Society has one of the greatest influences for every problematic occurrence in our environment, whether it is based on race, gender or even the new trends that evolve causing a disruption to many. Amandla Stenberg speaks about culture appropriation and appreciation in her video, “Don’t Cash Crop on My Cornrows,” where people, especially celebrities are taking the trend of black culture without giving any proper accreditations to blacks or helping them with the power in their hand when black people are harmed brutally at the hands of the police. Comparing to two other speakers Deborah Tannen, author of “Marked Woman, Unmarked Men” who writes about the judgments women have to face based on the way they dress and the way they represent themselves …show more content…
She used different artists to say that music videos are the reasons for expansion of black cultural appropriation. Stenberg mentions Azalea Banks tweet, “its funny to see people like Igloo Australia silent when these things happen… Black Culture is cool, but black issues sure aren’t huh?” (Stenberg). She emphasizes on the idea of how black culture is so popular and taken in rapidly but when issues such as police brutality arises, silence rides along. She used Azalea’s tweet and a visual image to show what the celebrity had to say. Stenberg gave the audience different black trends that is being taken on by white celebrities such as the use of corn rolls, grills, and twerking. She discusses that black women are shamed, but black fashion is being taken as trend, which causes a bigger controversy on the level of regards towards black culture. Denoting back to the other article, Tannen used real life evidence to show that women are marked and men are okay just by everything and anything given in our societal community. In Tannen’s article she includes that a form of titles allows people to be categorized into different groupings. For instance, “most forms give four titles to choose from. “Mr.” carries no meaning other than that the respondent is male. But a woman who checks “Mrs.” …show more content…
It left the people contemplating about the issue on black culture appreciation and appropriation and coming to realization that it is an important factor that is occurring. “In the 2010s, pop stars and icons adopted black culture as a way of being edgy and gaining attentions. In 2013, Miley Cyrus twerks and uses black women as props, and then in 2014, in one of her videos called ‘This Is How We Do,’ Katy Perry uses Ebonics and hand gestures and eats watermelons while wearing cornrows before cutting inexplicably to a picture of Aretha Franklin” (Stenberg). She uses words that is comprehendible by the viewers and uses terms that are used day to day. Also, she uses chronological date order allowing everyone to follow along without being lost to the argument. Vendituoli kept a serious tone throughout the introduction, which enforced the audience to see that it is a matter to be concerned about while Stenberg uses her words in a firm steady manner to emphasize certain phrases she wants the listeners to remember. “The gunman, 22, who killed six students at Santa Barbara before fatally shooting himself, left behind a chilling video and diatribe describing hateful views of women and promising to “punish” them for never being attracted to him” (Vendituoli 107). This statement gives a dismaying tone where the gunman is sending
In Deborah Tannen’s “Marked Woman, Unmarked Men” she illustrates how she believes the way women carry themselves are more looked upon then the way a man does. When it comes to women they had to take what they look like into consideration and each decision that the woman has made, carried a meaning. Men have to make decisions as well, however their decisions are not as notable as woman. I support Tannen’s argument about women being marked. Woman are marked by what they wear to who they marry. Nonetheless, I do believe both genders are marked in some kind of way. Men are marked, just not to the extent as woman are. And when they are marked it is not as open and discussed. When Tannen did include men into her argument she made her observation
Elsa Barkley Brown focuses on the intersectionality of being a black woman in America, in “What Has Happened Here?”. Black women experience different forms of oppression simultaneously. Indeed, racism, sexism, classism, as well as heterosexism, intertwine and form layers of oppression.
