Are Women Human?
After posting the song “Q.U.E.E.N.” by Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu, and posting a video teaser, I couldn’t wait for the actual video to be released. These two amazing Black women are among my favorite artists. I’ve loved Erykah Badu since hearing “On & On” on an episode of New York Undercover in 1997. She had me at hello. I saw her in concert in South Florida in 2008; the best concert of my life. I’ve loved Janelle Monae since a friend sent me her “Tightrope” video a few years ago. I’m enthralled with her intelligence, talent, style, fashion and beauty.
The video for “Q.U.E.E.N.” is exquisite. Creative. Amazing visuals. Love the style and the fashion. Incredibly beautiful. I love the limited palette; the black, white, red, shades of grey and gold enthralls.
What really moves me is the combination of the visuals with the powerful lyrics. It’s everything. Some of my favorite lines include:
They call us dirty ‘cuz we break all your rules down…
This specifically makes me think of Black women rejecting controlling images (i.e. Jezebel, Sapphire, mammy) and embracing our full capacity to be dynamic, nuanced individuals, without boundaries and rules meant to control us.
Even if it makes others uncomfortable, I will love who I am.
Obvious as to why I would love this line. I also love Erykah’s line…
Here comes the freedom song, too strong we moving on…
And of course, there’s Janelle’s rap at the end, which I love. My favorite part of it:
Are we a lost generation of our people? Add us to equations but they’ll never make us equal. She who writes the movie owns the script and the sequel. So why ain’t the stealing of my rights made illegal? They keep us underground working hard for the greedy, but when it’s time pay they turn around and call us needy. My crown too heavy like the Queen Nefertiti. Gimme back my pyramid, I’m trying to free Kansas City. Mixing masterminds like your name Bernie Grundman. Well I’m gonna keep leading like a young Harriet Tubman. You can take my wings but I’m still goin’ fly. And even when you edit me the booty don’t lie.
The line “she who writes the movie owns the script and the sequel” plays in my head over and over and over. So empowering.
I love this song. <3
Christopher Eccleston on the relationship between the Doctor and his companions
“Even as a child I was frustrated with the idea that the man was the intellect and the girl was attractive and not very bright.”
Oh, Christopher Eccleston, you’ll always be my Doctor.
(via counterftnoire)
Have a Wonder Woman poster, created for a computer class project. Inspired by this piece.
because when I’m sad, I channel my feels.
Slain.
Trigger warning: child sexual abuse, victim blaming/mockery.
Ryan Murphy is the worst.
Last night Glee did an episode where one of boys revealed he was molested when he was 11 by his 17 yr old, female babysitter. He told his trusted glee club mates and in return the older boys (seniors getting ready to graduate and go to college or the workforce) mocked him. They said he should have been glad to get the attention, that any boy would have been and something is wrong with him. They listed 80s movies where this was the goal. They were completely insensitive to his victimization and patriarchal in their socialization of this kid. It was disgusting, but not unrealistic since we know that’s how men are socialized to respond to the idea of unwanted sexual attention from a “hot” girl to a male in a patriarchal society such as ours… they are taught to think they should always want it and to respond favorably or something is wrong with them.
What was horrifying was the total lack of correction. There was no real admonition of their behavior. There was no resolution involving the young men who mocked him. There was no clear “these young men are wrong for saying these things and need to change their ways of thinking because sexual abuse is real regardless of gender and no, boys, you are not expected to like when someone touches you inappropriately or without your permission. Men can be victims of sexual abuse and often are. Your feelings are valid. Your victimhood is real. It doesn’t make you weak. It’s not funny. And if you’re struggling with dealing with it, there are resources”. (In fact, immediately after the rebuff from his friends and older models of maleness, the character was compelled to retract any acknowledged feelings of victimhood or displeasure with being molested by a young woman and pretend like he was just being ridiculous. They actually made him high five the seniors and say “I was lucky”.)
Instead, we were treated with another student (female) telling him in private that she too was molested, then subsequently bullied into silence. Then they all sang together. All of them. Including the young men who mocked him. That was it. They never apologized. They never realized their egregious error and dearth of compassion and/or tact. They just moved on and led some fun songs and we’ll never hear about it again… and we’ve just further normalized their reaction. We haven’t shown why it was wrong. We haven’t taken a stand against it.
And you’re telling me nobody in control over at Glee had the sense to say “this is wrong; we can’t send this message out to kids”?
