Feminism for women of colour...

[AnotherEpisode]

As a black woman, I quite often feel sidelined within feminism.

I don't feel feminism addresses the difficulties faced by women of colour in western societies and quite often I feel I am drawn to race issues over feminist issues because of this.

I absolutely have more difficulties in this society because of the colour of my skin than I do because of my sex.

I feel that the lack of understanding towards racism amongst feminist circles gives me a stance of one over the other in which racism usually wins, which is unfortunate really!

This article, although written in a strong, comical and sometimes rude tone, gives a good insight!

thegrio.com/2015/02/23/patricia-arquette-blacks-gays-white-women/

Not sure why I'm posting but I'm interested in a wider perspective especially people's thoughts on the article!

Yes omo I think it does promote the stereotype. But I don't think we need to police the black collective so that we don't allow out the images that feed white stereotype. I think as always white ppl need to be less racist and positive black imagery needs to be promoted.

Having said that I wasn't really allowed to watch rap videos as a teenager so I don't feel any ownership of the imagery. I feel more ownership of carnival which equally risqué but for some reason that is ok in my mind.

I think personally I am more concerned that black children are consistently assumed to be older and more worldly than their white peers. Their childhood is made shorter and their responsibility increased before their time

hmm..I think there is a place to police our own people and point out to them the damage these videos are doing and how it exploits woc, you can't really blame other races for further believing woc are animals constantly on heat when you see what goes on in those videos, i don't like the carnival either, shocking! my good friend from Trinadad (the land of the biggest carnival, i think) told me October is usually baby boom month as most girls deliver their 'carnival' babies then.

That apart, there has always been the image of the hyper sexualised black female way before rap videos etc, from the times of slavery where black women were regularly raped by their white slave masters, and black male slaves used as breeding mares.

Another white feminist lurking and trying to take it on board, thank you

I struggle with Beyonce.

She appears to be about five shade slighter than she was 15 years ago. She has had surgery to thin the bridge of her nose. Her image is of a blonde, fair-skinned woman rolling around in knickers calling her husband 'Daddy' and shaking her bottom at the screen. No amount of 'girls run the world' lyrics can erasee that.

To me, she is just another example of how the white men who run the global music industry make big money out of perpetuating hyper sexualised, distorted views of black women.

I don't agree with the blog post on her. That doesn't speak for me. To me, Beyonce is depressing. She shows how little progress has been made.

The thing is most of these artists are American and I know from my family there is a distancing from the more explicit videos etc. However the black community concern trolls quite like the hypersexualisation of woc because it allows them to argue not only are you ugly and unworthy. But if you stray non black men only want you because they think you are hypersexual.

The thing is the men can use their virile status as a positive and women are just whores.
Again look at those black spaces and the sexist imagery and language used to describe their "own" women. You will be in for a long battle to clean up that mess. Hence why I just distance myself.

Personally i think black women need to speak out more to their daughters, sisters, sons etc and teach more about self esteem. The likes of Aretha franklin, Oleta Adama, Michael Jackson etc made it in the same industry without the aid soft porn. When i saw Nicki Minaj perform for the first time on MTV awards i felt sick!

So Oktavia you are asking for a war on two fronts the white money men and the black community at large and in particular the men, who quite like having a stable of women at their disposal who self segregate and are rejected by society a large.
It's a difficult fight to have.
It's just a bit shit really.

But its a mess we cannot ignore. No point complaining about dog mess on our street when our homes are full of it.

I know and I do see it happening - the conversations within families but woc don't like to (publicly) challenge their men for all the reasons discussed.

I genuinely don't know what to do or suggest. It is so disfunctional. I just try to protect the girls in my orbit.

Omo not being goady but what do you suggest

Because on the micro level that is fine but at the macro level the video producers, the artists and record labels etc. How do you stop the crap. Because people keep buying the music....

Starting with acknowledging it as a problem and discussing it like we are now. discussing it with our girls, adding it onto the WOC feminist agenda to end such explicitness and promoting positive images of black women on television be it acting music whatever. Forming lobbyist groups specifically targeted at the music industry and their portrayal of black women. It won't happen overnight, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Chip by chip we can cut away until it crashes

What we cannot afford to do, is just ignore it, it won't go away!

Maybe some of us on here can discuss further and start a small lobbying group.

There are some black women empowerment blogs out of the US pushing on this sort of thing but I am not aware of anything in the UK.

But I agree with you. I think it is time for us all to woman up here. These images hurt woc and their daughters and their brothers, fathers and sons produce them.

i do some online rooting around.

The awful thing is, African artists who used to be very family oriented and decent are now starting to emulate them. They are starting to collaborate with american artists and their videos are starting to change. Shirtless ripped men, scantily clad gyrating women albeit awkward gyrating. School dances are already starting to change as teens watch these videos. Its awful.

This is an American group but they drive campaigns along our kind of lines.

"What about our daughters"

I will also investigate online. I admit to being quite passive about some of these things but this rubbish affects us all and it's also sexist. Old school nasty sexism. And I don't think the black community should get a pass cos "cultural differences".

Yes technically this mess is in our house but I think this is problematic thinking. If we put woc issues in a bucket and say only woc can talk about these things and then run scared when black men call racism it means that you have no allies. I think the black community has lots of problems with homophobia and sexism that are swept under the carpet.

When we have campaigns about the preservation of childhood we have to all stand up and say yes all children. And when some spokesperson pops up with cultural difference explanation. We need to feel empowered enough to say that black children are worthy of a childhood. Put these fools on the back foot. It won't be easy for anyone.

Buffy I think white feminists need to be prepared to put on their hard hats and have it clear in their heads that the goal is to protect all women rather than just policing the borders of legitimate womanhood and placing woc outside. It's hard but if you read some of the black women empower blogs you will know if you are on the right track or not. But there will be blow back and screams of racism.

This is just my opinion here
Think and listen and follow the lead of the woc. And better yet ask. Particularly the woc who are disagreeing with you. I can't speak for all woc so just go out and ask some. And then listen some more.

Also context is everything. There is no point getting pissy about Rhianna and ignoring miley . The answer should be why are these images available to young children across the board. If a music video was likely to get an 18 rating and therefore less exposure the entire food chain is incentived to clean up. When you go after one artist or one song you create problems. And there are few music or media issues that are 100% black only. Pop music in general is far more out there too and incredibly diverse.

It's not about miley or Beyonce or rhianna being good or bad feminists. It's about where the images are and why you want to restrict them. There are lots of sensitive issues that feminists roll up their sleave and dig into knowing that they won't always be thanked. The Internet is full of women saying feminism isn't for them and you still continue.

Also when selmas director was snubbed by the Oscars there was crickets from feminists It is hard for female directors and doubly so for woc. Yet it was deemed a black issue. There are so many easy wins out there for white feminists which are ignored. Largely because they don't fit the narrative.