Yeah. This one is mad complicated.
One reason for that gap is that Carmen (when she was still working) and I are a lot less visible than Jessica - we talk about race primarily, which is something a lot of feminists really don't want to deal with. And I have to admit, I find it odd sometimes reading all the Jessica tributes that there are rarely - if ever - mentions of feminists/womanists of color who are her contemporaries.
I just finished contributing to an anthology edited by Jessica Yee, on feminism, where I talk about not identifying with the movement anymore, even though I still believe strongly in most of the principles. It's hard.
Profitwise though, race isn't profitable in the way the pro-feminism can be - it's not the same kind of career trajectory, for some of the reasons Renee mentioned in her post. Both Carmen and I were able to take our platforms and do other things with them - Carmen was able to make a living as a speaker and was working on was to make a corporate model for New Demographic, before she devoted her time to her family and their dojo.
For me, I piece together a living - but my best paying work isn't what came from the recognition of the work I do at Racialicious, though that helps. While I have been blessed and honored to have many of the same opportunities as many of my white, female contemporaries, ultimately I am not the face people think of when they think feminism. I could probably eke out a living there, but only as second or third string. The stars tend to fit a certain mold. That's not a diss on Jessica (it's really hard to talk about these things when you actually know folks) but it's kind of like trying to get a job as an actress. Yes, you can do it if you aren't conventionally attractive and you can even have a fun, character driven career. But you aren't getting the best opportunities or top billing or top dollar. The conversations around book deals and such sounds like professional sour grapes, but it is actually folks protesting a system that don't see my words as valuable as Jessicas - for a thousand and one reasons from marketing to societal structures.
The internet is littered with reasons why so many WOC opt out (of the blogosphere format anyway) - hell, the feminism tag on Racialicious should really be named "feminist drama." I poached Thea Lim and Jessica Yee away from a feminist mag for this bullshit.
I hate that this is resting on the feet of Jessica, because this problem didn't begin with her and won't end with her. But I can understand feeling some rage at seeing that pattern play out yet again.
Maybe I should just suck it up and write about it...
One reason for that gap is that Carmen (when she was still working) and I are a lot less visible than Jessica - we talk about race primarily, which is something a lot of feminists really don't want to deal with. And I have to admit, I find it odd sometimes reading all the Jessica tributes that there are rarely - if ever - mentions of feminists/womanists of color who are her contemporaries.
I just finished contributing to an anthology edited by Jessica Yee, on feminism, where I talk about not identifying with the movement anymore, even though I still believe strongly in most of the principles. It's hard.
Profitwise though, race isn't profitable in the way the pro-feminism can be - it's not the same kind of career trajectory, for some of the reasons Renee mentioned in her post. Both Carmen and I were able to take our platforms and do other things with them - Carmen was able to make a living as a speaker and was working on was to make a corporate model for New Demographic, before she devoted her time to her family and their dojo.
For me, I piece together a living - but my best paying work isn't what came from the recognition of the work I do at Racialicious, though that helps. While I have been blessed and honored to have many of the same opportunities as many of my white, female contemporaries, ultimately I am not the face people think of when they think feminism. I could probably eke out a living there, but only as second or third string. The stars tend to fit a certain mold. That's not a diss on Jessica (it's really hard to talk about these things when you actually know folks) but it's kind of like trying to get a job as an actress. Yes, you can do it if you aren't conventionally attractive and you can even have a fun, character driven career. But you aren't getting the best opportunities or top billing or top dollar. The conversations around book deals and such sounds like professional sour grapes, but it is actually folks protesting a system that don't see my words as valuable as Jessicas - for a thousand and one reasons from marketing to societal structures.
The internet is littered with reasons why so many WOC opt out (of the blogosphere format anyway) - hell, the feminism tag on Racialicious should really be named "feminist drama." I poached Thea Lim and Jessica Yee away from a feminist mag for this bullshit.
I hate that this is resting on the feet of Jessica, because this problem didn't begin with her and won't end with her. But I can understand feeling some rage at seeing that pattern play out yet again.
Maybe I should just suck it up and write about it...
@gargle: *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*
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Yes. Once it seemed a forgone conclusion that the woman was going to accept her death, Turlington Burns and the crew paid the $30 for the van to take her to the hospital. She and the baby are fine - and it was a beautiful homecoming scene.
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Yes. Once it seemed a forgone conclusion that the woman was going to accept her death, Turlington Burns and the crew paid the $30 for the van to take her to the hospital. She and the baby are fine - and it was a beautiful homecoming scene.
@newmakcity: When I do my next comics post, I will discuss this, but Jones work is a far browner world than some equivalents.
That said, I was kind of hoping the same thing. We've only seen her mother though...
That said, I was kind of hoping the same thing. We've only seen her mother though...
@imaginaryheroine: I would go with that explanation if she didn't frame the conversation asking whether or not "retro" was the correct term to apply to this imagery.
I'm going because...
...it can't be anywhere nearly as bad as the Shopaholic.
...I love Queen Latifah.
...I have less love for Common these days, but at this point its look-at-all-these-black-folks-not-in-a-Tyler-Perry-flick-itis.
...Sanaa Hamri is the shit.
...If it's tripe, it was tripe designed for me. And that counts for something (perhaps too much?)
...it's atonement for He's Just Not That Into You.
...it can't be anywhere nearly as bad as the Shopaholic.
...I love Queen Latifah.
...I have less love for Common these days, but at this point its look-at-all-these-black-folks-not-in-a-Tyler-Perry-flick-itis.
...Sanaa Hamri is the shit.
...If it's tripe, it was tripe designed for me. And that counts for something (perhaps too much?)
