Women's History Month: Your Revolution

I've had this post sitting her for a few days, so I figured I may as well publish it.

Undoubtedly entangled in Women's History Month are discussions of feminism, women's rights, and the cultural revolution of the 1960s. In the last 15 years, gender issues within the black community and hip hop culture have become extremely publicized from letters to boycotts to books, more books, and town hall discussions. In the midst of all this, while listening to the radio late one night in high school, I heard what I thought was a new rap song and got caught up in the story of one woman's quest to get a message across.

Sarah Jones's "Your Revolution" uses lines from radio-approved rap (and a few reggae/r&b) songs to showcase the portrayal of women in music. After getting her spoken word piece on to the radio, the FCC deemed it too raunchy and it could only be played late at night...despite the fact that each song she used a line from got played during the day. Sarah Jones got FedUp but continued performing the piece, eventually moving on to do greater work and getting her own Broadway show "Bridge and Tunnel." I had the opportunity to see her perform at the Brooklyn Museum of Art once and she was really good. Find the text for "Your Revolution" below as well as a video of her performance.

Yeah yeah, yeah this goes out to all the women and men from New York to
London to LA to Tokyo struggling to keep their self-respect in this climate
of misogyny, money worship and mass production of hip-hop's illegitimate child,
Hip-Pop.And this especially goes out to Gil Scott-Heron, friend, living legend
and proto-rapper who wrote "The Revolution will not be Televised." Much Respect.


Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Not happen between these thighs
Not happen between these thighs
The real revolution ain't about booty size
The Versaces you buys, or the Lexus you drives
And though we've lost Biggie Smalls
Baby your notorious revolution
Will never allow you to lace no lyrical douche, in my bush
Your revolution will not be killing me softly, with Fugees
Your revolution ain't gonna knock me up without no ring
And produce little future emcees
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not find me in the backseat of a jeep
With LL, hard as hell, you know doin it and doin it and doin it well
doin it and doin it and doin it well, nah come on now
Your revolution will not be you smacking it up, flipping it, or rubbing it down
Nor will it take you downtown or humpin around
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not have me singing, ain't no nigga like the one I got
And your revolution will not be sending me for no drip, drip VD shot
And your revolution will not involve me, feelin your nature rise
Or helping you fantasize
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
No no, not between these thighs
Oh, my Jamican brother, your revolution will not make you feel bombastic
And really fantastic
And have you groping in the dark for that rubber wrapped in plastic
You will not be touching your lips to my triple dip of french vanilla,
butter pecan, chocolate delux
Or having Akinyele's dream, m-hmm a 6-foot blowjob machine m-hmm
You want to subjugate your queen? uh-huh
Think I'm a put it in my mouth, just cuz you made a few bucks?
Please brother please
Your revolution will not be me tossing my weave
And making me believe I'm some caviar-eating ghetto mafia clown
Or me giving up my behind, just so I can get signed
And maybe having somebody else write my rhymes
I'm Sarah Jones, not Foxy Brown
You know I'm Sarah Jones, not Foxy Brown
Your revolution makes me wonder, where could we go
If we could drop the empty pursuit of props and ego
We'd revolt back to our Roots, use a little Common Sense
On a quest to make love De La Soul, no pretense
But your revolution will not be you flexing your little sex and status
To express what you feel
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Will not happen between these thighs
Will not be you shaking and me *yawn* faking
Between these thighs
Because the real revolution, that's right I said the real revolution
You know I'm talking about the revolution
When it comes, it's gonna be real
It's gonna be real
It's gonna be real
When it finally comes
When it finally comes
It's gonna be real, yeah yeah

Another day I'll bring my theory on revolution in African American poetry from the Black Arts Movement through the hip hop era, but really I have twenty pages on that..so I have to distill my thoughts. (Or I could do a series, but I haven't reached that level of blogging yet).

Women's History Month

This is my public acknowledgment that it's Woman's History month. Due to complex gender and racial politics as well as history, I'm always less excited for Woman's History month than I am for Black History month. Sue me. I'm going to fail, and not get into that discussion right here, although I'm sure everyone wants to join in and give their two bits on which is more salient or how society has conditioned us or whatever (my intellectualism has been on complete brain fart since sending in my dissertation last September).

So instead of continuing to rant on how much I don't want to think, I'm going to celebrate by putting up the same "cover" from last year and posting one of my favorite celebrations of all things women. Hopefully I will be able to bring yo some more (and more contemporary) before the moth ends.

"Ain't I A Woman" by Sojourner Truth

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

HAUL,
Kim

Happily Never After: The Struggle for a Black Princess in the Disney Culture.

While browsing That Black Girls Site I noticed an article on Disney' s search for a black princess. I had previously spoken about Disney's struggle with princesses and my excitement for Maddy in this piece about American Girl ("American Girl Movie. A Playlist and An Apology"). Apparently my dream is never going to come true. According to this piece it has been reported that the princesses' name has been changed to Tiana, she's going to get with some non-black dude, and they will live in a fictional land. Well for one this disproves my theory that non-white Disney princesses are all localized in order to deal with the issues of ethnicity. Don't they owe the South one after the horror of Song of the South?* However, it does bring up other issues that are too numerous to mention.

