YES YOU CAN: Twerk and Have a Brain

15 Nov

LILY ALLEN2“It’s hard out here for a bitch,” says British so-called feminist singer Lily Allen in her latest song, “It’s Hard Out Here.” The video is satirical and supposed to critique the music industry’s expectations of women. Yet in the process, Allen upholds oppressive views of black sexuality.

Allen sings, “Inequality promises that it’s here to stay.”

Yes it does, Lily Allen, because you’re promoting it.

So welcome to this week’s episode of “How Not to be a Feminist,” starring Lily Allen.

She sings about how women in the industry are objectified—and then she turns right around and objectifies the backup dancers, who are mostly black women.

The message is clear: It’s not okay to objectify women, unless they’re women of color.

In the video, Allen is fully clothed doing a few dance moves here and there (but mostly just standing around), surrounded by half-naked black women twerking as if their lives depended on it. Allen stands out from the dancing women in her clothes and minimal dance moves as if she I somehow better than them. These scenes all happen right after she says, “Don’t need to shake my ass for you cause I’ve got a brain.”

Allen would like us all to know that she has a brain—and the women shaking their asses for her video…well… I guess they don’t get to decide if they’re intelligent or not because Lily Allen did it for them.

When did shaking your ass become synonymous with being unintelligent? There are plenty of smart women who dance provocatively when they want to and then study their asses off or go to their meaningful careers the next day.

One person tweeted in response, “I shake my ass in front of my degree every morning. Then I shake my ass at my desk at work–senior front-end developer, thanks.”

When I find myself at a party, club, or in front of a mirror when no one’s looking, I’ll shake my ass too. Hey Lily, look…I have a brain too.

The video is a classic case of satire gone very wrong. Instead of correcting the industry, Allen added herself to the list of white woman artists that dehumanize black women. It was as if Miley Cyrus (swear I won’t use her name any more) dressed up as a feminist for Halloween—but underneath the costume is the same ignorance and oppression.

If anything, Allen’s video proved one thing—it’s harder out here for some women than others (something women of color have proved time and time again). Allen and her white singer counterparts aren’t demonized for their sexuality in the same way black women are. It’s assumed that Lily is a person, while the dancers aren’t even considered to be fully human. As Mia McKenzie from Black Girl Dangerous explains it, the video cuts away at the bodies of black women as if they are parts and pieces, instead of full human beings. The video lifts up women of a certain complexion while oppresses those of another. That’s the same kind of privileged fake feminism I talked about in last week’s post.

Lesson learned: Check you’re feminism, or others surely will.

Welp, guess it’s back to listening to Janelle Monae.

Related Posts: Feminism Gets a Bad Facelift

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Feminism Gets a Bad Facelift

6 Nov

Feminism Goes Under the Knife

Rebrand1For a while now, various individuals, media outlets, and organizations have called for the rebranding of feminism, claiming that the movement’s bad rep (you know: man-hating, no-shaving, bra-burning lesbians) must be fixed. Last month, Women’s media platform Vitamin W made a big “oopsie” when launching what they call the “Rebranding Feminism” contest.

Originally, the contest looked like another bad facelift on a type of feminism that is no stranger to the back-alley plastic surgeon—a type of feminism whose privileged members seek to revamp the movement, yet, blindly fail to address the experiences of women of color, the LGBT community, low-income workers, and full-time mothers. Yes, maybe this type of feminism should seek an upgrade.

Vitamin W’s mistake was their approach: Their original signage, presenting a white woman in business attire drinking Scotch, called for people to create an image, video, or poster to represent the new face of feminism.

Fem Makeover

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Ironically, the contest displayed the very reasons many educated women who fight for gender equality do not identify as feminists. The woman’s image and some of the wording on the signage (the wording offended many people who do not identify as male or female) displayed the historically exclusionary practices of the feminist movement .

Fortunately, there was immediate outrage on the internet and Vitamin W listened. They changed their signage, and have recently announced their contest winner, who was smart enough not to use an image that would be viewed as discriminatory. However, neither the change in Vitamin W’s signage nor the winning poster touches the heart of the issue.

Rebranding enthusiasts tend to focus on changing the face of feminism so that it’s prettier and more inviting to the masses. Yet, we don’t need a commercialized version of feminism because feminism isn’t always pretty—it isn’t 24-7 Kumbaya. Sometimes it’s about checking your privilege, admitting the ways you have wrongly (sometimes unknowingly) oppressed others, and shutting up so you can listen to people with experiences different from your own. Otherwise, the movement becomes as weak as 2 Chainz’ lyrics, with uninformed feminists who talk a good game about solidarity, but are grossly bigoted. A cutesy version of feminism would water down the multifaceted aspects of the movement and its potential to address not only gender issues, but also intersecting issues of race, class, sexuality, ability, and everything in between.

Instead of preparing feminism for facial reconstruction to appeal to audiences who shy away from the F word, rebranding enthusiasts should switch their focus. As a participant in on Bitch Media’s rebranding feminism online discussion panel suggested, those seeking to upgrade feminism should address the needs of women who already identify as feminists or believers in gender quality, but feel left out of the movement. Just ask the women who participated in #solidarityisforwhitewomen, a hashtag that fuelled worldwide discussion about how women of color feel their issues are unaddressed by the feminist movement.

