned ethnicities and nationalities for the purpose of power rather than a commentary on color of skin on its own, something very well discussed in What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition by Emma Dabiri for those who are interested. Darby discusses how she began to interview and research into the women that are active participants in these groups due to an interest in why people often vote against their own self-preservation, such as the 47% of white women who voted for Trump in 2016 being something she wanted to understand more fully. She reached out to three women who all provided in-person interviews: Corinna Olsen (an interesting NYT article about her here), Ayla Stewart, and radio antisemtic conspiracy theorist Lana Lokteff. All three were prominent figures in neo-Nazi groups, all three used online blogs and social media to spread their messages of hate, all three faced extreme demands to produce white babies or be shunned. And each has a story that will make your skin crawl.
‘Hate becomes a cure for loneliness’
Darby refers to all three women as ‘seekers’, people who looked for a community as a sort of escape or thrill seeking adventure. Corinna, for example, is someone that does everything to the extreme with an addictive personality, rotating from one thing to the next, being a body builder, having been homeless by choice, and giving her interviews while embalming a dead body in her current line of work. Each had an inkling towards white supremacy to begin with, but found communities that encouraged that behavior and found companionship in shared hatred. Darby describes it as ‘looking for a narrative’ that they can belong within:
’a framework for understanding the world that “directly promise[s] a sense of mattering and purpose to those who subscribe.” The most alluring narrative are often those that “portray the world in clearly defined, black-and-white terms that allow no room for ambiguity of cognitively demanding nuances.” Hate, certainly, offers a story like that, and the untethered behaviors it encourages…’
It should be noted that understanding does not mean condoning, but Darby does an excellent job of dissecting the mind of women in neo-nazi groups to show how radicalization is able to take root. She cites criminal psychologists who describe radicalization ‘likened to quenching a long-standing thirst for ‘truth’,’ and the validity of opinions matter much less than the community that shares them and props them up to these people. It is what Kurt Vonnegut Jr. describes in Mother Night as ‘the wilful filling off a gear teeth, the wilful doing without certain obvious pieces of information,’ the abandonment of reason for the false reality that they can play the main character within where they can ‘reap social and political rewards.’ Hold on to your hats, this gets disturbing.
‘America’s contemporary hate movement, where animus is justified, incentivized, learned and performed.’
I won’t spoil anything but there were constant moments reading this where I said ‘what the actual fuck!?’ I mean, we all have an idea what white supremacists are all about but this book really breaks it down into some chilling details. Absolutely terrifying things happen in this book, and half the time the women here just shrug them off and keep promoting it. Which is where social media comes into play because these women were Very Online and amassed huge followers with their frequent hate rants. ‘The aim of these groups,’ Darby is told by Corinna, ‘is to make it normal,’ and their vitriolic postings become so commonplace to their readers that it begins to seem like common ideas. Tradwife Ayla uses motherhood in toxic ways, promoting challenges to have as many white babies as possible and preaching that women should be subservient to men. The internalized misogyny and patriarchal oppression is beyond belief in this book, and often dressed up as christian niceness (paging West Michigan…). These online groups seek out targets to radicalize, most notably the natural health and wellness communities. It has been frequently examined recently how the online wellness community, for example, became an antivax stronghold, which is all part of what has been termed as the wellness-to-white supremacy pipeline, which you can read about here or here. This and many other groups that tend to attract ‘seekers’ were targets for these women to recruit members into their white nationalist movements. These same targets have been weaponized towards anti-public institutions and anti-lgbtq+ movements.
‘Children functioned as stamps of legitimacy,’ Darby writes, ‘white nationalism’s professed goal is protecting the white race from extinction, which necessarily requires having babies.’ This gets gross. Corinna has men who plot to kidnap her pre-teen daughters from her ex husband in order to ‘breed’ them, Lana is shamed for not having enough babies, and bodily autonomy is not even a question. Kate Manne discusses in Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women that ‘there is a prevalent sense of entitlement on the part of privileged men to regulate, control, and rule over the bodies of girls and women – cisgender and trans alike,’ and this wrapped up in cultish hate group control with a fascade of christian beliefs to hide behind becomes a really perverse aim. This is entwined with current US movements to outlaw abortion and contraceptives, as well as fear mongering about immigration and all the other issues scapegoated as reasons to preach Great Replacement Theory (if you are fortunate to not have heard of this, it is a belief that white people are being made a minority in the US by a coordinated effort to have non-white people reproduce more in order to eradicate white people or oppress them). This theory is central to the lives of the women in this book and they are driven to preach about it, though they are quite quickly pushed out of their roles by men once their purpose is thought to be expired.
None of this is to condone these women’s actions, to be clear. Darby writes ‘It’s possible to acknowledge the rampant, persistent sexism of the far right while also giving women the credit they deserve,’ adding, ‘we risk stripping them of responsibility when we suggest that the harm they do is merely a way of coping with their own oppression.’ This book is not intended to make excuses for them, if anything it is a strong criticism but wrapped up in one that seeks to understand how they got here. Along the way Darby also discusses the history of white supremacist movements and puts modern day groups into that context, such as a long section on George Lincoln Rockwell who founded the American Nazi Party in the 50s and is the icon of clean-cut white supremacists look that David Duke and Richard Spencer aimed to replicate in order to mask their violent bigotry. Darby also investigates how hate groups hide amongst and influence evangelical communities, though this is better examined in the highly recommended Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez (who is actually a local author here).
This book is a lot. And it’s a lot of ugly events involving actual nazis, so read at your own risk. It is, however, quite well done and gets its point across in an effective manner. I’ve only scratched the surface of what goes on it this book, as the book likely only uncovers a small amount of the terror and terrible actions of the people in groups such as this, but it is an interesting look specifically at white supremacist women. It is also a warning about online radicalization and the behaviors and personalities that are more easily swayed by hate groups. If you can stomach it, this is worth reading.
August 20, 2020
It took me several weeks to finish this book because I found it so disturbing. Spending time with women whose purpose in life is to spread bigotry and hatred is difficult. (And it doesn't help that our president amplifies and supports their positions.) Darby does an excellent job of reporting on three of the women "on the front lines of white nationalism." Well worth reading - but brace yourself for ugliness.
July 9, 2021
this is good reporting and the unwillingness of white feminists to recognize the complicity of women in alt-right/white nationalist/racist/bigoted/etc. movements is gross!
end review.
---------------
challenging myself to read as many review copies as possible this month because i'm addicted to projects!
ARC 1: spaceman of bohemia
ARC 2: in search of us
ARC 3: aerialists
ARC 4: the sound of drowning
ARC 5: unleaving
ARC 6: the other side of luck
ARC 7: romanov
ARC 8: the storm keeper's island
ARC 9: gut check
ARC 10: when force meets fate
ARC 11: sisters in hate
end review.
---------------
challenging myself to read as many review copies as possible this month because i'm addicted to projects!
ARC 1: spaceman of bohemia
ARC 2: in search of us
ARC 3: aerialists
ARC 4: the sound of drowning
ARC 5: unleaving
ARC 6: the other side of luck
ARC 7: romanov
ARC 8: the storm keeper's island
ARC 9: gut check
ARC 10: when force meets fate
ARC 11: sisters in hate
June 23, 2022
***NO SPOILERS***
Say “white nationalist” or “white supremacist” and a certain image comes to mind: angry white men. Author Seyward Darby challenged this image in Sisters in Hate, an investigative nonfiction exploring the role of angry white women in white nationalism.
Darby researched and wrote this book over the course of three years, interviewing experts, studying history, and extracting the fine details from three specific women during what must have been the most infuriating interviews of her career--all this so she could fashion complex, three-dimensional profiles and a highly educational book. Sisters in Hate is riveting--both the historical and sociological information and the stories themselves, which highlight the fact that there’s no single definition of a woman in the hate movement.
“White nationalism” is synonymous with “alt right” and is a movement that aims to preserve white supremacy. It seems strange that any woman would want to join a hate movement; these groups don’t limit their hatred to people of color and Jews, after all. They hold misogynistic, retrograde views of women, with some, such as incel, MGTOW (“men going their own way”), and red-pill groups, promoting actual violence toward women. But curiously, such aspects don’t deter female members, who dismiss or internalize the misogyny and even lean into it. This is great news for hate movements, as they need women to soften and dress up the hateful messages for recruitment purposes.
Darby divided Sisters in Hate into three parts, each dedicated to one of the three women she interviewed. She opened with the most palatable story: that of a former white nationalist named Corinna Olsen. Olsen was very active in white nationalism, even co-hosting a successful white-nationalist radio show, but her story mainly serves to illustrate the mechanics of radicalization. She was particularly suggestible, as a simple Google search was all it took for her to get sucked in.
Darby’s profiles of the two women currently lost to white nationalism, Ayla Stewart and Lana Lokteff, underscore the newer ways women aid white nationalism. Women wield much power in the hate movement--sometimes without even doing anything; their mere presence encourages more women to join. But as Sisters in Hate shows, Lokteff’s power came, initially, from partnering with a white-nationalist male podcaster. This partnership instantly drew in more listeners, Lokteff’s attractive image successfully prettifying a doctrine of hatred (and perhaps also making her filthy language and brutal attacks excusable to potential members).
Ayla Stewart’s power comes from her sweet-as-pie social media persona. She’s her own brand, subscribing to and promoting something called “tradlife,” short for “traditional life.” Such terminology may evoke images of Little House on the Prairie, and that wouldn’t be so far off. Stewart styles herself like a Duggar woman and supports traditional gender roles to an offensive degree. Although most modern women will find Stewart’s philosophy abhorrent, plenty do not, and she has thousands of fans.
The clash between Stewart’s all-consuming hatred and wholesome lifestyle is fascinating in a sickening way, and of the three, her story captivated me most. Her journey is strange. She has such an unstable sense of self that she relies on causes to define her; once a liberal feminist, today she’s its exact opposite. She was an early adopter of blogging, creating three iterations of her blog that correlated with each step on her path to radicalization. Now, she uses social media more avidly than Olsen and Lokteff do, proselytizing across a few different platforms. On Instagram, fans see sugar and spice: her cute family photos, recipe postings, and household tips and tricks. Hatred masquerades as something totally reasonable: love of family and home and concern for the safety of the next generation (except that it’s concern only for the safety of the next generation of white children--from the supposed dangers caused by people of color and Jews). Embedded in her tradlife messaging is ignorance, and beneath the innocent facade is racist venom--spewed without hesitance and, most galling, with absolute certainty.
