Increasing numbers of African-American women doing rap and dance music are continuing the feminist approach set by the precedent-setting performers like Pat Benetar, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Eurythmics, and Janet Jackson. These artists show an ability not only to use pastiche to some extent in drawing attention to the exploitative traditions of videos, but contrary to Kaplan's theories, actually dismantle the male gaze through humor. By ridiculing the male gaze and male behavior, women liberate themselves from the male constructions of female as object.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Quote for the Day
Taken from this essay I bumped into while randomly surfing the net.
Well At Least She's Trying...
"People say we're similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently," she said, "but she spits it out exactly the same. None of her music's reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is."
Hehe...I'm neutral on this one
"She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna but the music sounds like 20 year-old Ibiza disco. She's not progressive, but she's a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I fucking do! That's a talent… but she's the industry's last stab at making itself important."
Got to admit though, her music does lack in substance. I've known that from the start but what I appreciate is that she tries, she really tries to add some colour to this dreary situation we call the music business.
On a brighter note...MIA drops her 3rd Album this coming June/July. I'll be looking out for that one.
Wait a minute, hold on...
This was Lady Gaga in high school. Are you kidding me or what?
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Debate: Ms Sidibe and Why she is a Star
Well, this one is tricky because at this point, the majority of us have all been brainwashed to believe a certain standard of appearance is required to call a woman attractive. Actresses in particular have been held up as the ultimate standards of what is beautiful for a woman according to the white supremacist ideal. In comes a young woman called Gabby Sidibe who is a runaway star mostly because she is an incredible actress and stole the show in a powerful movie we have yet to see anything the likes of since maybe, The Colour Purple.
If anything, the criticism she receives from insular individuals is as a result of our collective conscious not being used to seeing larger-sized women being held up in high esteem in the world of cinema. This is given evidence for why it is so important for our value system to change. Instead of praising actresses and actors for their good looks alone, we should be rewarding them for their dedication to the craft. Gabby is a wonderful actress. I think it takes away from her genuine talent when one imagines that Hollywood is only giving her a platform not to appear racist or prejudices. Do you think if Hollywood was so into not appearing racist, they would still continue to write so few decent roles for people who are not white? How silly that people find reason to complain about a woman of colour who is not skinny being put on a pedestal (which defines for me a subconscious racism) and at the same time, call Hollywood out for being racist and trying to avoid the guilt-trip that goes along with it by forcing matters. Again, it's a case of not realising the bigotry in one's own mind and fooling yourself into thinking that your comments are in fact, liberal.
Yes, for a very long time - the world of popular cinema has been white-male dominated. I think it is outstanding that a black homosexual man was able to make a movie so moving in its content and that this movie would, instead of becoming a flop, would generate superb box office sales, make Gabby an instant star, give Mo'nique an Oscar for crying out so damn loud and start making people realise that it is time we began to remove ourselves from the comfort zone of always wanting to see what has commonly been defined as lovely, immaculate and pure. There are "stories of the world, I wonder if y'all hear?" (Jay-Z in "As Real as it Gets") As always, people prefer the fantasy when cinema should really be the place where one can learn empathy through the identification of similarity in the lives of those one always believed to be so different - in the lives of the so-called "other".
If anything, the criticism she receives from insular individuals is as a result of our collective conscious not being used to seeing larger-sized women being held up in high esteem in the world of cinema. This is given evidence for why it is so important for our value system to change. Instead of praising actresses and actors for their good looks alone, we should be rewarding them for their dedication to the craft. Gabby is a wonderful actress. I think it takes away from her genuine talent when one imagines that Hollywood is only giving her a platform not to appear racist or prejudices. Do you think if Hollywood was so into not appearing racist, they would still continue to write so few decent roles for people who are not white? How silly that people find reason to complain about a woman of colour who is not skinny being put on a pedestal (which defines for me a subconscious racism) and at the same time, call Hollywood out for being racist and trying to avoid the guilt-trip that goes along with it by forcing matters. Again, it's a case of not realising the bigotry in one's own mind and fooling yourself into thinking that your comments are in fact, liberal.
