Just like the first Concept Engagement, you will use one of the concepts from our course readings — on the syllabus from Feb. 8 up to and including March 15 — to analyze a media example of your choice (TV show, music video, movie, Youtube series/figure, music, news story, social media phenomenon, etc.). You will engage at least one key concept from one of our readings, explore what that concept means (in relation to the reading from which it comes) and use that concept to briefly analyze your chosen media example. Students will be expected to use well-chosen quotations from the scholarly text, to properly cite and integrate the quotation into their discussion/analysis.
Students can choose to submit written work (500-750 words), create a short video, integrating slides and/or other media (minimum 3 minutes, maximum 5 minutes), or propose another creative media form (ie. basic website, basic digital game, something else?).
Concept Engagement #2 will take up course materials covered from Feb. 8 up to and including March 15.
Requirements: 650
This article was downloaded by: [New York University]On: 21 August 2014, At: 12:33Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UKWomen & Performance: a journal offeminist theoryPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rwap20Carnal teachings: raunch aestheticsas queer feminist pedagogies in Yo!Majesty’s hip hop practiceJillian Hernandezaa Ethnic Studies Department and Critical Gender Studies Program,University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United StatesPublished online: 20 May 2014.To cite this article: Jillian Hernandez (2014) Carnal teachings: raunch aesthetics as queer feministpedagogies in Yo! Majesty’s hip hop practice, Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory,24:1, 88-106, DOI: 10.1080/0740770X.2014.904130To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0740770X.2014.904130PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLETaylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Carnalteachings:raunchaestheticsasqueerfeministpedagogiesinYo!Majesty’shiphoppracticeJillianHernandez*EthnicStudiesDepartmentandCriticalGenderStudiesProgram,UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego,SanDiego,CA,UnitedStatesThisessayputsforwardanotionof“raunchaesthetics,”theorizingraunchasanaesthetic,performative,andvernacularpractice:anexplicitmodeofsexualexpressionthattransgressesnormsofprivacyandrespectability.Raunchaestheticsdescribecreativepracticesthatoftenblendhumorandsexualexplicitnesstolaunchculturalcritiques,generatepleasureforminorityaudiences,andaffirmqueerlives.TheauthoractivatesherformulationofraunchinanalyzingYo!Majesty,ahiphopgroupcomprisedofblackfemaleemceeswhoopenlydescribetheirsexualdesireforwomen,andexploreshowthequeeryouthofcolorsheworkswithhaverespondedtotheirmusic.Workingbeyondtheunexaminedmoralismsthatgivecritiquesofraunchculturetheirlegitimacy,theauthorarguesthatYo!Majesty’sraunchaestheticstransmitqueerandfeministteachings.Whilecelebratingcarnalpleasures,theseartistscritiqueheterosexism,subvertnarrativesabouttheincompatibilityofbeliefinChristandqueersexualities,andtroublenotionsconcerningtheemancipationofcomingoutoftheclosetanddeclaringastablehomosexualidentity.Indemonstratinghowraunchaestheticsgenerateconsciousnessraising,theauthordiscusseshowheryouthparticipantscriticallyreadandconsumehiphopwhilenegotiatingunwieldymeaningsofsexualityandgenderpresentation.Keywords:raunch;aesthetic;pedagogy;black;queer;feminist;hiphop;YoMajesty;sexuality;youth;consumption;gendernon-conformity;masculinity;religion;spirituality;raceYo!MajestyisahiphopgroupbasedintheTampa,Florida,areathatiscomprisedofblackfemaleemceesJwlB,ShonB,andShundaK,1whoopenlyexpresstheirsexualdesireforwomen(Figure1).TheirrecordingsYo(2006),KryptonitePussy(2008),andFuturisticallySpeaking…NeverBeAfraid(2008)combinethesoundsofSoutherncrunkrapwithMiamibassandelectronicmusic.In2013,afterahiatusduringwhichShundaKproducedhersoloalbumTheMostWanted(2011),JwlBandShundaKhavere-groupedasYo!MajestyandtouredacrosstheUS.Theopeningshotfortheir2009musicvideo“Don’tLetGo”2zoomsinonablackwomanasleepatherdesk,surroundedbyscribbledonPost-itnotesanddocuments.She©2014Women&PerformanceProjectInc.*Email:jillhernandez@ucsd.eduWomen&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory,2014Vol.24,No.1,88–106,http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0740770X.2014.904130
abruptlyawakens,disoriented,andleavesthevacantoffice,visiblytiredandoverworked.ShewalksoutontothestreetsofanondescripturbanareaintheUKdonningaconservativeandconcealingoutfit:blacktrousers,aloose-fittingpastelpinkblouse,andblackjacket.Afterstrollingthrougharedtelephonebooth,thecharactermagicallyundergoesaninstanttransformationinwhichherofficeattireissupplantedwithaskin-tight,vinyl,full-bodymagentacatsuitthatrevealshervoluptuousfigure.Nowwearingspikyheelsandatopthataccentuateshercleavage,shebumpsmusicfromalargeboomboxshecarriesonhershoulder.Thevideofollowsthewomanasshespendstheeveningsuggestivelydancingwithdelightinunorthodoxvenuessuchasanailsalon,bridaldressshop,tanningsalon,andyogastudio.Sheinfiltratesspaceswherewomendisciplinetheirbodiestofitnormativestandardsofattractivenessandinfusesthemwithraunchyrevelry.Menarenotablyabsentfromthespaceswheretheprotagonistenters.Herliplicking,tittyshaking,andbootyclappingseemtobeperformedforherownenjoyment,andthatofthewomenandgirlssheencounters.Sheincitesthemtostopworryingabouttheirappearancesandenjoytheirbodiesbydancingandhavingfun.Inthebeautyparlorthatisfrequentedbyblackwomenandgirls,thecharacter’shypersexualpresenceisinitiallymetwithdiscomfort,disdain,andcoyness.However,thepatronsandbeauticians,someofwhomareAsian,cannotresistwatchingherperformandeventuallyjoinin,dancing,smiling,evenwavingdirectlyatthecamera.Theirgesturesandgazestowardtheoutsideoftheframepositionthevieweraspartofthishomosocial,multiracial,andgleefulgathering.The“Don’tLetGo”videocloseswithasceneinwhichtheprotagonistdisruptsaclas-sicalfiguredrawingclass.Sheclimbsoveranddancesatopthewhitefemalemodelandsoonthestudentsintheroom,allofwhomarewomen,starttodancetogether,drawmorefreely,andremovetheirclothing.Thefemme’sraunchyperformanceundermineseconomiesofvisualspectaclefornormativemaleconsumption.Forexample,theanti-het-erosexistnarrativeofthevideoismarkedlyarticulatedinascenewherethecharacterplay-fullylaysakissuponthelipsofawomantryingonaweddinggownatabridalstore.TheFigure1.Yo!Majesty:Lefttoright,JwlB,ShonB,ShundaK.Source:ImagecourtesyofJimLucio.Women&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory89
characterservesasYo!Majesty’ssuperheroofqueerness,infusingheterosexistspaceswithcorporealjouissance.TheprotagonistofYo!Majesty’svideocanbesituatedwithinKaraKeeling’stheoriza-tionoftheblackfemmeinherbookTheWitch’sFlight.Inexamininghowthecinematicimageoftheblackfemmehasdisturbednormativevaluationsofrace,gender,andsexualityinfilmssuchasSetItOff(1996),Keeling(2007,9)advancesthatthefigureoftheblackfemme“existsontheedgeofthevisibleandtheinvisible,servingasaportalthroughwhichpresent(im)possibilitiesmightappear.”Thefemmein“Don’tLetGo”exhibitsthecapacityofmovingthroughportals,assymbolizedbyhermovementthroughtheredtelephonebooth,andinthevideosheaugursdissident,orpresently“impossible”formsofsocialitybetweenwomenacrossageandrace.AccordingtoKeeling,thefigureoftheblackfemmevalorizesbutch-femmeeroticandsocialformations,andaffirmstheexistenceofgendernon-conformingwomenofcolormorebroadly.Themurderofthegendernon-conformingblackgirlSakiaGunnin2003,andtheperilousspacesoccupiedbysuchbodiesinthecontemporarynormativeregime,makescreativeprojectssuchasYo!Majesty’scrucialtomappingthe“radicalElsewheres”thataresignaledbyKeeling’sblackfemme(2007,1).3Yo!Majesty’shiphopcritiquessexismandaffirmsthelivesofwomen,suchassexworkers,whoareoftenjudgedasdeviant“hos.”Thelyricsof“Don’tLetGo”celebrateawomanwhoislabeledahobecauseofthesexywayshedancesintheclub.Thechorusurgeshertoignoretheseinsultsandsustainherconnectiontothemusicanditsplea-sures:“Don’tletgo,letthemusictouchyoursoul/Don’tletgo,breakyourback‘tillyoulosecontrol/Don’tletgo,letthemusicsetyoufree/Don’tletgo,shakeyourbodysowecansee.”Althoughmanymainstreamhiphopsongspromptwomentomovetheirbodiesandsetthemselves“free”tothemusic,thevoicesarticulatingsuchmessagesareoftenmale,heterosexual,andsexist.In“Don’tLetGo,”thevoicesarethoseofqueer,masculinebody-presentingblackwomen,andthelyricsarecraftedinoppositiontothedenigrationandsexualpolicingofwomen.IaimtodemonstratehowwhatIcallYo!Majesty’s“raunchaes-thetics”performpedagogiesthattransmitqueerandfeministteachings.Idefinepedagogyasamodeandstyleofinstructionandconsciousnessraising.Liketheimaginativemarkingscraftedonthepagesofthesexuallyliberatedartstudentsinthe“Don’tLetGo”video,raunchistheorizedinmyargumentasaperverseaestheticcraft.“Perverse”hereindicatesaflagrant,andexplicitlysexualdeviationfromthenormal,andacriticalavowalofhyper-sexuality(Shimizu2007).Theperversityofraunchaestheticsdefiesdominantregimesofrespectableandheteronormativesexualexpression,andpresentspossibilitiesformargina-lizedsubjectstoexperiencepleasureandaffirmation.SchoolofraunchKnowledgeproductionandtransmissionhasbeenamajorcomponentofhiphoppracticesinceitsemergencein1980sNewYorkCity.TheinstructivestorytellingofpioneerslikeKRS-OneandSlickRickenlightenedaudienceswithcautionarynarrativesthataimedtosteerthemawayfromviolence,andAfrocentrichistoriesweresharedinordertoraisecriti-calconsciousness,righteousanger,andsocialaction.Yo!Majesty’shiphopbothstemsanddeviatesfromthiscontextinthattheirteachingsarearticulatedbyandforqueer,gender90J.Hernandez
queer,andfemale-identifyingaudiences.TheyschoollistenersinwayssimilartothatofthelesbianAfro-CubanhiphopgroupLasKrudas(Saunders2009),wholaunchfeministandantiracistcritiques,buttheknowledgeYo!MajestydropsisoftenarticulatedintandemwithmessagesthatcelebrateGodandstrip-clubculture.DrawingfromRuthNicoleBrownandChamaraJewelKwakye’sframingofhiphopfeministpedagogyas“awayofaskingques-tionsaboutandspeakingtothediscrepanciesandthecontradictionsthatexistinthemateriallivesofyoungpeople”(2012,5),Icenteryouthnarrativestodemonstratehowqueerandfeministconsciousnessraisingcanbeconductedthroughraunchysexualexpression.ThepedagogicalworkperformedbyYo!Majesty’sraunchaestheticswererecognizedbytheyoungqueerwomenofcolorIworkedwithatthenon-profitorganizationPridelinesYouthServicesinMiami,Florida.Someoftheseyouthidentifiedasbisexual,othersaslesbian,andafewdidnotidentify.Theyconsideredthemselvesfemale,andtheirgenderpresentationvariedfrommasculinetoandrogynoustofeminine.Sometimestheycombined,ormovedinandoutofthesesartorialmodes.IengagedwiththemasaresearcherandasaneducatorofWomenontheRise!,4anoutreachprogramoftheMuseumofContemporaryArt,Miami,thatIdevelopedin2004inresponsetothegrowingnumberofgirlsenteringthejuvenilejusticesysteminFlorida.Theprogramhassinceexpandedtoengagehundredsofgirlsandyoungwomenayearinartmakingandcriticalconversationsaboutgender,embodiment,sexuality,race,andclassinpartnershipwitheducationalandsocialjusticeorganizationsthroughoutMiami.TheworkingclassAfricanAmerican,Afro-Caribbean,andLatinayoungwomenIworkedwithatPridelinesfortwoyearsfrequentlytalkedabouthiphopamongstthemselves.DuringaWomenontheRise!workshoponhiphopin2013,IaskedmyPridelinesstudentsiftheywerefamiliarwithYo!Majestyandnoneofthemhadheardofthegroup.Interestedinwhattheywouldthink,Iplayedthe“Don’tLetGo”videofrommylaptop.ItwasprojectedontoawallinaPridelinesconferenceroomthatservedasourmakeshiftartstudio.Whileitplayed,thegroupoffivesnappedpicturesoftheprojectionwiththeirsmartphonesandpostedthestillsonInstagramandFacebook.Thevideomadethemlaugh,andseveralexpressedthattheyfoundtheblackfemmeinthetightpinkcatsuitsexy.Q,whoidentifiesasAfricanAmericanandlesbian,enjoyedthevideo,andcommented:“She[theprotagonist]waskindaraunchybutshewaslike,goofywithit.Youseeherfigurebutshewassogoofywithit.”Beth,whoidentifiedherselfasbisexualand“whiteHispa-nic,”contrastedYo!Majesty’sworkwithmainstreamhiphopvideosinwhichwomenportrayhighlyaffectedtoughandsexyattitudesthatappeartoconformtomaledesires.InlaudingYo!Majesty’sfeministapproach,shesaid:“Itwasmoreofaturnonbecauseshewassogoofywithit.”TheblendofexplicitsexualityandhumormyinterlocutorsatPridelinesdescribedasraunchygeneratedbothsexualdesire(forthefemme)andculturalcritique(ofmainstreamhiphop).ThisisYo!Majesty’steachingatwork.Thevideopromptedthem–throughtheperformanceoftheblackfemme,lyrics,andbeats–tocon-trastitwithmassmediatedhiphopproduction.Italso“taught”themalternativemodesofsexinessthatdonotprecludehumor.Theirenjoymentofthevideoledthemtomakearecordofaperformancetheyfelttobeuniqueandsignificant,andtocirculateitviasocialnetworksforconsumptionbyotherqueeryouth.Mystudentstaughtmesomething,Women&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory91
andIbuildupontheirprojectofarchivingandtheorizingqueerfeministwomanofcolorperformancehere.Ourpedagogicalexchanges,fromstudenttoteacherandviceversa,demonstratedthepossibilitiesandpoliticsofYo!Majesty’swork.InthisessayIanalyzethemodesthroughwhichYo!Majestytransmitsqueerandfem-inistteachingsthroughtheraunchaestheticsoftheirhiphoppracticeandinterviewstate-ments.Althoughtheirworkdoesnothaveamainstreamaudience,Iarguethatitisacriticalarchiveofqueerblackfemalefeelingsthatmeritsdocumentation(Cvetkovich2003).Thisarchivecouldbemobilizedtoengagequeeryouthofcolorincriticalandcreativecon-sciousnessraising.IdrawuponmydiscussionswithyouthatPridelinesabouthiphop,queersexualities,andgenderedembodimentinassessingtheculturalpoliticsofYo!Majesty’swork.Myengagementwiththemraisesquestionsregardingthevisibilityandvaluationsofnon-normativesexualitiesincontemporaryhiphop,andrevealsthecomplexwaysinwhichqueeryouthofcolornegotiatemusicconsumptionandissuesofgendernon-conformitymorebroadly.IwillelaboratemyconceptionofraunchaestheticsandattendtothewaysinwhichYo!Majestyexpandsthinkingabouttheroleofspiritualityinqueerofcolorpoliticsandsubjectivities.TheanalysesIpresentherearealsoanimatedbyaconcertIattendedinBrooklyn,NewYork,inJune2009attheMusicHallofWilliamsburginwhichShundaKofYo!MajestyperformedalongsidethequeermusicianPeaches.Theycollaboratedonthesong“Billionaire”forPeaches’2009albumIFeelCream.ThecrowdgaveShundaKrousingapplauseasshecameonstageandrecitedherrhymes:Lickthatpussyjustright,ohyoudon’tknowthishanddon’tfiredynamite,that’sme,outtamindandouttasight/Leadthatpussyup,down/Nooffense,bringthathookbackinandwatchmeactaclownjustlike/Themicstand,comeuptotheshow,incaseyoudidn’tknow/Nowturnarounddon’tfuckthisup/Igotyougirl,takeoffyourclothes,damn!Iwasthrilledtoseetheperformersworkthequeeraudienceintoaraunch-fueledfrenzythroughtheirfast-pacedperformanceandexplicitlyrics–dancing,bouncing,singing,rhyming,andsweating.Towardsatheoryofraunchaesthetics“Raunch”isatermthatiscommonlyused,butrarelydefined.Itisaconceptundertheorizedingender,sexuality,andcriticalracestudies.Irecentlyconductedasearchonthetopicandofthefewarticlesthatemergedintheresultsthatcontainedthekeyword“raunch,”noneconceptualizedthetermoroperationalizeditinanalysis(NashandBain2007;Bale2011;Bishop2012;Mitchell2012).Thewordwasusedinthisliteratureasevocativeshorthandtodescribeexplicit,unromantic,andpoor/workingclasssexualities.AninfluentialengagementwithraunchhasbeenArielLevy’s2005bookFemaleChau-vinistPigs:WomenandtheRiseofRaunchCulture.LevycritiqueswhatsheidentifiesasatrendofwomenrejectingfeminismandembracingheterosexistexpressionsofsexualitysuchasGirlsGoneWildvideos.Sheclaimsthatwomenwhoperforminandenjoyraunchypleasuresbelievetheyaredemonstratingagencywheninfacttheyarevictimsoffalseconsciousnesswhocontributetotheirownsubjection.Levydoesnotfleshout92J.Hernandez
herconceptionofraunch.Rather,shetreatsitasareadilyidentified,degeneratesexualaes-theticandpointofdepartureforlaunchingcritiquesofpopularrepresentationsshefeelsaredamagingtowomen.Levyignoresthedynamicsofraceandclassinthetext,andseemstobeprimarilycon-cernedwithwhitewomen.Itiscrucialtorecognizethatnotionsofraunchdrawuponracia-lizedconstructionsofclass,andviceversa.LauraKipnistheorizestheclasspoliticsoffeministdisgustwithporn,thekindofdisgustarticulatedbyLevy.SheanalyzeshowthepornographicmagazineHustlerlevelscritiquesatbourgeoismoralismthroughdepictinggrotesquebodiesthataretheantithesisoftheglamorizedfiguresinpublicationssuchasPlayboy.ThebodiesinHustlerexhibitpubichair,emitbodyfluids,havegapingorifices,andaresometimesgaseous.Introublingstandardassumptionsregarding“negative”depic-tionsofwomeninsexuallyexplicitproductions,Kipnis(1992,378)arguesthatfeministdisgust“isnotwithoutafunctioninrelationtoclasshegemony,andmorethanproblematicinthecontextofwhatpurportstobearadicalsocialmovement.”Kipnis’sargumentisusefulforhighlightingtheclasspoliticsoperativeinfeministdevaluationsofraunchaesthetics.Blacksexualitieshavebeenframedasalwaysalreadyexcessive,low-class,anddegen-eratebyEuro-Americanimaginaries(Collins2004).Hiphopmusichastakenthefallforpurportedlyreifyingthesenegativestereotypes.WorksuchasT.DeneanSharpleyWhit-ing’sPimpsUp,HosDown:HipHop’sHoldonYoungBlackWomen(2008),havecritiquedtheframingofblackwomeninhiphopasdenigratedsexualobjects.InTheHipHopWars,TriciaRose(2008)framedblackfemaleemceessuchasTrina,whodeployexplicitsexu-alityintheirwork,asself-exploitativeduetothemannerinwhichtheyreifysexistrepresen-tationsofwomenbymanymainstreammalerappers.Incontrasttonarrativesofobjectification,thereisagrowingbodyofworkexaminingtheanti-racistandfeministpotentialofsexualizedperformancesbyblackwomeninhiphopandpornography(Miller-Young2008,2010;Nash2008).Thesestudiesshiftourperspective,andurgeustoseebeyondracialstereotype,trauma,abuse,andinjurytoexamineexpressionsoffemalesexualpleasureandpleasureinblackness.Mydiscussionofraunchhereaimstocontributetothisscholarship.Issuesofraceandsexualaestheticshavehighculturalstakes.Takeforexampletheflashpointthatoccurredintheearly1990sinresponsetothearrestoftherapgroup2LiveCrewunderchargesofobscenity,andthelabelingoftheiralbumAsNastyAsTheyWannaBe(1989)asobscenebyafederaljudge.HenryLouisGatesJr.defendedtheirmusicintheNewYorkTimes,arguingthatthegroup’sexplicitlyricswereaformof“sexualcarnivalesque”thatexaggeratedstereotypesofblackmalehypersexualityinordertounderminethem.5In“BeyondRacismandMisogyny:BlackFeminismand2LiveCrew,”KimberleCrenshaw(1991)alsocritiquedthepolicingofblackmalesexu-alityanddenigrationofblackexpressiveformsbythestate.Yetshedecriedwhatshefoundtobethegroup’spromotionofsexualviolencetowardandobjectificationofblackwomen.Crenshaw’sanalysisleftunconsideredthesubjectivitiesofyoungworking-classwomenofcolorcomingofageinthe1990s.GrowingupasanadolescentinMiamilisteningtosongslike“IWannaRock”by2LiveCrew,andwatchingtheirvideoswhilemyparentsslept,presentedanon-moralisticmodeofexploringmysexualityagainsttheCatholicWomen&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory93
andLatin@heteronormativitiesInegotiatedasachild.Crenshawalsooverlookedtheraunchyhiphopproductionofblackwomenwhowereworkingintheearly1990saswell,suchasSalt-n-PepaandWandaDee.Nevertheless,animportantinterventionmadebyheressaywashighlightinghowblackwomen’sperspectivesweremissingfromthe2LiveCrew“obscenity”debate.Inthelate1990sandearlymillennium,artistslikeLil’KimandFoxyBrownmobilizedexplicitlyricsandsexualizedbodypresentationsthatprovedmarketabletomassaudiences.Theypavedthewayforcontemporarymainstreamfemalerapperswhotrafficinhypersexuality,suchasNickiMinaj.Althoughtheseartistshaveeffectivelycirculatedtheirgenderedperspectivesinthemale-dominatedindustryandpracticeofhiphop,thebodiesandsexualvoicesofqueer,gendernon-conformingblackwomenhaveremainedunderground.Mytheorizationof“raunch”respondstothepaucityofcriticalterminologyavailableforanalyzingsexuallyexpressiveforms.Iworkoutsideandbeyondtheoften-unexaminedmoralismsthatgiveexistingcritiquesofraunchsexualitiesinhiphoptheirlegitimacyandculturalcurrency.Isuggestthat,ratherthanassumeweknowwhatwemeanwhenwesay“raunch,”andthatweknowthatitsexpressioncannotpossiblyconductanti-racist,anti-heteronormative,andfeministwork,thatweinsteadconductclosevisual,textual,anddiscursiveanalysesofitsmobilizationstobetterunderstanditscreativeandcul-turaleffects.Currently,thereisadiscoursecirculatinginhiphopfeministcirclesconcerningtheterm“ratchet.”Thisworkanalyzestheculturalpoliticsofitsdeploymenttodescribetheper-ceivedover-the-top,raciallyandaestheticallyexcessivebodiesandbehaviorsofpoorandworkingclassblackwomen.6Mywork(Hernandez2009)onthe“sexual-aestheticexcess”ofyoungLatinawomen–pejorativelytermed“chongas”forsignifyingworking-classhypersexuality,crassbehavior,andethnicdifference–hasmuchincommonwiththeseexaminationsoftheculturalcachetoftheratchettermandaesthetic.However,itisanalyticallynecessarytodistinguishratchetfromraunch.Thetermratchetdescribesclassedbehaviorandembodimentmorethanitdescribessexualcomportmentandbodies,althoughitattimescollapsesthetwo.Ratchetalsodoesnothavetheconnota-tionsofsexualexplicitnessthatraunchdoes.Althoughcertainexpressionsofraunchcouldbeconsideredratchet,asraunchdoescarryracialized“low-class”significations,notallformsofratchetcouldbeconsideredraunchy–forexample,realitytelevisiondepictionsofblackwomenverballyorphysicallyfightingwitheachother.Iconceiveofraunchasanaesthetic,performative,andvernacularpractice,anexplicitmodeofsexualexpressionthattransgressesnormsofprivacyandrespectability.Raunchaestheticscelebratethemovements,looks,sensations,andaffectsofbodies.Theyaimtoincitearousalwhileoftensimultaneouslygeneratinglaughter.OnecanthinkofthewaysinwhichmyPridelinesstudentsdescribedthedancingoftheeroticblackfemmeinthe“Don’tLetGo”videoas“goofy,”andthemannerinwhichShundaKfollowedhervividdepictionofpleasuringherpartner’spussywithdescriptionsofherselfasa“clown”inthesong“Billionaire.”Raunchaestheticsseriouslycentersex,butdonottakesexseriously.Theseexpressivemodesdonotsearchfororaffirmthetruthofsexualsubjects;rather,theycelebrate,oftenthroughhyperbolicexcess,multiplicitiesofbodiesandpleasuresinthemodeofaFoucauldianarserotica(1978).Inperformance,themobilizationofraunch94J.Hernandez
aestheticscancreatespacesinwhichqueerpublicscanassembleandexperienceerotic,musical,performative,andcomedicpleasures.7Althoughmanymassculturehiphopproductionsarticulateraunchsexualities,Iamfor-mulatingtheconceptof“raunchaesthetics”toindexsexuallyexplicitworksthatmovebeyondtitillationandmass-marketedtropes.Thecontroversialraunch-inflectedperform-ancebythewhitecelebrityMileyCyrusatthe2013MTVVideoMusicAwards,inwhichsheappropriatedthebutt-shakingmovementdevelopedinblackdanceculturecalled“twerking,”andslappedtheassofablackwomanonstage,demonstrateshowthecultureindustryiskeentoadoptracializedformsofsexuallyexplicitperformancetobuildaudiencesandboostsales.8Processesofculturalappropriationareshiftinganddynamic.However,attendingtotheeffects,aesthetics,andmeaningsofsuchperformancescanfacilitateanalysisofthepoliticaleconomyofraunchsexualities.UnliketheperformancebyCyrus,theformsofraunchaestheticscraftedbyYo!MajestyandculturalworkerssuchascomedianMargaretCho,forexample,servetogenerateplea-sureforminorityaudiences,affirmqueerlives,andregularlyblendhumorandsexualexpli-citnesstolaunchculturalcritiques.Idonotusetheterm“aesthetic”tosituatetheconceptintherealmofeliteculturalproduction.Rather,Iframeraunchaestheticsasstylizedformsofcrafting.9Raunchaestheticsgetlow,andliveinthelow.Inthis,raunchaestheticsareakintothehiphop“asspolitics”theorizedbyJasonKing.Indiscussinghowthebeatsofthe“DirtySouth,”thekindsofbeatsgeneratedbyYo!Majesty,workonblackbodiesandsubjectivities,hewrites:Newlygravitationallycenteredontheass,thebodybecomesitsownintimatedancefloor,anevermoreknowledgeablesitewherenew“steps”arerehearsedandpracticed.Thisbeatwantstomovetothebody,andthebodymustlearntore-movethebeat.Theriseofassmusic,thispursuitofpercussivetactility,mightbeacontinuationofthesubalternlongingforcorporealfreedomfromandagainstthe“shitty”history(andtherefore“shitty”presentandfuture)ofWesternimperialcivilization.(King2001,439)ForKing,assmusicservesasaformofknowledgeproductionandtransmissionforblacksubjects.Thequotidian,“vulgar,”andexcessivevalencesofraunchaestheticscouldbeframedinrelationtoBakhtiniannotionsofthetransgressiveeffectsofgrotesqueandcarnivalesqueexpression.However,Iresistthisuncomplicatedinterpretationinthatitwouldattributetoomuchsubversivepotentialtoraunch.PeterStallybrassandAllonWhite(1986)andAchilleMbembe(1992)havepersuasivelyarguedthatgrotesqueandcarnivalesqueaes-theticscanconsolidatenormativeregimesasmuchasunderminethem.Ratherthantrans-gression,raunchcanbeframedasamodeofsexual-expressivedeviance.CathyJ.Cohen(2004,30)suggeststhatactsofdeviancecanpotentiallycontributetoradicalpoliticsbyrevealinghowmarginalizedfolkemploytheirlimitedagencytounderminenorms“inpursuitofgoalsimportanttothem,oftenbasichumangoalssuchaspleasure,desire,rec-ognition,andrespect.”Theeffectsofraunchaestheticsaremodest,butsignificant.Theseexpressionsmaynotbringaboutarevolutioninformationsofrace,class,gender,andsexuality,butdopresentmodesthroughwhichnon-normativesubjectivitiesandlivescanbeaffirmedandcreativelyWomen&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory95
