I'm quite sick of this whole culture of criticizing black women for pretty much everything and turning it around in an attempt to make it a form of empowerment.
You know like the whole, "You're pretty for a dark-skin girl" phrase that many are honestly convinced we're supposed to be flattered by. It's pretty much a backhanded slap, a middle finger to the culture and no more than a form of degrading. We praise and uplift women like Kylie Jenner who've made an income off black features. We say goals to "foreign women" that strut their surgical curves, big boobs, botox lips and a braided unit but call the very woman that coined this image, a hoodrat. We shy away from the term "ghetto" and "hood" as if it signifies us as being less than. Or we utilize these terms as a means to degrade and strip of dignity. Its harmful behaviors like this, feminazi's, stroke of egoism, verbal harassment, catcalling, and even toxic masculinity that should be outlawed. Then again, our President is the same man that thinks its okay for men to grab women "right by the pussy".
"The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls." - Michelle Obama
It never fails to amaze me that the whole idea of a woman doing anything besides what she's "supposed to be doing" is an act of masculinity or rebellion. Like our bodies were only put on this earth to multiply, submit to men, cook for our men and our children, clean and be penetrated. "If I left any tasks out please comment below so that we all can ensure that we are upholding all of our responsibilities."
"Ohhhh, you listen to music? What you know about Hip-hop and Rap. I bet you only listen to like love songs and Beyonce."
"You watch sports? What you know about sports? I bet you only know Lebron James and Michael Jordan."
"You in the military? I bet you in like admin or something."
"You're the CEO? I bet you fucked your way to the top."
"What you know about cars? I bet I can beat you in a race"
"You wear makeup? You're fake!"
"You don't wear makeup? You need to!"
"You have no ass! Not interested!"
"You got a big ass! I'd fuck!"
"You have no boobs! You look like a dude!"
"You have big boobs and sport cleavage! You're a hoe!"
The list could go on and on and on. There's literally nothing a woman can do without being challenged, degraded or demeaned for it. Don't let a woman call a male out on it, well then now we're just being too sensitive, or a pussy.
As a child I grew up in many different neighborhoods and I've found that the ghetto and suburbs had one thing in common. That was, the act of degrading black women. Whether it was in work, at home or in public through the act of catcalling, black women were treated as third class citizens, women as whole being second. Oftentimes many believe that this is only seen in the hood or "ghetto" areas of a city. I can speak from experience that it wasn't just in the ghetto. I have been called a black nigga, a hoe or even worse while I just walking down the street in suburban neighborhoods. But now with this digital age we live in, we see this publicly in politics, on tv, social media and in the everyday lives of black women. The history of the degradation of women can go back as far as the "days in the bible". With America being a primarily christian community, its normal to see a lot of this injustice behavior without fear of penalty; unless of course it goes as deep as rape. Honestly, if you ask me all of this represents the activities that leads up to rape.
"It is not good for a man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." - Genesis 2:18
A symbolization of the birth of Eve from man in biblical terms coins this very theory. And as we know, from that moment, life as we know it was not the same from Eve's "so called sins". It is this very metaphor that represents the way women have been treated for years and continues into todays society. Proving that women are only placed on this earth to serve purpose to none other than man-kind. The most common representation of this is rape alone. Recall in bible terms, the story of "Lot and His Daughter", "The Rape of Dinah", The story of "Tamar and Judah" and the list prevails. If you, yourself are an active follower of Christ, you know this to be true.
I have met many followers of Christ that claim that many stories in the bible are only metaphors or that they don't agree with many of these tales but yet still are followers of a belief and religion whose foundation has stemmed from the very acts of degrading women. As a woman, this is horrific. Violence against women has become a part of a woman's history and our very lifestyle. The fight for women's rights and activism is an ongoing struggle and will forever be, until more women open their eyes, their mouths and speak up against a community and country that is okay with the way women are treated. We have come a long way, yet we are still objectified to being merely a helper. We had to fight for the right to vote, fight to hold certain positions in the government, fight for an education and even the ability to drive. But yet, we are still viewed as no more than symbols of sex and childbirth.
Women in both schools and their careers are living in fear of the idea that one day they may be 1 of 5 women affected by sexual assault and as black women the threat of abuse increases out of spite and hatred. I cannot count how many times I have been exposed to a story of a woman enduring assault or abuse and it dissolving in secrecy for fear of being shamed, harmed, no justice, or the person they reported it to simply not disclosing the information to authorities.
My question is why?
Why are we still here?
When?
When does it end?
How?
How are these acts of abuse and harassment still being tolerated and how the fuck is Trump still in office?
What?
What can we do as a community of both men and women to bring an end to a culture that views women as nothing more than enjoyment or lack thereof?
Although, this is a problem amongst women as a whole, black women are viewed as less than that of every counterpart with regard to both gender and race. We endure abuse in every aspect of the word and the most saddening part of it all is that many times it comes from both black men and even black women. Whether it be body shaming or colorism, even black women have taken part in the abuse and degradation of themselves in our culture.
We must remember and remind our black men that black women are the reason. The reason for it all! Shaming black women is like shaming your creator and even worse shaming ourselves. We praise an unknown entity but yet our physical creator, the very woman that birth the block has been subject to the most tortuous abuse consisting of but not limited to verbal, mental and physical. We must not aid in the downward spiral of our culture after all we have fought for. We must defend our women when they are being subject to both verbal and physical abuse no matter the nature. What both black men and black women need to realize; as long as they continue to speak negatively on black women publicly, it will always contribute to black culture as a whole. We as a people are still being subject to abuse and racism.
The only way for us to put all the abuse to a stop, is by uniting as one. I say, lets start with speaking positively about our black people publicly and defending them against our oppressors!
- Dee