Yes, for a very long time - the world of popular cinema has been white-male dominated. I think it is outstanding that a black homosexual man was able to make a movie so moving in its content and that this movie would, instead of becoming a flop, would generate superb box office sales, make Gabby an instant star, give Mo'nique an Oscar for crying out so damn loud and start making people realise that it is time we began to remove ourselves from the comfort zone of always wanting to see what has commonly been defined as lovely, immaculate and pure. There are "stories of the world, I wonder if y'all hear?" (Jay-Z in "As Real as it Gets") As always, people prefer the fantasy when cinema should really be the place where one can learn empathy through the identification of similarity in the lives of those one always believed to be so different - in the lives of the so-called "other".
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Relationship-Diving
This is something I just don't get myself. How some people just jump in and out of relationships so readily. Ms Janet who is sporting the short look now is onto the next one/on to the next one/on to the next one...
Taken from this article at Popeater.com
So I guess it's a bit like trying on different clothes. It looked good on the hanger but once you got to the change-room to try it on, mmmmm not so good no more.
Eehee hee hee
No actually, Mwahahaha!!
Janet Jackson chopped off her locks and debuted a new super-short haircut. She is currently promoting her movie 'Why Did I Get Married Too?' and was snapped leaving London's Cecconi restaurant with the much shorter 'do. Perhaps the 43-year-old singer-actress decided to change up her style because of the new man in her life, wealthy Qatari businessman Wissam Al Mana.
Taken from this article at Popeater.com
So I guess it's a bit like trying on different clothes. It looked good on the hanger but once you got to the change-room to try it on, mmmmm not so good no more.
So it's on to the next one/on to the next one/on to the next one...
Eehee hee hee
No actually, Mwahahaha!!
Jewel of Africa: Ajuma
AJUMA NASENYANA - Our Very Own Top Model
Pride in being black. We need more of this:
What I love most about her is that she is not at all trying to adhere to the standard of white beauty which entails wearing a weave and lightening your skin. She has her head shaved, G.I. Jane style and is carrying herself with so much confidence. Gotta respect this woman.
Diddy the Narcissist
It's been clear to us from the start that this man is just totally and utterly infatuated with himself. So, this image made me a laugh some.
Douchebag of the Month: Chris Brown
The biggest chauvinist, the biggest loser, the biggest douchebag...
***DOUCHEBAG ALERT DOUCHEBAG ALERT***
Wow people - he has taken the buffoonery to a new level this kid...WOWEEE!!!
Apparently, Sandra Rose is:
THIS LITTLE CLOWN/DOUCHEBAG/FOOL...He isn't even talking about me but I want to slap him upside the head with a wet cotton panty. Silly boy. He needs proper psychological evaluation.
And I love what Sandra Rose said in her most recent post on this issue
Okay, now here I go. I cover the whole dark-skin thing quite frequently in my blog because it in indicative to me of a culture that glorifies whiteness and strives by all means to become more and more white as means of removing oneself from the ranks of inferiority that a white supremacist culture has placed non-white people. Obviously, this kind of ideology is too mature and involved for someone of the like of Chris Brown who I believe has not even completed his GED (speculative but I don't think that with all the touring and dancing and singing that he did during his teen years, he was able to get a proper education). So I forgive him for his folly. It's one of those cases where you say, "It's not (insert name)'s fault they're so dumb, they didn't complete high school. Never mind not going to College." So, that's part of the issue. Chris Brown is an inexorably ignorant young fellow with no one offering him any kind of wisdom or guidance. Perhaps someone should recommend he retreat to the Tibetan Hills and live with the Dalai Lama for a year or so. So the Old Sage can pump some sense into this lost, bemused and tortured soul. It's a tragedy, it really is.
But really, what is this silly boy on about saying that he prefers light-skinned women and na na na when the girl in his run it video is ummm....not exactly light honey!