sustained.AsAudreLorde(2007)hasproclaimed,“PoetryisNotaLuxury,”andtheraunchaestheticsIengageherearticulateblackqueerfemalepoeticsviahiphop.ThesignificanceofsuchpoeticsispowerfullyarticulatedinKaraKeeling’s(2009)readingofTheAggres-sives(2004),afilmthatdocumentsthelivesofgenderqueersofcolor.KeelingincitesustoenvisionatimeinwhichbodieslikethoseoftheyouthIworkwithatPridelines,SakiaGunn,ShundaK,ShonB,andJwlB,canhavealessprecariousexistence.Shearguesthatnewpoeticandtemporalmodesareneededtodisturbthesymbolicordersofpastandpresent.Yo!Majestyproducessounds,images,andperformancesthatprovokeustoimaginewhatsuchafuturewouldfeellike,andtheyteachushowtoinvokeit.10InwhatfollowsIanalyzeadebateheldamongmyPridelinesinterlocutorsconcerningfemalegendernon-conformityandqueervisibilityincontemporaryhiphoptogroundmyexaminationofthewaysinwhichYo!Majestytransmitsqueerandfeministteachingsthroughraunchaesthetics.Ifocusonhowtheseperformerstroublenormativevaluationsofracedandgenderedbodies,andfurther,howtheirmusicandinterviewstatementscom-plicatewidelyacceptednotionsregardingtheemancipatorypotentialofcomingoutofthecloset,andtheincompatibilityofblackqueersexualitieswithChristianity.Queeryoungwomenofcolornegotiatinggender,sexuality,andhiphoppoliticsIaimtobuilduponscholarshipexamininggender,sexuality,race,andembodimentbyengagingtheperspectivesofyoungqueerwomenofcolorandforegroundingtheirevery-daymediationsofidentityandembodiment(Butler1993;Halberstam1998,2005;Muñoz1999,2009;Holland2012).11From2011through2013,IconductedparticipantobservationandfocusgroupswithWomenontheRise!participantsthatcenteredonissuesofbodystyling,popularculture,andvisualartproduction.12HereIspecificallydrawuponacon-versationIhadwithparticipantsfromPridelines,mostofwhomwereintheirearly20satthetime.Iwillbereferringtothemthroughpseudonymstheycreatedandusingtheirownethnic,racial,andnationalidentifications.Ianalyzehowtheyouthnegotiatetheircon-sumptionofmusicandhowthisconsumptionshapestheirunderstandingsofsexualityandgender;especiallyasIhavelearnedaboutthestrugglesfacedbymymasculinebodypre-sentingparticipants,suchasrejectionbyfamily,streetharassment,andstraininromanticand/oreroticrelationships.Thestakesarehighforblackgendernon-conformingyoungwomenwhosebodiesarereadthroughracistandheteronormativelogicsthatsubjectthemtoviolenceandharassment.Thesearebodiesthatdonotfitstocknarrativesofpropersubjectivityandvictimhood(Wanzo2008;Green2009).IaskedmyPridelinesclasswhosomeoftheirfavoriteartistswerethenightIshowedthemYo!Majesty’s“Don’tLetGo”video,asIwasinterestedinlearningaboutthemusictheyconsume.Qsaidshelikeshiphopandneosoul,artistslikeFrankOcean,Miguel,KanyeWest,andNickiMinaj.Suzie,anAfricanAmericanpoet,mentionedtherapperCommon,EllaFitzgerald,LilWayne,andthesoundtracktotheLionKing.Bethsharedthatshewasinterestedintheworkofup-and-comingfemalerapperslikeIggyAzaleaandAzealiaBanks.Tamyra,anAfricanAmericandancer,isafanof1990sR&BartistslikeBoyzIIMenandSilk.Alaika,whoisHaitian-American,saidshelistensto“every-thing.”Theircitationofartistsrevealedthewiderangeofculturaltextstheyengaged.96J.Hernandez
Unliketheirothermusicvideos,theonefor“Don’tLetGo”doesnotincludefootageofYo!Majestyperforming.Afteritplayed,Isearchedthewebforphotosofthegroup.Ifeltitwasimportantformystudentstoseethegendernon-conformingbodypresentationsoftheemceesinordertoprovideawidercontextforourdiscussionabouttheirwork.ThemembersofYo!Majestywearnomakeup,andusuallydonbaggyjeans,loosefittingT-shirtsorform-fittingwhitecottontanktops,andsneakers.JwlBandShundaKusuallystyletheirhairinlongdreadlocks,andShonBoftenhasherhairdoneupincornrows.Whilewelookedattheimages,IaskedthestudentsiftheythoughtanactlikeYo!Majestywouldhaveachanceofenteringthemainstream.TamyraandQanswered“no,”immediately,forcefully,andinunison.Bethdisagreed,asserting,“Ithinkso!Nowwithallthesegirlscomingout?Allthesehardcoregirlscomingout[inthemainstreammusicindustry].”BethwasreferringtoartistslikeNickiMinaj,IggyAzalea,andAzealiaBanks,contemporary“hardcore”rapperswhohavefemininebodypresentations.Suziedis-agreedwithBeth,saying:“Notthismasculine.Ithinktheindustryrightnowmightbereadyforlesbians,justnotmasculine-bodiedlesbians.”Theclassthenenteredadebateaboutqueervisibilitypoliticsinmassculture,andfiguressuchasFrankOcean,ablackcelebrityinhiphopandR&BwhoexpressedhisloveforamanviathesocialmediasiteTumblr.Ocean’spublicdeclarationwascelebratedinthemediaasathresholdmomentinwhichhiphopwouldbeinclusiveoffolkswithnon-normativesexualities.13Homonormativeexpressionsof“gayfriendliness”inhiphophavebeencirculatedbycommerciallysuccessfulactssuchasMacklemoreandRyanLewis,whose2012song“SameLove”gainedattentionforaffirming(monogamous)same-sexrelationships.Beth’scommentsabouttherealisticpossibilitythatagrouplikeYo!Majestywouldhaveachancetoenterthemainstreamdrewonasimilardiscourseofinclusion.AlthoughOceandidnotlabelhissexuality,sheinterpretedtheactashim“comingout”asbisexual.Beth:ButnoticehowtheserapperslikeFrankOceancameoutasbisexual,andASAPRocky,therumorshavebeenpercolatingthathe’sbisexualtoo.Thathehasmorefemininetraits,thathe’scanoodlingwithcertainmen,andhe’sveryaffectionatewithmeninpublic.Q:Butit’soneofthosethingswhere,especiallywithR&Bmeninparticular,forsomereason,it’soneofthosethingswheretheycanbeborderline,kindofwhatever,aslongasthey’renothardrappers.It’slike,“Ok,you’reR&B,you’resingingsoft,soyou’rekindasoftanyway.”UnlikeBeth,QdoesnotframetheacceptanceofOcean’ssame-sexdesireasindicativeofanewembraceofqueernessinmainstreamhiphop.Rather,shepointsout,andIconcur,thathisbrandinginpartasanR&Bperformer,andthe“soft”masculinegenderperformancethatisnormativelyframedasintrinsictothegenre,likelymakeshisqueerdesireassimilabletoexistingformsofmalegenderpresentationandsexuality.QalsoreferencedthebodiesofhiphopartistslikeMissyElliot,whoisoftenthoughttobelesbianorbisexual.Inourcon-versation,sheandAlaikanotedthatMissy’smasculineaestheticswereoftentemperedbythestylingofherface,whichwasusuallymarkedbyfemininemakeup.Yo!Majesty’sundergroundstatusstemsfrominequalitiesthatwomenexperienceinthemusicindustryatlarge,wherethemostmarketableactsareconventionallyfeminine,sexy,andlightskinned,evenifAfricanAmericanorLatina.DespitethefactthattheirsoundisWomen&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory97
similarenoughtopopularSoutherncrunkrapthatitcouldattractawideraudience,itistheirsubjectivitiesasmasculineblacklesbiansthatmakethemostensiblydifficulttomarketwithintheprofit-drivenmusicindustry.Interestingly,myPridelinesstudents’commentaryonthebodypresentationsofhiphopartistsrevealedhowtheydrewuponreadingsofgendertodiscernsexuality.SuziewantedtobringtheworkofKin4Lifeintoourdiscussion,sowevisitedYouTubeandwatchedtheir“MakeupGirl”video.Kin4LifeisanAfricanAmericanrapandR&BduofromMountVernon,NewYorkwhosemusicengagestheirlesbiansexuality.Suziewastheonlypersoninthegroupwhohadheardofthem,andexplainedthatshelearnedaboutthemthroughFacebook,assheisamemberoflesbiangroupsonthesocialnetworkingsite.Shenotedthatwhatshelikedabouttheirmusicisthatitdealswitheverydaylifeissues.BothKin4Lifeartistsdressinthemasculinemannerofthequeerwomenmyparticipantsdescribeas“studs.”Thereactionstothevideoamongthegrouprevealedhowtheyjudgeandthe-orizegendernon-conformingbodypresentations.The“MakeupGirl”videonarratesrelationshipproblemsstemmingfrominfidelityinthelivesofthetwoprotagonists,whoaretheKin4LifeemceesNorandIQ.Thefirstcom-mentarymadeaboutthevideointhegroupcenteredonthemakeupoftheemcees,whowerewearingcaps,loose-fittingT-shirts,andjeans.Theirmasculinedresswascontrastedwiththeirheavilymade-upeyes,cakedwithconspicuouslycoloredeyeshadowandmascara.Theirlipswerepinkandglossy,andtheircheekbonesaccentuatedwithrosyblush.Beth:I’veneverseenastudwithasmokeyeye.Q:That’strue,Irarelyseestudswithmakeupon.Alaika:Yeah,justtakeoffthemakeup.The[eye]shadowisthrowingmeoff.Theywouldactu-allylookwaybetterasfemmes.Whileasceneinthevideoplayedthatshowedoneoftheemceescheatingonherpartnerwithanotherwoman,Beth,whodressesincasualbasicsthatareneitherfemininenormas-culinesaid:“That’swhyIdon’tlikestuds.”Herstatementsetoffanintensedebateaboutstudsandmale-identification,allwhilethevideocontinuedtoplayinthebackground.Alaika,whoconsidersherselfastud,responded:“Excuseme?!!!Thesearethestudsthatmessitupfortherestofus.”Beth:Ithinkthey[studs]stepuptobelikethestereotypicalguy.Jillian:Doyouthinkthatstudstrytoconstructthemselvesasdudes?Alaika:Some.Q:Notoverall.Tamyra:Idon’tlikeitwhenstudsthinkthattheyareguys.Theywanttobecalled“she,”but,ifthereisakidintherelationship–“I’mdaddy.”I’mlike,“No,we’retwogirls,youcanbemommyandIcanbemommy.”Itcanbedifferent;you’renotsupposedtoconform.Studsthinkthattheyaresupposedtobethemanintherelationship.Tamyrawasnotdescribingherownlifesituationinthiscomment,butplayingoutanima-ginaryscenariotomakeherpointaboutthereplicationofheteronormativerelationshipdynamicsinsomelesbianfamiliesinwhichstudsparent.98J.Hernandez
Suzie:Ithinkit’sjustsortoflikeimitatingaheteronormativetypeofrelationshipforfindingyourplaceinthatrelationship.Youchoosetheone[genderrole]youidentifywith.Maybeit’sthemindsetofthestudtosortofemulatethatsubconsciouslyandsortofshowthatoutwardly.Somaybetheydon’treallyknowthatthey’rekindoflikebeing,dominating.Beth:Ohtheyknow,believeme.Thisexchangeilluminatedthecomplexandoftenparadoxicalnegotiationsofgenderelabo-ratedbymyPridelinesstudents.Despitetheirdivergentviewsonthepoliticsofstudsub-jectivity,whatbeinga“man”or“masculinity”entailedamongthemwasastableconceptthatwasconflatednotonlywithmalebodies,butalsowithactionsthatarenormativelyassociatedwithmen,suchasinfidelityanddomination.14Theyalsoviewedeyemakeupasincompatiblewithamasculinelook.EvenasTamyrastrivedtomakeQawareofthenor-mativegenderlogicinformingsomestuds’assumptionoftheterm“daddy,”shedrewonanunderstandingofmasculinefemaleembodimentasanemulationofanoriginalmasculinitythatistheprovinceofthosewithmalebodiesbystating“we’retwogirls,youcanbemommyandIcanbemommy.”JackHalberstam(1998,1)hasnotedthat“femalemascu-linitiesareframedastherejectedscrapsofdominantmasculinityinorderthatmalemascu-linitymayappeartobetherealthing.”Halberstamsuggeststhat“masculinity”becomesrecognizedassuchinadeviant,threateningwaywhenitleavesthewhitemalemiddle-classbody.ThisobservationiscriticalforthequeerwomenofcolorIengagehere,whosehypervisibilizedclass,race,andgendernon-conformingpresentationsmakethemsubjecttovariousformsofoppression.Suzie’scommentstheorizedthepsychicsubjectformationofstuds,positingthattheirdominatingbehaviorslikelydevelopinasubconsciouswaythatallowsforthemtomakesenseoftheirdissidentbodypresentation.Theirconversationdemonstratedthecomplexandcontradictorywaystheyunderstandandcritiquebothgendernormsandgendernon-con-formitythroughtheconsumptionofhiphopperformance.Theirnarrativesanddebatesshouldnotbeframedasindicationsofqueeryouthofcolorsexualandgenderconservatism,butrather,asprocessesthroughwhichtheyconductandtheorizetheprecariousworkofsignify-ingsexual,gender,race,andclassdifferenceinaracistandneoliberalculture.Mydiscussionwiththemrevealedthatmostarenotexposedtoblacklesbiancreatedmedia,andthattheywouldnotnecessarilyadoptsuchwork.Overall,thegroupenjoyedYo!Majesty’spractice,citingtheirpositivemessagesandplayfulraunchiness,butdidnotlikethegenderpresentation,orwhattheyperceivedashegemonicmasculinebehaviorofKin4Life.Thisshowshow,asthoughtfulreaderswithcomplexsubjectivities,theirracial,gender,andsexualidentificationsdonotfullydeterminetheirappraisalsofculturalproducts.MyPridelinesinterlocutorsexhibitedtheircriticalreadingofmassmusicproductionbyhighlightingthewaysinwhichtheheteronormativegenderorderlimitsthevisibilityofgendernon-conformingwomensuchastheartistsofYo!Majesty,whilecelebratingnorma-tivelygenderedqueerartistssuchasFrankOcean.Asignificantoutcomeofourconversa-tionisthatitdemonstratedhowthesexuallyexplicitworkofqueerfemalehiphopartistscouldbeactivatedpedagogicallybybothqueeryouthandeducatorsforincitingcritical,difficult,andnecessaryconversationsaboutgenderpresentation,sexuality,andculturalpro-duction.Consideringtheculturalstakesinvolvedingendernon-conformityandqueerWomen&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory99
sexualityforwomenofcolor,howdoesYo!Majestynavigateandaddressthesepositionsintheirwork?Yo!Majesty’squeerandfeminist(mis)educationsYo!Majesty’sfast-paced,sexuallychargedrapscelebratelesbiansexualityandthefemalebody.Theirliveshowsarehighinlibidinalenergy(Figure2).Forexample,JwlBoftenperformstopless.Shehasexplainedthatshetakeshershirtoffbecauseshefeelsthecrowdandintensityofthemusic,justlikemanymalerappersdowithoutneedingtoanswerforit.Inaninterviewconductedatthe2008SónarmusicfestivalinBarcelonashesaid:Whycan’tIhavethatsameintensityandthatsamefeeling[asmalerappers]?CuzIhadtittiesallmylife,sotittiesaintarealbigthangtome,andIsucktitties.I’vebeenwithwomenhalfallFigure2.Promotionalgraphicfor2013Yo!MajestyandTHEEsatisfactionperformance.JwlBandShundaKonleftsideofimage.Source:ImagecourtesyofShundaK.100J.Hernandez
ofmylifeso,tittiesaintreallyabigdealforme.YouunderstandwhatI’msayin?WhenIdoit,it’sjustanexpression.CuzwhenIwasyoungerIwascontrolledbyreligion,bymyfamily,orbyarelationship,sothat’sjusttherapyforme.15InherstatementsJwlBblendsfeministcritiqueofheteronormativeconstraintsonfemaleembo-dimentwitharaunchydescriptionofhersexualexperienceswithwomen.Inpart,itisherlesbiansexualexperiencethatprovidesJwlBwiththeimpetustosubvertcorporealpolicing.Inadditiontointerviews,Yo!Majesty’slessonsareimpartedthroughsongslike“HitItandQuitIt,”acautionarynarrativeabouttheperilsofunsafesexandHIVcontraction.In“Monkey,”theemceesinstructwomenonhowtopleasethemselvesthroughmasturbation:“I’msayingtotheladies/Putyourhandbetweenyourthighsandrubonyourmonkey/Motiontotheleft,motiontotheright.”Thegroup’suniqueworkforegroundstheireroticswhilesimultaneouslyexpressingtheirbeliefinJesusChrist.Inthesong“HustleMode”ShundaKrepeats,“Igivetoreceive,Ihavefaith,Ibelieve.”Thegrouphasframedtheirmusicalpracticeasaformof“ministry”tothepeople.Infact,the“Majesty”inthegroup’snameisareferencetoGod.AsShundaKexplainedtoBethDittoofthealternativerockandelectrobandGossipinaninterview:Wetryingtobringhealingtothepeopleman.Therearesomanypeopleouttherethatisgay,likeespeciallythekidsandshit…Theparents,theyknowthey[theirchildren]gay,buttheydon’tknowwhatthefucktodocuzthey’veneverdealtwithasituationlikethat,ok?SoherecomeYo!Majesty,weontheylevel,wecouldtalktothepeople,wecanministertothem.16HereShundaKexpressesadesiretoreachouttoandteachyouth,suchasmystudentsatPridelines.Yo!Majesty’sseeminglycontradictorycombinationofraunchyqueersexualityandfaithinGoddemonstrateshowtheorizationsofsexualitymusttaketheracialandspiritualpositionsofsubjectsintoaccount.ShundaK,forexample,hasnotexhibitedthe“outandproud”attitudethathasbecomethestandardexpressionofsexualsubjectivityinmanywhitequeercommunitiesintheUnitedStates.Drivenbyherspiritualconvictions,ShundaKceasedsexualrelationswithwomenandmarriedamanforseveralyears.Althoughshewaseventuallydivorcedandenteredaseriousrelationshipwithawoman,shehasexpressedambivalenceabouthersexualidentity.ThisissueistoucheduponinaninterviewwiththeperformerPeachesdocumentedonYouTube:ShundaK:WebelieveinGod.WebelieveinJesusChristbeingourLordandSavior.Westillhavearelationshipwithhimandhestillusesuseventhoughweintheclubtalkingaboutrubbingonyourmonkeyandhowhotkryptonitepussyreallyis.GodistheonemakingthishappenforYo!Majesty.Peaches:Godhasnoproblemwithyoubeingtotallesbians?ShonB:Idon’tbelievethat.Beyourself.Lovewhoyouloveandcallitaday.ShundaK:Youright[toShonB],butIseeitadifferentway.AndIcan’tbenobodybutwhoIam.ButIfeellikeit’snotthewillofGodforustobegay.17ShundaK’sexperiencesasaqueer,masculinebodypresentingblackfemaleperformerechothoseofherantecedentGladysBentley,ablackbluessingerwhowasactiveinthe1920sand1930s.Women&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory101
Afteryearsofperformingsexuallyexplicitlyrics,openlydatingwomenanddonningmen’sclothing,BentleypublicizedmarryingamanandclaimedChristianfaithlaterinlife(Yaeger2009,722).IntheintroductiontoanissueofthePMLAjournalon“QueerModernism”PatriciaYaeger,afterdiscussingtheambivalencethatmarkedBentley’sexperiencesasaqueerblackwoman,workstosituateherbackintothenarrativeofliberatedout-ness:Bentleymayhavekowtowedtothese[heterosexist]normsinthe1950s,butinherheyday,theeraofablues-based,lesbian-biasedarserotica,Bentley’slavishpersonawas,initself,apolemicagainstheterosexualnorms.IntheHarlemofthe1920sand1930sherdragidentitycouldbeloud,queer,andproud.Astheforemostmemberofagangofcelebritymaleimper-sonators,GladysBentleyexemplifiesthestrangequotidianlifeofaqueermodernist.(724)Intryingtorecoverherlifeinaprogressivenarrativeofqueerhistory,YaegersilencesBent-ley’sclaimstoChristianityandheterosexualitybyframingthemaskowtowing.Yo!Majestycomplicatesnormativeunderstandingsofsexualityandspiritualitybyforeground-ingtheirimbrications.ShundaKandIconnectedonFacebookin2013.IhaveaskedherwhatshefeelsYo!Majesty’simpacthasbeentofansandsheresponded:“I’veseenmanyfansinspiredbythefactthatweareagaygroupthatreverencesTheMostHigh.”WhenIaskedifsheident-ifiedasChristianshewrote:“Helltodanaw!!!I’mabelieverinYashayah(Christ)andourFather(Ahayah).18″Inthesong“RockandRoll,”fromhersoloalbumTheMostWanted(2011),ShundaKraps:Icanrearrangethewholethang,fromthechurchtodaclubinHisname,soletdisrockandrollyasoul,jusletgoofalldisyear’sdrama,onbac,fromdafirstdayofyalife,Iknowitwasn’trightbutnowit’stimetomoveon,timetodowhatyouwanttobefree,telldadevil,nomorecontrollin’me,andsometimes,hecanbeahhumanbeing,causemostofdatime,datswhatitisforme,whatyoudobelieve,oh,Isee,no,I’mnotintoreligioneither,dathoughtofitbringaboutafever,juseverythingaboutitsoevil,don’tgetmewrong,IamahbelieverinJesusChrist,hell,I’mgay,andmeHestilllikes,sodisahshoutouttoallmydykes,fags,lawyers,anddoctorscauseGodisLove!!!Theselyricscommunicatetheartist’sevolvingrelationshipwithGodandfeelingsabouthersexualidentity,astheycontrastwithherpreviousbeliefthatitwasnotGod’swillforhertobegay.19ShundaKhasremovedherselffromreligiousinstitutionswhilemaintainingherspiritualbeliefs.Inourcorrespondenceshestated:“Religionkills,however,overtheyearsI’vedevelopedastrongrelationshipwiththeTrueandLivingPower.”“Don’tLetGo”ThecreativepracticeandcriticalperspectivesofYo!MajestyvalueandarchivequeerblackfemalesubjectivitiesandtroubleuniversalizednarrativesabouttheantagonisticrelationshipbetweenbeliefinChristandnon-normativesexualities(Figure3).Theysubvertcelebratorynotionsoftheemancipationofcomingoutofthecloset,andthestabilityofalesbian/gayidentity(Decena2011;El-Tayeb2012).Yo!Majesty’sextremesofpleasureareaccompaniedbyfeelingsofconfusionandpain,andtheiropennessaboutthevicissitudes102J.Hernandez
oftheirsexualandspiritualidentitiesshouldbereadasanexpressionofqueerpolitics(Cohen1997).Infact,thegroup’sexpressionoftheseinstabilitiesmakestheirworkparticu-larlyfruitfulforconsciousness-raisingwithqueeryouthofcolorwhoarenegotiatingtheproductionoftheiridentities.TheconversationssparkedamongmystudentsatPridelinesbyviewingmusicvideospro-ducedbyqueerblackfemalerappersilluminatedtheunwieldymeaningsofgenderpresen-tationtheynegotiate.Thecomplexityoftheirdiscussiononfemalemasculinityalsoattestedtothewaysinwhichtheycriticallyreadandconsumehiphop.Theirappreciationfor,anddocumentationofYo!Majesty’s“Don’tLetGo”videorevealedhowraunchyperformancepedagogiescaninspirequeeryouthbyincitingdeviantdesiresandculturalcritiques.20Yo!Majestycraftsraunchaestheticsthatgeneratespacesfornon-normativepleasuresandmodesofconsciousnessraisinganduplift.Forsubjectswhoaremarginalizedbynormsofgender,sexuality,race,andclass;folkswhosefuturesarefarfromsecure,suchahiphoppracticecaninspireandsustaintheirimaginaries.ThecruxofYo!Majesty’steachingscanbesummarizedinthetitleoftheir2008album:FuturisticallySpeaking:NeverBeAfraid.AcknowledgementsIwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetotheyouthandstaffatPridelinesforsharingtheirtime,space,andvibrantenergieswithme.IthankLouisaSchein,mymentorandintellectualagentprovocateur,fortakingmythoughtsonraunchaestheticsseriously,anddrivingmetoarticulatethem.ThisessayalsobenefittedfromlivelyconversationswithArleneStein,CarlosDecena,JorgeA.Bernal,andAnyaWallace.AriellaRotramelprovidedhelpfulsuggestionsonanearlyiterationofthisproject.Iamgratefultothepeerreviewersandeditorsofthisissuefortheirinsightfulfeedback,andtoShundaKforhersupportof,andassistancewith,thisarticle.IdedicatethisessaytoJoséEstebanMuñoz.Figure3.ShonB(left)andShundaK(right).Source:ImagecourtesyofSammyRawal.Women&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory103
FundingThisresearchwasmadepossibleinpartbyanAmericanAssociationofUniversityWomenDisser-tationFellowship.NotesoncontributorJillianHernandez,Ph.D.,isanAssistantProfessorintheEthnicStudiesDepartmentandCriticalGenderStudiesProgramattheUniversityofCalifornia-SanDiego,independentcurator,andcommu-nityartseducator.Hertransdisciplinaryresearchinvestigatesprocessesofracialization,sexualities,embodiment,girlhood,andthepoliticsofculturalproductionrangingfromundergroundandmain-streamhiphoptovisualandperformanceart.Notes1.Ine-mailcorrespondence,ShundaKexplainedthatShonBhasnotperformedwithYo!Majestyrecentlyduetopersonaldifferences.2.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbbvugSXUvc3.KeelingdrawsfromDeleuze’sconceptofcinemaasa“radicalElsewhere.”4.WomenontheRise!blogsite,mocawomenontherise.wordpress.com;FacebookpageforPride-linesYouthServices,https://www.facebook.com/pridelinesyouth5.“2LiveCrew,Decoded,”19June1990.6.SeeHeidiR.Lewis,“ExhumingtheRatchetBeforeIt’sBuried,”TheFeministWire,http://thefeministwire.com/2013/01/exhuming-the-ratchet-before-its-buried/;ReginaN.Bradley,“IBeenOn(Ratchet):ConceptualizingaSonicRatchetAestheticinBeyonce’s‘BowDown,’”RedClayScholar,http://redclayscholar.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-been-on-ratchet-conceptualizing-sonic.html;BrittneyCooper,“(Un)ClutchingMyMother’sPearls,orRatchet-nessandtheResidueofRespectability,”CrunkFeministCollective,http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2012/12/31/unclutching-my-mothers-pearls-or-ratchetness-and-the-residue-of-respectability/7.FormoreonhowyoungqueerwomencreatecommunitythroughconsumptionofmusicseeDriver(2007).8.See“ShowPerformance:WeCan’tStop/BlurredLines/Giveit2U(medley),”MTV,http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/942064/we-cant-stop-blurred-lines-give-it-2-u-medley.jhtml9.IamgratefultoJessicaHurleyforsuggestingthenotionofraunchcraftingtomewhenIpre-sentedanearlyversionofthisworkattheFuture/NoFutureconferenceattheUniversityofPennsylvaniain2010.10.Foranin-depththeorizationofqueerfuturityseeMuñoz(2009).11.Imorethoroughlyexplorehowtheynegotiateraceinmybookmanuscriptinprogress.12.IconductedparticipantobservationofhundredsofWomenontheRise!studentsoveratwo-yearperiod,and61girlsandyoungwomenparticipatedinmyfocusgroups.AbouthalfofthestudyparticipantsidentifiedasAfricanAmericanorAfro-Caribbean,andtheotherhalfidentifiedasLatina,Hispanic,ormulti-racial.13.SeeRussellSimmons,“TheCourageofFrankOceanJustChangedtheGame!,”GlobalGrind,http://globalgrind.com/entertainment/russell-simmons-letter-to-frank-ocean-gay-bi-sexual-comes-out-photos14.YoungqueerwomenarticulatedsimilarnotionsofmasculinityinC.J.Pascoe’sresearch(2007).15.Seehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efYkS6nEdVU16.Seehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzT7T2cCJjI17.Seehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KVJwWV89co&feature=related18.ThequotesinthisparagrapharefromShundaK’se-mailcorrespondencewithme,14October2013.19.LyricsfromTheMostWantedarecitedhereverbatimfromthealbumbooklet.104J.Hernandez
