By Jasmine Kelly
Brittany Cooper eloquently stated on, “Nasty Women,” the latest episode of Demetria Lucas’ podcast, Rachet and Respectable, “To say we care about Black life, is to say we care about Black women’s’ quality of life.” Before she said that, Cooper stated, “We can’t be turning up in the streets for dead Black girls and we don’t know how to treat living Black girls.” I know, it was deep for me too but it’s the truth.
Between the lack of justice of Breonna Taylor’s killers, WAP and Kamala Harris you cannot convince me that the misogynoir is not rampant and upsetting you and your homegirls. Misogynoir is essentially extreme sexism towards Black women that is of course rooted in racism. “Coined by the queer Black feminist Moya Bailey in 2010, the term is a blending of concepts that combines “misogyny” and the French word for black, “noir.” According to Ms. Bailey, misogynoir is the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience” (Blackburn Center, 2020).
I know you see it, the “funny” memes on Instagram that at times almost always have Black women as the butt of the joke be it a verbal meme or a visual meme. Or you may have noticed that whenever a Black woman asserts herself in the media there is almost always an issue as if it is a crime for grown women to speak up for themselves. I noticed all of the former last week when Cardi B and Meg the Stallion dropped WAP and when Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his VP. The world hates Black women.
Everyone was bashing the WAP song not because it is overtly sexual but because it is two Black women asserting themselves sexually. You cannot convince me otherwise. Think about it. Sex is nothing new under the sun. Every artist has sung about it, rapped about, wrote poems about it, and even painted pictures. But the minute Black women are vocal about how they want it when they want it, and who they want it from?! Houston, we have an issue! Word to Meg.
So, I guess Black women are just supposed to shut up and continue to listen to lyrics that tell them when they should have sex and how from people who often don’t have vaginas and don’t even know how they work or how they function in them? I don’t think so.
Misogynoir is also rampant on Capitol Hill. I get it, Kamala Harris may not be everyone’s first choice for VP and that is your American right to have an opinion and a preference, but the critique started to get out of hand for me. I began to hear about everything but her qualifications (Even though she is overqualified but that is another story). Her marriage partner is brought into question and even if she is “Black enough.” While this is ridiculous, these happenings are not far-fetched.
I ask you, the next time you have an opinion of a Black woman and what she is doing, how she is doing it or who she is doing it too; ask yourself if your opinion could go for anyone and if not, you have some changing to do because Black women aren’t going anywhere.
Source: https://www.blackburncenter.org/post/2020/02/12/what-is-misogynoir
Jasmine Kelly is a contributing writer for the Pedestal Project, LLC. Jasmine is a higher education professional who believes in the powers of Black Twitter. You can follow her on Instagram @chicomydusty.
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