Stewart and Lokteff 100% depend on social media to broadcast their content, and what’s glaringly obvious in Sisters in Hate is how priceless the internet has been for white nationalists. Prior to the internet, hate groups had to work much harder to recruit, and recruitment was localized. Also prior to the internet, support and encouragement came only from the local group, in person.
Now, safely behind their screens and unscrutinized by powers-that-be, white nationalists blast their message far and wide. On message boards, members continually encourage and cheer their comrades in hate. Groups arrange to assemble for counter-protests. Members plot how to get clean-cut white nationalists into powerful political positions. White nationalists cloak the movement’s racism in purposefully vague phrasing such as, “honoring our white heritage,” tricking potential recruits into thinking the pride is innocuous, akin to being proud of one’s ethnic ancestry (e.g., Italian pride; Irish pride). The movement has grown, and continues to grow, to monstrous proportions. At this time, the Southern Poverty Law Center is tracking 940 hate groups in America. The FBI has declared hate groups a domestic terror threat.
Sisters in Hate has two striking takeaways. The first is what Darby intended: that female white nationalists shouldn’t be discounted as power players in the movement. The second is that people come to hate movements seeking meaning. The superb Invisibilia podcast "Flip the Script" explains that Islamic radicalization occurs primarily in Muslims who are lonely, disillusioned, and anxious. In radical Islam, these vulnerable find the comforting group they need to provide answers and soothe them. Gatherings solidify bonds and provide a strong sense of community. Islam becomes perverted until it’s no longer their religion; hatred is.
It’s the same for these three women and white nationalists as a whole. These are vulnerable people. They’re worried, tend toward black-and-white thinking, and not necessarily educated--the exact kind of people ripe for radicalization. Olsen came to the movement adrift after suffering several hardships. Stewart joined after she felt like feminism had turned its back on her. Lokteff joined in response to fear of Communism, which her Russian-immigrant parents had fled from. All three arrived vulnerable and stayed when they found comfort in a pseudo-family. At their core, white nationalists are broken, so terrified of a make-believe “war on whiteness” that they live a joyless, resentful existence.
People may question Darby’s wisdom in writing Sisters in Hate. Doesn’t the book just give these white nationalists attention? It does--but not the kind of attention they want. The book isn’t white-nationalist propaganda. Darby wrote this objectively--as tempting as it may have been to insert value judgments, she didn’t--yet it’s undeniable that these women are absurd. If their beliefs weren’t so frightening, I could laugh at the naiveté, the cavernous holes in logic, the startling lack of nuance and context in their reasoning. They are so very clearly out-of-touch, simplistic thinkers. All this comes through because of what white nationalism is, no judgment from Darby needed.
With hate groups growing in the U.S. and in other countries, Darby needed to write this enlightening book. I view it mainly as armor to protect people from alluring white-nationalist marketing. The chilling fact of the matter is that the movement works in sly, unexpected ways. Female white nationalists may not attend protests and demonstrations in the same numbers as their male counterparts, but they’re just as much a part of the movement. Their tactics are just different--equally effective, if not more so.
NOTE: I received this book free from Little, Brown in August 2020. As always, this did not influence my review in any way. Sincerest thanks to the publisher.
Say “white nationalist” or “white supremacist” and a certain image comes to mind: angry white men. Author Seyward Darby challenged this image in Sisters in Hate, an investigative nonfiction exploring the role of angry white women in white nationalism.
Darby researched and wrote this book over the course of three years, interviewing experts, studying history, and extracting the fine details from three specific women during what must have been the most infuriating interviews of her career--all this so she could fashion complex, three-dimensional profiles and a highly educational book. Sisters in Hate is riveting--both the historical and sociological information and the stories themselves, which highlight the fact that there’s no single definition of a woman in the hate movement.
“White nationalism” is synonymous with “alt right” and is a movement that aims to preserve white supremacy. It seems strange that any woman would want to join a hate movement; these groups don’t limit their hatred to people of color and Jews, after all. They hold misogynistic, retrograde views of women, with some, such as incel, MGTOW (“men going their own way”), and red-pill groups, promoting actual violence toward women. But curiously, such aspects don’t deter female members, who dismiss or internalize the misogyny and even lean into it. This is great news for hate movements, as they need women to soften and dress up the hateful messages for recruitment purposes.
Darby divided Sisters in Hate into three parts, each dedicated to one of the three women she interviewed. She opened with the most palatable story: that of a former white nationalist named Corinna Olsen. Olsen was very active in white nationalism, even co-hosting a successful white-nationalist radio show, but her story mainly serves to illustrate the mechanics of radicalization. She was particularly suggestible, as a simple Google search was all it took for her to get sucked in.
Darby’s profiles of the two women currently lost to white nationalism, Ayla Stewart and Lana Lokteff, underscore the newer ways women aid white nationalism. Women wield much power in the hate movement--sometimes without even doing anything; their mere presence encourages more women to join. But as Sisters in Hate shows, Lokteff’s power came, initially, from partnering with a white-nationalist male podcaster. This partnership instantly drew in more listeners, Lokteff’s attractive image successfully prettifying a doctrine of hatred (and perhaps also making her filthy language and brutal attacks excusable to potential members).
Ayla Stewart’s power comes from her sweet-as-pie social media persona. She’s her own brand, subscribing to and promoting something called “tradlife,” short for “traditional life.” Such terminology may evoke images of Little House on the Prairie, and that wouldn’t be so far off. Stewart styles herself like a Duggar woman and supports traditional gender roles to an offensive degree. Although most modern women will find Stewart’s philosophy abhorrent, plenty do not, and she has thousands of fans.
The clash between Stewart’s all-consuming hatred and wholesome lifestyle is fascinating in a sickening way, and of the three, her story captivated me most. Her journey is strange. She has such an unstable sense of self that she relies on causes to define her; once a liberal feminist, today she’s its exact opposite. She was an early adopter of blogging, creating three iterations of her blog that correlated with each step on her path to radicalization. Now, she uses social media more avidly than Olsen and Lokteff do, proselytizing across a few different platforms. On Instagram, fans see sugar and spice: her cute family photos, recipe postings, and household tips and tricks. Hatred masquerades as something totally reasonable: love of family and home and concern for the safety of the next generation (except that it’s concern only for the safety of the next generation of white children--from the supposed dangers caused by people of color and Jews). Embedded in her tradlife messaging is ignorance, and beneath the innocent facade is racist venom--spewed without hesitance and, most galling, with absolute certainty.
Stewart and Lokteff 100% depend on social media to broadcast their content, and what’s glaringly obvious in Sisters in Hate is how priceless the internet has been for white nationalists. Prior to the internet, hate groups had to work much harder to recruit, and recruitment was localized. Also prior to the internet, support and encouragement came only from the local group, in person.
Now, safely behind their screens and unscrutinized by powers-that-be, white nationalists blast their message far and wide. On message boards, members continually encourage and cheer their comrades in hate. Groups arrange to assemble for counter-protests. Members plot how to get clean-cut white nationalists into powerful political positions. White nationalists cloak the movement’s racism in purposefully vague phrasing such as, “honoring our white heritage,” tricking potential recruits into thinking the pride is innocuous, akin to being proud of one’s ethnic ancestry (e.g., Italian pride; Irish pride). The movement has grown, and continues to grow, to monstrous proportions. At this time, the Southern Poverty Law Center is tracking 940 hate groups in America. The FBI has declared hate groups a domestic terror threat.
Sisters in Hate has two striking takeaways. The first is what Darby intended: that female white nationalists shouldn’t be discounted as power players in the movement. The second is that people come to hate movements seeking meaning. The superb Invisibilia podcast "Flip the Script" explains that Islamic radicalization occurs primarily in Muslims who are lonely, disillusioned, and anxious. In radical Islam, these vulnerable find the comforting group they need to provide answers and soothe them. Gatherings solidify bonds and provide a strong sense of community. Islam becomes perverted until it’s no longer their religion; hatred is.
It’s the same for these three women and white nationalists as a whole. These are vulnerable people. They’re worried, tend toward black-and-white thinking, and not necessarily educated--the exact kind of people ripe for radicalization. Olsen came to the movement adrift after suffering several hardships. Stewart joined after she felt like feminism had turned its back on her. Lokteff joined in response to fear of Communism, which her Russian-immigrant parents had fled from. All three arrived vulnerable and stayed when they found comfort in a pseudo-family. At their core, white nationalists are broken, so terrified of a make-believe “war on whiteness” that they live a joyless, resentful existence.
People may question Darby’s wisdom in writing Sisters in Hate. Doesn’t the book just give these white nationalists attention? It does--but not the kind of attention they want. The book isn’t white-nationalist propaganda. Darby wrote this objectively--as tempting as it may have been to insert value judgments, she didn’t--yet it’s undeniable that these women are absurd. If their beliefs weren’t so frightening, I could laugh at the naiveté, the cavernous holes in logic, the startling lack of nuance and context in their reasoning. They are so very clearly out-of-touch, simplistic thinkers. All this comes through because of what white nationalism is, no judgment from Darby needed.
With hate groups growing in the U.S. and in other countries, Darby needed to write this enlightening book. I view it mainly as armor to protect people from alluring white-nationalist marketing. The chilling fact of the matter is that the movement works in sly, unexpected ways. Female white nationalists may not attend protests and demonstrations in the same numbers as their male counterparts, but they’re just as much a part of the movement. Their tactics are just different--equally effective, if not more so.
NOTE: I received this book free from Little, Brown in August 2020. As always, this did not influence my review in any way. Sincerest thanks to the publisher.
January 12, 2022
I always find myself picking up books about white nationalism or the alt-right, even if I know they won't inspire much confidence in the collective cause of humanity. Why do I do this? Well, honestly, it helps me excavate and bleach my own prejudices and biases. Complacency can breed contempt, if we're not careful. It is a thinner line that we like to imagine (in my opinion) between casual racism or prejudice and the belief that whiteness is a primary identity. And, as the internet has showed us, we are intrigued by the extremist poles of any issue.