20.Arecentexampleofhowraunchaestheticsandpedagogiescraftedbyyoungwomenofcoloragitatenormsofsexuality,race,andclasscanbefoundinthebarrageofdisparagingcommentsthathavebeencontinuallyleveledatthehiphopgroupPrettyTakingAllFades(P.T.A.F.)forthesexuallyexplicitlyricsintheirviralsong“BossAssBitch,”whichhasaccumulatedover12millionhitsonYouTubesinceitwaspostedinMay2012(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ihCQZK-r0).Foradiscussiononhowtheirperformanceservesasasex-positiveedu-cationalspaceforyoungwomenofcolorsee,JillianHernandezandAnyaM.Wallace,“NickiMinajandPrettyTakingAllFades:PerformingtheEroticsofFeministSolidarity,”TheFeministWire,thefeministwire.com/2014/03/minaj-erotics/.ReferencesBale,Clare.2011.“RaunchorRomance?FramingandInterpretingtheRelationshipBetweenSexualizedCultureandYoungPeople’sSexualHealth.”SexEducation11(3):303–313.Bishop,EmilyCaroline.2012.“ExaminingtheRaunchCultureThesisthroughYoungAustralianWomen’sInterpretationsofContradictoryDiscourses.”JournalofYouthStudies15(7):821–840.Brown,RuthNicole,andChamaraJewelKwakye,eds.2012.WishtoLive:TheHip-HopFeminismPedagogyReader.NewYork:PeterLang.Butler,Judith.1993.BodiesThatMatter.NewYorkandLondon:Routledge.Cohen,CathyJ.1997.“Punks,Bulldaggers,andWelfareQueens:TheRadicalPotentialofQueerPolitics?”GLQ3:437–465.Cohen,CathyJ.2004.“DevianceasResistance:ANewResearchAgendafortheStudyofBlackPolitics.”DuBoisReview1(1):27–45.Collins,PatriciaHill.2004.BlackSexualPolitics:AfricanAmericans,Gender,andtheNewRacism.NewYorkandLondon:Routledge.Crenshaw,Kimberle.1991.“BeyondRacismandMisogyny:BlackFeminismand2LiveCrew.”http://bostonreview.net/BR16.6/crenshaw.htmlCvetkovich,Ann.2003.AnArchiveofFeelings:Trauma,Sexuality,andLesbianPublicCultures.DurhamandLondon:DukeUniversityPress.Decena,Carlos.2011.TacitSubjects:BelongingandSame-SexDesireAmongDominicanImmigrantMen.DurhamandLondon:DukeUniversityPress.Driver,Susan.2007.QueerGirlsandPopularCulture:Reading,Resisting,andCreatingMedia.NewYork:PeterLang.El-Tayeb,Fatima.2012.“‘GaysWhoCannotProperlyBeGay’:QueerMuslimsintheNeoliberalEuropeanCity.”EuropeanJournalofWomen’sStudies19(1):79–95.Foucault,Michel.1978.TheHistoryofSexuality:AnIntroduction(Volume1).NewYork:Vintage.Green,Kiana.2009.“NobodyKnowsHerName:MakingSakiaLegible.”UCLACenterfortheStudyofWomen:ThinkingGenderPapers.http://repositories.cdlib.org/csw/thinkinggender/TG09_GreenHalberstam,Judith.1998.FemaleMasculinity.DurhamandLondon:DukeUniversityPress.Halberstam,Judith.2005.InaQueerTimeandPlace:TransgenderBodies,SubculturalLives.NewYorkandLondon:NewYorkUniversityPress.Hernandez,Jillian.2009.“‘Miss,YouLookLikeaBratzDoll’:OnChongaGirlsandSexual-AestheticExcess.”NationalWomen‘sStudiesAssociationJournal21(3):63–91.Holland,SharonPatricia.2012.TheEroticLifeofRacism.DurhamandLondon:DukeUniversityPress.Keeling,Kara.2007.TheWitch’sFlight:TheCinematic,theBlackFemme,andtheImageofCommonSense.DurhamandLondon:DukeUniversityPress.Keeling,Kara.2009.“LookingforM—:QueerTemporality,BlackPoliticalPossibility,andPoetryfromtheFuture.”GLQ15(4):565–582.King,Jason.2001.“RapandFengShui:OnAssPolitics,CulturalStudies,andtheTimbalandSound.”InACompaniontoCulturalStudies,editedbyTobyMiller.430–453.Oxford:BlackwellPublishers.Women&Performance:ajournaloffeministtheory105
Kipnis,Laura.1992.“(Male)Desireand(Female)Disgust:ReadingHustler.”InCulturalStudies,editedbyLawrenceGrossberg,CaryNelson,andPaulaTreichler.373–391.NewYork:Routledge.Levy,Ariel.2005.FemaleChauvinistPigs:WomenandtheRiseofRaunchCulture.NewYork:FreePress.Lorde,Audre.2007.SisterOutsider:EssaysandSpeechesbyAudreLorde.NewYork:CrossingPress.Mbembe,Achille.1992.“TheBanalityofPowerandtheAestheticsofVulgarityinthePostcolony.”PublicCulture4(2):1–30.Miller-Young,Mireille.2008.“Hip-HopHoneysandDaHustlaz:BlackSexualitiesintheNewHip-HopPornography.”Meridians8(1):261–292.Miller-Young,Mireille.2010.“PuttingHypersexualitytoWork:BlackWomenandIllicitEroticisminPornography.”Sexualities13(2):219–235.Mitchell,Kaye.2012.“RaunchversusPrude:ContemporarySexBlogsandEroticMemoirsbyWomen.”Psychology&Sexuality3(1):12–25.Muñoz,JoséEsteban.1999.Disidentifications:QueersofColorandthePerformanceofPolitics.MinneapolisandLondon:UniversityofMinnesotaPress.Muñoz,JoséEsteban.2009.CruisingUtopia:TheThenandThereofQueerFuturity.NewYorkandLondon:NewYorkUniversityPress.Nash,CatherineJean,andAlisonBain.2007.“‘ReclaimingRaunch’?SpatializingQueerIdentitiesatTorontoWomens’BathhouseEvents.”Social&CulturalGeography8(1):47–62.Nash,JenniferC.2008.“StrangeBedfellows:BlackFeminismandAntipornorgraphyFeminism.”SocialText26(4):51–76.Pascoe,C.J.2007.DudeYou’reaFag:MasculinityandSexualityinHighSchool.BerkleyandLondon:UniversityofCaliforniaPress.“PeachesandYoMajesty,”YouTubevideo,4:28,performerPeachesinterviewingmembersofYo!Majesty,postedby“Whatisgoingon1111111,”7December2008,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KVJwWV89co&feature=related.Rose,Tricia.2008.TheHipHopWars:WhatWeTalkAboutWhenWeTalkAboutHipHopandWhyItMatters.NewYork:BasicCivitasBooks.Saunders,Tanya.2009.“LaLuchaMujerista:KrudasCUBENSIandBlackFeministSexualPoliticsinCuba.”CaribbeanReviewofGenderStudies(3):1–20.Shimizu,CelineParreñas.2007.TheHypersexualityofRace:PerformingAsian/AmericanWomenonScreenandScene.DurhamandLondon:DukeUniversityPress.Stallybrass,Peter,andAllonWhite.1986.ThePoliticsandPoeticsofTransgression.Ithaca:CornellUniversityPress.Wanzo,Rebecca.2008.“TheEraofLost(White)Girls:OnBodyandEvent.”Differences19(2):99–126.Whiting,T.Sharpley.2007.PimpsUp,Ho’sDown:HipHop’sHoldonYoungBlackWomen.NewYork:NewYorkUniversityPress.“XLR8RTVEpisode7:BethDitto&YoMajesty,”YouTubevideo,6:20,interviewofYo!MajestywithBethDittoofthebandGossip,postedbyXLR8RTV,August14,2007,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzT7T2cCJjI.Yaeger,Patricia.2009.“Editor’sNote:BulldaggerSingstheBlues.”PMLA124(3):721–726.“Yo!Majesty-Don’tLetGo(2009),”YouTubevideo,3:44,musicvideoforsingle“Don’tLetGo,”postedbyDominoRecording,Co.,14April2009,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbbvugSXUvc&feature=kp.“YoMajesty,Sónar2008PlayInterview,”YouTubevideo,8:35,interviewofYo!MajestyatSónarmusicfestival,postedbyPlayGroundTV,18April2013,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efYkS6nEdVU.106J.Hernandez
Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racismAuthor(s)Hill Collins, PatriciaImprintRoutledge, 2004Extentix, 374 p.ISBN9786610048007, 0415930995, 0203309502Permalinkhttps://books.scholarsportal.info/en/read?id=/ebooks/ebooks0/tf/2009-12-01/3/0203309502Pages36 to 63Downloaded from Scholars Portal Books on 2020-01-08TŽlŽchargŽ de Scholars Portal Books sur 2020-01-08
ONEWHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?2001: The career ofJennifer Lopez skyrockets. A PuertoRican woman, LopezÕs rise to fame came after her fea-ture film appearance as Selena, the first Chicana super-star. News ofJ-Lo is everywhere; especially her muchdiscussed love relationship and subsequent break-upwith hip-hop artist PuffDaddy (aka P Diddy). One spe-cial feature ofLopezÕs routinely makes the newsÑherseemingly large bottom. From late night American talkshows to South African radio programs to Internet websites, J-LoÕs butt is all the rage. Recognizing itsvalue, it is rumored that Lopez insures her buttocks for1 billion dollars, as one website mischievously describedit, 500 million dollars per cheek. 2000: The photo insert for Survivor, DestinyÕs Childthird CD, shows the three African American womenstanding legs akimbo, holding hands, and dressed inanimal skin bikinis. Selling over 15 million albums andsingles worldwide, SurvivorÕs success reflects a savvymarketing strategy that promoted the songÒIndependent WomanÓ as part ofthe soundtrack for thehit movie CharlieÕs Angelsand foreshadowed the successofgroup member BeyoncŽ Knowles. SurvivorÕs messageoffemale power also fuels its popularity. Counselingwomen to be resilient and financially independent,
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSDestinyÕs Child proclaim, ÒIÕm a survivor, IÕm gonna make it.ÓSurvivorsuggests sexual independence as well. In their highly popu-lar song ÒBootylicious,Ó written by BeyoncŽ, they refer to theirbutts as ÒjellyÓ and ask, ÒCan you handle it?Ó The term bootyliciousproves to be so popular that, along with hottieand roadrage, it isadded to the 2002 edition ofMerriam-WebsterÕs CollegiateDictionary.1925: Born in a poor community in East St. Louis, Missouri, AfricanAmerican entertainer Josephine Baker moves to Paris. She becomesa sensation in the American production ofLa Revue Ngre.Performing bare-breasted in a jungle setting and clad only in a shortskirt ofbanana leaves, Ms. BakerÕs rump-shaking banana dancebecomes an instant hit with Parisian audiences. When asked whethershe will return to the United States, Ms. Baker replies, Òthey wouldmake me sing mammy songs and I cannot feel mammy songs, so Icannot sing them.Ó Instead, in 1937 Ms. Baker becomes a French citi-zen and garners lifelong accolades as the ÒBlack VenusÓ ofFrance.Upon her death in 1975, she receives a twenty-one-gun salute, theonly such honor given by France to an American-born woman.11816: After several years ofbeing exhibited in Paris and London asthe ÒHottentot Venus,Ó Sarah Bartmann, a Khoi woman from whatis now South Africa, dies. In the London exhibit, she is displayedcaged, rocking back and forth to emphasize her supposedly wild anddangerous nature. She wears a tight-fitting dress whose brown colormatches her skin tones. When ordered to do so, she leaves her cageand parades before the audience who seems fascinated with whatthey see as her most intriguing featureÑher buttocks. Some in theaudience are not content to merely look. One eyewitness recountswith horror how Bartmann endures poking and prodding, as peopletry to ascertain for themselves whether her buttocks are real. In thecontext ofpopular London shows that display as forms ofentertain-ment talking pigs, animal monsters and human oddities such as theFattest Man on Earth, midgets, giants, and similar Òfreaks ofnature,Ó these reactions to BartmannÕs exhibition are not unusual.Upon Sarah BartmannÕs death, George Cuvier, one ofthe fathers of26
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?modern biology, claims her body in the interests ofscience. Hersubsequent dissection becomes one ofat least seven others com-pleted on the bodies ofwomen ofcolor from 1814 to 1870. TheirgoalÑto advance the field ofclassical comparative anatomy.2Contemporary sexual politics in the United States present AfricanAmerican women and men with a complicated problem. From the displayofSarah Bartmann as a sexual ÒfreakÓofnature in the early nineteenth cen-tury to Josephine Baker dancing bare-breasted for Parisian society to theanimal-skin bikinis worn by ÒbootyliciousÓDestinyÕs Child to the fascina-tion with Jennifer LopezÕs buttocks, women ofAfrican descent have beenassociated with an animalistic, ÒwildÓsexuality. Expressed via an ever-changing yet distinctive constellation ofsexual stereotypes in which SarahBartmannÕs past frames J-LoÕs present, this association ofsexuality withBlack women helps create ideas about racial difference. Black men havetheir own variety ofracial difference, also constructed from ideas about vio-lence and dangerous sexuality. African American heavyweight boxer JackJohnson certainly sparked controversy when, in 1910, he fought the for-merly unbeaten White champion Jim Jeffries. During the fight itself, over30,000 men stood outside the New York TimesÕ offices, waiting to hear theoutcome. JohnsonÕs bloody victory sparked race riots in every Southernstate. JohnsonÕs predilection for White women only fueled the fires ofWhite reaction. When authorities discovered that Johnson was having anaffair with an eighteen-year-old blonde from Minnesota, they charged himunder the Mann Act with engaging in white slavery. JohnsonÕs ability towield violence and his seeming attractiveness to White women made himthreatening to White middle-class men.3For both women and men,Western social thought associates Blackness with an imagined uncivilized,wild sexuality and uses this association as one lynchpin ofracial difference.Whether depicted as ÒfreaksÓofnature or as being the essence ofnatureitself, savage, untamed sexuality characterizes Western representations ofwomen and men ofAfrican descent.4For their respective audiences, the distinctive sexualized spectacles per-formed by Bartmann, Baker, DestinyÕs Child, and Lopez invoke sexualmeanings that give shape to racism, sexism, class exploitation, and hetero-sexism. Each spectacle marks the contradictions ofWestern perceptions ofAfrican bodies and ofBlack womenÕs agency concerning the use oftheir27
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSbodies. Together they frame an invented discourse ofBlack sexuality.5ForFrench and British audiences, Sarah Bartmann served as a sign ofracial difference used to justify the growing beliefin the superiority ofWhite civilization and the inferiority ofso-called primitive peoples necessary forcolonialism. Her treatment helped create modern Black sexual stereotypes ofthe jezebel, the mammy, and the welfare queen that, in the United States,helped uphold slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and racial ghettoization.6Illustrating through stark historical example how common sense under-standings ofrace and gender flow smoothly into those ofbiology, medicine,and Western science itself, her body marked the intersection ofentertain-ment, science, and commerce. Sarah Bartmann could be enjoyed while aliveand, upon her death, studied under the microscope for the burgeoning fieldofcomparative anatomy. As South African writer Yvette Abrahams and film-maker Zola MasekoÕs video recording on the life ofBartmann point out, weknow little about BartmannÕs agency in this arrangement.7What Bartmannlost by being displayed as a ÒfreakÓis far clearer to us through our modernsensibilities than what she might have gained for herselfand her family.Bartmann may not have been aware ofthe power ofthe sexual stereo-types that were created in her image, but women ofAfrican descent whofollowed most certainly were.8Black women struggled to exercise agencyand self-definition concerning these images and the social practices thatthey defended. Evidently aware ofthe sexual stereotypes applied to womenofAfrican descent, Josephine Baker played the part ofthe Òprimitive,Óbutfor her own reasons.9Baker entertained the French with her opennessabout her body, an important example ofhow an imagined, uncivilized,wild sexuality remained associated with Blackness within Western socialthought and continued as a sign ofracial difference. But was Baker reallysexually liberated, or was her performance a carefully planned illusion that,in the African American trickster tradition, was designed to titillate andmanipulate the tastes ofher European audiences? BakerÕs biography sug-gests a level ofsophistication that enabled her to move far beyond her ini-tial depiction as a bare-breasted Òprimitive.ÓBaker may have initially donebanana dances, but from her point ofview, she escaped performing theubiquitous Òmammy songsÓassigned to Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters,and other talented African American women then performing in theUnited States. In France, Baker ensured that she was well compensated forher performances.28
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?The work ofcontemporary artists such as DestinyÕs Child also invokesthe contradictions ofsexualized spectacle and Black womenÕs agency orself-determination. Transported from the immediacy oflive stage per-formances, DestinyÕs Child perform in the intimate yet anonymous terrainofCDs, music videos, movies, Internet websites, and other forms ofcon-temporary mass media. Here each consumer ofÒIndependent WomanÓorÒBootyliciousÓcan imagine a one-on-one relationship with one, two, or allthree members ofDestinyÕs Child, whose images and artistry are pur-chased, rented, or downloaded under the control ofthe consumer. Underconditions ofracial segregation, mass media provides a way that racial dif-ference can safely enter racially segregated private spaces ofliving roomsand bedrooms. DestinyÕs Child may not be like the girls next door, but theycan be seen on home theater and heard via headphones within the privacyofindividual consciousness. In this new mass media context, Black sexualstereotypes are rendered virtually invisible by their ubiquity; yet, they per-sist through a disconnected mŽlange ofanimal skins, sexually explicitlyrics, breast worship, and focus on the booty. DestinyÕs Child may enter-tain and titillate; yet, their self-definitions as ÒsurvivorsÓand Òindepend-ent womenÓexpress female power and celebration ofthe body and booty.The women in DestinyÕs Child are also wealthy. Just who is being Òcon-trolledÓin these new arenas? For what purpose? Their message contains adefiance denied to Bartmann and BakerÑÒItÕs my body, itÕs my booty, andIÕll do what I want with itÑcan you handle it?ÓWhat are we to make ofJennifer Lopez? As a Latina,10where does shefit in this story ofWestern constructions ofÒwildÓBlack sexuality, thesocial construction ofracial difference, and Black peopleÕs reactions tothem? Like Josephine Baker before her, Jennifer Lopez is celebrated andmakes a considerable amount ofmoney. Elevating Jennifer LopezÕs but-tocks to icon status invokes historical meanings ofBlack female sexualityand takes the politics ofrace and sexuality to an entirely new plane. In thiscase, a Latina brushed with the hint ofBlackness and not clearly ofAfricandescent carries the visible sign ofBlack sexuality. In order to be marketed,Black sexuality need not be associated solely with bodies that have beenracially classified as ÒNegro,ÓÒmulatto,Óor ÒBlack.ÓWestern imagina-tions have long filled in the color, moving women from Black to White andback again depending on the needs ofthe situation. In antebellumCharleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana, White men29
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSdesired quadroons and octoroons as prostitutes because such womenlooked like White women, but they were actually Black women, with allthat that implied about womenÕs sexuality.11J-LoÕs fluid ethnicity in herfilms, from the Chicana in Selenato the racial/ethnic ambiguity in subse-quent roles, illustrates the shifting contours ofracial/ethnic classification.When it comes to Òhot-bloodedÓLatinas, one might ask which part oftheir ÒbloodÓcarries the spice ofsexual looseness?12This all seems to be afar cry from the commodification ofSarah BartmannÕs buttocksÑor is it? The fact that these examples involve women ofactual or imputedAfrican descent is no accident because the racial difference assigned toBlack people has often come in gender specific forms. In the nineteenthcentury, women stood as symbols ofrace and women from different racesbecame associated with differentially valued expressions ofsexuality.During this period marked by the rise ofEuropean nationalism, England,France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy all jockeyedwith varying degrees ofsuccess to define themselves as nation-states. Eachfollowed its own distinctive path in constructing its own national identityand that ofits colonies. Yet they shared one overriding featureÑthe treat-ment ofwomen within each respective nation-state as well as within thecolonies were important to national identity.13Ideas ofpure White wom-anhood that were created to defend women ofthe homeland required acorresponding set ofideas about hot-blooded Latinas, exotic Suzy Wongs,wanton jezebels, and stoic native squaws. Civilized nation-states requireduncivilized and backward colonies for their national identity to have mean-ing, and the status ofwomen in both places was central to this entireendeavor. In this context, Black women became icons ofhypersexuality.14Men ofAfrican descent were also seen as hypersexual beings that havegenerated similar icons.15During the era oflive entertainment, and until the onset ofthe technologies that made mass media possible, men wereobjectified differently from women. The West African slave trade andSouthern auction blocks treated both Black womenÕs and menÕs bodies asobjects for sale, yet women participated in sexual spectacles to a greaterdegree than did men, because Western ideas about women and femininityitselfhave long been more tightly wedded to ideas about womenÕs physicalbeauty and sexual attractiveness. Even today, men are far more likely to stareat and comment upon womenÕs breasts, buttocks, legs, face, and other bodyparts than are women to subject menÕs bodies to this type ofscrutiny. Like30
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?all women, Black women were objects to be seen, enjoyed, purchased, andused, primarily by White men with money. African womenÕs sexuality mayhave piqued the prurient interest ofWestern audiences, but African menÕssexuality was seen as dangerous and in need ofcontrol. Live expressions ofBlack male sexuality needed to be hidden from White spectators, especiallyaudiences that might contain White women. Until recently, the very tenetsoffemale respectability made it impossible for a female audience to cheer ona live male sex show, especially a White female audience viewing Black menas sexual beings. Assumptions ofheterosexuality also inhibit males viewingother males as sexual objects. A situation in which White men view Blackmale bodies as sexual objects potentially creates a homoerotic space that isincompatible with ideas ofstraight White masculinity. Mass media technologies profoundly altered this reliance on face-to-face spectatorship and live entertainment. Television, video, DVD, and theInternet enabled images ofBlack women and men to enter living rooms,bedrooms, family rooms, and other private domestic spaces. Black maleimages could now enter private White spaces, one step safely removedbecause these were no longer live performances and Black men no longerappeared in the flesh. These technological advances enabled the reworkingofBlack male sexuality that became much more visible, yet was safely con-tained. Take, for example, the stylized music video performances ofhip-hopartists. Camera angles routinely are shot from a lower position than the rap-per in question, giving the impression that he is looming over the viewer. Inreal life, being this close to young African American men who were singingabout sex and violence and whose body language included fists, angry ges-tures, and occasional crotch-grabbing might be anxiety provoking for thetypical rap and hip-hop consumer (most are suburban White adolescents).Yet viewing these behaviors safely packaged within a music video protectsconsumers from any possible contact with Black men who are actually in thevideos. Just who are these videos for? What are the imagined race, gender,and sexual orientations ofthe viewers? Black men have long given per-formances that placed sexuality center stageÑElvis Presley, Mick Jagger,and rapper Eminem all recognized and profited from this realityÑbut thesexual implications ofviewing Black men in the flesh rarely made it out ofAfrican American settings where such performances had a different mean-ing. It is one thing to visit a Black nightclub to hear singer Millie JacksonÕslive performance ofraunchy blues or gather in a neighborÕs living room to31
