The music video for Beyoncé's song "Formation" is an example of the intersectionality of race, gender, and class in American society. The video begins with Beyoncé sitting on a sinking New Orleans police car and addresses various social and political issues affecting Black women in America. The video relates to week 4’s topic of intersectionality because it discusses multiple factors that affect the lives of black women.
The music video for "Formation" by Beyoncé touches upon gender and sexuality issues. Beyonece challenged traditional gender roles associated with Southern black heritage including a scene of two black women embracing each other and a shot of a young black boy wearing a dress, highlighting how black women and LGBTQ individuals are marginalized and erased in American society. The quote by Audre Lorde, "There is a pretense to a homogeneity of experience covered by the word sisterhood that does not in fact exist," is relevant to the video as it speaks to the intersectionality of the
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For example, police brutality, gender norms, and economic inequality. The video raises awareness about intersectional oppression that many Black women experience. This message is particularly significant as Black women face unique and complex forms of oppression that many other groups do not relate to. In "A Black Feminist Statement," the author highlights how “black feminists often talk about their feelings of craziness before becoming conscious of the concepts of sexual politics, patriarchal rule; and most importantly, feminism, the political analysis and practice that we women use to struggle against our oppression.” Therefore, it is crucial for Black women to understand and engage with these concepts to resist and overcome their oppression. The video aids in helping not only black women understand these concepts, but also everyone else who watched the
(Heal 1). The paragraph above contains lyrics found in pop icon’s Beyonce song, ‘Formation’. Formation is a song that represents the strength of the african american community and plays a great notion in addressing issues such as black lives matter, police
Interpretation: This video is very straightforward, it is clear to me that the Artist, Carrie Mae Weems, didn’t wish to simply play out the history, but reenacted it how she remembers it using her own artistic twist. She explains that although the civil rights movement had happened when she was younger, we are still fighting the same issues today. She showcases this in the scene in which she is talking to a beautiful [white] barista and when the topic of race is introduced the conversation becomes somewhat awkward. Much has happened since this video was created and her still shots displayed.
The disregard for black women is an issue that is slowly becoming a topic of discussion. In addition to Malcolm X’s acknowledgement that “The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman”, Crunktastic writes in the Crunk Feminist Collections about her experience being a black woman and being disrespected. Both Boynton and Crunktastic write pieces that encourage men to put aside their feelings of entitlement and begin to respect black women.
An intersectional examination of the challenges of African Americans reveals that there are various factors that aide in the oppression of this group. Race, gender, and sexuality are all interlocking aspects to the challenges face by Black men and women. Three scholarly pieces that examine these interconnected issues and the affect that they have are “The Combahee River Collective Statement”, Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins, and “Hip-Hop Feminist” by Joan Morgan. Each of these text argue for an understanding of Black people, and specifically Black women, in a manner that does not put race before gender and sexuality. While “The Combahee River Collective Statement” and Black Sexual Politics both seek to examine gender and sexuality
This essay examines how intersectionality impacts Black women, examining their various levels of struggle and the tenacity that defines their path. Crenshaw contends that comprehending intersectionality allows us to see the diverse identities of minority women and better grasp how various oppressive systems interact to produce compounded discrimination. She highlights the significance of viewing race, gender, and other social categories as linked components of one's identity rather than as separate and isolated issues. Black women reside at the intersection of race and gender, which exposes them to a unique set of issues that are sometimes disregarded or misunderstood. Black women face racism and sexism in predominantly White nations, making their experiences complex.
THESIS Similar to many of the other selections we have read, to be Black in America is an enormous struggle. Through slavery, oppression, discrimination, and more; history has proven that this country was not built upon making individuals of African ancestry comfortable here. With the personal recollections of numerous horror stories of oppression, Assata Shakur goes on to explain how truly oppressed the Black individuals of America are.