Darby is a sharp, nuanced writer, tip-toeing that balance beam between giving us a holistic sense of these hateful harpies and portraying them as perhaps too sympathetic. She gives us a political and historical framework, but the focus remains on the women and their convoluted histories. What is most fascinating to me is that these women often swing between political extremes. It gives me a little hope, in a strange sense. They don't seem to be anchored by a unquenchable love of white people, but rather by their desire to be seen as an outsider (while simultaneously seeking out that radical acceptance common in outsider groups that are shunned by mainstream society). This is no excuse, of course, as white identity politics is fucking corny and gross.
In the last third of the book, Darby gets bogged down refuting alt-right political talking points, which is a dangerous game. Once you start engaging on this level, you run the risk of legitimizing their arguments. The best-case scenario is that you make political statements that any half-sane person already agrees with.
Darby is a sharp, nuanced writer, tip-toeing that balance beam between giving us a holistic sense of these hateful harpies and portraying them as perhaps too sympathetic. She gives us a political and historical framework, but the focus remains on the women and their convoluted histories. What is most fascinating to me is that these women often swing between political extremes. It gives me a little hope, in a strange sense. They don't seem to be anchored by a unquenchable love of white people, but rather by their desire to be seen as an outsider (while simultaneously seeking out that radical acceptance common in outsider groups that are shunned by mainstream society). This is no excuse, of course, as white identity politics is fucking corny and gross.
In the last third of the book, Darby gets bogged down refuting alt-right political talking points, which is a dangerous game. Once you start engaging on this level, you run the risk of legitimizing their arguments. The best-case scenario is that you make political statements that any half-sane person already agrees with.
August 14, 2020
Whew, this is really well done, but due to the subject matter... that means this is a journey through a very dark way of looking at the world. I think the case study approach really worked to explore the different reasons and ways that white women get radicalized into the American white nationalist movement. By spending time with each of the three women, we get a sense of what core elements of that movement appeal to women who are in essence looking to retain their own form of soft power that traditional, hierarchical views of race & gender allows
October 4, 2021
The author acknowledges that the research and interviews done for this book could be a downer. Being a left-wing, liberal, socialist type sympathizer, I concur. The groups, people and “ideologies” analyzed left me disheartened and depressed.
To illustrate here’s this extract:
Page 61 my book
Born in California in 1966 [April] Gaede was raised by racists. Her father owned a ranch near Fresno where he branded his cattle with swastikas.
The author interviewed three women. As she says they were all searchers. She also delves into the historical background of these right-wing racist beliefs. They did not arise in the last decades – they have been in North America for centuries – sometimes below sight level and often-times blatant.
An unregulated internet allowed these groups to flourish. The people inhabiting these nooks and crannies of the online world found a niche of the like-minded where conspiracies, lies, racism and hate are never questioned and probed.
Page 36
Hate abhors a vacuum. Ritual and action signal belonging and do harm at the same stroke.
Page 39
In a perverse twist of the cliché, hate takes a village. A seeker finds a creed and a community where they can test out how white nationalism feels to them… delivering the validation that they’ve been craving all along.
Hitler knew well the above maxims.
The first women the author interviewed, Corinna, went through various stages of neo-Nazism and white power, until she found a totally different niche far removed from white supremacy. I wonder how long that will last? She was also the only one of the three who had a job in the outside world (albeit in a somewhat esoteric profession – embalming).
My feeling was that these women needed a group to establish their self-worth.
The second woman, Ayla, is still active in the white nationalist movement and hate groups (she would probably not use the word “hate”). She has an over-size ego which she expounds through the internet. She found fame within her niche and basked in the adoration. Unlike the author I did not find Ayla’s origins and early life to be liberal, left-wing. She was involved in New Age culture, health foods, against vaccines and espoused isolated community living. She was a libertarian who didn’t believe in government and social programs – in other words the government was out to get you. From this she transited to white nationalism – and found fame and recognition on the internet – and did her duty (which she constantly reminded her brethren) by having six children to increase the white race.
Page 147
Some mothers conflated federal agencies and the emerging global order – namely, the United Nations with civil rights activism, exploiting Americans ever-present fear of institutional intrusion into their lives.
The last was Lana, who also found her fame as a talk-show host on internet sites expressing her hate, lies and racism (anti-immigration, anti-Islam, white victimhood…). Of the three women she seemed the most virulent and toxic – and also a searcher.
Page 127
Proponents of the far right saw even the most outrageous leaps as part of a coveted path to enlightenment. At the end of it lay the truth that the world had grown hostile to white people, especially white men.
Page 197 from the Knowledge Illusion by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach
“Once we feel like an expert, we start talking like an expert. And it turns out that the people we talk to don’t know much either. So relative to them, we are experts.” So on and on the cycle goes reinforcing knowledge that isn’t.
Page 254
No need to talk to any media ever. We are our own media now.
Also, these women had an obsession with “How To” books ranging from motherhood, wifehood, health foods, body image and the like.
Segregation was also a common theme – but this is nothing new and the author gives us the long historical roots of this. In a very real way segregation (or white togetherness) was the overriding doctrine. They want a homogenous society.
This book has many valid points and examples – but it was repetitive, and at times too much internet trash talk.
To illustrate here’s this extract:
Page 61 my book
Born in California in 1966 [April] Gaede was raised by racists. Her father owned a ranch near Fresno where he branded his cattle with swastikas.
The author interviewed three women. As she says they were all searchers. She also delves into the historical background of these right-wing racist beliefs. They did not arise in the last decades – they have been in North America for centuries – sometimes below sight level and often-times blatant.
An unregulated internet allowed these groups to flourish. The people inhabiting these nooks and crannies of the online world found a niche of the like-minded where conspiracies, lies, racism and hate are never questioned and probed.
Page 36
Hate abhors a vacuum. Ritual and action signal belonging and do harm at the same stroke.
Page 39
In a perverse twist of the cliché, hate takes a village. A seeker finds a creed and a community where they can test out how white nationalism feels to them… delivering the validation that they’ve been craving all along.
Hitler knew well the above maxims.
The first women the author interviewed, Corinna, went through various stages of neo-Nazism and white power, until she found a totally different niche far removed from white supremacy. I wonder how long that will last? She was also the only one of the three who had a job in the outside world (albeit in a somewhat esoteric profession – embalming).
My feeling was that these women needed a group to establish their self-worth.
The second woman, Ayla, is still active in the white nationalist movement and hate groups (she would probably not use the word “hate”). She has an over-size ego which she expounds through the internet. She found fame within her niche and basked in the adoration. Unlike the author I did not find Ayla’s origins and early life to be liberal, left-wing. She was involved in New Age culture, health foods, against vaccines and espoused isolated community living. She was a libertarian who didn’t believe in government and social programs – in other words the government was out to get you. From this she transited to white nationalism – and found fame and recognition on the internet – and did her duty (which she constantly reminded her brethren) by having six children to increase the white race.
Page 147
Some mothers conflated federal agencies and the emerging global order – namely, the United Nations with civil rights activism, exploiting Americans ever-present fear of institutional intrusion into their lives.
The last was Lana, who also found her fame as a talk-show host on internet sites expressing her hate, lies and racism (anti-immigration, anti-Islam, white victimhood…). Of the three women she seemed the most virulent and toxic – and also a searcher.
Page 127
Proponents of the far right saw even the most outrageous leaps as part of a coveted path to enlightenment. At the end of it lay the truth that the world had grown hostile to white people, especially white men.
Page 197 from the Knowledge Illusion by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach
“Once we feel like an expert, we start talking like an expert. And it turns out that the people we talk to don’t know much either. So relative to them, we are experts.” So on and on the cycle goes reinforcing knowledge that isn’t.
Page 254
No need to talk to any media ever. We are our own media now.
Also, these women had an obsession with “How To” books ranging from motherhood, wifehood, health foods, body image and the like.
Segregation was also a common theme – but this is nothing new and the author gives us the long historical roots of this. In a very real way segregation (or white togetherness) was the overriding doctrine. They want a homogenous society.
This book has many valid points and examples – but it was repetitive, and at times too much internet trash talk.
July 30, 2021
Jeigu kam atrodo, jog M. Atwood "Tarnaitės pasakojimai" yra visiska fantastika, kuriai išsipildyti Vakarų pasaulyje nėra jokių šansų, tai drįsčiau paprieštarauti. Tokios visuomenės užuomazgos bręsta baltųjų nacionalistų galvose. Kaip bebūtų keista - ir moterų galvose.
Žurnalistė Seyward Darby keletą metų stebėjo ir kalbino Baltųjų Viršenybės (White Supremacy) nacionalistes. Ši knyga paremta trijų vienmečių moterų istorijomis, jų skirtingais keliais link Baltųjų Viršenybės nacionalistinių judėjimų.
Pirma istorija: Corinna Olsen - gyvenimo blaškyta, visada pasiruošusi savo kailiu išbandyti įvairias patirtis, vieniša, trokštanti dėmesio ir atviriausiai bendravusi su knygos autore. Išbandžiusi porno aktorės karjerą, vėliau tapusi kultūriste (body builder), mirus broliui (buvusiam skinhead) pasijutusi labai vieniša ir ieškodama idėjinio ryšio su juo atradusi 2008-iais labai populiarų internetinį Hate (Neapykantos) forumą. Po metų ji tapo Portlando National Socialist Movement https://www.adl.org/education/referen... nare. Prisidarė rasistinių tatoo ir kad nebūtų maža, dar pridėjo svastiką ir Hitlerio veidą, dirbo Radio Free Northwest. Tačiau po kelių metų ji pradėjo bendradarbiauti su FBI ir galiausiai pasitraukė iš neapykantos grupės/judėjimo. Anot jos pačios, pirmiausia ją pradėjo gąsdinti tų judėjimų smurto ir ginkluotų išpuolių skatinimas. Dabar ji priklauso Islamo bendruomenei. Tokia spalvinga ekstremalė.