Even in the little “if you’re being molested, you’re not alone. call this hotline” PSA at the end, the only two people involved were the two who played the molested characters. They didn’t even take that opportunity to bring in the two guys who played the laughing/mocking/dehumanizing older friends to say “this is not a laughing matter. this isn’t a joke. young boys are sexually abused at the rate of ____. It is very real and no you are not expected to like it. you are not wrong for feeling icky about it”. They never acknowledged that it was wrong to respond the way these young men did. They never allowed young men who had not been victimized to empathize with and support boys who had.
I would like to say I’m shocked at Glee, but I’m not…unfortunately. Glee has had about as much finesse as an SVU writer “not” writing about Chris Brown when it comes to social matters. They’re horrid and that’s nothing new. But I am shocked at the media’s reluctance or complete unwillingness to discuss the level of irresponsibility and general lack of foresight over there.
Minna Hong
This is an excerpt from her essay in the Let’s Talk About Names series (I have one too) on Flyover Feminism and Are Women Human? The essay focuses on her experiences with people trying to pronounce her name, race, last name changes and feminism. I love this excerpt. I wrote about something similar recently, in my essay Black Women Do Not Have To Reject Any Mention Of Beauty To Be Womanist/Feminist.
(via gradientlair)
Donating blood is a given (though you should plan to donate to replenish as the hospitals are currently reporting that they are well stocked, but will need more blood later when these stores are depleted)
So, let’s pull together a list for now and the future okay? Okay.1. Red Cross
2. United Way of Massachusetts
5. Catholic Charities of Boston
8. Boston Cares
QWOC Media Wire is a media advocacy organization and online platform that amplifies the voices and thought leadership of sexual minorities around the world.
We are happy to announce that we’re seeking THREE new editors to join our team! Non-US candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Applications now open via our online submission system.
The ideal editor will be a seasoned writer, blogger, or publisher of online content. The ideal editor will identify as part of the queer and trans community of color (even if using a pseudoynm/alias), or as a racial/ethnic minority. (Note: As our site is dedicated to the voices and thought leadership of queer women, gender non-conforming and trans people of color, we give preference to editors who identify as such.)
Who We Are
Currently, we are: latina, African, mixed-race, femme, masculine of center, gender neutral, east coaster, west coasters, trans-nationals, professionals, scholars, activists. There’s still a lot that can be added to that.
Who We’re Looking For
We are actively searching for editors who don’t look like us—who share enough of our experiences as qpoc with multi-identities, but contributes a new lens to our collective vision. We aren’t looking for people to be marginally involved to deflect criticism; we are seeking people to be fully vested editorial partners, who are willing to volunteer time and energy alongside us to 1) recruit writers, 2) edit submissions, 3) moderate comments, 4) manage the space, and 5) grow QWOC Media Wire from a startup to a sustainable social enterprise.
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This will be a volunteer position. QWOC Media Wire is a labor of love. The funds for this site come out of our pockets. Therefore, we cannot provide any compensation for editors at this time. We do guarantee, however, that you’ll continually learn (we all do), you’ll be supported as an individual with their own career path, and your contribution to this project will be celebrated and honored. Lastly, but most importantly, as we recognize that this is a volunteer project (and we all have commitments outside of it), you’ll be part of a team that holds you accountable to your commitments, but also practices community care and support when critical.
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Our team currently comprises a serial social entrepreneur and digital media expert, an organizational development consultant, and a scholar interested in exploring the way intersectionality is reported or consumed by the media. We look forward to adding more core strengths and expertise to our team! What would you bring? We hope to find out through your application. f you’re interested in being part of something exciting, intentionally innovative, strategic, and collaborative—while working within a fun, affirming, and very smart team—we strongly encourage you to apply.
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Note: We will be interviewing until we find the right people. But this particular call for applications will close on May 20th, 2013 (with a possible earlier start date, schedules permitting).
Really valuable read for thinking about structural issues around power and labor between different groups of feminists in general, not just re: femfuture alone.
[NOTE: Some edits were made just after publishing. For the final draft, please visit diasporahypertext.com. Please take quotes from there.]
The “#FemFuture: Online Revolution” report was released this week. Organized by Courtney Martin and Vanessa Valenti, and funded in part by Barnard College, the report builds
“….on a 2012 convening where 21 writers, activists, and educators who work in the online feminist landscape came together to discuss their needs, desires, and hopes for the online feminist future. Here they provide a cogent explanation of the power of online organizing, the risks and challenges of the current state of the field, and some possible solutions for creating a more sustainable system.”
Critique of the report was immediate. Following the #FemFuture hashtag, bloggers, activists, educators, and organizers have taken the participants and the report to task for what appears to be U.S.-centric, mainstream, feminist elitism and historical erasure.
