On Backtalk, Bitch Media editors Amy and Sarah talk about current feminism and pop culture. This week, we talk about Beyonce's visual album Lemonade with writer and photographer Margaret Jacobsen, who wrote “What Beyonce's Lemonade Means to Me As a Black Woman,” and talk about the themes of self-love and stunning imagery. And we chat with Bitch co-founder, editorial and creative director Andi Zeisler about her new book, We Were Feminists Once, about “marketplace feminism” that centers the movement as a brand rather than an action.
On Backtalk, we always share one thing we read, heard, and saw this week.
READ: Sarah is so glad for Melissa Broder's So Sad Today, a collection of essays about her anxiety and depression.
SAW: No Mas Bebés is a necessary documentary about the coerced sterilization of Mexican women in Los Angeles during the 1970s.
HEARD: Get into the alternative soul vibes of Lilith Ai's track “Riot” from Riot [EP Deluxe].
1 Comment Has Been Posted
I guess it takes a public
itsprettyclear replied on
I guess it takes a public black woman to speak out against it to be valid. (much like it takes a man to speak out against sexism to be valid).
Wendy Williams was out and bold in saying on her show that if someone used a similar black smear term like "Shanequa" in a song for a black woman or "Ming Lee" for an asian woman, she would hate that too and that everyone recognizes "becky" as a white woman slur and she'd be pissed and kick a woman's ass for calling her something like that.
It is not up for sport for any race to take a beating and it's not a bold artistic statement anymore than Taylor Swift using the terms a "Shanequa" or a "Ming Lee" to refer to a type. I remember a video where Margaret Cho talked about "apologetic fat" and being "apologetic fat" and putting herself down and cutting before being cut as a strategy. It's not okay to dump on "becky" and it's not the price of any woman to allow herself to be cut down with racist hate talk.
Besides, wasn't the DUDE that cheated?
Actually, I trust myself and Wendy Williams in saying the experience of the word is powerful and negative and not applaudable at all.
You could similarly parse the use of the n-word, "shanequa" or "ming lee" and say, "oh, but not you - you're one of the good ones"
No group is up for the beating. A racist slag word is a racist slag word. And no group should be the target of it. Full stop.
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