Antra istorija: šešių vaikų mama Ayla Stewart. Buvusi aktyvi feministė, prarado pasitikėjimą šiuo judėjimu ir tapo labai populiaria "tradwife" blogere. Būtų puiki šių dienų Lietuvos šeimų maršo aktyvistė. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradwife
Trečia istorija: garsiausia iš šioje knygoje aprašomų moterų, YouTube žvaigždė, aistringa Far-right aktyvistė - Lana Lokteff. Apie ją man buvo įdomiausia skaityti. Su vyru ji valdo Alt-right media įmonę. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-right Ji specializuojasi dezinformacija ir sąmokslo teorijų propagavimui. Tikra mental gymnastics ir manipuliacijų meistrė. Būtent Lana autorei priminė Sereną Joy iš "Tarnaitės pasakojimo''. Labai tiko autorės epigrafas šiam skyriui: “Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'one can't believe impossible things.'
'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. " -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-GlassBeje.
Straipsnis apie Lana Lokteff: https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544134...
Lana ir net šiek tiek Ayla priminė man vienos garsios ponios iš Lietuvos soc. tinklų retoriką.
Labai reikalingas šiandienai skaitinys. Puiki tiriamoji žurnalistika. Rekomenduoju. Knygos pabaigoje 12 l. išnašų netingintiems pasigilinti.
Čia interviu su autore:https://www.pbs.org/video/sisters-in-...
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...
Čia JAV veikiančių neapykantos grupių žemėlapis: Southern Poverty Law Center traced 940 hate groups throughout the United States
Žurnalistė Seyward Darby keletą metų stebėjo ir kalbino Baltųjų Viršenybės (White Supremacy) nacionalistes. Ši knyga paremta trijų vienmečių moterų istorijomis, jų skirtingais keliais link Baltųjų Viršenybės nacionalistinių judėjimų.
Pirma istorija: Corinna Olsen - gyvenimo blaškyta, visada pasiruošusi savo kailiu išbandyti įvairias patirtis, vieniša, trokštanti dėmesio ir atviriausiai bendravusi su knygos autore. Išbandžiusi porno aktorės karjerą, vėliau tapusi kultūriste (body builder), mirus broliui (buvusiam skinhead) pasijutusi labai vieniša ir ieškodama idėjinio ryšio su juo atradusi 2008-iais labai populiarų internetinį Hate (Neapykantos) forumą. Po metų ji tapo Portlando National Socialist Movement https://www.adl.org/education/referen... nare. Prisidarė rasistinių tatoo ir kad nebūtų maža, dar pridėjo svastiką ir Hitlerio veidą, dirbo Radio Free Northwest. Tačiau po kelių metų ji pradėjo bendradarbiauti su FBI ir galiausiai pasitraukė iš neapykantos grupės/judėjimo. Anot jos pačios, pirmiausia ją pradėjo gąsdinti tų judėjimų smurto ir ginkluotų išpuolių skatinimas. Dabar ji priklauso Islamo bendruomenei. Tokia spalvinga ekstremalė.
Antra istorija: šešių vaikų mama Ayla Stewart. Buvusi aktyvi feministė, prarado pasitikėjimą šiuo judėjimu ir tapo labai populiaria "tradwife" blogere. Būtų puiki šių dienų Lietuvos šeimų maršo aktyvistė. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradwife
Trečia istorija: garsiausia iš šioje knygoje aprašomų moterų, YouTube žvaigždė, aistringa Far-right aktyvistė - Lana Lokteff. Apie ją man buvo įdomiausia skaityti. Su vyru ji valdo Alt-right media įmonę. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-right Ji specializuojasi dezinformacija ir sąmokslo teorijų propagavimui. Tikra mental gymnastics ir manipuliacijų meistrė. Būtent Lana autorei priminė Sereną Joy iš "Tarnaitės pasakojimo''. Labai tiko autorės epigrafas šiam skyriui: “Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'one can't believe impossible things.'
'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. " -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-GlassBeje.
Straipsnis apie Lana Lokteff: https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544134...
Lana ir net šiek tiek Ayla priminė man vienos garsios ponios iš Lietuvos soc. tinklų retoriką.
Labai reikalingas šiandienai skaitinys. Puiki tiriamoji žurnalistika. Rekomenduoju. Knygos pabaigoje 12 l. išnašų netingintiems pasigilinti.
Čia interviu su autore:https://www.pbs.org/video/sisters-in-...
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...
Čia JAV veikiančių neapykantos grupių žemėlapis: Southern Poverty Law Center traced 940 hate groups throughout the United States
Want to read
July 23, 2020I’m really interested to read on this topic, a sort of intersectional bigotry? We’ll see!
*Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for a review copy!
*Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for a review copy!
July 24, 2020
My colleagues and friends keep coming to me for recommendations for anti-racist reading, and I, of course, want to keep educating myself. So I was chuffed when Little, Brown offered me a review copy of Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism. Now, I’m trying to mostly read anti-racism books written by people of colour—white people writing such books is fairly problematic, but Seyward Darby has seized on the correct vantage point. Sisters in Hate isn’t about the racism that people of colour experience but rather it’s about the racism that white people (particularly white women) promulgate and perpetuate. It’s a white, female journalist’s look at how white women prop up, propel, and propagate the white nationalist movement in the United States. Through profiles of three white nationalists (1 former, 2 current), combined with historical context, Darby seeks to understand, and to help us understand in turn, why white nationalism is so attractive to white women, particularly white women in their late twenties and early thirties.
Darby is upfront that the profile structure of Sisters in Hate is meant to humanize these figures. This is, in and of itself, a controversial practice when applied to white nationalism and the alt-right. A few years back, Laurie Penny caught flak for ostensibly doing the same with a piece about Milo Yiannopoulos and his ilk. I didn’t agree with the pushback then and I don’t agree with it now: neither Penny nor Darby romanticize or otherwise portray their subjects in a way that would be described as flattering. Nor do I think it renders these subjects as objects of laughter and derision rather than objects of concern. I agree with Darby when she says in her conclusion that we need to understand the white nationalist movements as they are, not as we think they are. We don’t do the cause of anti-racism any favours by assuming we know, without actually asking, what makes people succumb to the siren call of these movements.
Like Darby does herself in her intro, let me provide some positionality for those not familiar with my reviews heretofore: I’m a white woman in my thirties. I’m not American; I’m Canadian. While Sisters in Hate is inextricably tied to American history, and particularly the fallout from the Civil War, of course, this book is still relevant to those of us north of the 49th. Canada has its own problems with racism and with white nationalism—from Rebel Media to Gavin Innes/the Proud Boys to farmers like Gerald Stanley who not only think they can kill Indigenous kids without reprisal but have literally demonstrated such impunity in practice … yeah, Canada has problems. So while the precise historical antecedents of white nationalism in Canada are far more connected to our British forebears, the modern versions of white nationalist movements here, and the ways in which they recruit members and spread their messages on the web, are very closely related to the American versions of these movements.
I’ve read or listened to interviews with former members of white nationalist groups before. So some of what Darby covers here is not new to me: the people drawn to these movements often feel isolated or vulnerable, much like the potential recruits of any cult or target of any abuser. White women in particular feel disillusioned by what they perceive as feminism’s failure to provide “it all” (career, kids, partner)—never mind the dismal failure of white feminism to look out for the interests of women of colour. White nationalism’s twin selling points are an appeal to a mythological better time coupled with the presentation of non-white people as the source of all America’s troubles. To outsiders, this rhetoric might seem patently flimsy, incredible. Yet as Darby shows us, to people with the right combination of vulnerabilities, it is powerful and persuasive. A great many people believe in conspiracy theories of one sort or another, so it makes sense that at least some of them believe in white nationalism.
Each of the three women chronicled in this book reveals interesting glimpses into white nationalism. All three women begin as feminists, support fairly progressive and liberal ideas including LGBTQ+ issues, but eventually all three reject feminism and progressive politics because the backbone of white nationalism is that progressivism is degenerate. Corinna (when she was a white nationalist), Ayla, and Lana champion “traditional” life wherein women are subservient to men, and this is natural and good because it is the way nature/God/the universe intended it to be.
This is the essential paradox Darby seeks to untangle within white women in white nationalism: why reject a philosophy (feminism) that is about liberating your own group? Why embrace a philosophy (white nationalism) that ultimately works against your own interests when it comes to autonomy, that positions you primarily as a breeder to preserve racial purity and a helpmeet for a husband who does the real tough business of rebuilding society? Assertive women like Lana Lokteff acknowledge this paradox; she admits that she is an outlier. Darby questions whether Lokteff, like Serena Joy from The Handmaid’s Tale , would actually enjoy living in the world she wants to see established.
Whatever the resolution to this paradox, we must accept that some women do internalize the tenets of white nationalism. The vectors are various, although Darby points out that it really all goes back to social networking. Most chapters end with some historical context: Darby draws parallels between present-day movements and movements from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I found these parts some of the most interesting, although I think if the whole book had such a focus I’d probably grow bored—the use of profiles is a great way to keep us interest and focused on the fact that these people who promulgate hate are, in fact, people. They Other people of colour, and we should not Other them in return—if we do, we miss the chance to dismantle and deplatform these movements.
Sisters of Hate would have benefited from digging deeper into the platforms on which these movements proliferate. Darby does mention, multiple times, the ways that YouTube’s recommendation algorithms aid the spread of hate. Somewhat tangentially she also mentions that YouTube has banned some white nationalists, including Ayla and Lana, while other platforms like Twitter might have not done. Yet I would have liked more analysis into how women participate in social media platforms in ways that spread conspiracy theories and other misinformation. From time to time, Darby touches on the fascinating cognitive pysch ideas behind the credulity we humans often have for these theories. Yet she never quite digs into what special circumstances might be created by our current climate of social media.
Where this book excels, however, is reminding us that humans and our beliefs are far more mutable than we like to think. Corinna has been a feminist, a sex worker (which is not mutually exclusive with feminism at all I want to stress), a white nationalist, and now a Muslim. Ayla was a radical Mormon feminist until she wasn’t; Lana was one half of a sibling musical duo and then she married a racist Swede and now she’s a virulent white supremacist. People change, and they change because they are exposed to certain ideas at certain times.
What do we do about white nationalism? Darby doesn’t have all the answers, and I guess it’s not fair to expect that she would. She makes a persuasive call to support groups that help people exit these movements. More education would help, of course. But I think her ultimate theme is that the only defense is a strong offense: we can only combat the intimidatingly tenacity of white nationalist movements by working together, all of us, white people and people of colour, men and women, cis and trans, straight and ace and gay—our diversity, the very thing white nationalists decry as the weakness of the nation, is our strength. Because the one thing they cannot match is the mosaic of experiences that we can call upon. That’s what will make our society, American or Canadian or whatever country you live in, better. (This is, of course, all empty unless we actually work to dismantle the white supremacist institutions that most of our countries are founded upon. Give back the land.)
