Crissle X Nicki Minaj: Say No To F*ckboys

If you listen to the The Read, you're probably familiar with Crissle's "Say No to Fuckboys" rant from one of the early episodes. It's her feminist, anti-misogynoir mantra, and it's awesome. When I heard Nicki's new song, I IMMEDIATELY thought of Crissle, because (unlike Jezebel apparently) I recognized that it expresses the exact same sentiment. They actually talked about the song on this week's episode which was awesome. They both love it and recognize the (pretty blatant) feminist message in the lyrics, and they also both agree that the rape line was not okay. (It's really not, and Crissle does a great job explaining why.)

#HouseOfCards: Is Claire Underwood A Caricature Of Feminism?

I just came across this piece in the The Atlantic entitled "Feminism, Depravity and Power in House of Cards" that I think gives a very nuanced view of the reasons why labeling Claire Underwood a feminist after the season two release of House of Cards might be a contentious pronouncement. I have to say, I really like it. It manages to articulate the nuances of the conflicting things I feel about Claire's character in a very good way, and it makes some great points that hadn't even occurred to me as I was parsing the issue on my own. One of the quotes that really stuck out to me was this one:

Several observers go even farther, arguing that Claire isn't a feminist so much as a right-wing caricature of a feminist: a ruthless, calculating, power-hungry career woman who stabs other women in the back and uses abortion as birth control. Cognizant of the way that she uses the sexual-assault bill to raise her political profile, only to abandon it when doing so is useful political leverage, Mollie Hemingway writes that "it’s sort of like House of Cards is running the Democratic playbook’s ‘War on Women’ as a major storyline," except without the mainstream-media filter, "we get to see how calculated and manipulative it really is.”

Emphasis mine. Now this hadn't really occurred to be in the course of thinking through this, but I actually think this might be a pretty accurate assessment. The basic tenets of feminism are there; she's pro-choice, against sexual assault, a rape survivor who is able to get respite from her rapist, she champions a bill to combat sexual assault in the military. And yet, the way she treats the other women in the show, as the piece notes, is also quite illuminating. As the author notes:

"Women need Claire as a feminist ally like a fish needs a wood-chopper."

I laughed, but he has a point. Female solidarity is largely non-existent to Claire. Her loyalties are to her husband. She may help you, if your agenda aligns with hers, but as we see with the young private who risks her reputation and her mental health to come forward to corroborate Claire's story that her rapist is, in fact a rapist, she will abandon you the second your motives diverge from hers. And heaven help you if manage to find yourself in her crosshairs like poor Gillian did.

The Beyoncé Conversation: Feminism, Black Women and The Presumption Of Sexual Agency

It's been a while since I've posted a substantial essay, but I wanted to stop in and talk about an issue that's very important to me as a black, sex-positive feminist. That is, sex, obviously; specifically the sex that black women are or are not having, and how the conversation about their sexual agency keeps getting derailed.

As I've written about several times now, (here, here and relatedly here) conversations about sex and sexuality become very different when you are talking about a black body. This is because of the historical context of the negative sexual stereotypes that were applied to those bodies in order to dehumanize, subjugate and ridicule them, and elevate white (female) sexuality in the process. Black men were uncontrollable, brute savages who would rape a white woman as soon as look at her, and black women were lascivious whores, always searching for a dick, unrapeable by their very existence.

The loaded racist history of these still prevalent tropes leaves black women especially, in a misogynoirist double bind. Either we deny our sexuality entirely in order to be considered respectable and worthy (not so coincidentally placing ourselves firmly into Mammy territory), or embrace our sexuality, as all women should have the right to do, and be seen as a confirmation of negative black sexual stereotypes.

In effect, our choices as sexual beings are wrapped up in a lose-lose catch-22 that denies our agency from the outset, and punishes us for trying to exercise it. All the while, black women's bodies continue to be used to ridicule our very existence and deify white female sexuality.

So what does this have to do with Beyoncé? Everything.

Lupita Nyong'o And Representations of Black Beauty

via fashion gone rogue 

Lupita Nyong'o by Sharif Hamza

It's been quite some time since I posted anything fashion related! Well there's lots of places on the internet where you can go to read about all the reasons why Lupita Nyong'o is the new best thing to grace the face of this earth, but I really just wanted to take a second to talk about how amazing it is to see a dark skinned woman with natural hair be heralded as the newest fashion Goddess. 

If you've seen 12 Years A Slave, then you know that Lupita is an amazing actress and completely deserves the accolades that she's been receiving, but there's something to be said about her acceptance into the fashion world. For a lot of ladystars, being accepted into the fashion fold is the thing that really cements their place in Hollywood. Just look at Jennifer Lawrence. She is admittedly the opposite of poised, and yet her star has only continued to rise in the last two years; helped along by her Dior endorsement. 

But the dynamics are different here. JLaw already fits the Hollywood mould; propelling her to the top of the back didn't take much effort. Only time will tell if the current obsession with Lupita will translate into a lucrative career, or if it is simply lip-service to allow Hollywood to pat itself on the back for letting a black woman into its ranks.

Lupita is captivating on so many levels that I want with all my heart for her to have the career that she deserves. But I also want to hope that the fashion endorsements will continue to roll in; I want to believe that fashion will continue to herald her as the beauty she is and continue to bolster her visibility within the public consciousness. I want to hope that we will continue to have representations of beauty that centre on black women, and aren't tokens thrown to appease the masses (looking at you SNL).

For women like me, who so often have to beg to be represented in mainstream media, having Lupita be on the covers of magazines in all her glory feels like a coup, and I hope she continues her domination. 

About That Time I Pissed Off White Feminism

It's been about a week since I published my essay on my definition of "white feminism" and it's gotten a lot more traction than I expected. Generally, knowing that my writing is being seen by so many people is pretty cool; it means that my voice is being heard, and even if someone disagrees with me, they're discussing something that I thought was important to talk about in the first place. But there are drawbacks.

I'm very fucking a little annoyed that so many people seem to have gone out of their way to get defensive about the essay, but unfortunately I'm not surprised. I think, more than anything I'm irritated at this reaction because I tried very hard to be reasonable and clear in my assessment. I not only explicitly defined what I meant when I used the term, (and excluded those to whom it did not apply) but I also made sure to say that I was speaking only for myself, and describing the way that I used the term in feminist discourse as well as the way I had seen the term used.

And yet... I still have white women coming at me to comment that they feel "persecuted" by my words. That "white  feminists" necessarily means "all white feminists" when even semantically that doesn't add up. People obliviously missing the point and ignoring that I am trying to talk about the way in which feminists in the mainstream seek to shut down discourse intraracially between WoC by demanding that their attention instead be directed towards coddling their feelings and sense of self.

What is so frustrating is that so many feminists (who are white!) were able to read my essay and immediately understand my point. I got so many tweets, comments and emails telling me that they understood how the expression was being used, and understood why the expression was necessary. They recognized the essay for what it was: a call-out of the racism within the mainstream (read: largely white) feminist movement.

I literally do not understand how people can be dense enough to claim they are not the problem, while doing exactly what I've said people who are the problem, do. The irony is just deliciously terrible.

All of the polite requests to "please use different terminology because no one is going to understand that and I don't want to be lumped in with that group" still amount to demands that I reframe my narrative in way that makes you more comfortable. They are still privileging your feelings over my life. In other words, exactly what I said the problem was in the first place.