Sheryl Sandberg speaks when needed
What passes for technology journalism today:
Sandberg's only other recent Facebook posts concern a feel-good story about a long-distance swimmer (hashtagged #LeanIn) and a politically defanged feel-good story about a Syrian refugee Olympian, the latter on the eve of the inauguration. On January 21, the day of the unequivocally historic Women's March, Sandberg didn't appear in public, nor did she express her support. Instead, she withdrew comfortably into the same "deafening post-November silence" that for many women in tech isn't going unnoticed.
The streets filled with women from every walk of life, but for Sandberg, who built her personal brand -- and some of her fortune -- around a particularly virulent strain of apolitical white feminism, it appears to have been all too political. (Sheryl, if you read this, pick up some bell hooks!)
as a feminist, it's perfectly acceptable to hold other feminists to certain standards. Particularly ones in positions of vast power that at times find themselves seated next to arguably the most powerful man in the country (hint: it's Pence!). And ones that have sold millions of books promoting a diluted form of feminism that might have got us here in the first place. Oh, and ones making a fortune off of a sandbox for fake news stories, or as Sandberg playfully likes to call them, "hoaxes."Sandberg's is not an intersectional feminism, nor is it really feminism at all. Like much Silicon Valley hypocrisy, it's lip service that never quite takes it to the next level. Leveraging your particular strain of politically expedient pseudo-feminism to sell books is fine and all, but don't expect us not to call you out -- not when you have a literal seat at the most powerful table in the world.