THE BLANKET THAT CAN NEVER BE DRY
I AM TAKING COMMISSIONS!
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Work I do for school, stuff that's not fanart, etc.
Angel Haze’s intimate and brutally honest track “Cleaning out my Closet” has been making waves as she comes out about the horrific sexual abuse she suffered as a child (I don’t usually do trigger warnings, but this track is extremely graphic and pretty hard to listen to). The track is on her recently released mixtape, Classick, which is awesome in every way.
On Classick, she takes on Lupe Fiasco’s attempt at addressing gender politics and misogyny in hip hop. Fiasco’s track, “Bitch Bad” was criticized by feminists and hip hop fans alike because, while he did attempt to critique that which few male rappers do — that is, the gratuitous use of the word ‘bitch’, the woman-as-prop/video ho trend, and the impact of sexualization and objectification on men’s perceptions of women — he succeeded mostly in reinforcing dichotomies about ‘good’ women vs. ‘bad’ women (‘ladies’ vs. ‘bitches’) and then blamed women rather than men for perpetuating a misogynistic culture, failing to hold men accountable for how they treat women.*
Basically he oversimplified, erased the social context of patriarchy as a factor, and condescended to women. Mychal Denzel Smith noted this in The Atlantic, saying:
Not directly implicated or admonished are the men calling women bitches in the first place. The blame is placed on the mother repeating lyrics in front of her son or the little girls sneaking around to listen to the offending songs. Men escape the responsibility for establishing the disrespectful terms of the debate, and any nuance about why a woman may choose to call herself a bitch (Lupe seems to feel it’s a sexual thing and doesn’t note that women are constantly called bitches for adopting traits that are typically celebrated when practiced by men) is left to the listener’s imagination.
According to critics, the track really just ended up being an awkwardly obvious attempt at ‘conscious hip-hop’ resulting in a mansplainy kind of feel. Brandon Soderberg wrote for Spin: “it is the umpteenth example of so-called “conscious” hip hop replacing one type of misogyny with another.”
MEANWHILE, Angel Haze wins at everything.
In her version of “Bitch Bad”, she manages to get at the complexities of how women end up getting into and staying in abusive relationships with lyrics like these:
Now imagine that there’s a shorty
Maybe fatherless or optionless
Grinding from checks depositing
Trying to get on public housing list
Mother meets a man with ample ammount of funds
But in order to get that she’s gotta give ‘em some
So he treats her like a beats her so he cleans her up to keeps herInstead of blaming women for trying to adjust and fit into a misogynist culture, Haze places the onus on structural inequity and *gasp* on men. She addresses the cycle of abuse by telling the story of a child who witnesses a man beating up his mother, only to grow up and replicate that same behaviour.
“Bitch Bad” really stands out but I am loving the whole EP.
Classick is *just* Haze rapping over other (rad) hip hop instrumentals like Missy Elliot’s “Gossip Folks”, Lauryn Hill’s “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” and Erykah Badu’s “Love of my Life” but she really goes above and beyond. Her lyrics are provocative and push way beyond typical subject matter. She doesn’t take the easy way out and is super open and honest about some pretty personal stuff. Haze is also just, straight-up, a great MC.
Long story short, check the mixtape and watch Haze. I’m definitely looking forward to an album from her.
*Full disclosure — I was, admittedly, pretty stoked to see this kind of stuff being addressed in a mainstream hip-hop video, regardless of the fact that I’ve never been super into Lupe Fiasco’s style. I’ve been a huge hip hop fan for almost two decades now and it’s kind of sad how badly I want to give those cookies out, y’all.
I interpreted Lupe Fiasco’s song as placing the onus on male performers… not…. the female listeners, but this is a valid discussion/interpretation and Angel Haze’s version is even better.
a number of people on my dash have been talking about the successes and failures of “Bitch Bad,” so i think y’all will be interested in this. Angel Haze’s version is awesome.
whoa whoa mens rights people aren’t all bad, it’s just that the most vocal ones are also the shittiest. like why so many people dislike feminists, because a handful of the super vocal ones also think that the only way to get equal rights for themselves is to take away someone else’s. blanket statements are no good! you can be both a maculist and a feminist, the two are not mutually exclusive.
there’s actually a pretty functional ideology that states that men are held to an unreasonable and damaging standard of socially-constructed “masculinity” to the detriment of everyone involved. it’s called “feminism” yo
(via kaeferlein)
Like, even from people that are fucking awesome about everything else.
It never seems to cross peoples minds to be inclusive towards trans women.
It never seems to cross peoples minds to acknowledge trans women.
It never seems to cross peoples minds that without inclusive and acknowledging statements, trans women need to assume that we aren’t wanted.
We NEED to do this because we are tired as fuck of assuming that we are being included.
We are tired of coming into women’s groups and being victimized and abused.
We are tired of going to rape crisis centers and being turned away because our existence is triggering.
We are tired of wanting a safe space and then being told WE are the rapists, the deceivers, the monsters, and the child molesters.
We are tired of being the punchline and the joke. The fetish object and “best of both worlds” so long as we’re gone by morning.