I can talk all day about race, cartoons and children's programming as its something that I've wondered about since the days of Doug and the Puzzle Place (really the Funnys and the Beets were white, everyone else included rich lil Bebe was funky colored). But I won't.

Instead I bring the past which I may be looking at through rose colored glasses. HBO used to do a great series that was also available for purchase called Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child. The stories were "politically correct" and featured a range of races and ethnicities for the characters. There was this one Caribbean one that my family watched and laughed at over and over. Robert Guilliame narrated and there was quite the cast (voices) of minority actors (Magaret Cho**, Raven-Symone, Sinbad, even Pauletta Washington). The stories were really good with a little moralistic lesson as well as not demeaning the life of women. Apparently the episodes still come on in the morning. If you subscribe to HBO Family check it out: the schedule's here.

Here's a very short clip from "The Princess and The Pea:"



Also a Wikipedia article including links to the IMDB and HBO website. If you're really interested you can buy some episodes on Amazon.

*At 20 years old after seeing the movie the year before I went to Disneyland to try and ride Splash Mountain. It was sadly closed. Still that was a great way to spend senior year Spring Break.
**Crazy as Magaret Cho may be you have to admit she rocks hard for the kids. This and C-Bear and Jamal were the ish.

American Girl Movie. A Playlist and an Apology.

-The American Girls (screen shot from http://www.americangirl.com/agcn/index.html)


As old as I am, I should not be this excited for the first theatrical release of an American Girl story. Even though I have no idea who this new Kit girl is, I always loved American Girl. As presents when I was little I received the purple and black modern American Girl Varsity Bomber jacket that I rocked hard with my red,green, yellow and blue plaid uniform as well as the starter set of Addy books. At the library I read through all the books in each series, gaining knowledge about American history as I went. I also collected American Girl trading cards and I still have some sitting on my bookshelf at home along with my Hello Kitty and Spice Girls paraphernalia. My favorite characters were Samantha, the posh Victorian who was friends with dirty and poor Nellie; Molly with her 40s charm that prompted me to ask my mother if I could pin curl my hair; and of course Addy, the fearless freed slave girl who came to New York and longed for her family to be reunited. Unfortunately I did not connect with Kirsten as much and Felicity was a bit too history book American for me. I got lost after they brought out Josefina, but was happy that they kept doing different eras and slowly added more diversity to the historical sisterhood. I'm still waiting for the Civil Rights Era doll, but I won't hold my breath.

(Imagine this in a kids size...yea, I was styling)

A.O. Scott of the New York Times, describes the film and its importance in this New York Times Article and he does hit on some solid points about the film industry and target audiences. We've seen it with Tyler Perry and the continued success of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's pre-NYU empire and all the Disney Channel productions (Lizzie McGuire, Cheetah Girls, High School Musical, That's So Raven, Hannah Montana). Even a Barbie theatrical production a few years ago prompted signs of joy and relief that girls could still partake in the idealism. Even more relief was prompted when Disney announced it would make another cartoon fairy tale, and this time starring Maddy, the black princess from NOLA.* There is an audience that needs films like this and in the hypersexualized culture that we live in, the innocence of being an American girl is something to be desired. Sure we know its not all sugar and spice and everything nice. Life is something more like that's portrayed in crazy movies like KIDS or Thirteen, but people do still want a bit of the fantasy, the escape, and the idealism. NOT a crazy essentialized idealism, but something that's not on the wild and crazy end of the spectrum and not on the Disney Channel. It also can't hurt to have a nice little Depression Era story in this crazy recession.

Of course this is not an end all be all. Coming out of the American Girl franchise its still steeped in ideas of consumerism and promoting good little shoppers and brand loyalty out of American girls who will see the film, dolls in hand and probably dressed in some of the costumes from the catalog. Proper gender roles will still be inscribed and who knows what Abigail Breslin may do in a few years. But still, it has to be better than when my sister was forced to take me to the Spice Girls movie after Saturday School at the old Flatbush Pavillion on Flatbush and 7th Avenue in Brooklyn and my friends and I bought Spice Girls lollipops everyday to get the free stickers that I collected. For that, I apologize Shirley.

Celebrate all it means being a girl:




*Really Random: Ever noticed how these modern ethnic minority fairy tales are all localized: Mulan was Chinese in China, Pocahantas was Native American in emerging colonial America, and now this black girl is from the South. Understandably Jasmine was from the Middle East, that was based on the Arabian Nights stories. I also do understand why these characters need locations to make their stories work, but I still find it interesting. I wonder if the Grimm Brothers gave locations to Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty.

"Because like cockroaches and taxes, Lil Kim isn't going anywhere":A Clotel Reference

This definitely has to be one of my new favorite blogs. The rant is a bit close to typical, but oh so necessary. I'm not even a feminist/womanist and I did the head nod a lot.