I have huge respect and love for a number of the #FemFuture participants. I’ve followed several of them–Brittney Cooper, Ileana Jiménez, Shelby Knox, Andrea Plaid, and Miriam Pérez–for some time and find their intervention online to be unique, refreshing, and necessary. I also find it fascinating that a group with so many perspectives on feminism and different levels of investment in what that word even means was able to gather for the purpose of crafting the report. I applaud Barnard College for supporting it; academic institutions need to take a larger role in supporting, dare I say, sustaining the work that is happening on the ground and online. Educators have a significant part to play in encouraging and supporting feminist thought so I’m not surprised to see so many involved.
I read the report and I appreciate the work that went into it but I wonder about mistakes that may have been made and ways we can move the conversation into a real #FemFuture. I find myself facing the report with, as Charlene Carruthers tweeted, “mixed feelings and mixed loyalties.”
My thoughts are varied but I’ll share a few here. I hope you’ll read it in full but if you need to jump around (or jump ahead and come back), you can follow the anchors: History and the Newness of Things, Uncompensated Labor x Unrequited Love, We Are All in This…Together?, Who Pays for (Online) Feminisms, and Dear Academic Feminists: A Coda on Privilege.
In case it isn’t clear, when I speak of “black feminists” I am using the term in its broadest, gender-neutral, inclusive of all sexualities, diasporic conception. For me, it is a term that describes more than individuals; it describes a set of practices and living in the world.
I also use the term “radical woman of color” as defined in This Bridge Called My Back: Writing by Radical Women of Color, edited by Cherrie Moragá and Gloria Anzaldua,to include non-white radical thinkers and activists in the United States and globally (some prefer the term “Global South” others “Third World”). “Radical woman of color” has been critiqued for the limits it places on gender expression and ways it may elide differences of nation, ethnicity, and race. I, too, am uncomfortable with the way the term circumscribes gender, but find the term useful as a coalition-builder. I also recognize many of the individuals I discuss (myself included) see themselves as radical wom-n of color. There is a longer discussion to be had here (terminology, movements, gender, new generations of rwoc) but for the purpose of this post, I use the acronym (rwoc) as a gender neutral alternative.
History and the Newness of Things
There is a dangerous ignorance in assuming #FemFuture is a first, a start, or new.
![letstalknames:
[excerpted from Flyover Feminism]
Let’s Talk about Names: Gaayathri
Gaayathri is a young feminist hailing from Auckland, New Zealand. She is the child of diaspora two times over and is deeply passionate about all forms of social justice. She can be found tweeting sporadically @A_Gaayathri and blogging at A Human Story. She is currently working in Malaysia for a regional reproductive rights NGO.
I chose not to change my name because I felt like it would be giving up too big a part of myself. I didn’t choose to retain my name because I thought it would make me a good feminist or for some arbitrary principled stand. Many of us who are not of Western European origin have very different naming traditions. If my surname was my father’s full first and last name, a common practice in many Indian traditions, I would have changed it to match my husband’s in a heartbeat. Framing this conversation as a dichotomy between being feminist and not, changing your name or not, undermines the complexity of the decision for people like me.
To read the entire piece, click here.
Photo used with permission of author.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/0b93f5b8b62101bc208a5092a23694ee/tumblr_mkr62zIMTp1s7meb0o1_500.jpg)
[excerpted from Flyover Feminism]
Let’s Talk about Names: Gaayathri
Gaayathri is a young feminist hailing from Auckland, New Zealand. She is the child of diaspora two times over and is deeply passionate about all forms of social justice. She can be found tweeting sporadically @A_Gaayathri and blogging at A Human Story. She is currently working in Malaysia for a regional reproductive rights NGO.
I chose not to change my name because I felt like it would be giving up too big a part of myself. I didn’t choose to retain my name because I thought it would make me a good feminist or for some arbitrary principled stand. Many of us who are not of Western European origin have very different naming traditions. If my surname was my father’s full first and last name, a common practice in many Indian traditions, I would have changed it to match my husband’s in a heartbeat. Framing this conversation as a dichotomy between being feminist and not, changing your name or not, undermines the complexity of the decision for people like me.
To read the entire piece, click here.
Photo used with permission of author.
From my latest piece, “What Kind of African Doesn’t Speak Any African Languages? Me.”
“There are a myriad of other identity markers that reveal the extent of both our sameness and uniqueness and make up the diverse African cultures that span the globe. Africa is complex–Africans, even moreso. Let’s not trade in our shared heritage for the exclusivity of an unjust social hierarchy. Let’s not , as our colonizers did, draw borders around poorly constructed monoliths. Our just protest for an Africa with linguistic agency must not turn us into the same masters of imperialist dogma we’re still yet to hold accountable.”
PHOTO: “My mother tongue is my childhood, my land and country.” - Artist Unknown, Source.
