something secret

Today, I finally saw the Paula Patton led movie, Baggage Claim , and it was.... a predictably mediocre romantic comedy. Girl meets guy, girl wants ring, guy cheats, girl shame spirals and tries to get any one of several ex-boyfriend to propose, girl's plan fails, girl realizes the right guy was (literally) next door the whole time. And, fin.  So, terrible. I did like the man-candy though. But what stuck out to me in this film was Jill Scott's character Gail, best friend to Patton's Montgomery. Gail, a fellow flight attendant, is like Scott, plus-sized and busty. But she's also blatantly sexual. From the first few scenes of the movie, we establish that Gail is "that girl"; the one who has no shame and chases after her men the way she chases her drinks. Normally, the idea of yet another hypersexualized black female character would irritate me, but this was different. We have very specific narratives for how we interact with black women in the media. We get the ...

There's been a lot written online about Beyoncé in the last week and a half. Between the initial frenzy of the release of her new album, the delight over her overtly feminist messages and the almost instantaneous backlash that Beyoncé the woman (and the body of work) was both anti-feminist, or simply not feminist enough, we've all had Beyoncé on the brain. While I did write a essay about her song Partition and had plans to write another piece examining the album as a whole, I've realized that many other writers have already done a much better job than I ever could have. There is already an amazing canon of work that critically analyzes this new album. Here are a few of my favourite pieces in approximate publication order: That Time Beyoncé's Album Invalidated Every Criticism of Feminism Ever  by Christina Coleman Beyoncé's New Self-Titled LP Is The Feminist's Album Of 2013 by Hayden Manders Beyoncé's New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood ...

There is a longer  more fleshed out essay on  BEYONCÉ in the works, (which probably won't be published until next week at this rate) but in rewatching King Bey's magnum opus, I have been uncovering gem after gem of naked feminist ideology, and I can't get enough. The latest little gem I found is this subversive little quote cleverly inserted in French into Partition , a song about Bey getting it on with Jay Z in the back of a limo on the way to the club: "Est-ce que tu aimes le sexe? Le sexe, je veux dire l'activité physique, le coït, tu aimes ça? Tu ne t'intéresses pas au sexe? Les hommes pensent que les féministes déstestent le sexe mais c'est une activité très stimulante et naturelle que les femmes adorent." According to friends who are much smarter than me, the above translates to: "Don't you like sex? Sex. I mean sex, the physical activity. Fucking. You like that? You're not interested in sex? Men think feminists don't like sex, b...

Back again. This time  to share  this comment thread  (and specifically the comment below) where I talk about Rashida Jones' comments about "women being whores" and how it relates to Rihanna (because Rihanna is the devil incarnate/Illuminati Queen/Bringer of all that is Evil in the world. Naturally), and the way in which the conversations about "pop stars being whores" always manages to find a BW scapegoat: I also think that it's  imperative  that we talk about racial disparities when we talk about this stuff because sexual expectations  are  just different  for WoC. For WW, virginal is the assumed natural state, and expressions of sexuality are seen as liberating (Madonna). For WoC, crass and oversexed is the assumed natural state, and self motivated expressions of sexuality are seen as a reinforcement of that stereotype. (Rihanna) If we push against it we're prudes, and  how dare we refuse a sexual advance with our ugly black ass selves?...

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while. It was originally conceived as an examination of the "Stripper Anthem" as presented by Nicki Minaj and Rihanna in Beez In The Trap and Pour It Up, as it related to the sexuality and sexualization of black women, but after last week's post on Lily Allen, and some of the... ill-informed responses it received, I realized that there is a different conversation that needs to be had first. That conversation is about the distinction between the exploitation of black women's sexuality for the (white) male consumerist gaze, and a black female celebrity's reclamation of her own sexuality on her own terms. For whatever reason, there seems to some difficulty in grasping the concept that the most significant difference between these two scenarios is agency , and the way in which the presence or lack of agency determines how a display of sexuality is to be perceived and received. To that end, I want to examine the ima...

I've been thinking a lot about the objectification of women, and the way in which it is normalized in a misogynistic, patriarchal society. One of the things that struck me was the way in which inanimate objects are very often coded as female. Cars, boats, planes, countries; they're all afforded what I call "T he Royal She. " It seems innocuous, but labeling inanimate objects as female contributes to the idea of actual women  as objects; objects you can own. It plays into the idea of ownership of the female body, and the subsequent "rights" afforded to someone who "owns property." When we make the connection between objects as female, we also make the reverse connection of women as objects. And objects exist to be owned, dominated and conquered. The symbolism of conquering land that is "inherently" female is quite shocking when you think about it. Especially when you consider the attitudes of the people who do so. Early settlers colonized ...