Another quote that shows this well is “What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heelprint in another woman's face?” She asks the audience why they are so interested in seeing women hate each other. This brings the audience out of the ‘story’ and starts to connect back to real life. It is also successful because of this. One last quote to show this is “What women’s term of oppressions have become precious and necessary to her as a ticket into the fold of the righteous,away from the cold wind of self-scrutiny?”
The Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks video set in 1955 displays racism and segregation. The intended audience for this video is basically everyone. The president of the NAACP suggested that Claudette Colvin should be the face of the anti-segregation movement but because she was just a 15 year old girl, Rosa Parks was suggested. Rosa Parks had to sit in the bus to get evidence that black people were being sent to jail for sitting in the white people section. They all believed that the world will listen to someone older.
By fostering unfavorable stereotypes and making it more challenging to relate to and comprehend the experiences of individuals who are the targets of racism, this can have an impact on how we respond to situations of racism. Racism as a system: this video illustrates how racism permeates society's institutions and systems, producing disparate outcomes for people of various races. This can have an impact on how we respond to racism by emphasizing the need for systemic change and stressing how crucial it is to address not only specific instances of prejudice but also larger societal institutions that support inequality. Overall, the cultural politics emphasized in the "Crash" clip show how social power dynamics, stereotyping, and structural structures of inequality impact our perceptions of and responses to racism-related
It shed light on the issues of racial discrimination, gender inequality, and class struggles prevalent in the Jim Crow era of the United States. The video humanized Lena Baker and showed how she was a victim of circumstances beyond her control. It highlighted the struggle of African Americans during that period and showcased the resilience and strength of people who fought against the injustices of that time. Additionally, the video also showcased the importance of intersectionality in understanding issues of social inequality. It showed how race, gender, and class intersected to shape the experiences of individuals during that period.
Another crucial aspect within the Combahee River Collective Statement was the purpose of Black feminism. The Collective emphasized the need for Black feminists and their differences from the mainstream feminist movement. The Black women of the Combahee River Collective recognized that Black feminism is needed to “combat the manifold and simultaneous oppressions” that is experienced by all women of color. This is because Black feminism acknowledges how the intersectionality of racism and sexism oppresses not only Black women but all women of color. This is something that mainstream feminism fails to address.
As black women always conform under patriarchal principles, women are generally silenced and deprived of rights because men are entitled to control everything. Women are silenced in a way that they lose their confidence and hesitate to speak up due to the norms present in the society they live in. Hence, even if women have the confidence to try to speak, men wouldn’t bother to listen since men ought to believe that they are superior to women. In addition to that, women often live in a life cycle of repetitions due to patriarchal principles since women are established to fulfill the roles the society had given them. It is evidenced by Celie as she struggles to survive and to define oneself apart from the controlling, manipulative, and abusive men in her life.
Beyonce’s 2016 visual album, Lemonade, carries her audience through different emotional chapters of her life, presumably following the infidelity of her husband, Jay Z. Although Lemonade touches upon sensitive racial issues and the oppression of African-Americans, I decided to focus more on the sentimental aspect of the film. It is a consensus that women of all kinds are stereotyped as ‘frail’ or ‘hysterical,’ especially when their emotions are transparent, but why is it that the black woman is perceived as ‘angry’ when she does so? Beyonce’s third track on Lemonade, “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” features an excerpt of a speech given by Malcolm X that reads: “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman.” To dismiss and undermine the emotional traumas Beyonce discloses in Lemonade confirms the veracity of Malcolm X’s statement.
Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.
An illustration of misogyny would be Nelly’s music video ‘Tip Drill;’ whereby he participates in the objectification of women. Specifically, filming half naked women, using a worm eye angle shot to explicitly show the women’s rear end. In the music video Nelly is partaking in hyper masculine behaviour by grabbing females’ body parts, tossing money on them and swiping his credit card through their buttock. This exemplifies misogynistic characteristic identified by scholars; women are dehumanized and portrait as eye candy, worthless and sexual beings for men pleasure. Subsequently, these minimal representations of black women can be damaging to one’s conscious; it is also a form of othering African American females, not acknowledging their individualism