Can I get a witness...
No she is not super jet dark like a panther in the forest like Ms Wek, Ms Oluchi, Ms Campbell or Ms Moi but she is not exactly your favourite flavour of black girl world...butterscotch and caramel creme deluxe.
**The rich 70% Cocoa Dark-Chocolate Bar is just too much for you too handle that's why you can't stand it fools...it's TOO MUCH FOR YOU BABEEEY!
But it's a tragedy which speaks forth an issue that I as a dark-skinned woman seem to find. Constant ridiculing of black women especially dark-skinned women from a myriad of different sources. I once too was the little dark-skinned girl at school whose feelings were hurt beyond anything you could possibly imagine by awful language aimed at putting me down because of my skin-tone. Of course, I can look on it now and laugh. I was a child then, I had no backbone. But even as a teenager, it was the same nonsense and the most intriguing fact about this - it was from a male who was equally dark. These days, it's a different story because not only do I have a thick skin, I have come to understand the links between issues of race and how society values people who are white and marginalizes those who are not. This very segregation and oppression is what leads darker-skinned people to seek salvation from their curse through skin-lightening methods. All this is a manifestation of the deep self-loathing that a white supremacist society embeds in the minds of black people. Chris is a self-loather without his realising it and what's even more sad is that he is too ignorant and immature to ever realise such a thing. He represents the majority of society who fail to a) recognise the prejudice in their behaviour and b) fail to pinpoint the source of all of it - white supremacist patriarchal and male dominated society.
Then there are the Comedians who usually find that the majority of laughs they get are from jokes made about Black Women. It's true - black men seem to have transferred the prized position of minstrel coon to dark-skinned black women.
I see people like this in my family, in my friend pools, on TV - just about everywhere. Stuck in the mud and blissfully unaware of it.
Nobody revels in being made a mockery out of especially not about such a sensitive issue. When will people learn that racist jokes are JUST NOT FUNNY!
What a sad world this is...
***DOUCHEBAG ALERT DOUCHEBAG ALERT***
Wow people - he has taken the buffoonery to a new level this kid...WOWEEE!!!
Apparently, Sandra Rose is:
THIS LITTLE CLOWN/DOUCHEBAG/FOOL...He isn't even talking about me but I want to slap him upside the head with a wet cotton panty. Silly boy. He needs proper psychological evaluation.
And I love what Sandra Rose said in her most recent post on this issue
Chris Brown deleted his offensive tweets about dark skinned people. He then offered up a lame excuse to explain why it’s OK for him to make disparaging remarks about skin color in the first place:
…because he made a song about brown skinned girls. Can you believe it? What an idiot.
I don’t wish bad luck on simple minded people, but life is only going to get rougher for Mr. Brown because he’s reckless, immature and above all, he’s a moron of epic proportions.
Okay, now here I go. I cover the whole dark-skin thing quite frequently in my blog because it in indicative to me of a culture that glorifies whiteness and strives by all means to become more and more white as means of removing oneself from the ranks of inferiority that a white supremacist culture has placed non-white people. Obviously, this kind of ideology is too mature and involved for someone of the like of Chris Brown who I believe has not even completed his GED (speculative but I don't think that with all the touring and dancing and singing that he did during his teen years, he was able to get a proper education). So I forgive him for his folly. It's one of those cases where you say, "It's not (insert name)'s fault they're so dumb, they didn't complete high school. Never mind not going to College." So, that's part of the issue. Chris Brown is an inexorably ignorant young fellow with no one offering him any kind of wisdom or guidance. Perhaps someone should recommend he retreat to the Tibetan Hills and live with the Dalai Lama for a year or so. So the Old Sage can pump some sense into this lost, bemused and tortured soul. It's a tragedy, it really is.
But really, what is this silly boy on about saying that he prefers light-skinned women and na na na when the girl in his run it video is ummm....not exactly light honey!
Can I get a witness...
