Ep 14. Performative Activism: Feigned Anti-Racism & White Supremacy in Yoga

There has been a phenomenal uptick of rising yoga and wellness influencers posting anti-racism sentiments on social media. Yet in stark contrast to the important message of bringing light to police brutality against BIPOC, or tackling underrepresentation of coloured folks in wellness spaces, these feeds are filled with white, thin, able-bodied, cis-het women striking yoga poses on beaches. Are these influencers for real?

In this episode:

• The current phenomenon of performative activism in yoga social media, and why it comes across as disingenuous
• How white yoga and wellness influencers can leverage their privilege to do better
• My personal experiences of racism growing up, how these pale in comparison to those of BIPOC, and how I'm responding to racial injustice
• The damage done by sentiments like, “No One Is Superior”, "We Are All One", or "I Don't See Colour"
• Spiritual capitalism and the ways white supremacy manifests in real-life white yoga studio culture
• 3 tactics of defence and dismissal used by white wellness influencers to deflect accountability around racism
• People who are doing excellent work in allyship, de-centering themselves, raising the voices of BIPOC, and/or speaking out as BIPOC wellness and yoga influencers themselves

Resources mentioned:

• Dianne Bondy on challenging racism and spiritual bypassing, on the triyoga podcast
• Acknowledgment of Country by Georgia Mae Capocchi-Hunter
• Casey's article on The Spiritual, Sexy, Successful Woman Ideal
• Transcript of this episode with links to posts mentioned
• Yoga is Dead podcast