I'm.... conflicted about this video.  Lily Allen has always been a bit of a socially progressive, feminist badass, and I do love her for that. In her new single "Hard Out Here", Allen discusses the state of the pop industry, and the impossible standards that women are held to in order to be allowed to progress. The lyrics are classic Lily Allen; she calls out sexism pretty blatantly, and points to the ways in which women are expected to conform in order to succeed: If I told you about my sex life, you'd call me a slut/When boys be talking about their bitches no one's making a fuss/There's a glass ceiling to break/There's money to make/ And now it's time to speed it up because I can't move at this pace. [...]  If you're not a size 6, then you're not good looking/Well you better be rich or be real good at cooking/You should probably lose some weight 'cause we can't see your bones/You should probably fix your face or you'll end up ...

Joss Whedon gave a speech the other day and had some things to say about feminism. A lot of it was problematic , but I won't go into it here because it's already been said , and the fact that he said it is only vaugely related to the point I want to make. See, Joss Whedon is free to say whatever he likes about feminism in a "freedom of speech" kind of way. That is his right. But the arrogance of suggesting that a movement centered on women and their efforts to advance their own causes should refocus itself based on the self-serving suggestion of a cishet white guy is, well.... astronomical. But truthfully, the bigger issue here is not what  he said, but the reaction to what he said. While I don't agree with the nitty gritty of his reasoning, there are legitimate complaints to be made about the word feminist, and the feminist movement. Women of Colour, and black women specifically, created womanism for this very reason; to address the issues that were unique to t...

I love Louis C.K.'s bit on white privilege . To me, it's the epitome of what good comedy is and does; it allows us to tackle hard sociopolitical realities in a way that is accessible to everyone. True comedy is philosophy. True comedy illuminates the truths of our world in an objective way, without alienating those of us who might be the targets of that truth. Lazy comedy doesn't do that. Fat/black/ugly/asian/gay/female etc. jokes, don't do that. The one thing that all those jokes have in common is that they boil down to a common idea: "Laugh at this thing/person because it's different!" That's not funny. It's lazy and unmotivated. I know that sometimes people are different from me. That's what makes life so interesting. I don't need a half-assed comedian to point that out. Bad rape jokes are the worst kind of lazy comedy. It's not that I think that rape should never be laughed about. Comedy can and should be cathartic, but making the v...

No one likes to be wrong. No one likes to be told that something they do or so with no ill-intent, is in fact, incredibly offensive. We're living in a time where people are becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which different cultures interact, and the way in which history has coloured those interaction. We're realizing that callous disregard for the lived experiences of other people is no longer acceptable. But when you've grown up in a world that tells you that something is okay, it takes time and commitment to adjust your worldview. That's where "-isms" come in. Bigotry and intolerance are big, bad, intangible monsters, and no one person can fight them alone. But what we can do is call out the people we love on their bigotry when it rears its ugly head. I am personally of the belief that everyone is a little bit racist/sexist/classist etc. The world is set up in such a way as to reinforce those things as the prevailing accepted values, and anyone who ...

Unpopular opinion: As a feminist, I take absolutely no issue with gold diggers. As far as I'm concerned, the only grievance they commit is to not be honest about their motives with their chosen partner. People always forget that marriage is an archaic and largely outdated institution that has traditionally been about the acquisition and exchange of property and power between men. More so, women have been the tools of that transaction. Marriage existed solely to allow property to pass outside of a direct familial line. The idea of marriage for romantic love is a relatively new concept in mankind's history. So as far as I'm concerned, "gold diggers" are doing marriage "right". In a society that still largely sees women as transactional property, gold diggers are simply playing the system to their advantage; utilizing traditional practices as leverage against slightly more progressive but still outdated ideals. In 2013, women are still being told  that fin...

I'm super tired of having to say this shit, so I'm compiling it here for future reference. For the last time, the google-fu is strong. Harness it. Use it to educate yourself. I am not here to educate you. I found a way to learn without teachers and so can you. Continue Reading My Brilliance! >>>

People think that I'm a princess because I don't like to use public transportation. I get teased about it all the time, and it doesn't help that my sense of navigation is abysmal. People think that I'm well-off and don't travel because I don't want to "slum it." Well, they're wrong on all counts. I do not like to use public transportation because doing so makes me feel unsafe. I hate travelling, and I only do it when absolutely necessary. I will  make plans around whether or not I will be required to travel. I will  sometimes abandon plans altogether if it means travelling through a certain place or past a certain hour. And honestly? I'm just lucky. I have sometime-y access to a personal vehicle, and a flexible enough schedule that I can make arrangements arounds it's availability to me. Lots of women don't have that privilege or that choice, but it's what I do to ensure my own sense of personal security and control. When I was you...

I used to think of womanism as an off-shoot of feminism. It was a separatist movement that split from the whole as a way to create a space that better catered to the needs of non-white women; specifically black women. Now I think it makes more sense to view feminism as a subset of womanism. "Mainstream" feminism largely deals with the particular issues that cis/het, able-bodies white women face, and nothing more. That is not an inclusive movement. I used to think that something couldn't BE feminist unless it was intersectional. Now I realize that feminism largely  isn't intersectional on purpose, which is why womanism was born. If you create a feminist space and fail to include women of colour, trans* women, genderqueer women, immigrant women, disabled women or low income women etc, and continue to exclusively pander to cis/het able-bodied white women, you are making a very deliberate statement about who your feminism is for. I do not want feminism that is not interse...

