From Performance to Progress: Dismantling Power Structures in Allyship

Exposing Performative Allyship, Centering Marginalized Voicecs, and Building a Culture of Accountability

Join Us: A Series on Power Structures and Performative Allyship

This series comes from today’s leaders advised by Ancestors for Braided Futures

Injustice thrives when power goes unchecked and when allyship becomes more about optics than action.

As we move into a new year, it’s time to peel back the layers of performative allyship, challenge the systems that perpetuate harm, and focus on genuine, transformative change.

This series will explore the intricate ways power structures—patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism—manifest in allyship and advocacy. We’ll dive deep into the pitfalls of performative actions, the silencing of marginalized voices, and, most importantly, how to move from performance to action.

What to Expect from This Series

We’ll tackle critical questions and uncomfortable truths, including:

• The Roots of Power Structures: How patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism shape modern-day dynamics of allyship.

• Performative Allyship as Exploitation: Why allyship can become a business model that commodifies oppression rather than dismantling it.

• Gendered Dynamics in Allyship: How men profit from women’s struggles and the role of internalized misogyny in enabling this.

• Silencing Through Deflection and Harassment: How performative allies avoid accountability and weaponize their platforms to suppress critique.

• Decolonizing Allyship: Grounding advocacy in action, transparency, and community-centered leadership.

• Fault Lines in Society: Identifying key areas of inequity and focusing on actionable solutions to repair them.

• Centering Women’s Voices: Why women, particularly those from marginalized communities, must lead the charge for equity and justice.

• Accountability and Action: A roadmap for allies to move from performative gestures to genuine solidarity.

Why This Series Matters

Too often, we see allyship used as a tool to profit from or gain visibility within movements meant to uplift the marginalized. This series is a call to hold ourselves and others accountable, to dismantle these dynamics, and to build a culture of justice rooted in equity and action.

We Want to Hear from You

As we share these posts, we invite you to reflect, engage, and share your experiences. What are the fault lines you see in society? What actions will you take to eliminate performative allyship in your circles?

Let’s make this the year we challenge harmful systems and build pathways toward true equity.

Stay tuned for our first post in the series!

The Business Model of Allyship: Another Form of Violence Against Women