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSlisten to Redd Foxx records. It is entirely another to sit in an interracialaudience and listen to comedian Eddie MurphyÕs uncensored boasting con-cerning Black male sexual prowess; or to count the times within a musicvideo that the camera hones in on rapper Ja RuleÕs crotch.Western perceptions ofthe sexuality ofmen ofAfrican descent alsobecame central to the national identities ofEuropean nation-states engagedin colonial projects. England, France, and other colonial powers constructedtheir national identities by manipulating ideas about men in the home coun-try and in their colonies. The United States followed a similar path, withideas about race and masculinity intertwined with ideas about American cit-izenship.16Like their female counterparts, men ofAfrican descent were alsoperceived to have excess sexual appetite, yet with a disturbing additional fea-ture, a predilection for violence. In this context, the ÒWhite heroesÓofWestern Europe and the United States became constructed in relation to theÒBlack beastsÓofAfrica.17Moreover, both were used to signal the hierarchi-cal relationship between colonizers and colonies. Overall, colonialism, slav-ery, and racial segregation relied upon this discourse ofBlack sexuality tocreate tightly bundled ideas about Black femininity and Black masculinitythat in turn influenced racial ideologies and racial practices. As these systems ofracial rule recede in the postÐcivil rights era, whatifanything is taking their place? Over one hundred years ago, AfricanAmerican intellectual William E. B. DuBois predicted that the problem ofthe twentieth century would be the presence ofthe color line. By that,DuBois meant that the policies ofcolonialism and racial segregation weredesigned to create, separate, and rank the various ÒracesÓofman. Untillegally outlawed in the 1950s and 1960s, the color line policies ofJim Crowracial segregation kept the vast majority ofAfrican Americans from qual-ity educations, good jobs, adequate health care, and the best neighbor-hoods. In contrast, the problem ofthe twenty-first century seems to be theseeming absenceofa color line. Formal legal discrimination has been out-lawed, yet contemporary social practices produce virtually identical racialhierarchies as those observed by DuBois. By whatever measures used in theUnited States or on a global scale, people ofAfrican descent remain dis-proportionately clustered at the bottom ofthe social hierarchy. The effectsofthese historical exclusions persist today under a new racism.18It is important to note that the new racism ofthe early twenty-firstcentury has not replaced prior forms ofracial rule, but instead incorpo-32
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?rates elements ofpast racial formations. As a result, ideas about race, gen-der, sexuality, and Black people as well as the social practices that theseideas shape and reflect remain intricately part ofthe new racism, but inchanged ways. The new racism thus reflects a situation ofpermanence andchange. Just as people ofAfrican descent were disadvantaged within priorforms ofeconomic organization, a similar outcome exists today. On aglobal scale, wealth and poverty continue to be racialized. This is perma-nence. At the same time, racial hierarchy is produced in a context ofmas-sive economic, political, and social change that organizes racial hierarchydifferently. The processes used to maintain the same outcome are also dif-ferent. In a similar fashion, ideas about sexuality and gender that were verymuch a part ofprior forms ofracial rule remain as important today. Theytoo are differently organized to produce remarkably similar results.First, new forms ofglobal capitalism frame the new racism.Globalization itselfis certainly not newÑit was a core characteristic offormer patterns ofracism. The African slave trade had a global reach andits legacy created the contemporary African Diaspora. The colonial wealthofEurope was based on a global system ofracial subordination ofpeopleofcolor. Yet the increasing concentration ofcapital in the hands offewerand fewer corporations distinguishes the contemporary global capitalismfrom its nineteenth-century counterpart. Today, relatively few transna-tional corporations are driving the world economy and their decisionsaffect the global distribution ofwealth and poverty. These new forms ofglobal organization have polarized world populations. On one end are eliteswho are wealthy beyond the imagination, and who have the freedom tocome and go as they please, wherever and whenever they want. The locals,the people who are stuck in one place, without jobs, and for whom timeseems to creep by, populate the other end.19People ofAfrican descent are routinely disadvantaged in this globaleconomy in which corporations make the decisions and in which Òthe com-pany is free to move; but the consequences ofthe move are bound to stay.Ó20Within a global context, Black people and other people ofcolor are thosemore likely to lose jobs in local labor markets. They are the ones who lackcontrol over oil, mineral wealth, or other natural resources on their land;who lose their land to global agribusiness; and who are denied basic servicesofelectricity and clean water, let alone the luxury goods ofthe new infor-mation age. The benefits oftelecommunications and other new technolo-33
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSgies have had a far greater impact on Whites than on people ofAfricandescent and other people ofcolor. For example, though Europe and NorthAmerica constitute 20 percent ofthe worldÕs population, two-thirds ofalltelevisions and radios are owned and controlled in these two regions.21The new racism is also characterized by a changing political structurethat disenfranchises people, even ifthey appear to be included. In theUnited States, for example, people may vote, but corporations and otherpropertied entities wield tremendous influence in deciding the outcome ofelections because they fund campaigns. All levels ofgovernment have beenaffected by a growing concentration ofeconomic power that has fosteredcorporate influence over public policy. This same process operates in atransnational context. Global corporations increasingly dominate national,regional, and local governance. This concentrated economic power erodesthe authority ofnational governments and has created unprecedentedmigrations ofpeople and jobs both within and between nation-states. Theineffectiveness oftransnational governance and domestic policies ofracialdesegregation in reducing Black poverty suggests an important link join-ing the experiences ofpeople ofAfrican descent with postcolonial gover-nance and the experiences ofAfrican Americans in the United States withracial desegregation. The outcome is reconfigured social hierarchies ofrace, class, gender, and sexuality, with people ofAfrican descent clumpedat the bottom. Patterns ofdesegregation and subsequent resegregation ofAfrican Americans in the United States resemble the decolonization andrecolonization that characterizes the global context.22The new racism also relies more heavily on mass media to reproduceand disseminate the ideologies needed to justify racism. There are twothemes hereÑthe substance ofracial ideologies under the new racism andthe forms in which ideologies are created, circulated, and resisted. Ideasabout Black sexuality certainly appear in contemporary racial ideologies.But the growing significance ofBlack popular culture and mass media assites for creating and resisting racial ideologies is also striking. The films,music, magazines, music videos, and television shows ofglobal entertain-ment, advertising, and news industries that produce superstars likeJennifer Lopez help manufacture the consent that makes the new racismappear to be natural, normal, and inevitable.23The challenges ofthe new racism have been especially pronounced forAfrican American women and men, the subjects ofthis book. The issues34
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?associated with the politics ofthe new racism and with the manipulation ofideologies within them, in the case ofAfrican Americans, the discourse onBlack sexuality, affect everyone. But the specific form that race and genderpolitics take for African Americans can serve as an important site for exam-ining these larger issues. Moreover, the African American community con-tains a crucial subpopulation in these debates. A generation ofyoungAfrican American men and women who were born after the struggles forcivil rights, Black power, and African nation-state independence has comeofage under this new racism. Referred to as the hip-hop generation, thisgroup has encountered, reproduced, and resisted new forms ofracism thatcontinue to rely on ideas about Black sexuality. Expecting a democratic,fair society with equal economic opportunities, instead, this group faceddisappearing jobs, crumbling schools, drugs, crime, and the weakening ofAfrican American community institutions. The contradictions ofthepostÐcivil rights era affect all African Americans, yet they have been espe-cially pronounced for Black youth.24AMERICAÑA SEXUALLY REPRESSIVE SOCIETY?Sexualized Black bodies seem to be everywhere in contemporary massmedia, yet within African American communities, a comprehensive under-standing ofsexual politics remains elusive. In a social context that rou-tinely depicts men and women ofAfrican descent as the embodiment ofdeviant sexuality, African American politics has remained curiously silenton issues ofgender and sexuality. As a result, African Americans lack avibrant, public discussion ofthe complex issues that the prevailing dis-course on Black sexuality has raised for African American men andwomen. In more candid moments, however, some African Americanthinkers stress how damaging the absence ofa self-defined Black sexualpolitics can be. As African American cultural critic Cheryl Clarke pointedout over twenty years ago:Like all Americans, black Americans live in a sexually repressive cul-ture. And we have made all manner ofcompromise regarding our sexu-ality in order to live here. We have expended much energy trying todebunk the racist mythology which says our sexuality is depraved.Unfortunately, many ofus have overcompensated and assimilated the35
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSPuritan value that sex is for procreation, occurs only between men and women, and is only valid within the confines ofheterosexual marriage. . . . Like everyone else in America who is ambivalent in theserespects, black folk have to live with the contradictions ofthis limitedsexual system by repressing or closeting any other sexual/erotic urges,feelings, or desires.25Given the saturation ofAmerican mass media with sexual themes, and thevisibility ofsexualized spectacles that include men and women ofAfricandescent within movies, music videos, and popular music in particular,ClarkeÕs comments may seem to be odd. How can American culture beÒsexually repressiveÓwhen sexuality seems to be everywhere? Whiteactresses routinely play roles that include graphic sex scenes. Moreover,Black women are not downtrodden rape victims, but instead, also seem tobe in control oftheir own sexuality. Director Spike LeeÕs AfricanAmerican leading lady Nola Darling seemed to be calling the shots in SheÕsGotta Have It, LeeÕsgroundbreaking film about Black female sexuality.DestinyÕs Child and J-Lo certainly do not seem Òrepressed.ÓHow canAfrican Americans be sexually ÒclosetedÓwhen Black sexuality itselfserves as an icon for sexual freedom?For African Americans, these questions are crucial, especially in thecontext ofthe postÐcivil rights era in which Black popular culture andmass media are increasingly important for racial rule. Sexual regulationoccurs through repression, both by eliminating sexual alternatives and byshaping the public debates that do exist. In order to prosper, systems ofoppression must regulate sexuality, and they often do so by manufacturingideologies that render some ideas commonsensical while obscuring others.The expanding scope ofmass media makes this process more visible and,more important, in the United States, does seem to have produced a Òsex-ually repressive culture.ÓThe treatment ofhuman sexuality in American society reflects a curiouscombination ofcensorship and excessive visibility (e.g., hypervisibility), ofembarrassed silences and talk-show babble. On the one hand, since colonialtimes, selected groups within U.S. society have striven to suppress a widerange ofsexual ideas and practices.26American colonists paid close attentionto the sexual behavior ofindividuals, not to eliminate sexual expression but tochannel it into what they thought was its proper setting and purpose, namely,36
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?as a Òduty and a joy within marriage, and for purposes ofprocreation.Ó27More recently, the election ofconservative Republican Ronald Reagan in1980 emboldened the Christian Right to advance a fundamentalist family val-ues discourse. Resembling the colonial discourse from the 1600s, the con-temporary family values position argues (1) all sexual practices should occuronly within the confines ofheterosexual marriage; (2) the fundamental pur-pose ofsexuality is procreation; and (3) children should be protected from allsexual information with the exception ofabstinence as the preferred form ofbirth control before marriage. This historical and contemporary agenda that has suppressed andoften censored a range ofideas concerning human sexuality has made itdifficult to have open, candid, and fact-based public debates. This censor-ship not only affects public dialogues but it also influences research onhuman sexuality.28Heterosexism, with its ideas about what constitutes nor-mal and deviant sexuality holds sway to the point where significant gapsexist in the social science literature on human sexuality. Despite the con-servative thrust since 1980, the suppression ofa range ofideas abouthuman sexuality is not new. Research done in the 1950s by Alfred Kinseyand his colleagues at Indiana University provides a textbook case ofsexualcensorship. KinseyÕs work treated all sexual practices, including homosex-uality and bisexuality, as inherently ÒnormalÓand defined the array ofsex-ual practices reported by study participants as benign indicators ofhumandifference. But KinseyÕs work virtually ground to a halt when funding forthis line ofscientific research dried up. It has taken the field some time to recover from this censorship. Inessence, heterosexism and its accompanying assumptions ofheterosexualityoperate as a hegemonic or taken-for-granted ideology that has influencedresearch on human sexuality. Societal norms that install heterosexuality asthe only way to be normal still hold sway.29For example, the term sexualityitselfis used so synonymously with heterosexuality that schools, churches,and other social institutions treat heterosexuality as natural, normal, andinevitable. Studying sexual practices that stray too far from prevailingnorms, for example, sex outside ofmarriage, adolescent sexuality, homo-sexuality, and formerly taboo sexual practices such as anal and oral sex,become situated within a social problems framework. This approach notonly stigmatizes individuals and groups who engage in alternative sexualpractices but it also reinforces views ofhuman sexuality itselfas being a37
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSproblem that should not be discussed in public. Alternately, research onhuman sexuality is often annexed to bona fide social problems, for exam-ple, adolescent pregnancy and people living with HIV/AIDS. Sexualityseems to be everywhere, but research that investigates variations in humansexuality outside ofa social problems framework has only recently come tothe forefront. The treatment ofsex education in American public schools illustrateshow a sexually repressive culture strives to render human sexuality invisi-ble. Sex education remains a hot topic, with students receiving spottyinformation at best. Topics that are important to adolescents have been dif-ficult to include within sex education programs. Despite high studentinterest and a growing recognition that comprehensive sex educationmight save lives, programs tend to shy away from discussing sexualitybefore marriage, the use ofcontraception, homosexuality, and other con-troversial topics. Ironically, the checkered pattern ofresearch on humansexuality offers a good case for how heterosexism operates as a system ofpower that negatively affects straight and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gendered (LGBT) students alike. Because adolescents ofall sexual orien-tations are in the process offorming sexual identities, they are especiallyaffected by heterosexism. For example, despite a high adolescent preg-nancy rate, worrisome increases in the rate ofHIV infection amongAmerican adolescents, and emerging research demonstrating that highschool students grappling with LGBT identities are more prone to depres-sion and suicide, the reluctance to talk openly about human sexualitywithin U.S. schools places students at risk. Similarly, a special report onadolescent sexuality points to the difficulties ofcollecting data on adoles-cent conceptions ofabstinence.30Anecdotal reports suggest that many ado-lescents who engage in oral sex think that they are practicing abstinencebecause they are refraining from genital sexual intercourse. These prac-tices may protect them from pregnancy, but they also expose adolescents torisks ofsexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.31Despite these repressive practices, on the other hand, sexual ideas andimages within contemporary U.S. society enjoy a visibility that would havebeen unheard ofin KinseyÕs 1950s America. Recognizing that sex sells,corporations increasingly use it to sell cars, toothpaste, beer, and other con-sumer goods. This media saturation has made sexual spectacles highly vis-ible within American popular culture. Soap operas, prime time television,38
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?billboards, music videos, movies, and the Internet all contain explicit sex-ual material. Making sex highly visible in marketplace commodity relationsbecomes important to maintaining profitability within the U.S. capitalistpolitical economy. The goal is neither to stimulate debate nor to educate,but to sell products. In the absence ofother forums, talk shows on network television pro-vide one important public medium for gaining sexual information.Unfortunately, such shows foster the commodification ofsexuality.Stressing sexually explicit conversations that titillate rather than instruct,talk shows illustrate how marketplace relations profit from sexual specta-cles. By the early 2000s, this market had segmented into a variety ofshows,each carving out its specific identity, often based on distinctive normsregarding race, class, gender, and sexuality.32For example, The MontelWilliams Showroutinely trumpets the benefits ofthe heterosexual family,primarily by extolling the role offathers in their childrenÕs lives. By itself,this message is fairly innocuous. However, the showÕs format creates sex-ual spectacles that function as modern-day morality plays about race, gen-der, and sexuality. Mr. Williams, an African American, routinely conductspaternity tests for women who are not ÒsureÓwho fathered their babies.The potential fathers are invited to hear the results ofthe paternity test onthe air, with a stern talk by Mr. Williams concerning their ÒresponsibilityÓto those branded as fathers by DNA evidence. This family drama is playedout repeatedly, with Mr. Williams readying himselfto deliver the messageto wayward young menÑifyou take it out ofyour pants, you need to takecare ofyour babies. Moreover, as an African American man married to aWhite woman, on his show Mr. Williams repeatedly brings on working-class, interracial couples in which young White mothers try to get theirsexually irresponsible Black boyfriends to claim paternity. Ifthis werenÕtenough, Mr. Williams also devotes shows to the pain experienced by bira-cial children in search oftheir wayward parents.The Maury Povich Showalso trades in this racial family drama, butwith more emphasis on race and sexuality. Not only does Mr. Povich, aWhite American, present shows in which White women seek paternitytests for their Black male partners, Mr. Povich presents Black women andBlack men in an especially stark light. One show, for example, featured aBlack woman who brought on nine Black men as candidates for her six-month-old daughterÕs Òbaby daddy.Ó33All nine failed the paternity test.39
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSAfter the revelation, with cameras rolling in search ofthe all-importantÒmoney shot,Ó34Mr. Povich followed the distraught young mother back-stage, and volunteered to keep working with her until she had trackeddown the Black deadbeat dad. Like Mr. Williams, Mr. Povich delivers amessage about responsibility to the DNA-branded fathers. Via the choiceoftopic, and showing the African American woman whose sexuality was soout ofcontrol that she had no idea who had fathered her child, Mr. Povichpanders to longstanding societal beliefs about Black sexuality. The crying and raw emotion solicited on Mr. WilliamsÕs and Mr.PovichÕs shows pales in comparison to the staged sexual spectacles ofTheJerry Springer Show. Reminiscent ofthe London freak shows ofSarahBartmannÕs time, Mr. SpringerÕs shows routinely combine sexuality andviolence, two sure-fire audience builders. Here participants are invited tocome on the air and reveal ÒsecretsÓto seemingly unsuspecting spouses,lovers, and friends. The ÒsecretsÓroutinely involve cheating, lying, andfalse paternity. By his choice ofguests, Mr. SpringerÕs show also takes sex-ual spectacles to an entirely new level. Morbidly obese women parade acrossthe stage in bikinis, verbally taunting the audience to comment on theirappearance. In a context in which womenÕs bodies are routinely sexualized,displaying seemingly hideous female bodies is designed to shock and solicitridicule. These confessional talk shows also routinely conduct paternitytests, show pictures ofbabies who lack legal fathers, discuss sexual infi-delity, and display audience members in sexually explicit clothing (or lackthereof). For many Americans, these shows substitute for public discussionsofsexuality because few other outlets are available. African Americans are well represented in the public spectacles pro-vided by Mr. WilliamsÕs, Mr. PovichÕs, and Mr. SpringerÕs talk shows.Guests on all three programs are clearly working-class, with many ofthemBlack and Latino. These shows are not just about sexuality; they also sig-nal clear messages about race and class. They depict the challenges ofexplaining a new, interracial class structure that can no longer rely on bio-logical notions ofrace to differentiate poor people (assumed to be Black)from middle-class people (assumed to be White). In the new multiculturalAmerica, Blacks can be middle class (the hugely popular Cosby Show brokethat barrier in the 1980s) and, in fact, a certain degree ofBlack middle-class visibility is needed to buttress arguments ofequal opportunity(Oprah Winfrey and Montel Williams both exemplify this need for visible,40
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?accomplished Blacks). But how does one explain the persistence ofpovertyamong WhiteAmericans ifpoverty has long been attributed to Black bio-logical inferiority? They are not biologically Black, but their poverty anddownward mobility can be explained ifthey are seen as being culturally orsocially Black. Whites who embrace Black culture become positionedcloser to Blacks and become stigmatized. In the context ofthe new racism,cultural explanations for economic success and poverty substitute for bio-logical arguments concerning intelligence or genetic dispositions forimmorality or violence. Viewing stories about historically taboo interracial sexuality betweenWhite women and Black men becomes the new sexual spectacle, whereworking-class White women become ÒdarkenedÓby their sexual relation-ships with irresponsible working-class Black men.35When accused ofpaternity by these ÒtrashyÓWhite women, Black men are depicted asproud oftheir irresponsible sexual behavior. Certainly White men aregiven paternity tests on these shows, but typically these are working-classor poor White men who are hauled in by working-class White mothers oftheir alleged children. In contrast to the White women who point the fin-ger ofpaternity at both Black and White men, Black women rarely iden-tify White men as the potential fathers oftheir babies. Given the history ofinterracial, institutionalized rape ofBlack women by White men, Whitefathers ofBlack children would hardly be newsworthy. Instead, Blackwomen are presented as being so reckless that they do not know whofathered their children or, sharing a common fate with their White sisters,they point the finger at irresponsible Black men. Despite similarities thatlink all three shows, they do offer different scripts for solving the problemsofthese sexual spectacles. Part ofthe appeal ofThe Montel Williams Showlies in his role in this family dramaÑWilliams plays the part ofthe caringyet stern Black patriarch who provides the fatherly discipline that so manyofhis guests seemingly lack. In contrast, Mr. Povich presents himselfas akindly White father, showing concern for his emotional albeit abnormalguests. Mr. Springer is merely a ringmasterÑhe doesnÕt get near hisguests, preferring instead to watch the cursing and chair throwing from asafe distance. Discipline them, listen to them, or dismiss themÑall threesolutions apply to working-class and poor guests. Apparently, middle-classAmericans (even Black ones) have little difficulty identifying which sexualpartner conceived their children. Affluent, thirty-something White women41
