At a Halloween house party where I was one of two African American college students, I came to represent available, accessible sex. I was transformed from a sexual subject to object by the rap music and by the anonymous white guy who groped me. The rap music was so loud that I could not hear […]
“Words Hurt”: A (Personal) Reflection on Bullying as Verbal Violence
It began as daily torture and sickening waves of dread bellowing in my belly with tears collecting behind dark circles in my eyes too stubborn to fall. I learned the art of holding back the floods of hurt, that stung my eyes and soaked my pillows at night from daylight. They never betrayed me in […]
(Not) About Jamal Parris: A Premature Critique of BlackQueer Conservatism
this is a repost of some things i am thinking through and have been for some time now. lest we forget that the eddie long “scandal” is far from resolved, that conversation needs to be ongoing and intentional. So this is the weird me. Trying to think about my continual relationship and disavowal of what […]
How did I become a feminist?
This brief clip from the recent “Black Women as Public Intellectuals” symposium at the University of Alabama was such a wonderful interlude that it inspired me to reflect on my own trajectory in becoming a crunk feminist. Like many, instead of fitting into a neat narrative, my feminism came in fits and starts, inspired by […]
On ‘The Mean Girls of Morehouse’
Having gone to Morehouse’s (unofficial) sister school I feel compelled to comment on this Vibe Mean Girls article and subsequent fallout. In fact it feels kind of good to once again put this “audacity of parenting” thing on the back burner. Y’all ain’t ready 🙂 If you haven’t heard, Vibe acknowledged the fact that there […]
A Crunk Feminist Collective Roundtable
Check out a brief clip from a recent CFC Roundtable on October 7, 2010 at the University of Alabama. Featured in this clip are CFs Susana, Robin, Brittney, Sheri, and Rachel speaking in that order. Full video forthcoming soon.
What I Value Most
Yesterday would have been my mother’s 66th birthday. She didn’t make it to her 55th though; she died of ovarian cancer. The tumor was the size of a grapefruit when it was discovered, three weeks before my college graduation. The doctors said that she probably wouldn’t live four months, but that was only because they […]
NUNU Pt. 2: We Mad Now!
Well, church. My pastor spoke a prophetic word when he said, “As long as you great, haters gon’ hate.” Just as the NUNU: No Uncles, No Uterus movement got off the ground, a huge scandal broke out in a southern megachurch. A group of parents recently accused Pastor John Jenkins(who goes by Uncle Pastor) of […]
NUNU: No Uncles, No Uterus
Gentle reader, I write this post with a heavy heart. To address the current crisis of my people, I must revisit the great depravity of my own childhood in order to highlight the disaster that is the contemporary American family: I, like countless contemporary children, grew up without an uncle in my life. I know, […]
Sticks, Stones & Microphones
I can still hear a whisper (song). Arms oval. Neck curled. Hips sway to the familiar southern bass from a black (male) speaker rapping to me the dance floor. Before I could face the voice coaxing me to move, he drops his hook—a line about a violent sexual fantasy, a common come-on echoed in hip […]