As much as Tannen says that “[the men] had the option of being unmarked”, she neglects the fact that other factors like race, speech, and how someone carries themselves can all affect how they are marked by their peers (88). For example, in Junot Diaz’s “How to date a brown girl”, his character is instantly marked by his date when she says, “I like Spanish guys” (103). Even though he is not from Spain, he will always be marked in this way when he is around racially different groups. This can apply for any race, and it is impossible for someone to choose to not send that message. Another area where people can be marked is speech. When a person is from a particular region of the U.S., they will have a noticeable accent that connects themselves to the stereotypes of that
Mclune (2015) is an African American woman who is opposed to sexism on black on females in the hip –hop culture and wants this nonsense to come to an end once and for all. As a Black lady, Mclune (2015) voices and reveals her angry and frustration in her article. Mclune (2015) discusses how black women are frowned upon by hip-hop male singers in the music industry and the affects this has on the women. The hip-hip male singers do this by showing black women as
In “Marked Woman, Unmarked Men”, Deborah Tannen argues many points about how women are targeted based on their style choices, such as makeup, clothing and hair, as well as their last names, and titles they choose to take on. Tannen argues her stance when she says, “Each of the women at the conference had to make decisions about hair, clothing, makeup and accessories…. Men can choose styles that are marked, but they don 't have to… . Unlike the women, they had the option of being unmarked.” here you can clearly see that Tannen is illustrating her point by showing the difference in how men are looked at compared to women. She clearly believes that men don’t have to take their style, and lack of makeup, into consideration. In other words, this is a perfect representation of her argument in “Marked Women, Unmarked Men”
Cyrus was the host 2015 VMAs and she did a racist performance of using black culture, a popular, trending culture in America, to promote herself as “wild and dangerous” by using black people as “props” for butt slapping and twerking (Makarechi 2013). Therefore, Manji turned her acceptance speech toward Cyrus by calling her out on her liberalist discussion about her on media a few days earlier. Cyrus had stated that Manji should blame herself for not being nominated as the best music video of the year along with Taylor Swift and other artists (Feeney 2015). Manji pointed out how the entertainment industry chose white artists to win awards and ignored nonwhite artists even though their music was also very popular and well-deserving to received awards as well. Furthermore, Manji pointed out that if Cyrus was going to enjoy black culture, she should care about the black people who created that culture as well. Cyrus, on the other hand, refused to give a response (Feeney 2015). Hence, in summary of what Wiley thinks, she stated, “’[White feminism] thinks twerking is a revolution on Miley but wants to know why Nicki just won’t respect herself though’” (Button Poetry
Cultural appropriation has been a controversial subject of debate for decades; hence it is not something “new” as society likes to think. The issue of cultural appropriation seems to have recently emerged in the 21st century because technology has allowed information to be more widespread and easily accessed. The borrowing of cultural elements of minority cultures, particularly black culture and indigenous culture, (hairstyles, music, fashion, art, etc.) by fashion labels and designers, celebrities, and the dominant culture often elicits unforgiving backlash from liberals. For example, Kylie Jenner has frequently been called out by the black community for continuously
To be labeled as a feminist is such a broad classification therefore it is divided into various subsections, one such subsection is known as hip hop feminism in which Ruth Nicole closely associates herself with throughout this essay I will thoroughly discuss this form of feminism. Ruth Nicole is a black woman that categorizes herself as a girl, by her definition a girl is far from independent. Black girlhood discusses the shared experiences of the ever-changing body, which has been marked as vibrant, Black, and female, along with memories and representations of being female. As a result, Ruth Nicole wrote Black Girlhood Celebration in order to share her personal and political motivations of working with black girls within the community. A conversation that is not often articulated about due to a language barrier. In which this discussion accurately details a means to work with black girls in such a way that does not control their body or pilfer black female individuality. Under those circumstances, Brown believes that black girls are being exploited for their physique through the use of music and instructed to conform to white norms constructed by society.