No she is not super jet dark like a panther in the forest like Ms Wek, Ms Oluchi, Ms Campbell or Ms Moi but she is not exactly your favourite flavour of black girl world...butterscotch and caramel creme deluxe.
**The rich 70% Cocoa Dark-Chocolate Bar is just too much for you too handle that's why you can't stand it fools...it's TOO MUCH FOR YOU BABEEEY!
But it's a tragedy which speaks forth an issue that I as a dark-skinned woman seem to find. Constant ridiculing of black women especially dark-skinned women from a myriad of different sources. I once too was the little dark-skinned girl at school whose feelings were hurt beyond anything you could possibly imagine by awful language aimed at putting me down because of my skin-tone. Of course, I can look on it now and laugh. I was a child then, I had no backbone. But even as a teenager, it was the same nonsense and the most intriguing fact about this - it was from a male who was equally dark. These days, it's a different story because not only do I have a thick skin, I have come to understand the links between issues of race and how society values people who are white and marginalizes those who are not. This very segregation and oppression is what leads darker-skinned people to seek salvation from their curse through skin-lightening methods. All this is a manifestation of the deep self-loathing that a white supremacist society embeds in the minds of black people. Chris is a self-loather without his realising it and what's even more sad is that he is too ignorant and immature to ever realise such a thing. He represents the majority of society who fail to a) recognise the prejudice in their behaviour and b) fail to pinpoint the source of all of it - white supremacist patriarchal and male dominated society.
Then there are the Comedians who usually find that the majority of laughs they get are from jokes made about Black Women. It's true - black men seem to have transferred the prized position of minstrel coon to dark-skinned black women.
I see people like this in my family, in my friend pools, on TV - just about everywhere. Stuck in the mud and blissfully unaware of it.
Nobody revels in being made a mockery out of especially not about such a sensitive issue. When will people learn that racist jokes are JUST NOT FUNNY!
What a sad world this is...
Saturday, May 15, 2010
How does M.I.A. Feel about this BITER
As usual, Rihanna's team has nothing new to offer. The best they could do this time was offer a sexed-up, dulled down version of an M.I.A. Who started the process if reincarnating early 90's dance stars in 2007 - MAYA ARULPRAGASAM darling. So why are you copying, why why? I'm tired so tired. Of lyrics and music video that serves for male erotic stimulus. As usual. Like the Beyonce video for "Why Don't You Love Me". As per usual, she has her business spilling out of her scantily laid tight-fitting attire. Yawn!
She appears to me as an hypersexualized Grace Jones wannabe. All that winding and clapping. Please. I don't know why I even bother commenting but it shows, it just shows how male-dominated the music industry is. Everything packaged for male enjoyment. It's becoming rarer and rarer to find a respectable female artist that can keep her clothes tacitly on and sell an enormous amount. People don't want art anymore, they just want sex. Pah! The masses are boring.
I certainly do hope Arulpragasam is in the studio working on the next album. She is brill. Anticipating to hear what she has to offer.
This one too...lol! She doesn't always appear this saccaharine.
She appears to me as an hypersexualized Grace Jones wannabe. All that winding and clapping. Please. I don't know why I even bother commenting but it shows, it just shows how male-dominated the music industry is. Everything packaged for male enjoyment. It's becoming rarer and rarer to find a respectable female artist that can keep her clothes tacitly on and sell an enormous amount. People don't want art anymore, they just want sex. Pah! The masses are boring.
I certainly do hope Arulpragasam is in the studio working on the next album. She is brill. Anticipating to hear what she has to offer.
This one too...lol! She doesn't always appear this saccaharine.
Breathing a Sigh of Relief
Tickets to World Cup matches to be played at Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town are NOT sold out.Thank you God! There is still a chance that within the next three weeks, they will be available for purchase.
Wonderful! My wish is to watch the Italy vs Paraguay match with a Category 4 ticket. Yes, the cheapest one. I love socccer but not that much unfortunately.
