Protecting Black Women in the Age of Thee Stallion {Intersectionality Series}

This week in The Absolute Ghetto, Sadé and Malcolm discuss the now infamous shooting incident between rappers Megan thee Stallion and Tory Lanez through the lens of intersectionality. The term intersectionality was coined in 1989 by Kimberlé Crenshaw (a Black woman), providing an innovative framework with which to analyze and address the forces at play when one has two or more intersecting identities. Using this framework, they detail bigoted public responses (e.g. transphobia & misogynoir) to Megan's victimization, the pervasiveness of patriarchy that is embedded in the community of women rappers, despite seemingly liberating hoe-aesthetics, and what it means to #ProtectBlackWomen without relying on harmful patriarchal ideals or the mass incarceration system that continues to damage Black communities disproportionately. In the age of the stallion, as in women who stand tall, loud, and proud in their sexuality, bodies, identities, and opinions, there are people who want to knock these women off their "high horse", wounding them. Through intersectionality, we can learn from, heal, and even prevent these wounds.

The Absolutely Ghetto Org of the Week: Black Women Radicals:

Black Women Radicals (BWR) is a "Black feminist advocacy organization dedicated to uplifting and centering Black women’s and gender non-conforming and non-binary people’s radical political activism. Rooted in intersectional and transnational Black feminisms and Womanisms, we are committed to empowering Black transgender, queer, cisgender radical women and gender non-conforming and non-binary activists by centering their political, intellectual, and cultural contributions to the field of Black Politics across time, space, and place in Africa and the African Diaspora." - www.blackwomenradicals.com // Instagram: @blackwomenradicals // @Twitter: @blkwomenradical

Scholarship & Other References:

• Combahee River Collective Statement (1977) https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-collective-statement-1977/
• Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex (Kimberlé Crenshaw, 1989) https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uclf
• Vox feature on Kimbrelé Crenshaw (2020) : www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination
• Am I a Black Woman or a Woman Who Is Black? (Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, 2007) https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2b47/3cf801df98485694b5be75cedd735f7c7fdd.pdf?_ga=2.163211516.1767611913.1603848400-1026338597.1603848400
• Sister Outsider (Audre Lorde, 1984)
• We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity (bell hooks, 2003)
• Black (Ho)ly Ontology: Black Visual Cultural Geographies of the Sexually Illicit (Black Women Radicals, 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8aj-hhC2WI
• WAP and the Spectacle of Sexual Liberation (For Harriet, 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILApR36KgQw