The Performance of Innocence: How White Womanhood Protects Power and Blocks Accountability

August is a threshold month—warm and reflective, with one foot in summer’s looseness and the other pointed toward the structure of fall. As Robin Alpern and I prepare to launch our new course, The Arc of White Womanhood Part 2: Action & Accountability Now (see below for registration), this moment feels like more than a seasonal transition. It’s a call to examine what we’ve been rehearsing—and what we’re ready to release.

One of the patterns we name in the Arc is the performance of innocence—the ways white women are socialized to deflect responsibility, center our intentions, and weaponize our vulnerability.  Innocence is not neutral.

When we say things like:

  • “That wasn’t my intention.”

  • “I didn’t know.”

  • “I’m just trying to help.”

…we’re often not lying—but we are protecting something: our comfort, our sense of being “good,” our access to approval.

This isn’t harmless. In fact, it often increases harm, especially for Black women and others who are expected to hold our guilt, affirm our goodness, or make our discomfort easier to bear. The idea that innocence should excuse impact is a function of white supremacy. White womanhood has taught us that being “nice” is the same as being ethical. It’s not.

Our innocence blocks accountability. Innocence becomes a shield that stops us from asking:

  • What was my impact?

  • What harm did I contribute to or allow?

  • What needs to happen next to repair trust and make change?

Instead of responding with openness and care, we often respond with defensiveness or withdrawal. We exit the conversation—physically, emotionally, or energetically. That exit has consequences for those around us, especially in multiracial spaces. Our silence is not neutral. It’s often a way of maintaining control.

What if we began to see that accountability can be a form of care? What if we reimagined accountability—not as punishment or shame, but as a practice of care? Accountability is what enables us to have genuine relationships with others. It says: You matter to me. Your experience matters. Our shared liberation matters more than my ego.

In the Arc of White Womanhood courses, we practice:

  • Naming our impact without collapse.

  • Staying in hard conversations, even when they bring up shame or fear.

  • Offering repair that’s led by the needs of the person harmed, not by our need to feel better.

  • Showing up differently next time—and the time after that.

Accountability, in this light, is not a chore. It’s a form of love. It's how we become people who can be trusted in the work.

We use the word “practice” a lot in the Arc because we know: this is not something we master. This is something we return to, again and again. August invites us to rehearse accountability. To notice when our instinct is to protect ourselves instead of staying present. To ask ourselves what we’re really afraid of—and what might be possible if we moved through that fear, not around it.

It’s not easy work. But it’s work that makes care, community, and justice more possible.

See you on the journey,

Robin

Note: There are two flyers: one for participants who completed Arc Part 1, and one for those who have not previously attended.

For participants who completed the Arc Part 1, click this link to register: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/qdgpm9p/lp/19b81ad8-1d6a-489b-9d65-7278aa374b9f

For new participants: please complete this survey prior to receiving a registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeENig82_FKi_fDIfecIwAxqRYnYfIJziWtaOQU8jgDa_HduA/viewform

PISAB: Undoing Racism and Community Organizing Workshop

Learn about the Undoing Racism and Community Organizing Workshops: 

https://pisab.org/undoing-racism-community-organizing-workshop/

Race To Dinner: Race2Dinner experiences include two hours with Regina Jackson and Saira Rao for 8 white women. There is no better place for honest conversation than at the dinner table. After many years, we can safely say that breaking bread together helps to facilitate conversations around white supremacy, racism, and xenophobia.

Video - StyleLikeU: “What’s Underneath America: A Radically Honest Dialogue on Racism & Privilege” is A compelling 9-minute video in which activists and influencers appear vulnerable to share their experiences with racism and privilege. Offers an emotional, reflective take on white women’s roles in systemic oppression. https://youtu.be/3W7rIAQycKs

Podcast - Listen to the podcast “Hey White Women”, which frequently centers race, privilege, and feminism in real‑time discussions: https://podcasts.apple.com/br/podcast/hey-white-women/id1756352466

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Robin Schlenger