Sisters in Hate fills a gap in the conversation around white nationalism and hate movements. It’s a good complement to more practical anti-racist reading. Moreover, I hope, as my last paragraph expresses, it inspires people to take action, because the last thing we need is a bunch of white people thinking they’re not racist anymore because they’ve read a lot of anti-racist books! Sisters in Hate reminds us that white nationalism and white supremacy does not comprise solely violent or overt racists and bigots. It might include some of your neighbours, some of the people you follow on social media, or some of your colleagues. The phone call is coming from inside the house, and once we pick it up, we need to know how to put it down.
Darby is upfront that the profile structure of Sisters in Hate is meant to humanize these figures. This is, in and of itself, a controversial practice when applied to white nationalism and the alt-right. A few years back, Laurie Penny caught flak for ostensibly doing the same with a piece about Milo Yiannopoulos and his ilk. I didn’t agree with the pushback then and I don’t agree with it now: neither Penny nor Darby romanticize or otherwise portray their subjects in a way that would be described as flattering. Nor do I think it renders these subjects as objects of laughter and derision rather than objects of concern. I agree with Darby when she says in her conclusion that we need to understand the white nationalist movements as they are, not as we think they are. We don’t do the cause of anti-racism any favours by assuming we know, without actually asking, what makes people succumb to the siren call of these movements.
Like Darby does herself in her intro, let me provide some positionality for those not familiar with my reviews heretofore: I’m a white woman in my thirties. I’m not American; I’m Canadian. While Sisters in Hate is inextricably tied to American history, and particularly the fallout from the Civil War, of course, this book is still relevant to those of us north of the 49th. Canada has its own problems with racism and with white nationalism—from Rebel Media to Gavin Innes/the Proud Boys to farmers like Gerald Stanley who not only think they can kill Indigenous kids without reprisal but have literally demonstrated such impunity in practice … yeah, Canada has problems. So while the precise historical antecedents of white nationalism in Canada are far more connected to our British forebears, the modern versions of white nationalist movements here, and the ways in which they recruit members and spread their messages on the web, are very closely related to the American versions of these movements.
I’ve read or listened to interviews with former members of white nationalist groups before. So some of what Darby covers here is not new to me: the people drawn to these movements often feel isolated or vulnerable, much like the potential recruits of any cult or target of any abuser. White women in particular feel disillusioned by what they perceive as feminism’s failure to provide “it all” (career, kids, partner)—never mind the dismal failure of white feminism to look out for the interests of women of colour. White nationalism’s twin selling points are an appeal to a mythological better time coupled with the presentation of non-white people as the source of all America’s troubles. To outsiders, this rhetoric might seem patently flimsy, incredible. Yet as Darby shows us, to people with the right combination of vulnerabilities, it is powerful and persuasive. A great many people believe in conspiracy theories of one sort or another, so it makes sense that at least some of them believe in white nationalism.
Each of the three women chronicled in this book reveals interesting glimpses into white nationalism. All three women begin as feminists, support fairly progressive and liberal ideas including LGBTQ+ issues, but eventually all three reject feminism and progressive politics because the backbone of white nationalism is that progressivism is degenerate. Corinna (when she was a white nationalist), Ayla, and Lana champion “traditional” life wherein women are subservient to men, and this is natural and good because it is the way nature/God/the universe intended it to be.
This is the essential paradox Darby seeks to untangle within white women in white nationalism: why reject a philosophy (feminism) that is about liberating your own group? Why embrace a philosophy (white nationalism) that ultimately works against your own interests when it comes to autonomy, that positions you primarily as a breeder to preserve racial purity and a helpmeet for a husband who does the real tough business of rebuilding society? Assertive women like Lana Lokteff acknowledge this paradox; she admits that she is an outlier. Darby questions whether Lokteff, like Serena Joy from The Handmaid’s Tale , would actually enjoy living in the world she wants to see established.
Whatever the resolution to this paradox, we must accept that some women do internalize the tenets of white nationalism. The vectors are various, although Darby points out that it really all goes back to social networking. Most chapters end with some historical context: Darby draws parallels between present-day movements and movements from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I found these parts some of the most interesting, although I think if the whole book had such a focus I’d probably grow bored—the use of profiles is a great way to keep us interest and focused on the fact that these people who promulgate hate are, in fact, people. They Other people of colour, and we should not Other them in return—if we do, we miss the chance to dismantle and deplatform these movements.
Sisters of Hate would have benefited from digging deeper into the platforms on which these movements proliferate. Darby does mention, multiple times, the ways that YouTube’s recommendation algorithms aid the spread of hate. Somewhat tangentially she also mentions that YouTube has banned some white nationalists, including Ayla and Lana, while other platforms like Twitter might have not done. Yet I would have liked more analysis into how women participate in social media platforms in ways that spread conspiracy theories and other misinformation. From time to time, Darby touches on the fascinating cognitive pysch ideas behind the credulity we humans often have for these theories. Yet she never quite digs into what special circumstances might be created by our current climate of social media.
Where this book excels, however, is reminding us that humans and our beliefs are far more mutable than we like to think. Corinna has been a feminist, a sex worker (which is not mutually exclusive with feminism at all I want to stress), a white nationalist, and now a Muslim. Ayla was a radical Mormon feminist until she wasn’t; Lana was one half of a sibling musical duo and then she married a racist Swede and now she’s a virulent white supremacist. People change, and they change because they are exposed to certain ideas at certain times.
What do we do about white nationalism? Darby doesn’t have all the answers, and I guess it’s not fair to expect that she would. She makes a persuasive call to support groups that help people exit these movements. More education would help, of course. But I think her ultimate theme is that the only defense is a strong offense: we can only combat the intimidatingly tenacity of white nationalist movements by working together, all of us, white people and people of colour, men and women, cis and trans, straight and ace and gay—our diversity, the very thing white nationalists decry as the weakness of the nation, is our strength. Because the one thing they cannot match is the mosaic of experiences that we can call upon. That’s what will make our society, American or Canadian or whatever country you live in, better. (This is, of course, all empty unless we actually work to dismantle the white supremacist institutions that most of our countries are founded upon. Give back the land.)
Sisters in Hate fills a gap in the conversation around white nationalism and hate movements. It’s a good complement to more practical anti-racist reading. Moreover, I hope, as my last paragraph expresses, it inspires people to take action, because the last thing we need is a bunch of white people thinking they’re not racist anymore because they’ve read a lot of anti-racist books! Sisters in Hate reminds us that white nationalism and white supremacy does not comprise solely violent or overt racists and bigots. It might include some of your neighbours, some of the people you follow on social media, or some of your colleagues. The phone call is coming from inside the house, and once we pick it up, we need to know how to put it down.
March 1, 2021
I have been especially interested in learning more about the radicalization of white supremacists since the insurrection at the capital a couple of months ago. Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism focuses on three women who are either currently or were formerly members of the White Nationalist movement. It was fascinating to consider the motivations that led these women into hate groups and to realize that they did so while pursuing values that many of us hold - to be connected, to be good parents, to have a good future. It is terrifying to see how these garden variety hopes can be twisted through radicalization into hate-filled white supremacy.
Definitely an interesting read, especially for this time.
Definitely an interesting read, especially for this time.
October 19, 2020
Sisters In Hate is a difficult but important book, examining the role of women in white nationalist movements and what they might find appealing about these movements. It primarily follows the case studies of three women who joined the movement and became significant voices and influences for racist ideas, but it also discusses many other women, both past and present, who have been key players in similar organizations from Nazi's and enslavers to opposing the Civil Rights Movement.
Women are often posited as sweet, as people to be defended, and the alt-right movement is frequently seen a primarily male, but that simply isn't the reality. This books unpacks how politics along racial lines are often stronger than along gender lines, how these white women seeking a sense of purpose, power, recognition for being mothers, or a cause to fight for while protecting their white children might find communities like #tradlife or #tradwife with images of happy families and a throwback to an imagined historical ideal appealing. We see how they approach recruitment and the power of the modern internet for spreading these ideas, from Instagram and Twitter to YouTube and the blogosphere, with adherents ranging from conservative Christians to pagans who view racial differences as natural and spiritual.
What's wild is reading this, I know people who probably hold many similar views to these women and would be vulnerable to recruitment. In fact, as someone who grew up as a religious and political conservative (I am now a feminist, Democrat, and consider myself Christian, though some of these same people would likely disagree) I wouldn't be shocked if some people from my past actually subscribe to the alt-right and this election has certainly revealed that polarization. Let me also note that according to groups in the book, I would be considered a "race traitor" because I am a white woman married to a Black man raising biracial children and therefore committing "racial genocide" on my own people and not fulfilling my purpose of....yep, making white babies! Yikes.
It's insidious and may look nice on the outside, though underneath there is a great deal of hate, misogyny, and abuse that exists. Do be aware if you read this that the book is riddled with racist, homophobic, anti-semitic and misogynist quotes including many instances of slurs such as n****r, and listening to that on audio is jarring. In fact, the prologue begins with several uses of that slur, so you get an idea of what you are in for. That said, I think this is a thoughtful, incisive, and important book that I would recommend.
Women are often posited as sweet, as people to be defended, and the alt-right movement is frequently seen a primarily male, but that simply isn't the reality. This books unpacks how politics along racial lines are often stronger than along gender lines, how these white women seeking a sense of purpose, power, recognition for being mothers, or a cause to fight for while protecting their white children might find communities like #tradlife or #tradwife with images of happy families and a throwback to an imagined historical ideal appealing. We see how they approach recruitment and the power of the modern internet for spreading these ideas, from Instagram and Twitter to YouTube and the blogosphere, with adherents ranging from conservative Christians to pagans who view racial differences as natural and spiritual.
