This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work

There are two notable definitions for “femme.” The more common and widely accepted definition is the one Jewell uses in her glossary: “a lesbian who identifies as having traditionally feminine traits” (212). The other is “a feminine person of any gender.” Jewell refers to “Black nonbinary femmes and women” (59) when discussing employment discrimination. In this context, she is using the second definition of the word, which is contrary to the definition she gives in the book’s glossary. This inconsistency may confuse some readers.

Jewell notes, correctly, that sex is a social construct based on biological characteristics. People are assigned a sex at birth (male or female). Gender (man or woman, for example) is a set of social expectations and roles imposed on people based on their sex. A person’s gender identity may not align with their assigned gender and sex; transgender and nonbinary people have a gender identity that differs from what they were assigned. In the glossary, Jewell says that a heterosexual person is someone “who is attracted to people of the opposite sex” (212). It would be more accurate to say that a heterosexual person is someone who is attracted to people of the opposite gender, in accordance with the framework that Jewell is using to understand gender and sex.

Jewell discusses the impacts of police brutality, but she does not define the term. Police brutality is excessive force used by police officers against civilians. While anyone can be subjected to police brutality, people of color are at much greater risk of police violence and brutality than white people are. Police brutality is a vivid example of how institutional racism (within the institution of policing) and personal racism (on behalf of individual police officers) can combine to have deadly consequences. Black people in the United States, for example, are shot and killed by police at more than twice the rate of white people (“1,005 People Have Been Shot and Killed by Police in the Past 12 Months.” The Washington Post, 31 July 2023).