Mainstream feminists in the movement need to open their eyes and acknowledge issues of women who aren’t quite as privileged. For example, feminist campaigns to widen access to Plan B, often do not benefit women on Native American reservations, who in many cases, have the least amount of access in the country. White feminists who reclaim the word slut fail to realize that it isn’t quite as easy for Black women to do so. And exactly where was all of the feminist outrage, rallying, and campaigning when reporters announced that California doctors illegally sterilized about 150 women in prison?

Clearly, rebranding without any real effort to acknowledge all equality issues isn’t going to solve the exclusivity problems in the movement. Instead of simply talking about feminism being an all-inclusive fight for equality, we have to truly be about it.

Unfortunately, Vitamin W’s contest won’t be the last we hear about rebranding. Elle U.K. has made it their task for their November issue, and an organization called We are the XX recently created a new “feminist manifesto.”  But frankly, these tired calls to rebrand feminism are futile.

Rebranding isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to make feminism “cool.” Instead, as writer Samhita says in a recent Feministing article, “As much as it is easy to rest on the “equality between the sexes” definition of feminism, if we want to change public perception of feminism, we actually have to change feminism itself. We have to both push for a world that demands gender equality, while pushing for a feminism that acknowledges, accepts, and truly incorporates difference.”

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Life Lessons from the Makeup Counter

16 Oct

Wearing Blue Lipstick (and how it applies to life)

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I usually have to fight with my friends and family about the amount of make-up I wear.  I constantly receive unsolicited advice that “a little foundation wouldn’t kill you,” or that I should put some color on my lips and play up my eyes. Sometimes I’ll apply a smidge of eyeliner, but I‘ve always preferred the no-makeup look and often become overwhelmed at the sight of anything more than neutral gloss on my lips. I never thought I’d receive some of the best life advice while sitting at the makeup counter in Sephora.

I had recently decided to upgrade my look and take more fashion risks, so there was one thing I was itching to try: blue lipstick. Yet, after visiting the popular makeup counters and a few drugstores, I couldn’t find any blue that worked with my brown complexion.

At a Sephora makeup counter, I met a makeup artist who was wearing a bright purple lip color with an ombre affect. I’d previously visited another Sephora and didn’t see any blue lipstick, but I figured I’d ask this woman, since she also seemed to be into eye-catching colors.

“We don’t have blue,” she told me. Just as I was about to mark the trip unsuccessful, she said, “but I can make it for you.” She made her purple color by blending cream eyeliners because the store didn’t carry the bold lip color she wanted. She said people think products must be used in the way they are marketed; however, using them in other ways can get you the results you want. I watched as she created a perfect azure blue.

sb top colorMaybe I was a gullible customer falling prey to this seasoned saleswoman’s pitch. However, I thought about what she said and how it directly applied to experiences I constantly run into as a young adult.

Watching the makeup artist, Kim, test out eyeliner cream and pencils on my lips, it reminded me a few things:

1. You don’t have to follow every social rule. I admire rebels—who doesn’t? Nothing restricts us from using eye makeup on other parts of the face. I think it’s cool when women shop in men’s stores. I appreciate when people say hello (or at least smile) in elevators. I respect women who ask men on dates. People who violate the norm teach us to be daring, try new things, and live life on our own terms.

2.Take care of inner problems first, otherwise they’ll show up in your outer world. Before applying the cream to my lips Kim applied lip balm, explaining that it would moisturize and ensure that the lines and creases in my lips wouldn’t show through the color. My lips have always been extremely dry—so lipstick would often highlight my chapped lips. Yet, applying shea butter in the morning usually takes care of that problem, making my lips healthier; otherwise, the blue color would be overshadowed by my raisin-looking lips.

Of course, this doesn’t solely apply to lip color. My inner fear of getting rejected from grad school emerged as procrastination on my applications. My close friend’s self-esteem issues projects outward in her relationships with men.Sometimes the things we think we’re hiding underneath a touch of foundation and concealer shows up in everyday situations.

3. Be creative with your resources. You won’t always have exactly what you want, but you might have just enough of the right ingredient for what you are looking for. At first, Kim put this metallic blue eyeliner cream on my lips. I hated it. And it was the only blue cream they had in the store. Then Kim tried something else: she crushed a blue eyeliner color that I picked out and mixed it with lip balm. I looked at this woman as if she’d just painted the Sistine Chapel, and I couldn’t believe how innovative she was. A little creativity goes a long way.

4. The opinion that matters most is your own. There will always be tons of opposing ideas and viewpoints about the way you look. While walking through the mall in my blue lipstick, I got tons of complements and a few blank, yet intense stares. At my home away from home, my cousin and aunt loved it too. However, my immediate family was disgusted. They said it was too Goth for their tastes. They went on for 30 minutes about how much they hated it. Yet, I didn’t see what they saw. Looking in the mirror, I loved it more and more with each glance. Oh well—can’t please everybody.

Tips to D.I.Y:

  • Mix 2 colors together. Blend a lighter and darker blue until you create a color that works best with your complexion.
  • If you can’t find a cream that works, crush eyeliner pencil colors and blend them with a colorless lip balm.
  • Amp up the eye makeup. I usually don’t wear very much of anything on my face, but with a bold blue color, I had to add a little eye shadow, eye liner, and mascara to complete the look.
  • Add a pair of glasses. Wearing glasses, especially thick-rimmed glasses, with the blue color makes the look chic, like you just stepped out of the magazine.

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Enjoy!

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