What's wild is reading this, I know people who probably hold many similar views to these women and would be vulnerable to recruitment. In fact, as someone who grew up as a religious and political conservative (I am now a feminist, Democrat, and consider myself Christian, though some of these same people would likely disagree) I wouldn't be shocked if some people from my past actually subscribe to the alt-right and this election has certainly revealed that polarization. Let me also note that according to groups in the book, I would be considered a "race traitor" because I am a white woman married to a Black man raising biracial children and therefore committing "racial genocide" on my own people and not fulfilling my purpose of....yep, making white babies! Yikes.
It's insidious and may look nice on the outside, though underneath there is a great deal of hate, misogyny, and abuse that exists. Do be aware if you read this that the book is riddled with racist, homophobic, anti-semitic and misogynist quotes including many instances of slurs such as n****r, and listening to that on audio is jarring. In fact, the prologue begins with several uses of that slur, so you get an idea of what you are in for. That said, I think this is a thoughtful, incisive, and important book that I would recommend.
June 23, 2022
I thought this was a really fascinating and well-curated read. Very readable, and a good look at white women within white extremism, told through the stories of three different woman who symbolize different facets of the movement. An important look at the ways in which white women have been instrumental to upholding white supremacy and extremism.
December 28, 2020
Brave, well-researched, eye opening. Hard to look away from if you are at all invested in the future of America and, like me, find yourself aghast at the way white supremacist talking points have crept into the mouths of loved ones over the past five years. The question we are left with is, what are we going to do about it?
June 5, 2020
Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism by Seyward Darby exceeded any expectations I had for the book. This is eye-opening and, to the extent possible, empathetic toward the women profiled without condoning or supporting their hatred.
In many books that use profiles as a major part of presenting a thesis there is a bit of a disconnect between any broader information that serves to contextualize and explain and the personal accounts of the individuals presented. Darby avoids that problem here by interspersing any sociological, psychological, or political information with the ongoing narrative of the woman being profiled. This serves, I think, several purposes. First, it presents the ideas when they are most applicable to the woman's story so we can better understand her as well as extrapolate out to other women. It also, by not having all of the broad ideas, theories, and statistics in their own chapters, makes the book flow much better. Finally, and this will be especially important for readers like myself who grow frustrated and/or angry while reading what these women believe and support, it acts like a governor on those emotions so we never get so frustrated or angry that we forget the main point of reading the book. And that point is to better understand both the hate movement(s) and the individuals in those movements.
I was particularly impressed with the way Darby managed to present these women as whole human beings and not simply caricatures set up for our derision. I was surprised the extent to which I could feel some degree of empathy for aspects of what brought them to where they are. I personally couldn't make it all the way to feeling that for the person but it did keep me from feeling the degree of dislike I would normally feel.
While there is a bit of a conclusion that offers some sense of hope it stops well short of being prescriptive. In large part, I would guess, because there is no single cure-all for hate movement(s). It does, however, suggest that offering a hand out of hatred can work for some (most?) of those in the movement.
I would recommend this to anyone wanting to better understand an underexposed aspect of the white nationalist (read white supremacist, or even simply racist) movement that has been empowered by our clown-in-chief. As for people who give one star reviews but no constructive or worthwhile critique whatsoever, just ignore them, they look for books that they disagree with and, without reading them, give one star ratings. Likely upset because she wasn't included in the book when she is clearly just as ill-informed and bigoted as those included. Oh well, if you actually want to understand women in the racist, oops, white nationalist, movement I highly recommend this book.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
In many books that use profiles as a major part of presenting a thesis there is a bit of a disconnect between any broader information that serves to contextualize and explain and the personal accounts of the individuals presented. Darby avoids that problem here by interspersing any sociological, psychological, or political information with the ongoing narrative of the woman being profiled. This serves, I think, several purposes. First, it presents the ideas when they are most applicable to the woman's story so we can better understand her as well as extrapolate out to other women. It also, by not having all of the broad ideas, theories, and statistics in their own chapters, makes the book flow much better. Finally, and this will be especially important for readers like myself who grow frustrated and/or angry while reading what these women believe and support, it acts like a governor on those emotions so we never get so frustrated or angry that we forget the main point of reading the book. And that point is to better understand both the hate movement(s) and the individuals in those movements.
I was particularly impressed with the way Darby managed to present these women as whole human beings and not simply caricatures set up for our derision. I was surprised the extent to which I could feel some degree of empathy for aspects of what brought them to where they are. I personally couldn't make it all the way to feeling that for the person but it did keep me from feeling the degree of dislike I would normally feel.
While there is a bit of a conclusion that offers some sense of hope it stops well short of being prescriptive. In large part, I would guess, because there is no single cure-all for hate movement(s). It does, however, suggest that offering a hand out of hatred can work for some (most?) of those in the movement.
I would recommend this to anyone wanting to better understand an underexposed aspect of the white nationalist (read white supremacist, or even simply racist) movement that has been empowered by our clown-in-chief. As for people who give one star reviews but no constructive or worthwhile critique whatsoever, just ignore them, they look for books that they disagree with and, without reading them, give one star ratings. Likely upset because she wasn't included in the book when she is clearly just as ill-informed and bigoted as those included. Oh well, if you actually want to understand women in the racist, oops, white nationalist, movement I highly recommend this book.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
July 22, 2020
Disclaimer: The publisher sent me a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Seyward Darby’s Sisters in Hate profiles three women who were/are part of the White Supremacy Klan. (I am sorry, I will not use the word movement for it, and yes, the K is intentional). If you read this past week’s New York Times, you were able to read much of the profile of Corinna, so you should check out that essay first before reading the book if you are in doubt.
Darby’s book is at once necessary and terrifying.
On one had the profiles are terrifying because the women are so, well, every day. Darby is correct to point at that we tend put mothers, in particular WHITE mothers, on a pedestal of “thou are great and most be protected” and this is tied to the idea of nice and meek that all women are encouraged to present and that women of color in particular get attacked for not being when they say something like, “I don’t want to do that”. I am speaking generalities here, and I know that that race and age also are factors. But regardless of her privilege as a white woman, Dr Blasely-Ford would have been presented radically differently by many outlets and people if she had let her anger show. But a certain Supreme Court justice can come storming in, throwing a temper tantrum, insult a sitting senator, and still get approved.
Darby breaks down the language that such women use to deflect or disarm the charge of racism when they speak as well as the image of the “perfect white wife and mother” can be used to challenge the charge of racism as well as justify breaking with the model by speaking in public. While she can’t give an exact reason why all three women joined hate groups ( in at least one case it seems to be a desire to belong), she can and does point to what harm such people can do even when they are not disrupting a neighborhood with marches. If anything, the end of the book is a call to pay attention and not seek meekly by.
Darby’s writing is engaging, and she neither demonizes nor sanctifies her subjects. She presents the story as fully as she can, noting when she could not speak to the subjects. Perhaps it is this use of neutral language that make the book so scary. They could literally be your next-door neighborhood. Anyone could become them.
And that is the reason why this book should be read. If books about racisms are most reads because they educate about behavior and interaction, books about racists are just as important, not because they normalize behavior, but because they showcase what normalizing or disregarding such behavior does and how it affects society in ways that we can’t quite see.
Seyward Darby’s Sisters in Hate profiles three women who were/are part of the White Supremacy Klan. (I am sorry, I will not use the word movement for it, and yes, the K is intentional). If you read this past week’s New York Times, you were able to read much of the profile of Corinna, so you should check out that essay first before reading the book if you are in doubt.
Darby’s book is at once necessary and terrifying.
On one had the profiles are terrifying because the women are so, well, every day. Darby is correct to point at that we tend put mothers, in particular WHITE mothers, on a pedestal of “thou are great and most be protected” and this is tied to the idea of nice and meek that all women are encouraged to present and that women of color in particular get attacked for not being when they say something like, “I don’t want to do that”. I am speaking generalities here, and I know that that race and age also are factors. But regardless of her privilege as a white woman, Dr Blasely-Ford would have been presented radically differently by many outlets and people if she had let her anger show. But a certain Supreme Court justice can come storming in, throwing a temper tantrum, insult a sitting senator, and still get approved.
Darby breaks down the language that such women use to deflect or disarm the charge of racism when they speak as well as the image of the “perfect white wife and mother” can be used to challenge the charge of racism as well as justify breaking with the model by speaking in public. While she can’t give an exact reason why all three women joined hate groups ( in at least one case it seems to be a desire to belong), she can and does point to what harm such people can do even when they are not disrupting a neighborhood with marches. If anything, the end of the book is a call to pay attention and not seek meekly by.
Darby’s writing is engaging, and she neither demonizes nor sanctifies her subjects. She presents the story as fully as she can, noting when she could not speak to the subjects. Perhaps it is this use of neutral language that make the book so scary. They could literally be your next-door neighborhood. Anyone could become them.
And that is the reason why this book should be read. If books about racisms are most reads because they educate about behavior and interaction, books about racists are just as important, not because they normalize behavior, but because they showcase what normalizing or disregarding such behavior does and how it affects society in ways that we can’t quite see.
August 23, 2021
This is such an interesting read. I learned a lot about the three women highlighted in the book. Darby focuses on three women prominent in the white nationalism movement, but also gives a history of how white nationalism has remained prominent in American culture (and suprisingly all around the world).
Two of the women started out as liberal women that slowly moved towards the other extreme. One woman strayed from the movement once she found that those people that professed to protect her harbored tendencies towards violence. She turned her back and never returned. Another woman is what is known as traditional - women that believe in order to propogate the white race they should have many children to contribute towards that end; and they should support their husbands in their choices.
All of the women agreed to be interviewed - two, eventually, cut off all communication.
This is a dive into a way of thinking that is insidious and definitely making its way into mainstream thinking. We are in scary times. I wonder how many people I interact with daily hold such extreme views.
Two of the women started out as liberal women that slowly moved towards the other extreme. One woman strayed from the movement once she found that those people that professed to protect her harbored tendencies towards violence. She turned her back and never returned. Another woman is what is known as traditional - women that believe in order to propogate the white race they should have many children to contribute towards that end; and they should support their husbands in their choices.
All of the women agreed to be interviewed - two, eventually, cut off all communication.
This is a dive into a way of thinking that is insidious and definitely making its way into mainstream thinking. We are in scary times. I wonder how many people I interact with daily hold such extreme views.