I had originally planned to do a full and proper follow-up piece, but in doing my research (yes, I do my research so I can back my shit up) I ended up down a rabbit hole that basically demonstrated why wasting my time rebutting would be pointless. This thing with Jezebel.... it's happened before , and it'll happen again. Nothing that I could ever do on that site will change the fact that they Jezebel is not intersectional because it does not want to be intersectional .  It's not hard to instigate a paradigm shift, not really. Not when you have so many WoC speaking up, reading and willing to tell their stories.  Jezebel is not intersectional because intersectionality is not cool.  It's not profitable.  It's too gauche  to give a voice to all the dirty brown poors. It took all of this to make me finally see that, but now that I have, I know that I'm right.  I decided I wouldn't rebut, but I ended up vomiting my displeasure all out on twitter anyway, so I'...

via Natalie Dee Last night I quit Jezebel. It sounds like a dumb thing to be writing about, but for me, it's really, really significant. I'm 23. I'm black. I'm West Indian. I didn't have a lot of exposure to feminism growing up. I cringe when I recall the things that I said about other women when I was a freshman in college, and the attitudes that I had towards sexuality and womanhood. I went to a Catholic school in a country that is still largely misogynistic. It was pretty much a given that I'd grown up to be an anti-woman little shit. But then I found Jezebel. I found Jezebel and I started reading. I'm the kind of person who just likes to know  things, so perusing the site pre-Kinja was like a revelation to me. All of a sudden I had this entire vocabulary to explain the little microagressions that I'd faced all my life, and a community of women who were engaged in parsing those issues. I could finally vocalize why I felt an inconsolable rage when I w...

Because it was apparently  so much fucking fun  when Jezebel did it ,  Gawker  just doubled down  on their "Chris Brown is an asshole for getting raped at 8 years old" narrative. I.... See, this is one of those things that makes PoC go on protracted rants about white people. And I know it's not  all  white people, so please don't start. But the the way that CB has been treated in the media since he beat Rihanna has been tinged with racism from the very start (didn't Charlie Sheen SHOOT a woman?!?!?) and this just confirms that the reason white liberals love to shit on Chris Brown is not because he's an abuser, but because he's a  BLACK  abuser.  In the Guardian article that both pieces reference, CB admits to having been RAPED. He says he lost his virginity at 8.  THAT IS RAPE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD . But it's okay to doubt his story or minimize his abuse because he's black. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that he gets a ...

I am black and I am a woman. I reject the notion that I can or should, ever separate the two, because my experiences as a woman are modified and amplified by my blackness, and vice versa. I reject the notion that my sexuality does not exist on my own terms. My pleasure exists for me and I use it and claim it however and how often I see fit. I will not be judged for excercising the sexual freedom that follows inherently from bodily autonomy. I reject the notion that I am inherently sexual or sexually available because of my black womanhood. I take it upon myself to be sexual when and with whom I wish, and reserve the right to refuse to be sexual or sexualized against my will. I reject the notion that my sexuality is a commodity to be fetishized or demonized by virtue of my blackness. My sex is not deviant because it is not white. I reject the notion that my body is not my own. I will refuse to be subjected to physical contact that is unwanted or unsolicited, whether it be the petti...

Anyone who knows me or has paid a lick of attention to this blog in the last month or so knows that I am no friend of Miley Cyrus . The woman is obliviously racist, willfully obtuse and completely ignorant. And that doesn't even take into account the fact that she spent yesterday shaming two women for their mental health issues. So no, Miley and I are not bosom buddies. But you see this shit ? I DO NOT NEED YOUR MALE OPINIONS SCORCH MAGAZINE, NOR DO I WANT THEM. And I'm no stranger to calling out misogynistic Trinidadian men on their shitty interpretations of gender relations. I've already cussed out a radio DJ  and a friend of a friend . There's nothing new about this asinine explanation of events. But it's still insidious, so I guess I'll go lace up my patriarchy smashing boots. This "article" is full of slut-shaming, body-shaming, concern trolling, gender essentialist, patriarchal bullshit. I do not need to read that. I have spend the last few ye...

To be clear, none of this is a comment on Ms. Miller's individual suitability for the position, but rather a comment on the way in which any and all attempts to call attention to racialized oppression are immediately delegitimized and ignored in Trinidad. It's not about her personally and it never will be. I have nothing bad to say about her because I don't know her. Honestly, I'm inclined to like her despite not knowing her because I so rarely meet another "Catherine." The following tweets are about the way in which people with power respond when the legitimacy that power is questioned. Continue Reading My Brilliance! >>>