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSawaiting the results ofpaternity tests for their biracial babies just do notappear on any ofthese shows. Much more is at stake here than the accuracy ofthe depictions ofAfrican American women and men within talk shows and other forms ofmass media. African Americans and Black culture are highly visible withinthe American movies, music, sports, dance, and fashion that help shapecontemporary ideologies ofrace, gender, sexuality, and class in a globalcontext. Sexual spectacles travel, and they matter. Historical context dis-appears, leaving seemingly free-floating images in its wake that become thenew vocabulary that joins quite disparate entities. Terms such as Òprimi-tive,ÓÒbackward,ÓÒjungle,ÓÒwild,Óand ÒfreakÓuncritically cyclethrough contemporary global culture, leaving undisturbed the pejorativehistorical meanings associated with this vocabulary. But history hides inthe shadows ofthese terms, because these concepts are incomprehensiblewithout a social context to give them meaning. For example, the pervasiveuse ofanimal imagery persists within some expressions ofcontemporaryBlack popular culture, as suggested by the decision to clothe DestinyÕsChild in animal-skin bikinis on their album cover. These depictions eerilyresemble past practices ofassociating Africans with animals, particularlyapes, monkeys, and chimpanzees. The choice ofanimal may changeÑnolonger apes, Black men have taken on new identities as ÒdogsÓenergeticallyengaged in chasing the (kitty) ÒcatÓÑbut associating Black men andwomen with lusty, animal sexual practices apparently has not. Althoughdifferent meanings may be associated with animal imagery, Snoop DoggyDog, Little Bow Wow, and the classic phrase Òyou my main dogÓall invokethis same universe ofanimal imagery. Moreover, representations ofBlackmen as ÒdogsÓwho have replaced the cool ÒcatsÓofprior eras ofAfricanAmerican jazzmen, as well as the video ÒhosÓwho populate rap musicvideos suggest the emergence ofan increasingly sophisticated gender-specific expression ofideas about Blackness sold in the global marketplace.Josephine BakerÕs banana dance and DestinyÕs ChildÕs ÒbootyliciousÓwould be meaningless without this history, even ifthose enjoying theimages do not consciously see the connections.African American theorist Cornel West identifies the paradox ofa sex-ually repressive culture that, on the one hand, seems saturated with sexu-ality, but that, on the other hand, suppresses education and open dialogueconcerning human sexuality. To West, race matters: Òthe paradox ofthe42
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?sexual politics ofrace in America is that, behind closed doors, the dirty,disgusting, and funky sex associated with Black people is often perceivedto be more intriguing and interesting, while in public spaces talk aboutBlack sexuality is virtually taboo.Ó36Black sexuality is routinely invokedwithin American society, namely, the alleged sexual prowess ofthe Blackmen accused offathering babies with White women, but analyzing it is dis-couraged. The result is a society fraught with contradictions. For example,well-offWhite teenagers can drive expensive cars to racially segregatedhigh schools and college campuses that admit only a few handpickedAfrican Americans, all the while booming the latest sexually explicit lyricsoftheir favorite Black hip-hop artist. American viewers can sit in their liv-ing rooms viewing talk shows that censure the African American manaccused offathering three out-of-wedlock children with two differentWhite women, yet still be intrigued by his sexual prowess. Legions ofyoung American men can wonder what it would be like to get BeyoncŽKnowles from DestinyÕs Child or Jennifer Lopez in bed.Like other Americans, African Americans must make sense ofthiscurious sexual climate that accompanies the new racism. This task is madeeven more difficult by the fact that African Americans are included in thesedebates, often serving as examples ofwhat notto be or, alternately, as iconsofsexual freedom served up as the antidote to American sexual repression.As part ofthe color-blind racism that has accompanied the erasure ofthecolor line, the ubiquitous inclusionofimages ofBlack sexuality that per-meate contemporary movies, television shows, and music videos can repli-cate the power relations ofracism today just as effectively as the exclusionofBlack images did prior to the 1960s. Thus, Cheryl ClarkeÕs observationthat African Americans live in a sexually repressive culture speaks less tothe prominence ofrepresentations ofBlack sexuality within an increas-ingly powerful mass media than to the functionofthese images in helpingto construct a Òlimited sexual system.ÓGENDER, SEXUALITY, AND AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICSAfrican Americans typically think that gender relations are a private con-cern, mainly reflecting the love relationships between heterosexual menand women. Those who see the harmful effects ofgender oppression onAfrican Americans still wish to define issues ofgender and sexuality solely43
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSwithin the context ofBlack community politics, a domestic issue amongBlack people. Place the ÒpublicÓissue ofrace first, they counsel, and leavethe more ÒprivateÓissues ofgender and sexuality for us to work out amongourselves. Relying on ideas about family to construct ideas about race, thisapproach sees African Americans as participating in a large, imaginedracial family. In service to the race, each individual African Americanshould put on a good face for the critical White public that sits in judgmentoutside African American communities. The adage ÒdonÕt air dirty laun-dry in publicÓspeaks to this African American community norm ofkeep-ing these and other family problems hidden.37 What these approaches fail to grasp is that commonsense notionsabout differences ofgender and sexuality that allegedly distinguish Whites(carriers ofÒnormalÓgender ideology and sexual practices) from Blacks(carriers ofÒdeviantÓgender ideology and sexual practices) have longserved as the fulcrum for constructing racial difference. Withinwhite/black binary thinking, ideas about racial normality and deviancydraw heavily upon ideas about gender and sexuality for meaning.Moreover, because racial normality has been defined in gender-specificterms, African American progress or lack thereofin achieving the gendernorms attributed to Whites has long been used as a marker ofracialprogress. Stated differently, African Americans have been evaluated withinthe context ofa sex role theory that by its very nature disadvantages Blackpeople.38Within a Western sex role ideology premised on ideas ofstrongmen and weak women, on active, virile masculinity and passive, dependentfemininity, the seeming role reversal among African Americans has beenused to stigmatize Black people.39This ideology not only identifies areversed, damaged gender ideology as a sign ofracial difference, it furtherclaims that flawed ideas concerning Black masculinity and Black feminin-ity reflect equally problematic conceptions ofsexuality. Because African Americans are in many ways quintessentially American,individual African Americans as well as African Americans as a collectivitycan have just as much difficulty as everyone else in understanding thesebroader U.S. sexual politics. But, because African Americans have histori-cally been harmed by these contradictory sexual politics, the stakes are muchhigher to develop a critical consciousness. The refusal to discuss in publictheprofound influence ofWestern constructions ofa deviant Black sexuality onAfrican American men and women leaves a vacuum in contemporary African44
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?American politics. Major Black civil rights organizations, for example, theNational Association for the Advancement ofColored People (NAACP) andthe Urban League continue to skirt issues associated with gender and sexu-ality.40Black Christian churches constitute the most important AfricanAmerican community organizations, and yet they continue to preach a con-servative gender ideology, and shun controversial topics, especially sexuality.41Gender politics that deny African American women the pulpit when close to70 percent ofchurchgoing members are female speak to the need for engage-ment on these issues. Louis Farrakhan, the head ofthe Nation ofIslam(NOI), called a very successful Million Man March on Washington, D.C. in1995, yet the NOIÕs gender politics are grounded in the bedrock ofthe patri-archal nuclear family and, in many ways, are indistinguishable from those ofmainstream Black Christian denominations as well as the sexually repressiveculture discussed earlier.42African American politics ofthe postÐcivil rights era seems to bebetween a rock and a hard place. Racial segregation as the legal mechanismfor racial oppression has been struck down and the racial ideologies thatjustified it have been forcefully challenged. Few would offer biologicalexplanations for African American joblessness, poor school performance,higher rates ofpregnancy out ofwedlock, and higher rates ofincarcera-tion. But the changing legal climate and the muting ofracial theoriesrooted in biology neither means that new forms ofracism are absent northat cultural arguments are replacing biology as the reason given forAfrican American disadvantage.43 This new racism does present some formidable puzzles for AfricanAmerican politics. In prior periods in which biological theories were usedto justify racist practices, racism and antiracism had a seemingly organicand oppositional relationship. One could either be forracism by believingthat Blacks were biologically inferior and deserved the treatment that theyreceived or one could be againstit by rejecting these beliefs and pointing toracial prejudice and institutional discrimination as more important inexplaining Black disadvantage. These distinctions no longer hold for manyWhite and Black Americans. Under the new color-blind racism that erasesthe color line, racism itselfseems to have disappeared. As French sociolo-gist Michel Wieviorka points out, Òthis clear-cut polarity between racistsand anti-racists no longer exists.Ó44With the exception oflargely discred-ited right-wing groups, few American organizations openly advocate theo-45
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSries ofBlack inferiority based on outdated racial biology. As a result,groups holding vastly different perspectives on what constitutes antiracistpolitical activism can claim that they are the true antiracists. Taking Martin Luther King, Jr.Õs advice to heart that Òpeople shouldbe judged by the content oftheir character, and not by the color oftheirskin,Ófor example, one group believes that treating everyone the same,regardless ofcolor, moves American society toward equality. Within thisassimilationist, color-blind version ofantiracism, recognizing racial differ-ences, or, in some versions, even using the term race, fosters racism. Incontrast, another group argues that recognizing racial differences is anessential first step in unpacking racial meanings that continue to shapesocial relations. They see a color-conscious, multicultural diversity as thefuture ofAmerican democracy. Ironically, individuals and groups holdingthese disparate views can now accuse one another ofperpetuating racismitself.45Both appropriate the symbols ofthe civil rights and Black powermovements for their own ends. In this context, it becomes possible for con-servative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Black Nationalistfilmmaker Spike Lee bothto admire and to claim the legacy ofMalcolm X.Ifall ofthe actual racists in the United States have curiously disappeared,it becomes much more difficult to argue that racism persists. After all, ifGeorge W. Bush, Louis Farrahkan, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, and MolefiAsante can all claim the mantle ofbeing antiracists, how does one recog-nize racism?46African American politics is buffeted by the same trends that afflictantiracist practices overall. In the context ofnew U.S. racial formations andofconflicting approaches to Black empowerment and social justice, AfricanAmerican antiracist politics seems stuck between two ineffective ideologicaloptions. On one side stands a threadbare civil rights agenda that continuesto preach racial integration to an African American population so incarcer-ated in extensive inner-city ghettos that few Whites are left to integrateschools, neighborhoods, and public facilities.47Whites have voted with theirfeet and their pocketbooks, and few attend the annual Martin Luther KingDay rally anymore. On the other side stands a largely symbolic BlackNationalist agenda that shapes the gender politics ofcontroversial organi-zations such as the Nation ofIslam. Black nationalist ideology also appearsas a faux radical politics in some hip-hop culture, for example, in the workofPublic Enemy or Ice T, primarily because African American youth quite46
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?rightly perceive few other options. Neither choice has been especially effec-tive in addressing the social problems ofthe inner cities or in fostering abroader social justice agenda within the United States.Black Americans must figure out how to deal with the contours ofthenew racism and must do so with an increased sensitivity to issues ofgen-der and sexuality. In this regard, political theorist Cathy J. CohenÕs schemaofconsensus and crosscutting political issues provides a useful model forunderstanding current African American antiracist politics. Consensusissues affect all identifiable group members, in this case, all who claim orare assigned a Black identity. Consensus issues may affect all group mem-bers, but they may not take the same form for all group members. In con-trast, crosscutting issues disproportionately and directly affect only certainsegments ofa group. Cohen suggests that current African American poli-tics treat race as a consensus issue while assigning gender and sexuality asecondary status as crosscutting issues. Within this thinking, Black womenare affected by gender and Black men are not, and lesbian, gay, bisexual,and transgendered Black people are affected by sexuality and heterosexualBlacks are not. The new social relations ofthe postÐcivil rights era mandate newunderstandings ofhow race, class, gender, and sexuality operate as con-sensus and crosscutting issues within African American politics and howthey might be differently configured for what lies ahead. Race continues tobe a compelling consensus issue for African Americans because the vastmajority ofBlacks are either directly affected by racial discrimination orknow someone who is or has been affected. For most, middle-class Blackachievement is only one generation away from the racism ofthe past, andits effects are still felt. This racial consensus has political effects in thatAfrican American voting behavior demonstrates a commitment to racialsolidarity. Despite the growth ofa new Black middle class, AfricanAmericans are more likely to vote as a racial bloc than they are to vote theirsocial class interests.48Claims from William Julius Wilson notwithstand-ing,49most African Americans recognize that class differences amongAfrican Americans are now more pronounced. But when it comes to elec-toral politics, they continue to choose race over class, that is, when theyperceive that they have a choice at all. Both gender and sexuality have historically been crosscutting issueswithin the framework ofan overarching antiracist political project. This has47
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSbeen a problem because, within Black political arenas, crosscutting issues areoften deemed to be secondary to the greater good ofthe group.50In a contextin which gender has been associated with Black women and in which sexu-ality has been the province ofBlack (LGBT) people, these groups have oftenbeen encouraged to take a back seat for the greater good ofracial solidarity.Many have not gone willingly. The explosion ofBlack feminism since the1970s has been spurred on, in large part, by the refusal ofBlack womenactivists to take a back seat to men within both the civil rights and the BlackNationalist political movements. Similar catalysts stimulated the increasingvisibility ofBlack lesbians and gays. These groups point out that, withoutserious attention to contemporary Black sexual politics, African Americansmay uncritically circulate ideas about race, class, gender, and sexuality thatbear striking resemblance to those long advanced by White elites.An antiracist politics that does not reframe the consensus issue ofracein terms ofclass, gender, sexuality, and age will remain incapable ofresponding to the complexities ofthe new racism. Take, for example, thepressing issue ofviolence that confronts people ofAfrican descent.African Americans are all affected by violence, but by different manifesta-tions. Regardless ofsocial class, Black men are more likely to encounterstate-sanctioned violence at the hands ofpolice whereas Black women aremore likely to experience intimate violence ofbattering and rape at thehands offathers, brothers, spouses, boyfriends, and men in their neigh-borhoods. Black youth and children witness this violence and are pro-foundly affected by it. Black LGBT people encounter hate crimes ofverbaland physical harassment that stem from homophobia. Young Black menoften kill one another, a form ofinternecine violence that reflects the sig-nificance ofage. Poor and working-class Black people are more vulnerableto certain types ofviolence than their more affluent counterparts. Violencerepresents a potentially divisive issue ifone form ofviolence is deemed tobe more important than others because the segment ofBlack people whoexperience it are deemed more worthy ofattention and help. Rather thanviewing violence as a crosscutting issue, each group member would recog-nize the importance ofall forms ofantiviolence political action, even ifparticular forms ofviolence, for example, police harassment or wife bat-tering or rape, did not directly affect him or her. The issue for African American political agendas is to see the inter-connectedness ofconsensus and crosscutting issues in crafting African48
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?American political agendas. Gender, sexuality, class, and age need not becrosscutting issues within the consensus issue ofrace but instead are cru-cial for developing effective racial politics. As the discussion ofcraftingantiviolence initiatives suggests, the real consensus issue is how to keeprace, class, gender, sexuality, and age in dialogue with one another in craft-ing an antiracist African American politics. Not only are gender, sexuality,and class critical for internal African American politics, developing a morecomplex analysis creates possibilities for coalitions with other groups whoare engaged in similar social justice projects. For example, AfricanAmericans cannot address violence alone because the violence againstBlack women also affects women in a global context. The forms ofstateviolence that concern African American men also affect Latino men andpoor and working-class White American men. State violence is not uniqueto the United States, as numerous cases ofstate-sanctioned violence inCentral and South America and in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia sug-gest. The environmental justice movement pays attention to violenceagainst children from dumping, pesticides, and pollution. These are allbroad-based social justice projects, and a robust Black politics would beprepared to engage in coalitions such as these.Given these challenges, it is vital that the notion ofantiracist politicsbe expanded beyond more traditional notions ofpolitical parties, socialmovements, and grassroots political organizations. Political anthropologistJames C. Scott uses the term ÒinfrapoliticsÓto describe the hidden behaviorsofeveryday resistance. Despite appearances ofconsent, people challengeinequalities ofrace, class, gender, and sexuality through conversations,jokes, songs, folklore, theft, foot-dragging, and a multitude ofeverydaybehaviors.51As African American historian Robin D. G. Kelley points out,Òthe political history ofoppressed people cannot be understood withoutreference to infrapolitics, for these daily acts have a cumulative effect onpower relations.Ó52Everyday life contains many opportunities for resist-ance, ifindividual thoughts and actions can be conceptualized in this fash-ion. Infrapolitics provide important insights concerning the political pos-sibilities for oppressed groups that seemingly lack political options. Forexample, within African American communities, men and women have dif-ferent degrees ofaccess to formal power. Men are more likely to engage intraditional politics ofofficeholding whereas women have been moreinvolved in the day-to-day infrapolitics ofcommunity organizing.49
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSMoreover, because infrapolitics and traditional politics are interdependent,neither is sufficient as the sole form ofpolitical resistance. In a new global context, both the organizational politics offormalpolitical arenas and the infrapolitics ofeveryday African American life areground zero for issues that go far beyond the happenings in Black inner-city neighborhoods, city politics, or within the United States itself. Giventhe visibility ofAfrican Americans within a global popular culture, AfricanAmerican reactions to these new social relations are highly important. Inmapping Black responses to the new racism with an eye toward developinga progressive Black sexual politics adequate for broader antiracist initia-tives, African Americans respond in often contradictory ways. Twentyyears ago, Cheryl Clarke saw silences and self-censorship. Now, however,these silences are being supplemented by growing numbers ofAfricanAmerican men and women who seem ever ready to replicate these imagesin full public view. Discourses such as the references to Jennifer LopezÕsbutt sell because they allude to a certain kind ofsexuality long associatedwith people ofAfrican descent. Seemingly unaware ofthis history, or per-haps exploiting it, some African American artists capitalize on a situationin which everyone knows on some level what gives ideas about Black sexu-ality their meaning but no one is ultimately responsible. ItÕs one thing ifJennifer Lopez and BeyoncŽ Knowles from DestinyÕs Child profit fromtheir own images and present themselves in performance as Òbootylicious.ÓItÕs entirely another ifadolescent girls tap into this message offemalepower and head offto their eighth grade classrooms decked in the sameÒbootyliciousÓapparel, all the while purchasing the clothes required toachieve this image with money they donÕt have. The theme here is not cen-sorship ofBlack girls, but rather to question whether they can Òhandle itÓifthey are so woefully uninformed about the legacy ofSarah Bartmann. Contemporary forms ofoppression do not routinely force people tosubmit. Instead, they manufacture consent for domination so that we loseour ability to question and thus collude in our own subordination. ImagesofJ-Lo, DestinyÕs Child, and Montel Williams are all part ofthis processofreproduction and contestation. In this context ofoppressions occurringthrough the normal structures ofsociety, within contemporary nation-states such as the United States, oppression becomes expressed as a rou-tinized violence or normalized war within one society. Within the UnitedStates, oppression now takes a new form, one where society itselfis satu-50