June 26, 2020
Actual rating: 3.5
An interesting, depressing (as one would expect) look at the role of women in the American far right, told via a close examination of three specific women who are (or were) visible in the community. I'm not sure I really learned anything new from reading it, but particularly given the increasing power of the far right today, a glimpse inside the movement -- particularly at the leadership of women inside it -- is both informative and alarming (again, as one would expect).
Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC.
An interesting, depressing (as one would expect) look at the role of women in the American far right, told via a close examination of three specific women who are (or were) visible in the community. I'm not sure I really learned anything new from reading it, but particularly given the increasing power of the far right today, a glimpse inside the movement -- particularly at the leadership of women inside it -- is both informative and alarming (again, as one would expect).
Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC.
July 27, 2020
Maybe closer to 3.5.
I found the subject matter fascinating. The first two women were interesting....the 3rd, I blanked out on after awhile. She was the biggest asshole. I couldn't even with her.
I don't feel that any of the subjects had uhhhh "valid" reasons to be racists and supremacists. (No, I don't know what a "valid" reason would be, don't at me)
I found the subject matter fascinating. The first two women were interesting....the 3rd, I blanked out on after awhile. She was the biggest asshole. I couldn't even with her.
I don't feel that any of the subjects had uhhhh "valid" reasons to be racists and supremacists. (No, I don't know what a "valid" reason would be, don't at me)
November 5, 2020
4.5 stars
Nonfiction November
Rtc
Nonfiction November
Rtc
March 24, 2021
Despite its reputation for misogyny, women are well represented in white supremacist groups. This book sets out to discover what attracts women to these groups. The author profiles 3 women to answer this question. Their stories are punctuated by frequent tangential threads that explain the history of white supremacy, the back-to-traditional family values movements, the rise of conspiracy theories on the left and right, key figures in each of these cultural phenomenon and the like. Each of these women came to the movement by a different root for different reasons, and each remains or has left for different reasons. Each took on leadership in their corner of this world. My take-aways is that women do not occupy solely passive or subservient roles in these groups, that their attraction to white supremacy is diverse and that there is an easy leap from extremist groups on the left and on the right. I still find myself with more questions than answers, maybe because I find this ideology so repugnant that I have a mental block against understanding its adherents. 3.5 stars
August 3, 2023
White nationalism is not a monolith. Supporters come from varied social, religious, and political backgrounds. Some are comfortable with overt cruelty, while others are quick to embrace a narrow definition of bigotry in order to sidestep personal culpability in the suffering of others. What they share is an outlook defined by binary thinking and perceived victimization. Flattened and facile, white nationalism possesses a near-apocalyptic sense of urgency: The time is now or never for white people to protect their own kind. For women, that means bearing white babies, putting a smiling face on an odious ideology, promising camaraderie to women who join their crusade, and challenging white nationalism's misogynistic reputation.
it's the white woman question, right? why, if alt-right ideology is so fervently and violently misogynistic, do white women keep siding with it? (obligatory "blah blah #notallwhitewomen," but, like, come on, we know something around 45% of white women who voted in 2016 voted for trump.) this book sets out to explore that question--why white women get involved in white nationalism and what role they play in the movement--through case studies of three women who are or were influential in alt-right circles.
there's no easy answer, of course, but the three linked segments explore the desire many white women have for connection, protection, attention, influence, and everything in between. this is not an easy book to read. there were a lot of moments where i found myself genuinely gaping at the page--because i know white supremacists are evil, but holy shit. the structure, i think, is one of the book's strongest points; darby takes the reader through:
1. first, the process of integration into the movement (through the story of corinna olsen, who turned to white nationalism in a period of grief and turmoil and eventually left the movement disillusioned)
2. then the way white nationalism views women and the women who leap into that ideal wholeheartedly (through the story of ayla stewart, an influential youtube #tradwife) (holy fucking shit tradlife is so bad.)
3. finally the specific gendered influence alt-right women wield (seen as gentler and "nicer" than men's) and how that influence sometimes conflicts with the alt-right's desire for women to be submissive and quiet (through the story of lana lokteff, a high-profile white-nationalist pundit who has honed the ability of playing off bias and raw emotion to win people to her cause).
overall, it's an incredibly well-written book. darby clearly and vocally disagrees with these ideals, and she isn't afraid to call them what they are: hate, vitriol, bigotry, racism, eugenics. yet she doesn't take the low road of shitting all over these women, probably because that would only add more fuel to the fire (stewart and lokteff have both painted themselves as harangued by left-wing media), and also because one of the major points here is that radicalization is complicated. obviously, all three of these women had a choice to engage in virulent hatred, and they chose it*; they aren't innocent victims. but none of them were simply born evil, and darby takes care to explore the process of radicalization and what motivates a person's turn to white supremacy (short answer: it's very often needing a cause/narrative to order one's tumultuous life around. now, of course, plenty of people of color also need life causes and don't turn to genocidal racism, but there we are).
*i think including olsen's story is integral to this project--her tale of leaving the movement goes to show that it is possible to leave and to make amends and build one's life around something healthier. + neither the author nor olsen herself makes any excuses/allowances for her period in the movement.
still, as fascinating and insightful as i found this, sometimes i caught myself wishing that darby had taken more time to shoot down the more complex white supremacist arguments here--not because it's the focus of the book, but because delving into these arguments is in some ways giving them a platform, even if the book clearly presents the movement as factually incorrect and chillingly cruel. i couldn't shake the question of whether it's smart to give a white nationalist the spotlight at all, if it means spreading anything they've said further. but darby addresses this, stating outright that she thinks it's incredibly important to learn how these movements work in order to combat them:
But first and foremost, combating hate requires understanding it—not what it seems to be or what we hope it amounts to, but what it actually is.
and i do have to agree with that. i don't know what the right way to present white nationalism is; i think this book makes a point of coming down against these women's ideals, and i hope that's enough.
"An emphasis on the disorganized aspects of Aryanism obscures its strategic and structured dimensions," argue the authors of the book American Swastika. Today, that emphasis downplays the endurance and adaptability of the hate movement over time. It ignores the internet's unparalleled propaganda power and the implications of hate as a social bond. It overlooks that white Americans' group consciousness is ascendant and that the mere existence of the Trump administration is evidence of the political salience of explicit appeals to white interests. The idea that white nationalism is going anywhere, much less anytime soon, is wishful thinking.
overall, this one was a captivating and harrowing read. really really good nonfiction; really really good journalism; really really awful content. recommended to anyone interested in white nationalism and radicalization, but content warning for just about fucking everything. i'm glad i read this, but it has unnerved and terrified me.
(if you'd like a teaser, here's an article the author wrote from which some of the material is repurposed.)
it's the white woman question, right? why, if alt-right ideology is so fervently and violently misogynistic, do white women keep siding with it? (obligatory "blah blah #notallwhitewomen," but, like, come on, we know something around 45% of white women who voted in 2016 voted for trump.) this book sets out to explore that question--why white women get involved in white nationalism and what role they play in the movement--through case studies of three women who are or were influential in alt-right circles.
there's no easy answer, of course, but the three linked segments explore the desire many white women have for connection, protection, attention, influence, and everything in between. this is not an easy book to read. there were a lot of moments where i found myself genuinely gaping at the page--because i know white supremacists are evil, but holy shit. the structure, i think, is one of the book's strongest points; darby takes the reader through:
1. first, the process of integration into the movement (through the story of corinna olsen, who turned to white nationalism in a period of grief and turmoil and eventually left the movement disillusioned)
2. then the way white nationalism views women and the women who leap into that ideal wholeheartedly (through the story of ayla stewart, an influential youtube #tradwife) (holy fucking shit tradlife is so bad.)
3. finally the specific gendered influence alt-right women wield (seen as gentler and "nicer" than men's) and how that influence sometimes conflicts with the alt-right's desire for women to be submissive and quiet (through the story of lana lokteff, a high-profile white-nationalist pundit who has honed the ability of playing off bias and raw emotion to win people to her cause).
overall, it's an incredibly well-written book. darby clearly and vocally disagrees with these ideals, and she isn't afraid to call them what they are: hate, vitriol, bigotry, racism, eugenics. yet she doesn't take the low road of shitting all over these women, probably because that would only add more fuel to the fire (stewart and lokteff have both painted themselves as harangued by left-wing media), and also because one of the major points here is that radicalization is complicated. obviously, all three of these women had a choice to engage in virulent hatred, and they chose it*; they aren't innocent victims. but none of them were simply born evil, and darby takes care to explore the process of radicalization and what motivates a person's turn to white supremacy (short answer: it's very often needing a cause/narrative to order one's tumultuous life around. now, of course, plenty of people of color also need life causes and don't turn to genocidal racism, but there we are).
*i think including olsen's story is integral to this project--her tale of leaving the movement goes to show that it is possible to leave and to make amends and build one's life around something healthier. + neither the author nor olsen herself makes any excuses/allowances for her period in the movement.
still, as fascinating and insightful as i found this, sometimes i caught myself wishing that darby had taken more time to shoot down the more complex white supremacist arguments here--not because it's the focus of the book, but because delving into these arguments is in some ways giving them a platform, even if the book clearly presents the movement as factually incorrect and chillingly cruel. i couldn't shake the question of whether it's smart to give a white nationalist the spotlight at all, if it means spreading anything they've said further. but darby addresses this, stating outright that she thinks it's incredibly important to learn how these movements work in order to combat them:
But first and foremost, combating hate requires understanding it—not what it seems to be or what we hope it amounts to, but what it actually is.
and i do have to agree with that. i don't know what the right way to present white nationalism is; i think this book makes a point of coming down against these women's ideals, and i hope that's enough.
"An emphasis on the disorganized aspects of Aryanism obscures its strategic and structured dimensions," argue the authors of the book American Swastika. Today, that emphasis downplays the endurance and adaptability of the hate movement over time. It ignores the internet's unparalleled propaganda power and the implications of hate as a social bond. It overlooks that white Americans' group consciousness is ascendant and that the mere existence of the Trump administration is evidence of the political salience of explicit appeals to white interests. The idea that white nationalism is going anywhere, much less anytime soon, is wishful thinking.
overall, this one was a captivating and harrowing read. really really good nonfiction; really really good journalism; really really awful content. recommended to anyone interested in white nationalism and radicalization, but content warning for just about fucking everything. i'm glad i read this, but it has unnerved and terrified me.