At the moment the site indicates tickets for all eight fixtures at Cape Town Stadium are currently unavailable. FIFA, however, says the matches are not sold out.
More tickets for all 64 games at the 2010 FIFA World Cup may be made available in the next three weeks.
Wonderful! My wish is to watch the Italy vs Paraguay match with a Category 4 ticket. Yes, the cheapest one. I love socccer but not that much unfortunately.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Ugh, Gender-Binary at ThinkGeek.com
Firstly,why are the guys T-shirts at thinkgeek.com so much better than the women's. Why do they insist on applying false gender-sterotypes to the phrases that are written on the girls Tees. That is, women are more concerned with romance and all that gooey stuff than men. I hate this notion, it's so false. What is it with this constant assumption that women are more concerned with romance than anything else. I've received this message a number of times and it bugs the nonsense out of me because I am one of those objective people that just could not be bothered. Really, just couldn't care less and I am a woman. So, there. Gender stereotypes are a waste of time as we all should note.
Yes, they are dope but in startling contrast...we do not even have a reference to "guys Tees" they just are. That is to normalize the male as usual. This happens too with the slang usage of "guys" when referring to people in general. When I thought about it, I saw how deeply troubling it is and how the fact that is has been normalized reinforces the idea of the male representing all peoples. What comes along with that is a simple negation of the female presence as its come to be.
Needless to say that the dopest T-shirts are located in the Unisex section...oh well...
Here are a couple that I particularly like...
Okay that was more than a couple but hey it was enough dopeness to make me stop ranting about those silly "babydoll" T-shirts.
Needless to say that the dopest T-shirts are located in the Unisex section...oh well...
Here are a couple that I particularly like...
When It Gets Rough, Get Tough Honey
I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. ~Jewish Proverb
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. ~Garth Brooks
We acquire the strength we have overcome. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa
The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello
If you're going through hell, keep going. ~Winston Churchill
I've always been a person who believes strongly that there is something to be learned out of hardship. When it seems as though you cannot sink any lower than you have already sunk,it's important to remember that there is someone out there in the world who has it worse than you. But this should not give you comfort instead it should grow your compassion as your ability for empathy enlargens. The comfort comes in the fact that in times of adversity, your character is being shaped, your will is being strengthened and you are becoming the person you need to become in order to fulfill the calling on your life. So when it gets rough, I breathe easy and stay cool and ask the Creator to guide and show me what lesson I am to take from this. What aspects of me require changing. You cannot change unless some external agent brings your inadequacies to light and brings this necessity to your attention. So, if anything...gratitude should be one's greatest response to adversity. In the long run, you will look back and say "Thank you". I would not be who I am today had it not been for that meagre event which took place and you'll probably laugh at how you thought it was the end of the world when it was hardly even. So why not prematurely look back in hindsight and say "Ha. No big deal. Besides, there are reasons for this I cannot see now but will be capable of seeing in a time that is to come."
Done.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Of Being an "Exotic" in a Different World
I've never been a stranger to that feeling of being set-apart of feeling somewhat other-worldly. It's been interesting and it's grown my character to a position from which I can face society with a somewhat opppostional gaze. Not one that is strictly combative, but rather one that is never too afraid to shy away from critique. Although being black and being a woman is a tough venture, I say in all honesty - it has given me the opportunity to see the ugly nature of the way in which our world operates. Being part of a group of people who are considered to occupy, by default the lower regions of the social heirarchy has saved me from naivete, from seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. So, if you were to ask me if I could go back and alter my gender or race before I had been born. My answer would be a definite "No". I feel that there is still much work that needs to be done, many strides to be made by women of colour that to be one, aside from giving me plenty of reason to see and witness changes made in the world around me, provides me with the responsibility of making somwhat of a contribution to altering the general ways in which black women especially are viewed and henceforth treated.
In the Pipeline...
