Word of Power Learned: Faggot

      I realize that the above reference might fall on deaf ears so before I get into this I have to explain myself. The reference is to the game Skyrim and this is the message that pops up when the character gains a new "Word of Power" from a dragon. Words of power are abilities that help the main character in combat, with effects such as freezing time or launching enemies away from them. In this context, however, I want to relate this phrase to an question that doesn't yet, and may not soon, have a clear answer. The question at hand being 'do words have power?' I think David Sedaris would probably respond in the affirmative in his work "I Like Guys" because of his experience with the word 'faggot.' At multiple points throughout the narrative Sedaris finds himself tickled by the words use, or, at least, that's what he knows you are supposed to do when that word is said. There is a scene in the narrative in which Sedaris finds himself at a Greek summer camp with counselors that throw the word around with a clear disregard for its meaning with phrases like "What are you, a bunch of goddamned faggots who can't make your beds?" Sedaris and another character, Jason both laugh and even start using the word together as part of their shenanigans "when the others weren't looking." They use the word in a purely mocking way but Sedaris acknowledges the fact that "We couldn't protest the word, as that would have meant acknowledging the truth." As if protesting the word bestows power on the word and that to throw the word around keeps it from meaning anything or gaining any personal value.
      This brings up an interesting point about the argument of words as powerful versus words as subjective. Today, there is a lot of talk about political correctness and I think the argument has started to lean toward the side of words as powerful. This movement, however, has met its fair share of resistance as there are, probably, an equal number of people who believe the old adage "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Could this be true? As I stated previously there is no clear answer to this question. In favor of the words as powerful argument, there are many contexts in which words have very explicit and direct power over a person. Most notably in the courtroom, where, when used by the appropriate person at the appropriate time, 'sentence' carries much more than a denotation. Now that word holds debt, future time, relationships, and lives in the balance. Is this the case for 'faggot' though? One cannot say, some might say that its real and it hurts, while others would say "my rights don't end where your feelings begin." As for David Sedaris, I think the argument is made very clearly that, to some, a word is much more than a word. A word is power, and if sociology is right that power is 'the ability to make binding decisions for yourself or others,' than we know that words carries much more than a meaning.

Hip Hop, Feminism, and White Girls

     Recently I decided to embark on a journey to help a friend find an online debate discussing gender. Although I have been a participant in many online debates, it was increasingly difficult to find people fighting over gender when I was actively trying to find them (alas that is how it always seems to be). Nevertheless, I searched up every controversial feminist video and article I could think of and while there was retaliation, the video that jogged my memory best was that of Lily Allen’s music video "Hard Out Here". It was a music video she released in 2014 that was meant to address the issues women face in the music and entertainment industry, particularly in the genre of hip hop. In the video she even goes so far as to reference Robin Thicke’s controversial music video to “Blurred Lines”. Even in this small example, the way gender is expressed in both films provides a stark contrast to the way our culture talks about men and women.

     However, her video received heavy backlash from critics, but not for pointing out flaws in the industry. The black community was heavily outraged by her video and my high school friend at the time who was of black background, shared that outrage with me when it was first released. At first, I was very confused along with the rest of the white feminists I knew and could see online. Lily Allen was addressing the sexism in the industry and owning the derogatory way women are treated in the same manner that gay people can reclaim the word f*ggot and black people have reclaimed the word n*gger. So… What’s the big deal?

     In order to understand, one must watch the music video carefully. At the beginning of the song introduction, the camera pans into a cliché hip hop music video- a video depicting a bunch of minority women twerking and dressed in clothing that is not just reminiscent of hip hop videos but the culture that many black women simply identify with (The one pale woman is Asian, not white). None of the other women in the video, aside from Lily Allen, are white and it makes a very stark contrast to the kind of sexism that comes into play here.

     To recognize the outrage, one has to understand the black community. For a lot of black women, the culture that Lily Allen was utilizing was not her own culture to exploit or critique. Twerking and clothing of that nature do not cross a simple feminist line, but also a racial line. White women are rarely depicted in a manner that Lily Allen addresses and by using all black women to enforce her point, she aided in reigniting the conversation .

     Since the release of this video, I have become aware of an increasing divide between white feminists and feminists of color. One argument being that white feminism claims that all women are discriminated against equally, and that feminists of color claim that white women have privilege that does not compare to the discrimination that women of color face. With white artists like Iggy Azalea and Lily Allen adopting the black culture for a personal gain and profit, many feminists of color have argued that it is appropriating the culture and further diminishing the impacts and significance that people of color can contribute to society at large.

     The exploitation of black culture by white people has been an increasing problem for the past century, but it has come to my attention only in the recent decade that feminism has become divided between racial lines as well.