Taylor Swift’s Shake it off video contains elements of cultural appropriation that exhibit stereotypical tropes which have been used to define African American women and, in particular, their sexuality for years. The video perpetuates the negative stereotypes that have placed Black women on the opposite side of respect for centuries. The video involves White women twerking in a way that conforms to the male gaze, for profitable success. Twerking involves thrusting hip movements, low squatting stance, and shaking of the derriere. White women are able to perform the twerk without being socialized as hyper-sexual, whereas Black women are. Hence, the different conceptions of White and Black womanhood. The inability for Black women to escape their skin color is the one of the many reasons they are ridiculed. Their skin color assigned them to the category that defines them as unholy, dirty, and promiscuous White women have the ability to hide behind their skin color, which classifies them as pure, and innocent in society eyes. The cultural appropriation of twerking is an exercise of White women’s privilege. Black women are judged harshly for
Its shows why things are cultural appropriation by showing the response of different public figures who have been accused of cultural appropriation. It gives examples of actions that’s are cultural appropriation. Its show how things that seem to be stereotypes are more than that it’s a form of racial oppression put upon only the African American community.
...atching MTV music shows or any music channel on television. As we continue to watch these programs, we will then notice that almost all the rap and hip-hop artists being shown are African-Americans. It is the particular lifestyle, and behaviour that is connected to what particular artists chose to vocalize about. This usually can harm the image of African-Americans due to the fact that many artists aid in the misconceptions of their particular race such as the example provided with 50 Cent’s song entitled P.I.M.P. These lyrics and song titles simply reinforce the negative image some individuals may have of both Caucasian’s and people of colour. Rap and hip-hop is one of the most intimate, personal, legitimate and important art form. Instead of perpetuating injustice, and prejudice artists should be addressing these different issues in a different matter.
As much as Tannen says that “[the men] had the option of being unmarked”, she neglects the fact that other factors like race, speech, and how someone carries themselves can all affect how they are marked by their peers (88). For example, in Junot Diaz’s “How to date a brown girl”, his character is instantly marked by his date when she says, “I like Spanish guys” (103). Even though he is not from Spain, he will always be marked in this way when he is around racially different groups. This can apply to any race, and it is impossible for someone to choose to not send that message. Another area where people can be marked is speech. When a person is from a particular region of the U.S., they will have a noticeable accent that connects them to the stereotypes of that region. Just like Tannen asserts that women have no style that is unmarked, so there is no style of speech that is unmarked (89). One other area Tannen did not discuss is how someone carries themselves, what kind of body language they unconsciously use. Unintentional body language like leaning in, head tilting, and upward gazing can be marked in the same way that Tannen suggests that women’s clothing can be, an “unintended [message] of availability” (89). Furthermore, when a man works in a predominately female profession, he cannot escape being marked. For example, when most people think of a nurse, they assume that they
This paper will argue that to be a Black woman with natural hair, is deviant in the eyes of white culture. Natural hair is regarded as unkempt, unclean, and unprofessional (Thompson 2009). American society seeks to demonize the hair of Black women because natural hair disregards Eurocentric beauty standards (Robinson 2011). To rebel and wear one’s hair naturally comes with a price - especially in the workplace and school environment - because there are discriminatory dress-codes that prevent Black women from meeting institutional requirements (Klein 2013). Black women face discrimination for their natural hair due to the power imbalance of white men in work and educational structures.
Since the first black woman to be played in the media, the way that black women are portrayed in the media has changed quite significantly, yet, black women in the media are still being objectified in one way or another. This needs to change, not just for all women, but for all people. Although this study is only focusing on heterosexual black women, I do recognize that this affects all types of people, but because of time constraints, it was decided to focus only on this particular group. We will begin by discussing the ‘Pros and Cons’ of the transformation. We will then reiterate some sociological terms so that everything is understood in terms of this particular study.
Uju Nwizu ASRC 4402 Final Paper December 12, 2016 Voices of Resistance: Transnational Discourses in Afro-Diasporic Hip-Hop Feminism In "Using [Living Hip-Hop] Feminism: Redefining an Answer (to) Rap”, Aisha Durham defines hip-hop feminism as “a socio-cultural, intellectual and political movement grounded in the situated knowledge of women of color from the post civil rights generation who recognize culture as a pivotal site for political intervention to challenge, resist, and mobilize collectives to dismantle systems of exploitation” (305). In essence, hip-hop feminism is an intersectional tool dedicated to analyzing and confronting representations of racialized gender and sexuality in hip-hop and beyond (Durham 11). Yet, while this movement