WHY BLACK SEXUAL POLITICS?rated with the relations ofwarfare against selected members ofsocietyitself. Routinized violence can break through into open conflict (1992 inLos Angeles and 2001 in Cincinnati), but more often, this normalized waralso operates through the infrapolitics ofeveryday life, through a series ofmini-assaults that convince each one ofus to stay in our place.53Black peo-ple are under assault, and the racial and gender meanings assigned to Blackbodies as well as the social meanings ofBlack sexuality in American soci-ety overall constitute sites ofcontestation in an uncivil civil war againstBlack people. DEVELOPING A PROGRESSIVE BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSAfrican Americans express quite diverse and often contradictory responsesto the challenges raised by prevailing Black sexual politics. How canJennifer Lopez and DestinyÕs Child be independent women and bootyli-cious at the same time? IfSarah Bartmann, Josephine Baker, DestinyÕsChild, and Jennifer Lopez can be convinced to perceive themselves solelyin terms ofthe value oftheir bootys in marketplace relations, then oppres-sion may be complete. IfAfrican American men accept the images ofthemselves as sexually irresponsible boys as depicted on the MontelWilliams, Maury Povich, and Jerry Springer shows, then they too partici-pate in structuring their own oppression. But is anyone ever withoutagency to this degree? The antidote to a gender-specific racial oppression that advances con-trolling images ofdeviant Black sexuality does not lie in embracing a conservative politics ofrespectability that mimics the beliefs ofthoseresponsible for the sexually repressive culture in the first place. Rather, inthe context ofa new racism, men and women who rescue and redefine sex-uality as a source ofpower rooted in spirituality, expressiveness, and lovecan craft new understandings ofBlack masculinity and Black femininityneeded for a progressive Black sexual politics. When reclaimed by individ-uals and groups, redefined ideas about sexuality and sexual practices canoperate as sources ofjoy, pleasure, and empowerment that simultaneouslyaffirm and transcend individual sexual pleasure for social good. Black feminist poet Audre Lorde certainly knew this when, almostthirty years ago, she identified the power ofthe erotic as an importantsource ofenergy for resisting gender oppression.54Lorde redefined the51
BLACK SEXUAL POLITICSerotic as the deep feelings within each ofus in search oflove, affirmation,recognition, and a spiritual and/or physical connection to one another.Lorde argued that impoverished notions oflove ofselfand others lie at theheart ofoppression. Reclaiming the erotic as a domain ofexploration,pleasure, and human agency is thus vital to individual empowerment.Lorde associated erotic power with women and with female sexuality. Butthe power ofthe erotic need not be reserved for women, nor is it synony-mous with physical sexual expression. Such power is available to all humanbeings. For women and men alike, and for individuals from diverse racial, eth-nic, sexual, age, and national backgrounds, claiming such power remainseasier said than done. Expressing individual agency and challenging theBlack sexual politics that shape everyday life is complicated; linking theindividualagency expressed in these social locations to a collectivegrouppolitics may seem unattainable. The dialectical relationship betweenoppression and activism makes all politics difficult, including this one. Afundamental contradiction lies at the juncture where intersecting oppres-sions grounded in dominance confront a resistance nourished by expansivenotions ofcare, eroticism, spirituality, and politicized love. On the onehand, perverting the power ofthe erotic by manipulating ideas about sex-uality has been and continues to be an important dimension ofoppressionsofrace, gender, class, and sexuality. For African Americans, these manip-ulations take myriad forms and continue to affect contemporary Black sex-ual politics. On the other hand, because deeply held feelings, especiallythose that have bodily expression, constitute one ofthe most importantsources ofenergy available to human beings, people who are able to reclaimthe power ofthe erotic gain a crucial weapon in resisting these intersectingoppressions. Despite these challenges, for African Americans, the struggleis essential. 52
NOTESCHAPTER ONE1.Asante 1993.2.The details ofthis version come from (Fausto-Sterling 1995). Depending on theintent ofthe author, Sarah BartmannÕs story takes on different meanings. Forexample, Anne Fausto-SterlingÕs account focuses on the nineteenth-century sci-entists who relentlessly probed her body and used Bartmann as a vehicle forredefining Western concepts ofrace, gender, and sexuality. Fausto-SterlingÕs ver-sion points out how we learn much more about European scientists themselves viatheir treatment ofSarah Bartmann than we gain any accurate information abouther. In contrast, in his groundbreaking essay ÒThe Hottentot and the Prostitute:Toward an Iconography ofFemale Sexuality,ÓSander GilmanÕs account traceshow ideas about the Hottentot Venus as an icon ofBlack sexuality were crucial tonineteenth-century European perceptions ofwomenÕs sexuality (Gilman 1985,76Ð108). Advancing a materialist analysis, Zine Magubane takes issue withGilmanÕs claim that, by the eighteenth century, the sexuality ofAfrican men andwomen became the icon for deviant sexuality in general. Rather, Magubane con-tends that the Bartmann exhibition encapsulated the debates that were occurringconcerning colonial labor needs (Magubane 2001). Grounded in a cultural stud-ies framework, Susie Prestney explores how the image ofthe Hottentot Venus wascentral to conceptions ofdifference, especially those offreak shows and similarspectacles (Prestney 1997). Taking a different approach, Yvette Abrahams chal-lenges the flawed historiography on the Khoi people and indigenous people ingeneral that places Bartmann outside history (Abrahams 1998). Finally, my ownrendering ofthis narrative in Black Feminist Thought(Collins 2000a, 136Ð137,141Ð145), and in this volume aim to place Sarah Bartmann in an intersectionalanalysis ofhow race, class, gender, and sexuality affect women ofAfrican descent. 3.Bederman 1995, 1Ð5.4.I use the terms representations, stereotypes, and controlling imagesto refer to thedepiction ofpeople ofAfrican descent within Western scholarship and popularculture. Each term has a different history. Representations need not be stereotyp-ical and stereotypes need not function as controlling images. Ofthe three, con-trolling images are most closely tied to power relations ofrace, class, gender, andsexuality. For a discussion ofcontrolling images, see Collins 2000a, 69Ð96. 5.As used here, the term inventedresembles Benedict AndersonÕs notion ofan imag-inedcommunity (Anderson 1983). In his important study ofnationalism,Anderson contends that members ofnations can never know one another. TheyÒimagineÓor ÒinventÓa community. Racial categories such as White, Black, andnative are all, in this sense, invented. Also, the term discoursehas a particularmeaning ofa set ofideas and practices that, when taken together, organize boththe way a society defines certain truths about itselfand the way it deploys socialpower. An invented discourse is in some sense an oxymoron in that all discoursesare social constructions that simultaneously shape and reflect actual social rela-tions. For a good use ofthe term inventedas the frame ofan argument, seeOyr—nkŽ Oyÿewm’Õs book The Invention ofWomen: Making an African Sense ofWestern Gender Discourses(Oyewumi 1997). All invented discourses typically con-tain contradictions and are often hotly contested, certainly the case with inventeddiscourses on Black sexuality. For historical treatments ofthe invention ofdis-courses ofBlack sexuality, see Jordan 1968, 136Ð178, especially 150Ð151; andDÕEmilio and Freedman 1997, 34Ð37. 311
NOTES6.Collins 2000a, 69Ð96.7.Abrahams 1998; Maseko 1998.8.Morton 1991; Jewell 1993; Davis 1994; Asante 1994; Turner 1994.9.The theme ofprimitivism ofnon-Western peoples was used to justify colonial-ism and slavery. For an analysis ofhow this idea was constructed and used, seeYoung 1995; Torgovnick 1990; McClintock 1995.10.The term Latinaaddresses some ofthe multifaceted debates within contempo-rary racial theory that demonstrate the fluidity ofracial classification. Researchon how the different histories ofpeople ofAfrican descent within Latin Americancountries coupled with a philosophy ofÒracial democracyÓshows how LatinAmerican populations approach race and ethnicity differently (Winant 2001,219Ð248). In this context, LopezÕs history as a Puerto Rican is significant, espe-cially regarding the changing meaning ofrace in the United States as evidencedin the 2000 census (Rodriguez 2000). The category Latinarefers to a wide rangeofnational histories and migration streams into a new American ethnicity ofHispanic. Historically, Puerto Ricans have been viewed as reflecting a mulattomixture resulting from European and African backgrounds as compared to a mes-tizo mixture ofEuropean and Indian ofChicana or Mexican-American popula-tions. But the very categories ofmulatto and mestizo may mask more than theyreveal about the fluidity ofracial and ethnic classification throughout theAmericans. Both Puerto Rico and Mexico have varying combinations ofracialmixtures, a situation that generates different approaches to skin color, hair tex-ture, and the racial order itself. These ideas become layered upon North Americanideas concerning race. 11.DÕEmilio and Freedman 1997, 102Ð103.12.Ironically, the theme ofracial mixture ofAfrican, Indians, and Whites falterswhen Spain and Portugal are in the mix. Latinas have Spanish blood, but theWhiteness ofthis lineage can be questioned. Moors brought dark skin and Islamto Spain and intermingled with its peoples. Ferdinand and Isabella were cele-brated for unifying Spain, ÒcivilizingÓit, and insisting on Catholicism as the wayto prove membership and belonging in the emerging Spanish nation. Thus,Moors with their heathen Muslim beliefs and their dark skin became coded as sav-ages. 13.The relationship among colonialism, European nationalism, and women has beenexplored by a variety ofauthors. For a representative work, see Yuval-Davis 1997.14.People ofAfrican descent were not the only ones whose sexuality was patholo-gized in this process. Whereas the black/white binary is the anchor that frames allothers, different race/gender groups found their sexuality differentially stereo-typed and pathologized in this process. Enslaving people ofAfrican descent notonly required enforcing the master/slave relationship, it also required erasing thepresence ofindigenous peoples (who faced genocidal policies) as well as claimingland that had been historically governed by Mexico (Takaki 1993). Racial ideolo-gies constructed the sexualities ofmultiple groups in relation to one another(DÕEmilio and Freedman 1997). Justifying slavery also required establishing asocial class hierarchy among Whites while hiding the effects ofthis hierarchyunder the assumed privileges attached to Whiteness.15.For an early discussion ofBlack male sexuality, see Jordan 1968, 151Ð152. Formore recent works that build on historical work, see Ferber 1998; Riggs 1999;Jones 1993. 312
NOTES16.For an analysis ofhow this process operated in the late nineteenth and early twen-tieth centuries, see Somerville 2000; Bederman 1995. 17.For a classic work on this process, see Hoch 1979. 18.The changes generated by postcoloniality, global capitalism, and new technologieshave sparked a lively debate about the contours and meaning ofthe new racism inthe United States. Some scrutinize the transformation ofcontemporary U.S.society as a racialized social system composed ofstructural and ideological dimen-sions (Bonilla-Silva 1996). When it comes to African Americans, structurally,American society has not made the gains in desegregating its housing, schools,and employment promised by the civil rights movement (Massey and Denton1993). One study ofAtlanta, Georgia, revealed that neighborhood-level racialresegregation is emerging as a new spatial pattern within major American cities,even those with a politically enfranchised and highly visible Black middle class(Orfield and Ashkinaze 1991). Other research points to the growth ofa prison-industrial complex as an important new site for institutionalized racism con-fronting working-class and poor African Americans and Latinos (Miller 1996).Ideologically, a beliefin upholding Òcolor blindnessÓmasks the continuedinequalities ofcontemporary racism. By proclaiming that equal treatment ofindi-vidualsunder the law is sufficient for addressing racism, this ideology redefinesgroup-based, antiracist remedies such as affirmative action as being ÒracistÓ(Crenshaw 1997). For a critique ofcolor blindness and an analysis ofhow thisracial ideology merits rethinking in the United States, see Guinier and Torres2002. 19.For a thorough analysis ofhow globalization shapes contemporary racial forma-tions, see WinantÕs analysis ofthe United States, South Africa, Brazil, and Europein the postÐWorld War II era (Winant 2001). Feminist analysis has also produceda broad literature on globalization and womenÕs economic status, some ofitfocused on racism, sexism, and issues ofglobalization. For representative theo-retical work in this tradition, see Alexander 1997; Mohanty 1997. AfricanAmerican scholars have also focused more attention on the global political econ-omy. For representative works in this tradition, see Wilson 1996; Brewer 1994;Squires 1994.20.Bauman 1998, 9.21.Lusane 1997, 114.22.M. Jacqui AlexanderÕs discussion ofthe tourist industry in the Bahamas providesan especially insightful analysis ofthe effects ofglobalization on nation-stateautonomy and on social problems within the Bahamas (Alexander 1997).23.Cultural studies and studies ofmass media underwent massive growth after 1980.For general work on the media, see Gitlin 2001. For race and media, see Entman2000. The field ofBlack cultural studies has generated a range ofliterature. For rep-resentative works, consult Bobo 1995; Kelley 1994; Kelley 1997; Rose 1994; Wallace1990; Gilroy 2000; Ransby and Matthews 1993; Gates 1992; Neal 2002; Watkins1998; Cashmore 1997; Caponi 1999; Dent 1992b; Hall 1992; and Dyson 1996.24.Kitwana 2002.25.Clarke 1983, 199.26.DÕEmilio and Freedman suggest that the suppression ofa range ofsexual prac-tices was part ofcolonization. Comparing the sexual practices ofNativeAmericans, which varied widely, with European colonialist perceptions ofsuchpractices, in every region where Europeans and indigenous peoples came into313
NOTEScontact, Europeans judged the sexual life ofnatives as ÒsavageÓand their ownpractices as Òcivilized.ÓFor example, most indigenous peoples did not associateeither nudity or sexuality with sin. They accepted premarital intercourse,polygamy, or institutionalized homosexuality, all practices that were condemnedby European church and state (DÕEmilio and Freedman 1997, 6Ð7). They pointout, Òperhaps the most striking contrast between English and Indian sexual sys-tems was the relative absence ofsexual conflict among native Americans, due inpart to their different cultural attitudes toward both property and sexuality. . . . Incultures in which one could not ÔownÕ another personÕs sexuality, prostitutionÑthe sale ofsexÑdid not exist prior to the arrival to European settlers. RapeÑthetheft ofsexÑonly rarely occurred, and it was one ofthe few sexual acts forbid-den by Indian culturesÓ(DÕEmilio and Freedman 1997, 8). 27.DÕEmilio and Freedman 1997, 16.28.A 1995 report published by the Social Science Research Council charts the polit-ical difficulties that have plagued scientific studies ofsexuality within Americansocial science (di Mauro 1995). 29.Hegemony is also a mode ofsocial organization wherein the dissent ofoppressedgroups is absorbed and thereby rendered politically useless. Moreover, in hege-monic situations, power is diffused throughout a social system such that multiplegroups police one another and suppress each otherÕs dissent. For example, ifAfrican Americans come to believe the dominant ideology and accept ideas aboutBlack masculinities and Black femininities constructed within the dominantframework, then Black political dissent about gender and about all things tied togender becomes weakened. Because they are used to justify existing social hierar-chies, hegemonic ideologies may seem invincible. But ideologies ofall sorts arenever static. Instead, they are always internally inconsistent and are always subjectto contestation (Magubane 2001). 30.Remez 2000.31.This history ofsuppression ofsex education and the limits on discussions that doexist have an especially negative impact on African American adolescents.HIV/AIDS has had a significant impact on African American youth. For statis-tics, see http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/Facts/afam.pdf.32.For an analysis oftalk shows, especially the production ofÒtrashyÓtalk shows, seeGrindstaff2002. Grindstaffdoes not emphasize race, but her study ofhow talkshows replicate and reproduce ideas about social class and gender provides insightinto the general process ofideology construction and contestation. She notes thattalk shows are typically geared to women, feature working-class guests, and aim todisplay ordinary people engaged in extraordinary behavior. 33.Mark Anthony Neal and Hortense Spillers offer two different interpretations oftheemergence ofthe term Òbaby daddyÓto describe unmarried fatherhood amongAfrican American men. NealÕs chapter ÒBaby Mama (Drama) and Baby Daddy(Trauma): Post-Soul Gender PoliticsÓuses Black popular culture (Neal 2002,57Ð97). In contrast, SpillersÕs essay ÒMamaÕs Baby, PapaÕs Maybe: An AmericanGrammar Book,Óalso examines unmarried fatherhood in the context ofAmericanrace relations and the exploitation ofBlack bodies under slavery (Spillers 2000). 34.Grindstaffborrows the phrase the Òmoney shotÓfrom pornography to describethe efforts ofproducers to get ordinary people to deliver strong emotions such asjoy, sorrow, rage, or remorse that can be seen in visible, bodily terms. Crying,shaking, running, and other evidence ofemotion besides just talk are solicited. As314
NOTESGrindstaffpoints out, ÒLike pornography, daytime talk is a narrative ofexplicitrevelation in which people Ôget down and dirtyÕ and Ôbare it allÕ for the pleasure,fascination, or repulsion ofviewers. Like the orgasmic cum shot ofpornographicfilms, the money shot oftalk shows makes visible the precise moment oflettinggo, oflosing control, ofsurrendering to the body and its ÔanimalÕ emotionsÓ(Grindstaff2002, 19). This is why Mr. Povich followed the woman backstageÑhe was in search ofan authentic money shot.35.Sociologist Abby Ferber describes how White supremacist literature remainsobsessed with this theme ofinterracial sexuality generally and ofprotecting thebody ofthe White woman (and thus the White race) from Black penetration.White women who willingly partner with Black men become redefined as Òdark-ened,Ótrashy women (Ferber 1998). 36.West 1993, 83.37.The works ofBlack women writers repeatedly identify how they are encouragedto keep silent about gender problems within African American communities. Forexample, African American scholars Johnnetta Cole and Beverly Guy-Sheftallrecount how their volume on the struggle for womenÕs equality within AfricanAmerican communities goes against racial discourse that counsels Black womennot to Òair dirty laundryÓabout gender and sexuality (Cole and Guy-Sheftall2003, xxiiiÐxxxviii). They name their book Gender Talkin an effort to reversethese silences. 38.Sex role theory has generated considerable critique. Michael Messner summarizesfive common problems with sex role theory: (1) it focuses on individualistic, vol-untary levels ofanalysis that minimize institutional power relations; (2) it impliesa false symmetry between men and women that masks gender oppression; (3) ituses the male sex role to create a falsely universalized (middle-class, White, het-erosexual) norm and measures deviance using this standard; (4) it relies on binaryideas about gender that reify biological notions ofmale and female sex categories;and (5) it is inadequate for examining changes in gender ideology, especially resist-ance (Messner 1998, 258). Messner points out that sociologists do not use theterms Òrace rolesÓor Òclass rolesÓwhen describing other social inequalities: Òwemay speak ofrace or class identities, but we do so within the context ofan under-standing ofthe historical dynamics ofrace and class relationsÓ(Messner 1998,258). R. W. Connell offers a comparable critique: Òthe conceptualization ofgenderthrough role theory . . . reifies expectations and self-descriptions, exaggerates con-sensus, marginalizes questions ofpower, and cannot analyze historical changeÓ(Connell 1992, 735). By the 1980s, a more historicized and politicized language ofgender relations virtually supplanted the language ofsex role theory within sociol-ogy, although not within psychology, education, social work, and other disciplines. 39.In his classic work on stigma, Erving Goffman examines the strategies used bypeople who are stigmatized to manage a Òspoiled identityÓ(Goffman 1963).While scholars often use GoffmanÕs work to explore the management ofstigma byindividuals, here I use the concept to explore how Blacks as a group respond tothe stigma ofBlackness that is evidenced by a seemingly deviant Black sexuality.40.African American organizational response to HIV illustrates this stance ofavoid-ance (Cohen 1999, 250Ð292). Political theorist Cathy Cohen contends that theNAACP, the Urban League, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conferenceexemplify national Black organizations that have been Òuneven at their bestmoments and neglectful in their worstÓ(Cohen 1999, 258). The sexual miscon-315
NOTESduct ofprominent Black male political leaders never raised the types ofdebateswithin African American communities concerning the gender politics involved.For example, the NAACP chose to cover up the sexual harassment case againstthen head Ben Chavis. The paternity suit filed against politician Jesse Jackson wasridiculed but not analyzed. 41.For an overview ofgender and Black churches, see Cole and Guy-Sheftall 2003,102Ð127. Recalling their own upbringings in Southern Christian churches, Coleand Guy-Sheftall summarize the principal lessons about gender: ÒThat God is amale and that Jesus is both white and male; that the relationship between womenand men in everyday life is to be like that between God and His church, for Godis the head ofthe church, and all members are to follow Him; and that God andall ofHis people will look down on a Ôbad womanÕ (for example, one who getspregnant out ofwedlock) and praise Ôa virtuous womanÕ (for example, one who isa loyal helpmate to her husband and a good mother to her children)Ó(Cole andGuy-Sheftall 2003, 104).42.I focus on established Black political organizations in this section, but it is importantto note that these organizations appeal to older African Americans. These tradi-tional players in African American politics have been joined by the hip-hop gen-eration, a segment ofBlack youth who express contradictory positions on genderand sexuality. They do not vote, but their importance within popular culture givestheir ideas a greater visibility among Black youth than the programs ofestablishedAfrican American organizations (Kitwana 2002, 175Ð194). 43.Forms ofbiological racism that reached their peak during the eugenics movementand historical ideas about race that emerged from this view ofthe world have beendisproved. However, recent developments within genetics, for example, the map-ping ofhuman DNA in the Human Genome Project, the increasing use ofDNAidentification in criminal justice, and controversies that now surround the use ofgenetic information in medical and insurance records all suggest that biology andrace are still closely linked. For a discussion ofissues ofracism and science, seethe essays in Harding 1993.44.Wieviorka 1997, 139.45.Wieviorka 1997.46.For an insightful social science study ofWhite racial attitudes, see Bonilla-Silva2001. For an analysis ofstrategies ofeveryday racism that operate without a clearcolor line, see Essed 1991. In my own work, I identify four domains ofpower thatcollectively provide a framework for conceptualizing race and similar systems ofoppression. The four domains are structural, disciplinary, hegemonic, and inter-personal. Under color-blind racism, for example, the hegemonic domain hasincreased in importance such that it generates ideologies that mask how raceframes public policy in social institutions (structural), the differential applicationofrules to Blacks and Whites within schools, jobs, and other organizational set-tings (disciplinary) and how individuals treat one another in everyday life (inter-personal). For an extended discussion ofthe domains as sites for Black womenÕsresistance, see Collins 2000a, 273Ð290.47.In 1999, 55 percent ofBlacks but only 22 percent ofnon-Hispanic Whites livedin the central cities ofmetropolitan areas (McKinnon and Humes 2000, 2).48.Dawson 1994.49.Wilson generated controversy by suggesting that class was increasing in impor-tance within African American communities and pointed out that social class may316