I have come to see that the greatest deterrant when it comes to literary work is when one lacks courage and confidence. This has been a problem of mine and I realise that in order to begin the work of crafting a voice and creating that story that lingers in my head in disassembled fragments, I must attain am insurmountable level of confidence. Without writing for any particular kind of outcome at all.
individual effects of systemic privileging
Makes you think that your position in society as a white individual is justified and even normal and that having non-white people beneath you is also perfectly justified and normal.
Justified by what I ask? It's called a "white superiority complex" I think...
I'll never forget sitting in class in Grade 5, we were doing Natural Science in that period and our prescribed textbook had illustrations of a black girl and boy working on various experiments and asking each other questions. The white girl sitting next to me then proceeded to ask why all the central characters in the book's illustrations were black. Do you ever hear non-white people asking why almost every hand-model in a textbook is white for instance. Why always the white friggin hands? Or why actors in big-budget Hollywood movies are mainly white or why we consider white to represent the pinnacle of civilization.
The other day, I was sitting in a lecture and our instructor went on about how the style of learning in South Africa does not adequately prepare learner's for College and that we don't follow the European model. WHAT? Did I hear correctly. All I could think of at that moment was "white supremacist"...who told you that Europeans don't have a problem with "rote learning". That's a bold generalization. This glorification of all that is white is truly wack. What's even more wack is that people of colour hop on to the bandwagon and begin to loathe their own culture taken a drift by the all-encompassing need to take in as much whiteness as they can.
It's a never-ending story told from culture to culture...
And I don't blame whites...you're a victim the first time, once you've been shown an escape route, you become a volunteer
Justified by what I ask? It's called a "white superiority complex" I think...
I'll never forget sitting in class in Grade 5, we were doing Natural Science in that period and our prescribed textbook had illustrations of a black girl and boy working on various experiments and asking each other questions. The white girl sitting next to me then proceeded to ask why all the central characters in the book's illustrations were black. Do you ever hear non-white people asking why almost every hand-model in a textbook is white for instance. Why always the white friggin hands? Or why actors in big-budget Hollywood movies are mainly white or why we consider white to represent the pinnacle of civilization.
The other day, I was sitting in a lecture and our instructor went on about how the style of learning in South Africa does not adequately prepare learner's for College and that we don't follow the European model. WHAT? Did I hear correctly. All I could think of at that moment was "white supremacist"...who told you that Europeans don't have a problem with "rote learning". That's a bold generalization. This glorification of all that is white is truly wack. What's even more wack is that people of colour hop on to the bandwagon and begin to loathe their own culture taken a drift by the all-encompassing need to take in as much whiteness as they can.
It's a never-ending story told from culture to culture...
And I don't blame whites...you're a victim the first time, once you've been shown an escape route, you become a volunteer
Monday, May 10, 2010
How About Tending to the Weeds in your Own Backyard
"because it is disproportionately affecting women. There are the problems of gender-based violence, and women giving birth to babies and losing their children at a rapid rate because they have AIDS. We’ve got the same problems right here in the District of Columbia as they do in Africa. The sexy thing to do is to be able to travel afar and hold babies in our arms. [Hello, Madonna and Angelina Jolie!] I’m not demeaning that at all, but we have got our own problems, I just decided we need to come home and focus on our problems, because they’re getting worse here in our own country.”
Exactly. They focus the issue as if it only affects the "other" unyet its is a world-wide humanitarian crisis.
Good Ole Jozi
"I dare you to visit Johannesburg, the city for softies" written by Jeremy Clarkson is hilarious and very very true. Yes and I agree, Jo'burg just isn't as bad as people make it out to be.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Silly things like this Crack me Up
Oh, poor Justin Bieber...
Hahaha!
Oh and he's got a song with Sean Kignston. My worst fears have come to life! Thank goodness I don't watch TV anymore!
Bieber offers his own explanation, via Twitter. "I thought this interviewer in NZ said 'Jewman' instead of 'German' people think I don't know what German is?"
Hahaha!