Never mind the fact that many of us are victims of rape.
That many of us have dealt with child abuse.
That many of us have been physically assaulted.
That all of us live and deal with the constant deceptive nature of cis people.
We NEED to assume we aren’t wanted. Because the whole wide world is telling us we’re trash and we can’t be arsed to assume that you actually meant to include us when you said fucking nothing.
We don’t have the fucking luxury to assume that we are being included.
So yeah…
Make it damn clear that you want us around.
Make it clear that you won’t put up with transmisogyny.
Make it clear that you view us as women. That you view us as fucking people.
I’d like to see some fucking solidarity, but I wonder if this will even be reblogged?
And if it is reblogged I wonder how many people that aren’t trans women will do so?
I’m honestly not betting much, so I guess we’ll see.
(via glamaphonic)
Today in Washington DC the GOP held a Congressional oversight hearing about the new birth control mandate.
Not one woman was on the panel for the hearing.
Let me repeat.
In a hearing about birth control, an issue that affects largely women, not one woman was on the panel.
Not only were there no women on the Congressional panel, but not one woman testified at the hearing.
Let me remind you, the year is 2012. 99% of American women have used birth control sometime in their life.
And the GOP thinks it’s appropriate to hold a hearing about birth control with zero women involved.
This makes me sick.
*ragegasm*
(via madseason)
I AM KILLING THIS MEME.
welp.
THANK YOU! ”Friend Zone Fiona” just became “Reasonable Fiona Who Unfortunately Happens To Be Friends With A ‘Nice Guy’”
(via roachpatrol)
This challenge is open to everyone of every identification. It is meant to be a challenge both for you to express yourself, and to Disney and its fandom to recognize your voice and your desire for representation and acceptance in the official Disney releases, but also within the Disney community- and from the world in general.
This prompt may remind you of the last challenge, Dear Disney. So please, submit!!! :)
——————————————————-
What do you need to submit if you want to participate?
- Picture of you holding sign that says “This is what a Disney Princess Could Look Like!” (or act like, etc., prince etc., depending on your take, it doesn’t have to be exactly the example!)
- Then as text submitted with it, but probably not on the sign because it would be hard to read, give a brief explanation of how you (or someone not you, if you like!) is not represented by Disney. It can be light-hearted, or heart-breaking, whatever feels right to you, for you.
- Here is an example that does not have to be followed word for word or anything, it’s just a general example of what one potential response (although you can follow the general wording if you’re stuck, it doesn’t matter to me!):
- “What does a Disney Princess look like? Because I’m _”asexual”___ and _”Muslim”___, there is no princess I can easily identify with. But I’d like to be represented, because _”Disney’s representation has the power to change what people perceive to be normal and beautiful”_____. This is what a Disney Princess could look like!”
- This is my submission page. Submissions as Asks take more work for me to re-blog it while also linking it back to your name. I would like that to be only used in the case of those who wish to submit anonymously and can’t use the submission page.
Most every feminist on Tumblr is a white cis woman, so they have never experienced erasure within the feminist community, because feminism has always been about white cis women. Right now, I am going to address the erasure I face as a trans woman in the feminist community in the form of a list of points you should follow to not be a shitty person.
- Abortion is not about a woman’s right to choose. It is about a person’s right to choose. Recently, with the “Let Women Die” bill (thank you cis feminists for branding it as that!) there has been even more talk of abortion. And a proportionate rise in the amount of cisnormativity. Trans men and non-binary identified people get pregnant, can’t get abortions, and die just like women do. When you perpetuate cisnormative language, you continue to erase these people.
- Equating a woman with a vagina is not good for a multitude of reasons; I’m speaking of posts where the writer will talk about “vagina power” or shit like that. It’s pointless and all you’re doing is further alienating me from the feminist movement, which coincidentally has alienated us trans women since the [non]-issue of being transgender came up in feminist circles.
- Realize intersectionality in general. 90% of Tumblr feminists are really privileged women (and I would say that they are practically all white and cis). You call yourself a third-wave feminist, but do you know what that even means? The third-wave came about when people started to realize that the “Universal Female Identity” complex of the second wave didn’t work, because that “Universal Female Identity” was really the “White, Cis Female Identity”. You can’t just call yourself a third-wave feminist and be done with it, you have to actually show that you are of the third-wave.
(via glamaphonic)
And when ‘progress for women’ comes at the expense of, say, the gay community, that’s not actually progress for women at all. That’s just progress for straight women. When it comes at the expense of women of color, that’s just progress for white women. When it comes at the expense of trans women, that’s just progress for cis women. And so on.
That’s why an inclusive feminism is the only feminism that ultimately makes any sense—and an inclusive feminism is only possible when privileged women (white women, straight women, cis women, thin women, able-bodied women, Western women, wealthy women, employed women, etc.) acknowledge their relative privilege to other women.
Shakesville: Feminism 101: Situational and Relative Privilege (via biyuti)
Feminism absolutely must be based on a model of intersectionality!
(via mylifeasafeminista)
Feminism is for everyone!
(via theowlintheolivetree)
(via glamaphonic)