NOTESbe well on its way toward becoming a crosscutting issue for African Americans(Wilson 1978). 50.Cohen 1999, 14Ð15.51.Scott 1990.52.Kelley 1994, 8.53.Gilroy 2000.54.Lorde 1984, 53Ð59.CHAPTER TWO1.For a comprehensive analysis ofthis same theme as it applies to African Americanwomen, see my discussion ofthe new politics ofcontainment in chapter 2 ofFighting Words (Collins 1998, 11Ð43). 2.Kitwana 2002, 23.3.For discussions ofvarious aspects ofglobalization, race, and inequality, see Bales1999; Lusane 1997; Bauman 1998; Mohanty 1997.4.For a general overview ofhow race operates in a transnational framework, seeWinant 2001. The framework oftransnationalism is less often applied to AfricanAmerican experiences than those ofLatinos. 5.For representative works on new racist ideologies, see Crenshaw 1997; Guinierand Torres 2002; Bonilla-Silva 2001; and Goldberg 1993. For race and media, seeEntman 2000. For representative works in the field ofBlack cultural studies, con-sult Kelley 1994; Kelley 1997; Gates 1992; Neal 2002; Dent 1992b; Hall 1992;Dyson 1996.6.For example, much attention has been given to the important issue ofthe poorschool performance ofAfrican American youth (Fordham 1996), and Black malesin particular (Arnett Ferguson 2000). Afro-Caribbean immigrants to the UnitedKingdom express similar concerns with their childrenÕs performance. This themeofBlack youth being denied access to education and/or receiving differentialtreatment by schools run by dominant groups reappears across societies. Despitesimilar disadvantages among Black youth worldwide, a transnational discourseaddressing issues peculiar to Black youth has not yet surfaced. 7.For a comprehensive treatment ofracial formation theory, see Omi and Winant1994. 8.The literature on slavery is vast and I make no effort to review it here. This sec-tion relies on material from Jordan 1968, 24Ð32, 216Ð265 and Torgovnick 1990,3Ð11. Despite Orlando PattersonÕs troublesome analyses ofthe gendered aspectsofslavery (see, Patterson 1998), his classic cross-cultural analysis ofslavery ana-lyzes chattel slavery as one ofseveral forms within a global context (Patterson1982). Material in this section is also drawn from general African American his-toriography, in particular, Takaki 1993, 51Ð76 and 106Ð138; Berry 1994; Franklin1992; Gutman 1976; and also from feminist scholarship on slavery, in particular,Giddings 1984; Jones 1985; White 1985a.9.Omolade 1994, 7.10.Collins 2000a, 72Ð84.11.A variety ofauthors analyze contemporary representations ofBlack masculinityin relation to this foundational controlling image ofthe buck. For work in this tra-dition, see HochÕs discussion ofWhite men as heroes and Black men as ÒbeastsÓ(Hoch 1979). See also, Dines 1998; Turner 1994; Harrison 2001.317
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttps://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rcel20Celebrity StudiesISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcel20What happens when a celebrity feminist slingsmicroaggressive shade?: Twitter and the pushbackagainst neoliberal feminismJudy L. Isaksen & Nahed EltantawyTo cite this article: Judy L. Isaksen & Nahed Eltantawy (2021) What happens when a celebrityfeminist slings microaggressive shade?: Twitter and the pushback against neoliberal feminism,Celebrity Studies, 12:4, 549-564, DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2019.1678229To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2019.1678229Published online: 25 Oct 2019.Submit your article to this journal Article views: 921View related articles View Crossmark dataCiting articles: 3 View citing articles
Whathappenswhenacelebrityfeministslingsmicroaggressiveshade?:TwitterandthepushbackagainstneoliberalfeminismJudyL.IsaksenaandNahedEltantawybaHighPointUniversity,OneUniversityParkway,HighPoint,NC,USA;bNidoQubeinSchoolofCommunication,HighPointUniversity,HighPoint,NC,USAABSTRACTBouncingofftheexcitementexpressedonTwitterandonstageatthe2015VideoMusicAwardsceremonyinvolvingNickiMinaj,TaylorSwift,MileyCyrus,andmusicfans,thiscasestudyexploresthepronouncedwhitenessamongcelebrityfeministswithinourneoliberalpostfeministcultureandthepushbackonsocialmediaagainsttheglaringcontra-dictionsofSwift’sandCyrus’swhitefeminism.Analysesofthetweetsareconductedthroughbothcriticalrhetoricandmicroaggressivetheories,usefultoolsforexposingproblematichegemonicsocialprac-ticesregardingrace,gender,andbodypoliticswithinthemusicindus-try.Thisculturalcritiqueontheroleofcelebrityfeministsunmaskstheroleofdiscourse–intentionalandunintentional–inbothreproducingandchallenginghegemonicideologies;exposesSwift’sunknowingcontributiontoneoliberalfeminism;andpositionsTwitterasavaluablevenueforemergingfeministstocreatecounter-narrativesthatchal-lengeformationswithincelebrityfeminism.Byexaminingtheceleb-rities’digitalinteractionsandtheresponsivefanintervention,weareabletocometoaclearerunderstandingofthegesturesthatbothsupportandchallengetheco-constitutivestructuresofcelebrityandfeminismandseespecificallythewaysinwhichSwift’sneoliberalformoffeminismreinscribestheveryoppressionthatsheandotherceleb-rityfeministsclaimtobeagainst.ARTICLEHISTORYReceived17April2019Accepted5October2019KEYWORDSMicroaggressions;whitefeminism;celebrityfeminism;neoliberalism;TwitterIntroductionWhenTaylorSwiftintentionallyreconstructedherpublicimageassheshiftedhermusiccareerfromcountrytopopandproudlyidentified‘herselfasafeminist’(Eells2014),shewasn’talone.LenaDunham,Beyoncé,JenniferLawrence,AmySchumer,MileyCyrus,EmmaWatson–allofwhomhaveachievedtheirfameinwaysunrelatedtofeministpolitics–areeagerlyannouncingtheirself-professedfeminismastheyrallyinvariouswaysaroundthefeministflagpole.GiventhewritingsforbothgeneralandscholarlyaudiencessuchasHuffingtonPost’s‘ADefinitiveGuidetoCelebrityFeminismin2013’(Duca2013)aswellasCelebrityStudies’2015ForumSpecialonFeminismandContemporaryCelebrityCulture,weare,indeed,experiencinga‘celebrityzeitgeist’(HamadandTaylor2015,p.124).CONTACTJudyL.Isaksenjisaksen@highpoint.eduCELEBRITYSTUDIES2021,VOL.12,NO.4,549–564https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2019.1678229©2019InformaUKLimited,tradingasTaylor&FrancisGroup
However,whatismostnotableaboutthisstringofcelebrityfeministsistheirpro-nouncedwhiteness.Itistrue,wehaveBeyoncé;sheliterallyreclaimedtheF-wordatthe2014MTVVideoMusicAwardsasshesangFlawlesswiththewordFEMINISTtoweringbehindherandhonouredblacknessinher2016SuperBowlperformanceofFormation.ButasGay(2014a)pointsout,thoughsheisamazing,‘sheisonewoman.’McRobbie(2009)arguesthatpopcultureinsistsuponrelinquishing‘almostallsignifiersofracialdifference’andsubsuming‘ethnicityintothedominantrepertoireofnormativewhitefemininity’;suchracialerasureswithinthe‘celebratorywhitevisualeconomies’(p.71)havebeenrenderedlargelyinvisiblebytheoverwhelmingpowerofwhiteness.AnotherequallyimportantcharacteristicofthereigningcelebrityfeministsisthatmosthailfromtheUnitedStates.Systemsofoppressionandconceptionsofwhitenessplayoutdiffer-entlyaroundtheworld;nottoconsidertheirUS-centrism,andthustheirprivilege,isindeedanotherproblematicerasure.Andfinally,despitetheever-growingnumberofcelebrityfeminists,‘no“authentic”feminism’(HamadandTaylor2015,p.125)existsamongthem;infact,asGay(2014a)cautions,the‘fame-inistbrand’isonlya‘gatewaytofeminism,notthemovementitself.’Withthesecontextsinmind,thisarticleunpackstheeffectsofsuchpronouncedwhite-nessasexperiencedbytwoAmericancelebrityfeminists,TaylorSwiftandMileyCyrus,whenaTrinidadian-bornwomanofcolour–NickiMinajwhohasneverpubliclyclaimedtobeafeministforthemassesandwhodoesn’tlocateherselfwithintherealmofcelebrityfeminists–callsSwiftandCyrus’slivedfeminismintoquestion.Thisstudyunfoldsinfourparts.First,togroundourexploration,wecontextualisetheresurgenceoffeministactivitywithinthedigitalrealm,particularlyamongemergingfeminists,andfollowthatbyposition-ingcelebrityfeministswithinourneoliberalpostfeministculture.Next,weunpacktheanalyticalfoundationsofmicroaggressiontheory,atheorythatispredominantlyusedintherealmofpsychology;applyingittotheintersectionofcelebritycultureanddigitalpracticesprovesausefuldeparture.Finally,weapplymicroaggressiontheorytotheTwitterdialoguethatsurroundsthe2015VideoMusicAwards(VMA),positingthatSwift’sTwitterdiscourseislacedwithunconsciousmicroaggressionsaswellasexplorethesignificantinterventionbyfansastheypushbackagainsttheglaringcontradictionofTaylorSwift’swhitefeminism.Followinginthefootstepsofscholarswhohaveunpackedtheforms,functions,andframingoffemalecelebrity(HolmesandRedmond2006,HolmesandNegra2011),thisculturalcritiqueattemptstounmasktheroleofdiscourse–bothinten-tionalandunintentional–inreproducingand/orchallenginghegemonicideologies;exposeSwift’sunknowingcontributiontoneoliberalfeminism;andpositionTwitterasavaluablevenueforemergingfeministstocreateacounter-narrative,onethatmovestowardswhatGill(2016)calls‘anintersectionalunderstandingofpostfeminism’(p.612).MethodologyThisstudyconsiderstheTwitterdialoguethatsurroundsthe2015MTVMusicVideoAwards,themusicindustry,andtheyoungcelebrityartists–TaylorSwift,NickiMinaj,andMileyCyrus–associatedwiththeseawards,aswellastheirfans.Thecasestudyapproachenablesan‘in-depthexaminationofasingleinstanceofa[…]phenomenon’(Babbie2010,p.309)andismosteffectivewhencombinedwithatheory,asprovidedthroughthelensofmicroaggressivetheory(Sue2010).Thetextualanalysesofthetweets550J.L.ISAKSENANDN.ELTANTAWY
areconductedthroughanaspectofcommunicationtheoryreferredtoascriticalrhetoric,anorientationthatisindebtedtomultipleperspectives–feminisms,neo-Marxism,culturalstudies–employedtoexaminehowatext‘createsandsustainsthesocialpracticeswhichcontrolthedominated’(McKerrow1989,p.92).Specifically,weanalysethecompleteTwitterexchange–eighttweets–betweenMinajandSwiftoverthecourseofthreedaysuponthereleaseofthe2015MTVVideoMusicAwardnominations.Wepositionthesetweetsasdiscursivesocialpracticesthatalternatebetween(re)producingsocialhierarchiesviaunconsciousbiasesandreactivechallengesagainstsuchbiases.Ouroppositionalreadingofthesetweetscritiquestheinterstitialnatureofpowerandsubjectivitiesalonglinesofraceandgenderthatexistswithinneoliberalstructuresofthemusicindustryandthebodypoliticsofwomen.Ouranalysisoffantweetswaspromptedbyanoticeableuptickinfanusageofthephrase‘whitefeminism’.UsingTwitter’sadvancedsearchtools,alltweetspostedbetween20May2015and30September2015–twomonthsbeforeandtwomonthsafterMTVannouncedtheirVideoMusicAwardnomination–werecapturedon21March2016usingthesearchterms‘Minaj’,‘Swift’,and‘whitefeminism’.FilteredoutweretweetsinlanguagesotherthanEnglish,retweets,replies,hashtags,duplications,andattachments;focuswassolelyonindividualinitiatingtweets.Indeed,‘whitefeminism’hadtrendingcapitalasthenumberoftweetscapturedaftertheVMAnominations–489–farexceedsthoseexpressedbefore–three.Ourgoal,however,isnottoquantifythetweetsbuttounpack,viacriticalrhetoric,themeaning-makingunanimouslyexpressedbythetweetsandfaninterventionsastheychallengeformationswithincelebrityfeminism.Intersectionality,whitefeminism,andtheirspreadthroughdigitalfeminismIntersectionalitywasinitiallyacallbyblackfeministscholars(Lorde1984,hooks1984,Collins2000)whoseepistemologydemandedadeeper,morefull-bodiedunderstandingofsocialjusticeforwomen.Directingtheirviewsparticularlytowardswhitefeministswho‘ignoretheirbuilt-inprivilegeofwhiteness’(Lorde1984,p.117)andfocussolelyontheirownexperiences,intersectionalscholarscogentlyarguethatallaspectsofsocialidentity–age,race,class,ability,sexuality,religion,ethnicity–arenotonlyimpossibletoparseoutbutarevitalaspectsoffeministpolitics.LawprofessorCrenshaw(1989)coinedthetermintersectionalitytoarticulatehowanti-discriminationlawsdisregardthewaysthatsexismisracialisedandracismisgendered.WemightevenconsiderblackabolitionistSojournerTruth’s1851question,‘Ain’tIawoman?’afirstcallforintersectionality.Despitethishistoryandevenperhapswithlittleknowledgeofit,intersectionalityhasrecentlytakenonnewdigitallifeandhasbecomeafeministbuzzword.Anotheraccompanyingtermreceivingadigitaluptickandbeingchampionedforitsefficacyisintersectionality’santithesis,whitefeminism.Blindtomattersofintersection-ality,whitefeminismisaproblematicallynarrowunderstandingoffeminismthatfailstoconsidertheissuesthatspecificallyaffectwomenofcolour.Theinvisibleassumptionunderlyingwhitefeminismisthatthemisogynythatwhitewomenexperienceis,indeed,thenormforall,andnotably,suchwhitewomenaretypicallycisgender,heterosexual,middle-to-upperclass,Christian,attractive,andabled-bodied.Inherentinthisdefaultsensibilityisthenotionofprivilege,forprivilegedpeopleareoftenblindtoanyworkingswithinsystemsofpowerthattheymaynotdirectlyexperience.CELEBRITYSTUDIES551
Feministpopcultureblogger,Young(2014)defineswhitefeminismas‘…thefeminismthatthrowswomenofcolourunderthebusinthequestforbodydiversityandacceptance…I’mtalkingaboutthefeminismthatcelebratesTinaFey,LilyAllenandLenaDunham,buttearsdownNickiMinaj,BeyoncéandRihanna….’(Paragraph6).SociologistFerreday(2017)agreeswithYoung,arguingthattheconceptofwhitefeminismthatemergesfromdigitalactivistandfanspaces‘drawsattentiontothewaysinwhichfeministaccountsofthepoliticsofpopularculturemarginaliseblackwomen’sexperience’(p.271–2).Becauseonetypicallybenefitsfromwhiteness,onedoesn’thavetomaketheconnectionswithotheraxesofdifference.Itisthisomissionofconnectionthatisattheheartofwhitefeminism.ThedigitalubiquityofthesefeministtermsmayinlargemeasurebeduetobloggerFlaviaDzodan(2011)whoscreamedrepeatedlythroughoutherentry,‘MYFEMINISMWILLBEINTERSECTIONALORITWILLBEBULLSHIT!’ALatinafromtheGlobalSouthwholivesinNorthernEurope,DzodanunleashedherrageattheimageofawhiteprotesterattheNewYorkSlutWalkholdingasignthatstated‘womanistheni**eroftheworld’.Dzodancallsoutfeministsonavarietyoffrontsfortheirwhitefeminismandintersectionalgap;herall-caplettersrepeatedlyexpressthatclaimingthelabeloffeministbutbehavinginwaysthatsupportstructuresthatworkagainstfeminismisnotaviablefeminism.Dzodan’sblogwentviral(over693,000+Googleentries)andtheseconceptscontinuetocatchtheattentionofemergingfeministsworldwide,meetingthematthegatewayofthemovement.Web2.0hasfullydemocratisedfeministactivity;withtheerasureofdistanceandgeography,whatWajcman(2004)dubbed‘technofeminism’overadecadeagohassinceopenedupa‘renewedandwidespreadconsciousnessoffeministissuesinthepublicsphere’(Baer2016,p.19).AstheinterventionofDzodan’sblogandthereactionstoitindicate,self-reflexiveandcontentiousconversationsaboutissuesofdifferenceandprivilegearetakingplace.WhileDzodanherselfisn’tacelebrity,hermessagecontinuestoprovideanuptickonsocialmediasites,personalblogs,andmain-streammediaarticles.Intersectionalityandwhitefeminism,conceptsfeministscholarsuseregularly,aremigratingfromtheacademicmargintothemainstreaminourclick-baseddigitalculture,whichappearstobehelpingsomeemergingfeministstohaveamorenuancedunderstandingofthepowerandlapsesofcelebrityfeminists.Notcoincidentally,thesedigitalplatformsarelikewisehavinganeffectoncelebritiesthemselves,offeringnewoutletsthroughwhich‘discoursesofcelebritycirculate’(Marwickandboyd2011,p.155).Celebrities’specificuseofTwitterisnotably‘changingcelebrityculture’,particularlyinthemoveawayfroma‘highlycontrolled’managementmodeltooneinwhichcelebritiesfreelyspeakontheirown(p.139).TheseveryforcesgaverisetothedigitalinteractionsbetweenMinajandSwiftaswellastheresponsiveinterventionbyfans.Byexaminingthesetweetsweareabletocometoaclearerunderstandingofthegesturesthatbothsupportandchallengetheco-constitutivestructuresofcelebrityandfeminism.PostfeministandneoliberalcultureDigitalfeminismhasemergedrightalongsidethehegemonyofneoliberalism,aconser-vativepoliticalsensibilitythatdominatesourcultural,social,andeconomicnormsbyprivilegingindividualchoiceovercollectivesocialstructures.Duggan(2003)positsthatthemostconcerning‘ruse’ofneoliberaldominanceisthewayinwhicheconomicpolicyis552J.L.ISAKSENANDN.ELTANTAWY
perceivedasaneutralexpertisethatisunrelatedtopoliticsandcultureandis,therefore,notaccountableforculturalcritique.Assuch,inequitiesofrace,gender,andsexualityare‘dismissed’as‘privateortrivial’whiletheupwardredistributionofconcentrated‘powerandresources’simultaneouslylands‘inthehandsoftinyelites’(p.xiv).Rottenberg(2014)continuesthatneoliberalismhaspenetratedfeminism,resultinginthefeministsubjectwhois‘individuatedintheextreme’,andthoughsherecognisesgenderinequality,‘shedisavowsthesocial,culturalandeconomicforcesproducingthisinequality’(p.420).Deeplyconnectedtoneoliberalismandalongsidetheneoliberalfeministispostfemin-ism,asbotharepairedwiththeprizingofindividualismandchoiceaswellasthe‘muting’ofdiscourseonstructuralinequalityandculturalinfluences(Gill2016,p.613).Incon-sideringtherolethemediaandcelebrityplayinneoliberalpolitics,McRobbie(2009)describesthehostilecontextofpostfeministcultureasa‘newkindofanti-feministsentiment’(p.1)whichisnotmerebacklashagainstearlierfeministgains.Rather,sheargues,‘somethingquiteunexpectedhashappened.Elementsoffeminismhavebeentakenintoaccount,andhavebeenabsolutelyincorporatedintopoliticalandinstitutionallife’(p.1).Butsuchelements,shecontinues,havebeen‘convertedintoamuchmoreindividualisticdiscourse’(p.1),andtheninthis‘newguise’,feministgesturesaredeployedmostespeciallyinmediaandpopularculture‘asakindofsubstituteforfeminism.Thesenewandseemingly“modern”ideasaboutwomenandespeciallyyoungwomenarethendisseminatedmoreaggressively,soastoensurethatanewwomen’smovementwillnotre-emerge’(p.1).McRobbiecallsthissubstitutiona‘newformofsexualcontract’.Ifyoungwomenabandonfeminism,inexchangethiscontractensuresthema‘notionalformofequality’experiencedbythepleasuresofparticipatinginconsumercultureandenjoyingeconomicstability;however,thesepleasurescomeatthecostofbeinghyperactiveconsumersanddocileworkers–bothnecessitiesoftheneoliberaleconomy(p.2).This,McRobbieargues,isthe‘undoingoffeminism’(p.5)asagenuinefeministpoliticsisreplacedbyafaux-feminismofostensibleequity(p.1).ThiscasestudyexploresthewaysinwhichSwiftexemplifiespostfeministneoliberalismandhowfirstMinajandthenfansintervenetopointoutthelimitationsofsuchsensibilities.MicroaggressionsandSue’staxonomyMicroaggressions,asencapsulatedbySue(2010),arethebriefandeverydayslights,insults,anddenigratingmessagessenttomarginalisedpeoplebypeopleofpower.Countlessinstancesofmicroaggressionsaredelivereddaily,sometimesconsciously,sometimesunconsciously,andnotably,whenmicroaggressionsaredelivereduncon-sciously,theperpetratorstypicallydonotunderstandthattheyarebeingoffensive,nordotheyrealisethattheyareharbouringbiasesandprejudices(pp.5–6).Byapplyingthistheorytoeverydayinteractions,wemaketheseinvisibleindignitiesvisible,therebycombattingunconsciousracism,sexism,genderism,andotherformsofoppression(p.20).Thesedemeaningmessagescanbedeliveredinthreefashions:verbally,oftenviaseeminglycomplimentarylanguage;nonverballyorbehaviourallysuchasphysicallyavoidingsomeone(Sue2010,p.71);andenvironmentallyviamediaimages,symbols,andmascots(pp.25–28).Tothecasualobserver,thesecommentsoractionsmayhavenosubtextualmeaning,buttomembersofamarginalisedgroupwhoexperiencemicroag-gressionsonaconsistentbasis,thehurtfulmessagesresonatefullyandhaveenormousCELEBRITYSTUDIES553
accumulativepower.Becausemicroaggressionsaresowovenintothefabricofourdailyinteractions,theyhavethe‘insidiouseffectsofsilencing,invalidating,andhumiliatingtheidentityand/orvoicesofthosewhoareoppressed’(p.66).Sue(2010)proposesataxonomyofmicroaggressionsthatfallsintothreecategoriesassociatedwithmattersofrace,gender,andsexuality.Thefirstmicroaggressiontypeisa‘microassault’.Theseareconscious,deliberate,andintentionaldiscriminatoryacts‘meanttoattackthegroupidentityofthepersonortohurt/harmtheintendedvictimthroughname-calling,avoidantbehaviour,orpurposefuldiscriminatoryactions’(p.28).Verbalexamplesincludedemeaningepithetssuchas‘fag,’‘dago’,or‘bitch’.Anonverbalorbehaviouralexamplemightincludeforbiddingyourchildtoplaywithafriendoutsideofyourrace,andanenvironmentalexamplemaybethehauntingpresenceofanooselefthangingfromatree.Becausesuchovertactsofracismorsexismaregenerallyperceivedasinappropriateandengendernegativeconsequences,microassaultswilltakeplaceonlyifthereissomedegreeofanonymity,iftheperpetratorsclearlyknowtheiraudiencetobelike-minded,oriftheylosecontrol,somethingtheytypicallyregretlater.Theblatantnatureofmicroassaultsareofteneasiertodealwithbecausetheintentisclearand‘notdilutedbyambiguity’(Sue2010,p.31).MuchmorestressfulisthesecondtypewhichSue(2010)labels‘microinsults’todescribetheoftenunconsciouscommunicationsorbehavioursthatconveyaninsensi-tivitytoapersonandhisorhergroupmembership(p.31).Weseethisinvolvingpresumedassumptionsaboutgroups–thatpeopleofcolourarepotentiallydangerousorcriminal;thatawomannotwearingskirt,heels,andheavymakeupisalesbian;orthatsexualobjectificationofwomenisacceptabletosatisfythedesiresofmen.Insomecases,perpetratorsare‘minimallyaware’thattheyareengaginginademeaningfashion.Butperpetratorscanalsobelievetheyarepayingthetargetacompliment(p.114).Forexample,ifastraightwomantellsalesbiancouplethattheyareparentingtheirchildwell,thatwomanthinkssheisofferingakindcompliment,butthecoupleisleftwonder-ingiftheyhavebeenslighted–thattheirsexualorientationsomehowmakesthemdeviant,andtheyareanexception.Whilemicroinsultsaremuchlessobviousthanmicroassaults,theycanactuallycausemorestressonacognitive,emotional,andbeha-viourallevelbecausethetargetsarelefttrappedinadoublebind:iftheyquestiontheperpetrator,theyriskbeinglabelled‘hypersensitive’or‘angry’,butifthetargetsremainssilent,theanguishandsenseofpowerlessnessonlycontinuestostew(p.80).Thefinalcategoryis‘microinvalidation’,whichincludesactsorcommunications,againoftenunconscious,that‘exclude,negate,ornullifythepsychologicalthoughts,feelingsorexperientialreality’ofamarginalisedgroup(Sue2010,p.29).Thistypecanmanifestinavarietyoffashionsandofteninvolvesinstitutionalstructures;aprimarymeansistheadoptionofacolour-,gender-,orsexual-orientationblindness,whichinessenceisanunwillingnesstoacknowledgedifferences.Asalientexampleofmicroinvalidationisanationalresponsetothe#BlackLivesMatterNorthAmericancivilrightsmovement–namely,#AllLivesMatter.Socialmediaoutlets,politicians,andeverydayfolksaretakingupthebannerof#AllLivesMatter,largelyunconsciousoftheraciallybiasedmetacommunicationtheyareexpressing.#BlackLivesMatterisnotsayingthatblacklivesmattermoreorthatonlyblacklivesmatter;activistsaresayingthatblacklivesmattertoo.Bycounteringthismovementwith#AllLivesMatter,non-blacksexpressasocialerasureofraceanda‘denialofthepowerandprivilege’theyhold;andwhenwhitesdenythattheyprofitfromracism,theyalsoaredenying554J.L.ISAKSENANDN.ELTANTAWY