Oh and he's got a song with Sean Kignston. My worst fears have come to life! Thank goodness I don't watch TV anymore!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
What a Profound Expression of "black-woman-pain"
Poem for Some Black Women
©1992 Carolyn M. Rodgers
i am lonely,
all the people i know
i know too well
there was comfort in that
at first but now
we know each others miseries
too well.
The rest of the poem is after the jump.
we are
lonely women, who spend time waiting for
occasional flings
we live with fear.
we are lonely.
we are talented, dedicated, well read
BLACK, COMMITTED,
we are lonely,
we understand the world problems
Black women's problems with Black men
but all
we really understand is
lonely.
when we laugh,
we are so happy to laugh
we cry when we laugh
we are lonely.
we are busy people
always doing things
fearing getting trapped in rooms
loud with empty...
yet
knowing the music of silence/hating it/hoarding it
loving it/treasuring it,
it often birthing our creativity
we are lonely
being soft and being hard
supporting our selves, earning our own bread
soft/hard/hard/soft
knowing that need must not show
will frighten away
knowing that we must
walk back-wards nonchalantly on our tip-toeness
into
happiness,
if only for stingy moments
we know too much
we learn to understand everything,
to make too much sense out
of the world,
of pain
of lonely...
we buy clothes, we take trips,
we wish, we pray, we meditate, we curse, we crave, we coo,
we caw,
we need ourselves sick, we need, we need
we lonely we grow tired of tears we grow tired of fear
we grow tired but must al-ways be soft and not too serious...
not too smart not too bitchy not too sapphire
not too dumb not too not too not too
a little less a little more
add here detract there
.lonely.
*Credit to Feministing for letting me see this.
©1992 Carolyn M. Rodgers
i am lonely,
all the people i know
i know too well
there was comfort in that
at first but now
we know each others miseries
too well.
The rest of the poem is after the jump.
we are
lonely women, who spend time waiting for
occasional flings
we live with fear.
we are lonely.
we are talented, dedicated, well read
BLACK, COMMITTED,
we are lonely,
we understand the world problems
Black women's problems with Black men
but all
we really understand is
lonely.
when we laugh,
we are so happy to laugh
we cry when we laugh
we are lonely.
we are busy people
always doing things
fearing getting trapped in rooms
loud with empty...
yet
knowing the music of silence/hating it/hoarding it
loving it/treasuring it,
it often birthing our creativity
we are lonely
being soft and being hard
supporting our selves, earning our own bread
soft/hard/hard/soft
knowing that need must not show
will frighten away
knowing that we must
walk back-wards nonchalantly on our tip-toeness
into
happiness,
if only for stingy moments
we know too much
we learn to understand everything,
to make too much sense out
of the world,
of pain
of lonely...
we buy clothes, we take trips,
we wish, we pray, we meditate, we curse, we crave, we coo,
we caw,
we need ourselves sick, we need, we need
we lonely we grow tired of tears we grow tired of fear
we grow tired but must al-ways be soft and not too serious...
not too smart not too bitchy not too sapphire
not too dumb not too not too not too
a little less a little more
add here detract there
.lonely.
*Credit to Feministing for letting me see this.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Thoughts on "Gender-Week" - 10th-17th April
Got my chance to have a say about my opinions on gender-relations in the Varsity Newspaper and here it is online. So I am satisfied about that not for the stimulation of my ego but rather to offer university students a better clarification of feminism so that the stereotypes of angry, under-sexed, done-wrong, hard, butch, man-hating and power-hungry "bitches" will dissolve somewhat.