...it's atonement for He's Just Not That Into You.
@ceejeemcbeegee is a tremendous b!tch: Yeah, but I disagree with the either/or framing:
a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,"
A lot of these things are both. And a lot of the best innovations came from some kind of entertainment application first (insert the old joke about porn running internet innovation here.)
And that's what I take issue with - someone can sit in a library all day and either read manga or surf the web - that doesn't make a library inherently good or bad...and it doesn't get to the heart of why libraries started offering those things in the first place. I don't think people recognize a lot of what they like as tools of empowerment, and yet they are. Just because we aren't using them in that way as of yet doesn't mean this is the way it will always be.
This article is a bit of a better explanation of what I mean:
[www.fastcompany.com]
The entertainment possibilities and the educational possibilities are intertwined.
a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,"
A lot of these things are both. And a lot of the best innovations came from some kind of entertainment application first (insert the old joke about porn running internet innovation here.)
And that's what I take issue with - someone can sit in a library all day and either read manga or surf the web - that doesn't make a library inherently good or bad...and it doesn't get to the heart of why libraries started offering those things in the first place. I don't think people recognize a lot of what they like as tools of empowerment, and yet they are. Just because we aren't using them in that way as of yet doesn't mean this is the way it will always be.
This article is a bit of a better explanation of what I mean:
[www.fastcompany.com]
The entertainment possibilities and the educational possibilities are intertwined.
@MrsAbraxas: Great points. My strengths are (clearly) looking at applications for science and tech through the lens of digital media and gaming - all the quick, at hand references I need when writing a blog post are going to concentrate there because of my interests/experiences.
I'll keep in mind things outside this framing when the next chance to soapbox on science and tech crosses my inbox.
I'll keep in mind things outside this framing when the next chance to soapbox on science and tech crosses my inbox.
@ceejeemcbeegee is a tremendous b!tch:
"With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," he told a class of more than 1,000 graduates. "All of this is not only putting new pressures on you. It is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy."
What part of the speech is discussion of facts? (I haven't seen the full transcript, though I could be missing it.)
And I still disagree with the core premise - the same thing was said about novels when they came out. Everything is always ruining the world, until we take it for granted and then there's some new threat on the horizon...
"With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," he told a class of more than 1,000 graduates. "All of this is not only putting new pressures on you. It is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy."
What part of the speech is discussion of facts? (I haven't seen the full transcript, though I could be missing it.)
And I still disagree with the core premise - the same thing was said about novels when they came out. Everything is always ruining the world, until we take it for granted and then there's some new threat on the horizon...
@andonthatnotesays your discouragement = your problem:
Sugar no. I have a pile of work to do and I just finished fighting on a gender thread at Racialicious (though, looking at how this one went, I think I'll take the responses I was getting before. At least the MOC are like "I don't have privilege, but I will admit shit is unequal.)
This is installation 17621789279870907127 of a standing race-gender fight, and I laid my cards out long ago.
@LatoyaPeterson: And further to that point, the category of acceptably "white" is shrinking. I believe the current projections of "majority minority" status are at about 2050, with some states like California already leading the way.
I'm going to push back on you a bit here. Not because I think that people should ignore the contributions of WOC on larger feminist blogs - well stated in that regard - but because the credit and associations tend to always land with white women.
I'm glad Sami is the new executive editor of Feministing (and don't forget Miriam, Rose, Jos, Jen, and the other women who are also repping) but that didn't happen in a vacuum - there was a whole, painful history of what happened before, that the folks at Feministing actively worked to rectify. You shouted out Pandagon, but the only name that stands out to me there is Amanda Marcotte - she's the strongest brand. And while Holly has been rocking at Feministe for ages (though she appears online less and less these days), and Chally is holding it down from a variety of perspectives, the main associations are still Jill, Lauren, and Cara.
It doesn't have to be an intentional slight - after all, I still get asked what it's like writing for a white blog like Jezebel, even though Anna and Dodai are WOC - but the association still tends to land with white women. And with association goes media appearances, book deals, a larger platform, more weight given to ideas, etc. And all of us feminists of color have stories we could tell you - I should really ask Sami to post on her specific experiences, since they are rather eye opening.
So while I appreciate you taking the time to highlight the achievements of WOC within the femosphere, I have to say that I still think Renee's got the stronger point.
@ExpressedDisapproval: Right, until you realize most of the world is nonwhite...
@MagImpalor: ""Well I know there was a huge fucking elephant in the room at the time, but I wasn't the elephant. So why would I write about it?"
That's going on the next tee shirt, after "Sidebar Reparations."
@cityofglass: I need to transcribe the lecture I did at Georgetown about Race, Queerness and organizing, which actually touches on a lot of this. But, since it's a huge subject matter, I don't want to just put up the slides, I want to explain some of the less obvious bits. Bear with me, it will be up at some point...
@thehighshelf: Two additional, lateral, valuable, and absolutely essential from the standpoint of dismantling oppression, because when we look at our stories across the board, with all of our intersecting identities, we reveal the weak points in the oppressive game plan.
Or, in other words, yes I am high.
@thehighshelf: Honey, I will whip up a special queers of color and feminism (particularly in reference to hip-hop feminism) post just for you, if you promise to mop up the exploded brain matter.
@CurtCole: *Dead*
@ronniedobbs: I would love to read more about black Britain on its own terms, rather than implicitly conflated with the US reality that does an injustice to both narratives.
Noted. I'll take a longer look. When Anna sent me that article though, it immediately struck a chord, since I have literally heard the same exact words used in the black community stateside.
However, Sewell was clear to use the term "black Caribbean" so I'll keep an eye out for more articles.