(if you'd like a teaser, here's an article the author wrote from which some of the material is repurposed.)
April 25, 2021
Not an easy read but an important one nonetheless. By profiling three women in white supremacist movements, one of whom has gotten out, Darby shows the important yet complicated role women play in their growth. White women are typically viewed as nice and less threatening, thus enabling them to get away with more when it comes to propaganda and spreading hate. And yet misogyny is an intrinsic part of white supremacy movements and so women can only have so much power within them. This is an intersectional analysis not only of women in today’s current hate groups but those of the past. It was disturbing to read about the ways seemingly innocuous movements like tradlife are actually gateways toward white nationalism. The three profiles show the people in these hate groups are searching for meaning and purpose but also power and the way propaganda fuels those needs. As difficult as it was to read about such horrible rhetoric, it’s important for me as a white woman to be aware of what’s out there and to use it to interrogate my own beliefs, instead of just writing these people off. This isn’t a problem that’s going to disappear any time soon, thanks to the ways Trump emboldened white nationalists.
Toward the end of the book, Darby mentions Lana and her family moved to a Mennonite town and the people there were grappling with how or if to respond to known racists choosing to move there and what that might say about them. And yet because Lana and her husband don’t make any big waves, the town ultimately doesn’t do much and the wary complacency was chilling to read and explains so much about an under-explored piece in this discussion. What do you as an individual do when the racist is your neighbor? Additionally, in the conclusion Darby mentions white liberals or progressives who made racist statements about her book’s subject matter. These are people who probably think they’re not racist and yet they said things that would have been echoed by the people Darby profiled. It’s the insidious nature of racism and how much it’s been embedded into our structures and systems. Too many white people think they’re fine because they’re not overt racists like Lana and Ayla but they’re a part of the problem too. This is why I’m glad that the conversation has turned toward being anti-racist. It’s imperative to keep the conversation going so we can battle the gaslighting and propaganda that unfortunately continues on.
CW: hate crimes, racism, antisemitism, Islamaphobia, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, racial and homophobic slurs, fatphobia, misogyny, sexism, death of brother (drowning), substance abuse, homelessness, child abuse, Corinna believes she is “somewhere on the autism spectrum”, references to various crimes
Toward the end of the book, Darby mentions Lana and her family moved to a Mennonite town and the people there were grappling with how or if to respond to known racists choosing to move there and what that might say about them. And yet because Lana and her husband don’t make any big waves, the town ultimately doesn’t do much and the wary complacency was chilling to read and explains so much about an under-explored piece in this discussion. What do you as an individual do when the racist is your neighbor? Additionally, in the conclusion Darby mentions white liberals or progressives who made racist statements about her book’s subject matter. These are people who probably think they’re not racist and yet they said things that would have been echoed by the people Darby profiled. It’s the insidious nature of racism and how much it’s been embedded into our structures and systems. Too many white people think they’re fine because they’re not overt racists like Lana and Ayla but they’re a part of the problem too. This is why I’m glad that the conversation has turned toward being anti-racist. It’s imperative to keep the conversation going so we can battle the gaslighting and propaganda that unfortunately continues on.
CW: hate crimes, racism, antisemitism, Islamaphobia, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, racial and homophobic slurs, fatphobia, misogyny, sexism, death of brother (drowning), substance abuse, homelessness, child abuse, Corinna believes she is “somewhere on the autism spectrum”, references to various crimes
July 21, 2023
4.5 stars
There is a notable sparsity or books on this topic and this fact along with some Positive GR reviews that made me want to read this book. What drives so many (men and women) to espouse white nationalism? There are some insights in this book that I haven't seen articulated before probably because the stories of otherwise unremarkable people who rose to positions of some influence haven't really been told before.
Ignorance is high amongst this crowd to be sure. These types of people (including the leaders) are not the valedictorians of your high school. Facebook seems dominated by the now grown up nobodies of your childhood espousing all their nationalistic views and white grievances and relating it all with a profound lack of civics. Well add to these psychoses even more conspiracies and racism and higher degrees of narcissism. Now you have most of the components of the fascists, white nationalist, and alt-right movements.
There are three white nationalist women and mothers featured in this book:
The first woman from Seattle didn't really scare me too much. She seems to be largely someone searching for relevance during her life. She has been able to hold down jobs and has since left the Neo-nazi movement although she does not seem to have made great life choices. Her parents and communities did not seem to have directed her towards nazism.
The second woman from Utah is depressing. Her level of ignorance is off the charts. These views she holds are not only extremely racist and offensive but figuring out her motivations is a lot harder. She seems motivated and influenced by the attention and money she garners spouting this nonsense. It also seems she may have been heavily influenced by white nationalism from an early age.
The third woman from South Carolina seems deeply manipulative. Perhaps not surprisingly she is a poster child and leader in the alt-right and MAGA movements. It seems that her motives are driven by greed and narcissism.
This book was really well researched, the author shares these women's stories in their own words.
It is unfortunate that the internet, social media, podcasts and YouTube have made it much easier for these movements to spread their messages of hate but here we are in 2023.
Highly recommended. Very fast read too boot.
There is a notable sparsity or books on this topic and this fact along with some Positive GR reviews that made me want to read this book. What drives so many (men and women) to espouse white nationalism? There are some insights in this book that I haven't seen articulated before probably because the stories of otherwise unremarkable people who rose to positions of some influence haven't really been told before.
Ignorance is high amongst this crowd to be sure. These types of people (including the leaders) are not the valedictorians of your high school. Facebook seems dominated by the now grown up nobodies of your childhood espousing all their nationalistic views and white grievances and relating it all with a profound lack of civics. Well add to these psychoses even more conspiracies and racism and higher degrees of narcissism. Now you have most of the components of the fascists, white nationalist, and alt-right movements.
There are three white nationalist women and mothers featured in this book:
The first woman from Seattle didn't really scare me too much. She seems to be largely someone searching for relevance during her life. She has been able to hold down jobs and has since left the Neo-nazi movement although she does not seem to have made great life choices. Her parents and communities did not seem to have directed her towards nazism.
The second woman from Utah is depressing. Her level of ignorance is off the charts. These views she holds are not only extremely racist and offensive but figuring out her motivations is a lot harder. She seems motivated and influenced by the attention and money she garners spouting this nonsense. It also seems she may have been heavily influenced by white nationalism from an early age.
The third woman from South Carolina seems deeply manipulative. Perhaps not surprisingly she is a poster child and leader in the alt-right and MAGA movements. It seems that her motives are driven by greed and narcissism.
This book was really well researched, the author shares these women's stories in their own words.
It is unfortunate that the internet, social media, podcasts and YouTube have made it much easier for these movements to spread their messages of hate but here we are in 2023.
Highly recommended. Very fast read too boot.
May 27, 2024
Sisters in Hate is a non fiction that brings the lives of 3 white nationalist women under a microscope. These women are all somewhat different, but ultimately all carry some of the same qualities of people who fall into these movements. It explores the addict to extremism and "crunchy" to extremism pipelines in pretty heavy detail- giving you a strong look at what these women's lives were like previous to becoming white nationalists.
The book is incredibly objective and not written with any particular sympathy for them, which I do appreciate. Seyward Darby uses the facts of the women's lives to branch out and open discussions for other elements of white womanhood in the white nationalist scene. Among those topics; where women fit into the space, the power they actually yield in these spaces (its a lot), the great replacement theory and birthing movements being tied to WN, and just how desperately this movement relies on women.
If you are interested in hate groups, this book is a no brainer, and I recommend the audiobook as well.
The book is incredibly objective and not written with any particular sympathy for them, which I do appreciate. Seyward Darby uses the facts of the women's lives to branch out and open discussions for other elements of white womanhood in the white nationalist scene. Among those topics; where women fit into the space, the power they actually yield in these spaces (its a lot), the great replacement theory and birthing movements being tied to WN, and just how desperately this movement relies on women.
If you are interested in hate groups, this book is a no brainer, and I recommend the audiobook as well.
July 7, 2022
Difficult to read because of the subject matter, but a fascinating in-depth look at some of the hate groups operating in the US, and women's rolls within them. I would actually recommend this to people who are also interested in reading about cults. All three of the women featured in this book spent their early years joining various groups and movements, having completely different belief systems, trying to find their place in the world. I think they could have easily ended up in any cult or terrorist group that made them feel special.
September 30, 2020
Dark but gripping. This book profiles 3 different women who are current and former white nationalists, analyzing the intersectionality of gender/race and its role in shaping their beliefs. Needless to say, this is a frightening subject to explore, but I don't regret reading this book. The impact of alternative media (dark corners of the internet and radio waves) in spreading these ideologies (particularly insidious in a post-truth, post-fact-checking era/environment) cannot be understated.
January 27, 2021
Well written, engaging, and deeply unsettling. It clearly illustrates the role and complicity of white women in upholding white supremacy, and the sometimes terrifying nuances they apply to their reasoning. This is why this book stands out well against others in the same genre, because we’re so used to seeing and hearing male rage and violence.
This book clearly illustrates the other, often forgotten, factor that angry white men live in angry households with angry wives, raising angry children.
Another interesting point that came through is how the white supremacist views of women intertwine with sexism/misogyny from their male counterparts and how it gets twisted in a idealization of “traditional” roles, ultimately voluntarily aiding in their own continued oppression on that front.
The only thing I didn’t like is that a lot of it is told from the voice of the women in question. The sometimes pages long racist monologues and word vomit without a counter voice can sometimes feel like it’s giving these people a platform rather than critiquing it. But that might just be my own frustration in wanting to scream at these white supremacist to shut their mouths already.
4/5
This book clearly illustrates the other, often forgotten, factor that angry white men live in angry households with angry wives, raising angry children.
Another interesting point that came through is how the white supremacist views of women intertwine with sexism/misogyny from their male counterparts and how it gets twisted in a idealization of “traditional” roles, ultimately voluntarily aiding in their own continued oppression on that front.
The only thing I didn’t like is that a lot of it is told from the voice of the women in question. The sometimes pages long racist monologues and word vomit without a counter voice can sometimes feel like it’s giving these people a platform rather than critiquing it. But that might just be my own frustration in wanting to scream at these white supremacist to shut their mouths already.
4/5
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