Caucasity's Affective Inertia: Gender and Property in Scenarios of Emboldened Whiteness

Rhetoric & Public Affairs Dec 2023

Caucasity's Affective Inertia: Gender and Property in Scenarios of Emboldened Whiteness

Myles W. Mason

Abstract

Abstract This article forwards the concept of affective inertia to understand how caucasity, or emboldened whiteness, motivates rhetorical (in)action. Specifically looking at the viral case of “BBQ Becky,” I argue the historic momentum of both settler colonialism and anti-Blackness propel contemporary performances of emboldened white femininity. The videoed interactions between Jennifer Schulte (Becky) and Michelle Dione Snider (videographer) illustrate how scenarios of property afford white cisgender women particular roles of constrained privilege when in public spaces. Turning to the dynamics of white feminine caucasity, I position Snider's performance of “race traitor” as one equal and opposite to Schulte's “damsel in distress,” thus interrupting Schulte's inertia. Of importance is how the women perform to divergent ends while being capacitated by the same affective inertia.

Journal: Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published: 2023-12-01
DOI: 10.14321/rhetpublaffa.26.4.0063
Open Access: Closed
Topics: social media race and writing multilingual writers affect and writing