My post Black Women x The Streets x Harassment has 114 comments on Racialicious.
I don’t think I have ever written something that has received such a massive response.
The comments are illuminating because they demonstrate the ways in which people may or may not see how racial sexism is at play when Black men harass Black women, White women, and other women of color in the streets.
As a writer, as a Black woman, and as a feminist I am incredibly grateful to have spaces to have my work read and responded to in real time. To that end, I appreciate the opportunity to write this post here as well.
I wrote it as a intervention on violence against Black women and street harassment.
I also really appreciate the ways in which article connects Black women’s ability to be in the street to our ability to participate in democracy.
Having blogged for almost 5 years, (where did the time go?), I know that writing is work.
Full stop.
However, what is interesting about this piece is that it has allowed me to take relatively sophisticated legal, racial and gender theory and apply it to our every day lives. When I do this, I feel successful. Making theory relate to our everyday lives is an important skill and my blog is a place where I work hard on it.
What do you think about online spaces for Black women?
What would happen if we tried to make some of the theory that we learn accessible
to wider audiences?
Why is it so hard for folks to acknowledge that racial sexism is REAL on the streets?
Renina is a thinker and blogger at New Model Minority.com.
Hallelujah, Renina. Blogging is a black woman’s best friend. As a blogger myself, I rejoice in having a venue from which to muse, rant and inform. I’m thrilled to read blogs by black women as it proves for once and for all that we can use our own voices to tell our own stories and interpret our own realities. I love what you’e doing: making theory live. Before I had my first daughter, I was in the dissertation-writing stage of my PhD in literature. One of the reasons I left the program was that I felt that I preferred to make the theory rather than regurgitate it. My hat’s off to you for this undertaking. With bloggers and thinkers like you at the helm, it’s sure to be a success.
“What do you think about online spaces for Black Women?”
Problematic at best…I remember looking on line for months for a blog by a black woman from my hometown, Memphis, TN and I could not find one. NOT ONE blog, from a black woman, in a city that is over 50% black…This was back in 2008, and I have since met some writers and musicians who blog about art and music, but still nothing about life in general for black women in my hometown…I know it seems as if we already do TOO much work as Black women, and adding blogging or maintaining a website to the mix is almost too much, but who will hear us and see us, and how will we exist on the web if we are not crafting our images and telling our stories?