Last night, I worked one of the tables at my school's production of The Vagina Monologues. It was a great production, and we raised a lot of money for a women's shelter in town. If you have the chance to see the show at some point or participate in other V-Day activities, please do so! Every little bit of awareness helps!
This past November, I presented at and attended the NWSA Conference in Atlanta. While there, I purchased Still Brave: The Evolution of Black Women's Studies. This is one of the most powerful women's studies anthologies I've ever read! With works by Elsa Barkley Brown, Angela Davis, Paula Giddings, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Still Brave serves as a testament to the fact that feminist/womanist ideology is alive and well. If you are looking for a book that will captivate you and teach you as well, this is definitely a book worth purchasing!
I have often had my problems with hip-hop. Having a feminist/womanist outlook almost inevitably means one will find fault with mainstream hip-hop and its misogynistic lyrics, degrading representations of women in videos, and its obsession with money and material objects above all else.
Lately, however, I recently discovered this new female hip-hop artist named Nicki Minaj. She's bisexual, lyrically clever, and a breath of fresh air. Some of her lyrics may be problematic, such as her willingness to refer to women as "bitches" at times. Nevertheless, through her, I see a positive progression in hip-hop. It seems that women in hip-hop are reclaiming their own sexualities and challenging the male power structure of hip-hop that wishes to degrade and represent them simultaneously.
Nicki Minaj also represents something larger to Black femininity and Black female sexual empowerment. Because of this, she's by no means a victim of patriarchy in the rap industry. Instead, she's saying, "I'm here. I'm sexy, and let ME own that for a change."
