In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

How not to make a feminist music video

Childish Gambino (known to his parents as Donald Glover) broke the Internet May 5 with the release of his music video, “This Is America.” It’s a nuanced and incredibly layered commentary about the experiences black people face in the U.S., from gun violence to police brutalization to commercialization of culture. YouTube… person Nicole Arbour jumped on that video and created the “Women’s Edit” that no one has been asking for.

Dear white women, please stop calling the cops on black people

Dear white women,

Please stop calling the cops on people of color.

Not when they’re in your coffee shop, or your golf course, or your gym, or your store, and you don’t want them there, and not because they don’t wave back when you wave at them. Don’t expose them to police interactions because you get a racist wiggins and need an armed officer of the law to back you up.

Student who smeared bodily fluids on her roommate’s belongings gets special probation. Not included: Any other meaningful penalty.

Brianna Brochu, who was expelled from the University of Hartford after contaminating her roommate’s belongings with blood, rancid food, and ass bacteria, has had her day in court. The verdict? Guilty of breach of peace and criminal mischief. The sentence? Two hundred hours of community service, and if she’s a good girl, her charges will be thrown out and she won’t have a criminal record for rubbing used tampons on her roommate’s backpack and (as she claimed on social media but later Posted in Crime, Racism

Black Panther Open Thread

Shot from "Black Panther" of three women in African dress against a rocky background -- Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, and Danai Gurira as Okoye
Ayo (Florence Kasumba), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), and Okoye (Danai Gurira)

HOLY SHIT, Y’ALL.

So I saw Black Panther last night. My reactions, in no particular order:

– It was visually stunning. Literally. I was stunned at the visuals.
– The story held up the whole way through. I can count one specific occasion that made me go “eh,” and it in no way interfered with its effectiveness as a conceptually striking movie.
– The action sequences were so, so cool. If you’ve seen it, you know the one with the car? That one? Damn.
– Never has there been a greater concentration of staggeringly beautiful people in a two-hour period. It’s enough to give a girl a complex.
– Never has there been a greater concentration of unapologetically strong women — by the women themselves, the movie as a whole, or Wakandan culture — demonstrating all different manifestations of strength. It’s enough to inspire a girl to… absolutely anything.

Other, more pertinent, more articulate reactions:

Sesali Bowen, Refinery 29, Black Panther Has A Message For Black Men: Trust Black Women:

In no way does Black Panther downplay the role that Black men play in Black communities. T’Challa is faced with impossible decisions that test his own morality in addition to his fealty to Wakanda and Black people everywhere. It is male warriors from an isolated Wakandan tribe that act as reinforcements at a vital moment in the story. But the film actively rejects the notion that the participation/existence of Black men in the “good fight” negates the vital necessity of Black women. Similarly, the route towards realizing our maximum potential and freedom in the real world does not require a toll of reverting back towards romanticized ideas about Black male supremacy. In this fight, Black women are the equals of Black men and should be treated as such.

Damon Young, The Root, Yet Another Reason Why Shuri From Black Panther Is The Greatest Disney Princess Ever: This one is spoiler-laden, so I’m not going to post a quote here.

Taryn Finley, Huffington Post, Danai Gurira: The Dora Milaje Reflect Real Black Women, Except They’re Respected”: Also quite spoilery.

Tre Johnson, Rolling Stone, Black Superheroes Matter: Why a ‘Black Panther’ Movie Is Revolutionary:

Coogler has set out to do something with the modern black superhero that all previous iterations have fallen short of doing: making it respectable, imaginative and powerful. The Afro-punk and Afrofuturism aesthetics, the unapologetic black swagger, the miniscule appearances from non-black characters — it’s an important resetting of a standard of what’s possible around creating a mythology for a black superhero. The trailers point to a new direction for depicting not only black superheroes, but also how we imagine our heroes. He’s not being played for laughs. He’s not a sidekick or born out of dire circumstances. His story, one of an ingrained birthright, legacy and royalty is a stark difference for how we tend to treat most black superheroes — and black superhero movies.

Luvvie Ajayi, Awesomely Luvvie, On Wakanda: My Black Panther Review: Also with the spoilers, but also with the commentary of the clothes, the men, the women, the depiction of Wakanda, the conflict, the… everything.

A lot of other reactions on Twitter with the hashtag #WhatBlackPantherMeanstoMe (and an interview with the woman who started it).

Your reactions? Seen it? Haven’t seen it? (If you’re posting spoilers, please set them off with spoiler tags — (spoiler) and (/spoiler), except with square brackets instead of parentheses. XOXO, Mgmt.)

What men need to know about discussing sexual harassment

I was talking with a group of guy friends recently, the sole woman amid a collection of dudes as they stream-of-consciousness workshopped their way to understanding the ongoing storm of sexual harassment accusations. It’s not a pleasant position to be in — I was glad to be able to help them understand things, but thinking about that stuff at that level and having to articulate it that way was exhausting and also made me want to go home and take, like, twelve showers. But they and others have asked what they need to know and what insights they need to have when discussing sexual harassment with women. So here’s some.