Misha B and the "angry black woman" trope..

[SunsetBeetch]

I think this is important even if you've never watched X Factor in your life.

Misha B was a contestant on X Factor in 2011. She was (falsely, it now transpires) accused of bullying and 'being mean' to.other contestants.

Some of the judges seemed to have a problem with Misha being a confident performer, an it seems to me that there is racism and sexism involved. Women aren't allowed to be too confident. And if you're a confident black.woman, well that's just the worst.

Misha has posted a video on her Instagram account speaking of her experiences on X Factor, and a clip of the bullying allegations being made.

Gary Barlow, who was a judge that series, has confirmed Misha's account of what happened in his autobiography. Also there is evidence of Misha and Little Mix (who.were pitted against each other by these allegations) supporting each other.

Misha has had mental health issues because of what happened to her. I hope she is feeling much better now. Her message is one of lifting other women and girls us.

This made me really sad and angry.

www.instagram.com/iammisha_b/?hl=en

Do you think? I’m sure there would be a Twitter storm and cancellations. Much as I loathe twitter etc, social media has made it so much easier to call out racism.

My ex-husband and best friend were talking about how they'd never date a black woman. I asked why and they started spitting out all kinds of stereotypes. My husband also said he didn't find them physically attractive.
I said, "Not a single of them are attractive?'
He relented and said some of them are.
I asked if they would date an attractive black woman who had all the qualities they were looking for in a woman, and both men still responded with a resounding,"No!"
Both men were abusive and actually doing black women a favor, but I've heard similar things from other men. No reason, they just won't date black women. It's 100% prejudice and nothing more.

The Appleton’s and Mel blatt were all cast in a film written for them by Dave Stewart. Shaznay was just left out. And this was never called out in the media IIRC. No way they’d get away with that shit today, thankfully.

Except that’s not what happened. Shaznay declined to be in the film after reading the script because she was worried about her credibility - she didn’t want to do a shit film just for the sake of it. In an interview after the band split, Shaznay said that Dave Stewart was a “dirty old man” & it was obvious (considering the film’s subject matter) why he cast Nic, Nat & Mel but they couldn’t see it for themselves at the time & were misled. Having seen the film, Shaznay was completely right.

Sorry, my mistake 🤷‍♀️

I remember those comments towards Misha and I thought at the time that it was very unfair. A young woman - not a professional artist at the time- bullied live on TV by some of the presenters. Awful. Didn’t the show have a duty of care for the performers?

Actually this interview from the guardian in 2000 does say Shaznay was excluded from the film.

Whether she’d have wanted to do it or not, this must have hurt.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2000/sep/30/weekend.lindsaybaker

I’d forgotten they’d made a film but I’m sad to say this is not surprising.

Sabrina Washington has said she was told her look wasn’t desirable and Kellé Bryan (Eternal) has said she was told similar.

Look who has done the best out of Misteeq🤔 Alesha seems nice no offence to her but Sabrina was the lead singer and really beautiful too.

This looks really good. I'm too tired now but an on watching it very soon.

"There are a lot of people that are out there that don’t understand how racism affects people. I want people to watch it and learn something."

@LittleMix
's Leigh-Anne Pinnock opens up about why she made this documentary on her experiences with racism in the pop industry.

Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power, streaming Thursday 13th May on
@BBCiPlayer

twitter.com/bbcthree/status/1392540210580307976?s=20
.

Black women experience both sexism and racism hence the term misogynoir.

@cometogetheroverme

Black women experience both sexism and racism hence the term misogynoir.

I can't imagine how tough it must be in an industry that is already notorious for chewing people up and spitting them out

Leigh-Anne's documentary was great and really moving. She seems determined to change things and wouldn't be fobbed off by her record company when she asked for a meeting.

She's great! I thought her speech at the Brit Awards was great too (and Jade's).

So many jaw-dropping moments:

They tried to make Leigh Anne the Rihanna of the group by shaving her hair and dyeing it red
Her skin was lightened in some photos
Both Leigh Anne and Jade wanted nose jobs after they saw their photoshopped photos which made them look more 'white'
Alexandria Burke was told to lighten her skin to have more chance of success. And an agency told her they couldn't sign her as they already had a black girl on their books.

An interview with her about the documentary:

www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/51baf91b-c41f-496a-8c76-d3bdc345b1e4