theirresponsibilityforracism(Sue2010,p.38).Similarlyistheneoliberalmythofmeritocracy,theerroneousbeliefthatallgroupshaveequalopportunitiestosucceedandthatoursocialsystemdistributesresourcesbasedonthemeritofindividuals’efforts.Wheninreality,avarietyoffactors,particularlydiscriminationwithininstitutionalstructures,negatetheeffectsofmeritandcreateroadblockstoindividualmobility,andyetpeopleofdominantidentitiesareoftenunabletoseetheirownsocietalprivilegesamidstthisnegation(Sue2010,pp.38–39).Microinvalidations,withtheirsubtlemanifestations,potentiallyrepresentthe‘ultimateformofoppression’(p.37).Inadditiontothesethreemicroaggressiveforms,Sue(2010)identifiesadozenthemesorwaysinwhichracial,gender,andsexual-orientationmicroaggressionscanmanifest.AsIunpackthetweetsbetweenMinajandSwift,Iexplorefour–second-classcitizen;colourblindness;denialofindividualoppression;andpathologisingculturalvaluesandcommu-nicationstyles–andpositthatanormalisedneoliberalrationaleandpostfeministsensi-bilityservetobuttressthesemicroaggressions.InterventionsonsystemicproblemswithincelebritycultureOn21July,MTV’s2015VideoMusicAwardsnominationswerereleased,andwiththisannouncementcamethefirstmicroinvalidationastwoofNickiMinaj’svideos,AnacondaandFeelingMyself,werenotamongthenomineesforthecovetedVideooftheYear(VOTY)awarddespitethefactthatherAnacondavideobroketheVEVOrecordforthemostviews–19.6million–withina24-hourperiodofitsrelease(Lewis2014).Frustratedattheracialinequitieswithinthemusicindustryandthewaysinwhichtheculturalcontributionsofblackartistshavebeenhistoricallymarginalisedbymusicawardcere-monies,MinajappearedtobeexperiencingwhatSue(2010)termsasecond-classcitizenstyleofmicroaggression,‘whenatargetgroupmemberreceivesdifferentialtreatmentfromthepowergroup’(p.33).Suefurtherarguesthatinthemidstofmicroaggressions,thetargetislikelytofeelbothinvisiblewhen‘accomplishmentsandotherattributesareoverlookedandignored’andpowerlesswhenonefeelsan‘inabilitytocontrolthedefinitionofreality’(pp.80–81).Moreover,Minajisplacedinaquagmirebecausespeak-ingoutagainstthemicroaggressioncomeswithrisksofbeingmisunderstood,attacked,ordismissed,yetstayingsilent‘leadstofeelingsofimpotence’(p.80).Despitetheserisks,MinajisawarethatasacelebrityshehaspowertouseTwittertosetthe‘publicagendaoffeministdebate’(Brady2016,p.434)andoptstospeakup.Shesendsherfirsttweet,thankingMTVfortheirnomination,butalsoquestioningthem,wondering–politely,ifnotcoyingly–ifherteamerred:Heyguys@MTVthankyouforthenomination.DidFeelingMyselfmissthedeadlineor…?(Minaj2015a).Withinlessthananhourofsendingherfirsttweet,Minajfollowswithfoursuccessivetweets,thoughsheisnolongercoyinglyquestioningMTV;nowsheisfullypushingbackagainsttheforcesofneoliberalfeminism:Ifyourvideocelebrateswomenwithveryslimbodies,youwillbenominatedforvidoftheyear(Minaj2015b).CELEBRITYSTUDIES555
IfIwasadifferent‘kind’ofartist,Anacondawouldbenominatedforbestchoreoandvidoftheyearaswell(Minaj2015c).Whenthe‘other’girlsdropavideothatbreaksrecordsandimpactsculturetheygetthatnomination(Minaj2015d).I’mnotalwaysconfident.Justtired.Blackwomeninfluencepopculturesomuchbutarerarelyrewardedforit(Minaj2015e).Rhetorically,withherrapidsuccessivebursts,Minajisoperatingatseverallevels.First,unafraidtocallouttheveryindustrythatsustainsherfame,sheputsMTValongwiththeentiremusicindustryonblastfordisrespectinganddevaluingtheartisticachievementsofblackwomenandtheimpacttheyhaveonculture,whileadifferent‘kind’ofartistand‘other’girlsgetrecognisedandrewarded.MinajisboldlyexposingtheracismwithinMTV’sawardsystemasthehistoryoftheVMAsfullyexemplifiessecond-classmicroinva-lidations:Sinceitsinceptionin1984,thefirst11VOTYawardshavegonetowhiteartists.Andinthe35yearsoftheaward’sexistence,only13winnershavebeenblack;moreover,theBestPopVideothatwasawardedthrough2015hasneverbeenwonbyablackartist,giventhatblackperformershavealwaysbeenlockedintotheHip-Hopcategory(MTV2015).Secondly,shecallsoutourculture’subiquitousobsessionwithpositioningthethinwhitebodyasideal,ostensiblyreferringtopreviousVOTYwinnersMadonna,LadyGaga,Britney,andMiley,allofwhomfitthatideal.Pushingbackagainstsuchmicroinvalida-tions,Minajhasalwaysbeenavisualprovocateurwithherbody,particularlyhercoverimageryonAnaconda.Minaj’sbodypoliticsintentionallyworkstohighlighttheprecarityofthebodyintheageofneoliberalism.Whilebodilypropertyisaconstanttropeamongpostfeminism(Gill2007,Phipps2014)andoftenasiteofempowerment,thebodyisalsoasitethatdemandsconstantdiscipline.Minaj,fullyawareofthisdoublebind,wilfullyresistsregimesofcontrolanddenouncesrepresentationsofher–oftencomicalorpornographic–madebyothers;rather,shechallengesfansto‘considerhereroticappeal,sexualagencyandevenironicperformativity’(Hobson2014).Further,Minajdemandsthatthosewhogazeuponheraskthemselveswhatitisthatmakes‘herblackfemalebodysomorallydangerous’.Isitthatshe‘disruptsstereotypicalfemininity’bybeing‘aggressivelyraunchy’ratherthansubmissiveand‘comehither’?(Hobson2014).Throughherbodypolitics,Minajeffectivelyworkstoresisttherestrictionsplaceduponthebodywithinbothfeminismsandneoliberalism.Finally,Minaj’sTwitterburstexpressesthenegativeeffectthatchronicmicroaggressivestressorshaveonher:‘Justtired.’Sue(2010)describesthebiologicalconsequencesofcontinualmicroaggressionsas‘feelingsofexhaustionoradepletionofenergy’(p.89).Havinggonepublicwithherviews,Minaj,notsurprisingly,garnerslovefromherfans,butwithinhoursanothermicroaggressionhitsMinajasTaylorSwift–whosevideoBadBloodwas,infact,nominatedforthe2015VOTY–weighsinwithatweetwrittendirectlytoMinaj:I’vedonenothingbutlove&supportyou.It’sunlikeyoutopitwomenagainsteachother.Maybeoneofthementookyourslot(Swift2015a).ByunpackingSwift’smessagethroughthelensofmicroaggressivetheory,wefindthathertweetisriddledwithunconsciousmicroinsultsandsadlyexemplifiestheextentofherblindingwhiteprivilegeaswellastheoppressivenatureofherpostfeministsensibilities.556J.L.ISAKSENANDN.ELTANTAWY
Sue(2010)entitlesSwift’sfirstoffencethedenialofindividualracism,inwhichonedeniesanypossibilityofbias;forexample,someonemightcitethattheycan’tberacistbecausetheyhaveafriendofcolour(p.33).Inthiscase,becauseSwifthas‘donenothingbutlove&support’Minaj,shecannotpossiblyberacistandthereforeshecannotseethisissueasalargerstructuralproblemthatinvolvesmattersofrace,norcansheseeMinajasa‘racial/culturalbeing’(Sue2010,p.32).AsaresultofSwift’sneoliberalsensibilities,shebelievesthatsheispersonallybeingattacked.Secondly,SwiftchargesMinajwithbeingabadfeministbypitting‘womenagainsteachother’.Howeverbyexpressingherdisapproval,SwiftherselfisexemplifyingaproblematicmicroassaultasshepolicesMinajforspeakingout;Sue(2010)entitlessuchdisciplinarypolicingaspathologisingculturalvaluesandcommunicationstyles.WithSwift’sscoldingofMinaj,sheeffectivelypositionsherselfastheinnocentvictimwhodeservestobepitiedandMinajasthe‘angryblackwoman’,therebypathologisingherfornot‘assimilatingtodominantculture’(p.33).Swift’smodellingthestanceoftheinnocentvictimseekingpity,however,isnotanacceptablefeministcommunicationtoolnorisenticingfanstochoosesidesafeministprinciple;posturingthiswaywhilesimultaneouslyclaiming‘love&support’exemplifies,asMcRobbie(2009)putsit,an‘undoing’offeminism.Andfinally,bysidesteppingtheconversationtoblameitonmen,Swiftfullyeliminatesracialoppressionfromtheequationandrelinquishesanysenseofaccountability.Remarkably,throughtheactofrespondingandinlessthan140characters,Swiftmanagestocommitfourmicroaggres-sions,andmostlikelysheisunawareofherinsultingwordsordamagingactions.Minaj’s(2015f)responseisaconfused‘Huh?’Withinminutes,alldigitalavenuesarebuzzingoverthis‘beef’,andlikelyduetothedigitalresponse,SwifttweetsMinajanapologytwodayslaterthatsoundssincere:IthoughtIwasbeingcalledout.Imissedthepoint.Imisunderstood,thenmisspoke.I’msorry,Nicki(Swift2015b).WhileMinajgraciouslyacceptsSwift’smeaculpa-,wearguethatboththeapologyandtheacceptanceareproblematiconseverallevels.Sadly,Swiftrepeatsherdeliveryofthesecond-classcitizenmicroaggressionassheonceagaindemonstratesherinabilitytoseebeyondherselfbyagainerasingallmattersofraceandpersonalisingthediscussion.WhenMinajwasfirstconfusedbySwift’sscoldingandrespondedwith‘Huh?’sheendedthattweetwith‘Butushouldspeakonthis’(2015f).MinajissuggestingthatSwifthastheagencyandthevoicetobeheard,thatsheshouldusethatpowertospeakoutagainsttheracisminmusicculture.ButduetoSwift’sneoliberalrationale,shedeliversagenericapologythatfocusessolelyonherself;otherwise,shemighthavewrittenatrulysuppor-tiveapologysuchas‘YouarerightNicki.Themusicindustryhasracialinequities.Yousuffer.Ibenefit.Let’sworktochangethis’.AlsotroublingisthefactthatSwifthastheagencytoterminatethedialogue,whichiswhatoccurred.MinajcouldhavecalledSwiftoutforhersolipsisticapologyandchallengedher–again–tocapitaliseonheragenticpowertohelpmakepositivestructuralchanges.But,infact,MinajmomentarilystepsbackandengagesinwhatSue(2010)calls‘forcedcompliance’,whichisthinkingandbehavingina‘mannerantagonistictoyourtruebeliefsanddesires’(p.81).Anotherreactiontomicroaggressions,however,canbefeelingsoferuption,suchasangerandfrustration,thatresultnotinforcedcompliancebut‘confrontationandattack’(Sue2010,p.83),andthisiswhatMinajexecutesseveralweekslaterduringtheVMACELEBRITYSTUDIES557
ceremony.Butshedoesn’taddressSwift;ratherMinajshowsherstrongdisruptiveemotionsinresponsetocommentsmadebyVMAhostMileyCyrusinaNewYorkTimesinterviewafewdayspriortotheshow.JustlikeSwift,Cyrusdodgestheissueofstructuralracismintheindustry.WhenaskedabouttheMinaj-Swiftcontroversy,Cyrusanswers‘Isawthat.Ididn’treallygetintoit’,acommentthatfeelsdisingenuousgiventhevolumeofattentionthe‘beef’garneredandthatsheishostingtheawardshow;yetherchoosingnottoembracetheissueisnotsurprising,giventhatshe’sthe‘kind’of‘othergirl’witha‘slim’bodythatMinajrefersto.However,whenCoscarelli(2015)presses,Cyrus’scommentshandilycrystalliseintoamicroassaultbypathologisingMinajastheangryblackwoman,positingthatshedoesn’t‘respect’Minaj’s‘statementbecauseoftheangerthatcamewithit’.Inthisthirdcycleofmicroaggressions,Minajdidnotengagein‘forcedcompliance’butrespondedboldly.Attheconclusionofheracceptancespeechatthetelevisedawardsceremony,andremember,Cyrusisthehost,Minajexpressesherself:‘Andnow,backto[pause]thisbitchthathadalottosayaboutmetheotherdayinthepress.“Miley,what’sgood?”’ThisoutburstisadirectresponsetowhatSue(2010)referstoas‘historicaltrauma’whereaccumulativelayersofmicroaggressionscan‘summateintoapowerfulforce’thatcanincludestrikingbackinfrustration(pp.95–104).AndasEverydayfeminismbloggerJohnson(2015)pointsout,byusingthediscourseofherQueensneighbourhood–‘What’sgood?’–MinajexposesCyrus’slackofgenuinelyunderstandingblackculture.Cyrus‘picksthepartsofBlackculturethatshelikes’,butbecauseshe‘doesn’tactuallyengagewiththeculture,shecan’thandlethewholetruthofwhatitmeanstobeBlack’.Intwowords–‘What’sgood?’–MinajnotonlyreleasesmicroaggressivestressandrhetoricallyreachesknowingfansbutshealsoleavesCyrus,whoissportingwhitedreadlocks,apuresignofculturalappropriation,standingonstagevisiblyrattled.ThiswasnotCyrus’sfirstattemptatblackappropriation,asitfollowsherawkward‘twerking’inthe2013musicvideoofWeCan’tStopandherliveperformanceofthesongduringtheMTVVMAawardsinAugustofthesameyear.CyrusignorantlysubvertedanhistoricalblacksocialdancefromNewOrleans,practisedbyyoungblackgirlsforover20years(Gaunt2015).ManyviewerstookoffencetoCyrus’stwerking,goldgrills,andhergrabbingofblackgirls’derrieresinthemusicvideo.Thisspectacleshows‘awhitegirlplayingatbeingtheother,lackingtheracialisedmarkerstodosowithanyconviction’.Furthermore,‘Cyrususesblackpeopledecoratively,blacknessafuncostume[that]Cyruscandonatwill,allthewhileemphasizingwhitenessasherauthenticidentity’(Dubrofsky2016,p.193).Thisappropriationofblacknesswhiledismissingblackwomen’sconcerns,continuedtonagMinaj,enoughsothatonemonthlater,MinajhadthistosaytoCyrus:Thefactthatyoufeelupsetaboutmespeakingonsomethingthataffectsblackwomenmakesmefeellikeyouhavesomebigballs.You’reinvideoswithblackmen,andyou’rebringingoutblackwomenonyourstages,butyoudon’twanttoknowhowblackwomenfeelaboutsomethingthat’ssoimportant?Comeon,youcan’twantthegoodwithoutthebad.Ifyouwanttoenjoyourcultureandourlifestyle,bondwithus,dancewithus,havefunwithus,twerkwithus,rapwithus,thenyoushouldalsowanttoknowwhataffectsus,whatisbotheringus,whatwefeelisunfairtous.Youshouldn’tnotwanttoknowthat(citedinGrigoriadis2015,para.8).JustasMinajcalledoutbothSwiftandCyrusforfeedingintoproblematicstructuresthatsupportthecontinuationofexclusionandinequities,sotoodidmanyfans;theirTwitterreactiontotheactivitysurroundingthe2015VMAswasrobust,informed,andcritical.558J.L.ISAKSENANDN.ELTANTAWY
Twitterusersknowthattheyarenottweetingintoablackhole,butrathertoanimaginedcommunityoffanswithwhomtheyfeelconnected(Marwickandboyd2010).AsGay(2014b)pointsout,Twitterisnotarepositoryfor‘snapjudgments’or‘mindless[…]outrage’;rather,collectivelythesefansoverwhelmingserveasa‘flawedbutnecessaryconscience’(p.265)astheyaddressmattersoffeminism,particularlywhitecelebrityfeminism.Astheserepresentativetweetsofthe489weanalysedindicate,fanshandilypointoutthelimitationsofSwift’sneoliberalformoffeminism,onethatlacksanunder-standingofthestructuralracistandgenderoppressionthatMinaj,womenofcolour,andallwomenwithoutprivilegeexperience,onethatreinscribestheveryoppressionsfem-inistsclaimtobeagainst.Miley=epitomeofwhitefeminismwdreadlocks&patronizing/racistbehaviour.@NICKIMINAJshouldbeapplaudedforcallingherbullshitout(Tia2015).AllIwantisagoodgoatwhitefeminism.WeneedarevolutionofrespectforWOC!(Emma2015).@taylorswift13babeIloveyousosomuchbutwhatareyoudoingwithyourwhitefeminism(Em2015).ThankgodfortheTaylorSwift&NickiMinajTwitterspat.OtherwiseIwouldn’tknowwhitefeminismwasathing(SheerMusic2015).igotmywomen’sstudiesclassallheatedupwithadiscussiononwhitefeminismandtaylorswift/mileycyrus(GirlAlmighty2015).AsHamadandTaylor(2015)pointout,‘littleornoconsensus’existsamongcelebritiesonexactlywhattheymeanbyfeminism(p.125),andthuswehavefantweetsthatstriveforclarityaboutwhatcelebrityfeminismisorshouldbe.Moreover,asKellerandRingrose(2015)note,celebrityfeministsavoidaddressingthe‘complexitiesofcontemporaryfeministissues’suchas‘systemicinequalities,racialisedsexualisation,andalackoffeministeducation’(p.134),yetfansintentionallydrawattentiontotheseveryissues.TheyexpressdismayatSwift’sunsubstantiatedformoffeminism;theydenounceCyrus’sracistbehaviour;andtheyrelishintheirownedification.Therhetoricalmessage-makinginthefantweetssupportthefindingsofKellerandRingrose(2015):thatfanshavea‘keenunderstandingofthe“economyofcelebrity”’andnuancedinsighttothe‘contradictorymessagesinmediarepresentationsofcelebritiesasfeminists’(p.133).ManyfansfoundSwift’sfamous‘girlsquad’ofparticularconcern.ThisfemalecollectiveisSwift’sinnercircleoffriends–fellowcelebrityfeministsinsomecases–whonotonlyperformedinherBadBloodvideoandbutalsojoinedSwiftonstagethroughoutherworldwide1989TourastheygracedthewalkwaywithmuchfanfareandearnedahugfromSwift.Theby-invitation-onlymembersofSwift’sexclusionarycliqueareallyoung,gorgeous,thin,supercool,decadentlyrich,andpredominantlywhite,andfansarespeak-ingoutwithacriticallyconsciousvoiceatthiscollective’sembodimentofprivilege.Winch(2013)cogentlyarguesthatgirlfriendcultureisinterstitiallyplacedwithinbodypoliticsasgirlfriends‘bondthroughthebodiesofotherwomen’(p.5).Girlfriendculturehasgreatcapitalintheformofpostfeministempowermentasthe‘commodificationandmarketingofthebodyiscirculatedamongahomosocialworldofwomen’(p.26).Co-constitutivewiththemarketingofgirlcultureistheideaofcompetition.AsWinchstatesit,‘femininityCELEBRITYSTUDIES559
inaneoliberalpostfeministsocietyispromotedasaperformancethatonewinsat’(p.157).Swiftandher‘girlsquad’fullyembodysuchpostfeministempowermentandtheyclearlycomeoutasthewinners,withSwiftalwaystakingfirstplace.Whileenhancingherowncapital,Swiftissimultaneouslyencouragingherfanstobothadmireandenvythefemalecelebrities,butfantweetssuggestotherwise.DespiteSwift’sastonishingmaterialsuccess,somefansarenonethelessquestioninghermodeloffeminismthatdripswithwealth,privilege,andself-righteousness.Alongwiththefans,researchershavealsopointedtothegradualshiftinSwift’sdisplayofherwhitefemininity(Dubrofsky2016,Prinsforthcoming).Swiftwentfrompresentingherselfasa‘virtuousfairytaleprincess,whowearselaborategownsandpristinewhitedresses,’(Prinsp.1)tolaterworks,suchasherproblematicWildestDreamsvideo,critiquedforits‘romanticiseddepictionofcolonial-eraAfrica-featuringvirtuallynoblackpeople…’(Jagota2017,para.10)andShakeitOff,withitsracialisedperformancesthatreify‘whitenessasauthenticandstable’(Dubrofsky2016,p.190).Prins(forthcoming)explainshowSwift’swhitenesswasnotonlynoticedbyresearchersofcriticalracestudies,butSwiftseemedtointrigueinternettrolls,whitesupremacistsandwhitenationalists,whichledtoaseriesof‘TaydolfSwiftler’memesin2013.Inthesememes,Swift’simagesarejuxtaposedwithquotesfromAdolfHitler,whileothersshowimagesofHitlerjuxta-posedwithSwift’slyrics.‘Itisunclearhowtointerpretthesememes:weretheyleftistcritiquesofSwift’sinvestmentinwhiteness,alt-righttrollingexercisesaimedat“lulz,”orgenuineright-wingembracesofSwift?’(Prinsforthcoming,para.3).Yet,whatbecameclearwasthatwhitesupremacistsandwhitenationalistswhereembracingSwift,quotingherlyricsanddescribingherasan‘AryanGoddess’(Jagota2017).PopFrontblogger,Herning(2017),arguesthatSwift’slyricsin‘Lookwhatyoumademedo”areviewedbymanyalt-rightsupportersasaformof‘reawakening’inlinewithTrump’srisetopower.‘Atonepointintheaccompanyingmusicvideo,Taylorlordsoveranarmyofmodelsfromapodium,akintowhatHitlerhadinNazisGermany.Thesimilaritiesareuncannyandunsettling’(Herning2017,para.9).Yet,facedwiththecontroversialmemesandtheattentiontheyreceivedbywhitesupremacistsandwhitenationalists,inadditiontoneo-Nazisaccusations,Swifthasremainedsilent,neitherdenyingorcondoningsuchaccusations.Forwriterandfilm-maker,Jagota(2017),anAsianAmericanwhogrewuplisteningtoSwift’ssongs,herlackofcondemnationofwhitesupremacistsrevealedhowSwift’swhitefeminismwasalienating:Swifthasshownanunwillingnesstocondemntheracistswhoadoreher.Itremindsmeofhowdifferentourlivedexperiencesare.Likeallpeopleofcolor,Idon’thaveSwift’sprivilegeofremainingquietandthusneutralaboutwhitesupremacy,particularlyatthistensemomentintime.Swift’sseemingindifferencetothestrugglesofpeopleofcolorhasalsoledmetorevisithermusic–towrestlewithhowitaffectedmyteenagedunderstandingoffemininity,andhowhermusicmaycontinuetoinfluenceyoungfansofcolor(para.8).WhileitisworthnotingthatSwiftbrokeherlong-heldpoliticalsilencein2018byendorsingtwocongressionalDemocraticcandidatesinTennesseeandhasvoicedherviewsagainstDonaldTrump(Fitzpatrick2019),itisequallynoteworthythatshenever560J.L.ISAKSENANDN.ELTANTAWY
directlyaddressedtheissueofherstrongwhitesupremacistfollowing(Prinsforthcoming).ConclusionInthisstudy,wehaveattemptedtoprovideindividualinsights–thecallingoutofgenderandracialmircroaggressions;theexposureofhegemonicforceswithinthemusicindus-try;andthechallengingofthepowerandprivilegeofwhiteness–astheyoccurwithinlargerinterlockingphenomenaincludingthepowerofideologicaldiscourse,theroleofcelebrityfeminists,thediscerningnatureoffans,andtheusefulnessofsocialmedia.Asintersectionalfeministculturalcritics,wheredoesthisleaveus?RosalindGill(2016)questionswhetherpostfeminismisasensibilityofthepast,andsheanswersthatquestionwithanemphaticandregrettable‘no’.Sheworriesthat‘claimingafeministidentity–withoutspecifyingwhatthatmeansintermsofsomekindofpolitics–isproblematic’(p.619).BylookingattheTwitterresponseofbothNickiMinajandfans,wecanreasonablyconcludethatTaylorSwiftandMileyCyrusbothinhabitthisproblematicpositionofpostfeminist.Asthisstudysuggests,bothSwiftandCyrusunknowinglyembodytheproblematic‘neoliberalfeministsubject’whois‘mobilisedtoconvertcon-tinuedgenderinequalityfromastructuralproblemintoanindividualaffair’(Rottenberg2014,p.420);whocapturesthe‘entrepreneurialideologythatiscomplicitwithratherthancriticalofcapitalism’(Gill2016,p.617);andwhoparticipatesina‘profoundundoing’asthe‘racialunderpinningofthepost-feministmasquerade’re-instates‘whitenessasaculturaldominant’(McRobbie2009,p.69).WeagreewithGill(2016)thatour‘criticalvocabulariesmatter’(p.625).Yetwithoutemployingthescholarlylanguageoffeministtheory,bothMinajandfansnonethelessarticulatedtheirviewsandspokeoutwithconviction,confirmingGill’spositionthatsadly‘wearealongwayfrombeingpost-postfeminism’(p.626).ThisisnottosuggestthatneitherMinajnortherespondingfansareuntouchedbypostfeministneoliberalsensi-bilities;that’sanimpossibility,buttheveryparadoxofneoliberalismopensupaspacetochipawayattheemptypromisesthatthissensibilityoffers.AndthedemocraticvenueofTwitterisexactlywheresuchchippingtakesplace,asitclearlyplaysaco-constitutiveroleintherelationshipbetweenfansandcelebrities.AsMarwickandboyd(2011)state,‘celebrityisbynecessityaco-performancethatrequiresfandeferenceandmutualrecognitionofunequalstatustosucceed’(p.155).Whilethisistrue,wealsoseethatfansarenotalwaysblindlydeferent;sometimestheyareboldlydiscerning.Theyunderstandandareinvestedinmediacultureandmanywillpointouthowcelebrityfeministsaregettingitwrong.Theyarenotmindlessmediaconsumers,butmindfullyspeakoutagainstthepaucityofSwift’sfeminism.Whilethiscasestudydoesnotsuggestaparadigmshiftorawatershedturninourculturalidentity,itclearlydemon-stratesanincrementalgrowthspurt,particularlyamongemergingfeminists.Thesearefanswhounderstandthatraceandgenderarenotonlyrepresentedintheirdigitalvoicesbutarealsoconstructedbytheirdigitalvoices,andtheywillcontinuetoreimaginethetraditionalrolesandboundariesthatconstrainus.AsBaer(2016)posits,‘digitalfeminismsareinasenseredoingfeminismforaneoliberalage’(p.19).CELEBRITYSTUDIES561
DisclosurestatementNopotentialconflictofinterestwasreportedbytheauthors.NotesoncontributorsJudyL.Isaksen,whoearnedherPhDfromtheUniversityofSouthFlorida,isaFullProfessorofMediaandPopularCultureStudiesandWomen’sandGenderStudiesatHighPointUniversityinNorthCarolina,wheresheteachescoursesattheintersectionofrhetoric,critical/culturaltheory,andmediastudies—mostparticularlytelevision,film,andmusic—focusingonissuesofrace,genderidentity,andsexualorientation.ShehaspublishedtwoarticlesonBarackObama,thelatestinaspeciallegacyissueoftheHowardJournalofCommunications.HerworkalsoappearsinCommunicationStudies,LegalStudiesForum,theJournalofPopularCulturealongwithavarietyofbookchaptersandanthologyarticles.YoucanfollowIsaksenonInstagram@judy.isaksenNahedEltantawyisAssociateDeanandAssociateProfessorofJournalismattheNidoR.QubeinSchoolofCommunicationinHighPointUniversity,NorthCarolina.EltantawyearnedherPhDfromGeorgiaStateUniversity,andherresearchfocusesonmediarepresentations,Muslim&Arabwomeninthemedia,socialmediaactivismandcriticalandculturalstudies.Herworkhasbeenpublishedinvariousbooksandpeer-reviewedjournals,includingFeministMediaStudies,CommunicationandCritical/CulturalStudiesandtheInternationalJournalofCommunication.YoucanfollowEltantawyonTwitterat@ntantawyReferencesBabbie,E.R.,2010.Thepracticeofsocialresearch.12thed.Belmont,CA:Wadsworth.Baer,H.,2016.Redoingfeminism:digitalactivism,bodypolitics,andneoliberalism.Feministmediastudies,16(1),17–34.Brady,A.,2016.Takingtimebetweeng-stringchangestoeducateourselves:SinéadO’Connor,MileyCyrus,andcelebrityfeminism.Feministmediastudies,16(3),429–444.Collins,P.H.,2000.Blackfeministthought:knowledge,consciousness,andthepoliticsofempowerment.2nded.NewYork:Routledge.Coscarelli,J.,27August2015.MileyCyrusonNickiMinajandhostinga‘raw’MTVvideomusicawards.NewYorkTimes[online].Availablefrom:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/28/arts/music/miley-cyrus-2015-mtv-vmas.html[Accessed7April2016].Crenshaw,K.,1989.Demarginalizingtheintersectionofraceandsex:ablackfeministcritiqueofantidiscriminationdoctrine,feministtheory,andantiracistpolitics.UniversityofChicagolegalforum,139,139–167.Dubrofsky,R.E.,2016.Avernacularofsurveillance:taylorSwiftandMileyCyrusperformwhiteauthenticity.Surveillance&Society,14(2),184–196.Duca,L.,22December2013.Adefinitiveguidetocelebrityfeminismin2013.HuffingtonPost[online].Availablefrom:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/22/celebrity-feminism_n_4476120.html[Accessed14November2016].Duggan,L.,2003.Thetwilightofequality?:neoliberalism,culturalpoliticsandtheattackondemocracy.Boston:BeaconPress.Dzodan,F.,10October2011.Myfeminismwillbeintersectionaloritwillbebullshit!TigerBeatdown[online].Availablefrom:http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/10/10/my-feminism-will-be-intersectional-or-it-will-be-bullshit[Accessed16November2016].Eells,J.,8September2014.ThereinventionofTaylorSwift.RollingStone[online].Availablefrom:http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/taylor-swift-1989-cover-story-20140908[Accessed9April2016]Em,21July2015[Twitter].Availablefrom:https://twitter.com/seahsuay/status/623746535730249728[Accessed8April2016].562J.L.ISAKSENANDN.ELTANTAWY
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