I attended a panel discussion during last week on the topic of "Masculinity in South Africa". I was glad to hear strong mention of a deeply entrenched white-supremacist (imperialist) patriarchal masculinity by all three of the panelists with one even making mention of the notion that "masculinity is made" i.e. socially constructed and a result of condition. The kind of masculinity she was making reference to of course that which feeds off of conquest, power and domination. The final panelist was also profound in conveying how this same white-supremacist patriarchal masculinity has embedded itself in our history. How we are made to admire the European colonial style of seizing power of weak natives and that this is the model we naturally wish to follow in order to gain a feeling of satisfaction with ourselves. This reminds me of a quote from Nineteen Eighty-Four in which O'Brein tells Winston, "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever". That's it..."Power is not a means, it is an end" which is also another quote from the book. It's all its about, that's all it's ever been about. One does not gain power for any other purpose than to satisfy themselves with a sick feeling a contentment. In closing, the panelist left us with the thought that we should continue to think critically about our history and not let history ride over us. If we never question how whites came to dominate the way they do, we'll never understand our the power-structure, economic-system and social-heirarchies. Why some people have it easier than others. History can not be divorced from the present. History has shaped our present and trying to forget about it will not make it's influence on today disappear.
But I still find this one interesting. The Deputy Editor of Varsity in the usual Editor's Comment section writes this:
Which can be read in full here
Now although I agree with the notion of letting people be and not interfering with their personal right for individual expression, I have got to say that underneath Tatenda's self-righteous veil, he is practicing a very common habit patriarchal males struggle with and that is defending male privilege. Anyone who disagrees with feminism is simply defending male privilege and chauvinistic ideas.
Enough about that, during gender week three large boards were placed up at the Jammie Plaza one with the words gender week, another with a female figure and another with a male figure. With this, people were asked to write about their thoughts about gender and as you would expect the boards were cluttered with obscene, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic remarks aplenty. No surprise, are young people expected to have any morsel of maturity in a discussion of this nature. As consumers of highly sexist forms of entertainment what more would you expect aside from the usual sexualized trash when it comes to the topic of the gender-binary.
I attended a panel discussion during last week on the topic of "Masculinity in South Africa". I was glad to hear strong mention of a deeply entrenched white-supremacist (imperialist) patriarchal masculinity by all three of the panelists with one even making mention of the notion that "masculinity is made" i.e. socially constructed and a result of condition. The kind of masculinity she was making reference to of course that which feeds off of conquest, power and domination. The final panelist was also profound in conveying how this same white-supremacist patriarchal masculinity has embedded itself in our history. How we are made to admire the European colonial style of seizing power of weak natives and that this is the model we naturally wish to follow in order to gain a feeling of satisfaction with ourselves. This reminds me of a quote from Nineteen Eighty-Four in which O'Brein tells Winston, "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever". That's it..."Power is not a means, it is an end" which is also another quote from the book. It's all its about, that's all it's ever been about. One does not gain power for any other purpose than to satisfy themselves with a sick feeling a contentment. In closing, the panelist left us with the thought that we should continue to think critically about our history and not let history ride over us. If we never question how whites came to dominate the way they do, we'll never understand our the power-structure, economic-system and social-heirarchies. Why some people have it easier than others. History can not be divorced from the present. History has shaped our present and trying to forget about it will not make it's influence on today disappear.
But I still find this one interesting. The Deputy Editor of Varsity in the usual Editor's Comment section writes this:
If someone is against abortion, homosexuality and disagrees with feminism then that is their right and they should not be adversely judged or treated for believing it. The world, indeed liberals need more people who adhere to the bible saying that says “let those who are without sin cast the first stone”.
Which can be read in full here
Now although I agree with the notion of letting people be and not interfering with their personal right for individual expression, I have got to say that underneath Tatenda's self-righteous veil, he is practicing a very common habit patriarchal males struggle with and that is defending male privilege. Anyone who disagrees with feminism is simply defending male privilege and chauvinistic ideas.
Enough about that, during gender week three large boards were placed up at the Jammie Plaza one with the words gender week, another with a female figure and another with a male figure. With this, people were asked to write about their thoughts about gender and as you would expect the boards were cluttered with obscene, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic remarks aplenty. No surprise, are young people expected to have any morsel of maturity in a discussion of this nature. As consumers of highly sexist forms of entertainment what more would you expect aside from the usual sexualized trash when it comes to the topic of the gender-binary.
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