And there's a Clotel reference. If you don't know, go look it up. I won't even hyperlink this one for you ( it's not so much that its standard knowledge, but more that I'm lazy. While you're at it look on One Blood). Reliving my Af-Am lit course in my head.

http://blacksnob.blogspot.com/2008/05/hip-hop-hedonism-in-p-power-era.html

31 days of....

nothing. Women's history month has drawn to yet another close and there does not seem to have been much discussion beyond coverage of Hillary. There was also the interesting article on sexist vegans by the New York Times. Not that there wasn't ample opportunity. All of Spitzer's transgressions, as well as the weird love triangle in New Jersey offered plenty of opportunity for discussion, yet I'm not bothered. I have the feeling that most other people weren't.

In the discussion concerning which women will vote for Hillary, what has been noted repeatedly is that the age of the shoulder pad feminist has ended. Apparently women nowadays do not want to come off as the crazy feminist or as they're often lovingly called, the "feminazi."

Additionally, feminism probably has had the most issues with inter-sectionality out of any movement. Females of a variety of faiths have expressed issues with the movement. Additionally when it comes to capturing women of different races there seems to be a tension. No doubt, there are powerful pro-women women of every race, and history proves that as well...however, where they fall in the feminist movement is questionable. I wonder how well Susan B. and Ida B. really got along. (Note: I dont even know if they knew each other and I'm too tired to check..but they had similar goals).

While I don't particularly miss the coverage (and maybe there was more and I was just more concerned with Jamie Lynn's engagement) it would be nice for some publication to revisit the issue and look at whats left tooday. Really, there's so many shades of this movement that I've always been a little confused. Feminism vs. Womanism? Sexuality and Gender? Body issues?
What falls in and what doesnt?

Oh well, at least April isnt assigned. And best believe THROWBACK THURSDAYS are coming back (but not this Thursday..Ill be in Paris and most likely internetless).

HAUL,
The Queen

Yellow Rage

This is an old clip by a female duo poetry group, Yellow Rage. They've received a lot of criticism, and for due reason...but they do give reason to pause.

Check out their performance: I'm a woman, not a flava.




Also check out their blog here: http://www.yellowrage.com/blog/.

Happy March! (on Washington, to the White House)

It's Woman's History Month. Excited?

I won't promise loads of commentaries, because we saw what happened when I did that for Black History Month. And then I actually did have a plan (it was really good and had tons of issues). But I will promise to trying to be better about posting despite my busier schedule. February was a shame.

I also won't promise extra special attention paid to women. I know it sounds horrible, but I have to write as the issues come.

However, as we do bridge from one history month to another (and they're not mutually exclusive) I do find this Maureen Dowd New York Times op-ed pretty pertinent. In referencing the two bids for the U.S. Democratic party nomination, Dowd not uniquely positions the race as a battle of two historical guilts. Click Here.
(If you want to escape the elections look at Radar's Misogynistic Movies List.)

What is most interesting about the repeated need to cast this race as a battle between America's (and well the entire western world) various wrongs are the efforts to make one group's pains appear more hindering than the other's. Dianne Feinstein, senior senator from California, is quoted as talking about a "no women need apply" standard and two other people banter in the article about who's ancestors pains were greater. "My ancestors came in chains" says one. The other replies "My ancestors were in chains and on their periods." Who knows why Ms. Dowd chose these comments? (I don't regularly follow her column and don't pretend to know any of her politics.)

The absurdity of these comments does nothing to actually aid the actual issues at the base of the discussion and only inflame zealots. At best they point out the double burden of specific groups over times: If no women could apply, and no Irish could apply in general, then the 19th century was probably a bit more rough than Gangsters of New York could ever portray. Even more if blacks were in actual chains, and women were in metaphoric chains and on their periods, and patriarchy exists across races, black women must have had one bloody ride...eh?

Can injustices be weighed? In some cases yes and in some cases no. Getting a paper cut is different from getting a hand chopped off. But losing you're left eye or your right ear both pose difficulties that are more orange and apples. The women vs. every other American minority case is flawed and in most cases if not always, women (as a general group, but particularly meaning white women) have carried less of the burden than other minorities (in general). Still the issue of who's journey to the gate was easier does not mean anything if neither person is guaranteed access beyond the gatekeeper. An admission through the back door should also not be the accepted concession. This is not to deride gendered spaces (like a sorority or fraternity) but to pause and think about places where the analogy may make sense.

In speaking about the Democratic race, the idea of competing historical wrongs enforces the idea that the election of one or the other will be the saving grace and eradicate that issue.

"As it turns out, making history is actually a way of being imprisoned by history. It’s all about the past. Will America’s racial past be expunged or America’s sexist past be expunged?"-Dowd

NO, it will not. The fact that both Hillary and Barack have gotten this far in the race with Edwards bowing out does indicate that there have been positive changes concerning the isms. It does not however immediately change the way society operates or rewrite the discourses that dictate the way we function.


And to whoever made the comment about the menstrual cycle, that's like Tyra burning her bra even though its 2008 in her breast episode to make some point about ill fitting bras. Stupid.

Haul,
The Queen