cross posted from The Cruel Secretary
My gurl S., who followed the Justin Timberlake/Ciara post and thread very closely, just about fell out while we talked on the phone.
She was apoplectic over Timberlake pulling Ciara’s chain in the video, of that salient image of BDSM (and possible race play) as well as the article about race play I linked to in the comment thread. Too through, she told me she “had to get up from the computer when I read about race play.” “I mean, I knew about it, but I never read about it in detail. I just can’t believe it!!”
“I know,” I told S. “I know.” ‘Cause I’ve heard this reaction to race play before. Talking to another blogger, she flipped out pretty bad about it. I had to calm her down by saying, ‘I feel you. Personally, I think of race play and, yeah, I feel the body memories of slavery, too. And, yeah, I even felt a negative undercurrent in Hernandez’s piece, one of ‘This isn’t uplifting The Race!’ But, S., I’ll tell you what I told the blogger: the reality is–whether we like it or not–people are into it.”
“And, I added, “you can’t flip out about race play [with the Racial Uplift] argument because some folks can use the same argument about your liking anal beads: ‘The slavemasters–and white men–have stuck all kinds of objects into us to violate us. Why would you want to do something like that? That’s not uplifting the race!’”
S. got quiet. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Unfortunately, this argument gets whipped out among people of color when a PoC steps out of sexual line of “acceptable” sex practices and partners, especially in a public space, like Ciara did in her “Love Sex Magic” video. On the thread from the other day, she gets “read” as a slut corrupting the youth or a victim of the patriarchy or both. Some of the comments:
“Ciara is clearly desperate…her albums aren’t selling like the execs thought they would…in sense she is a slave…so the video is perfect fit.”
“The video is way sexualized to a point that’s unnecessary…My issue is with the fact that Ciara chose to go so far that she came off as tacky.”
“I don’t know that I’ve witnessed this much (grand plié in 2nd position) crotch, thigh waving and close-up butt rumbling by non-brown bodies in a music videos of late…She is dancing around and below him, she is an armrest for him, she is performing for him (and us – not an essentially bad thing, but a thing I’m keeping in mind) . . .”
“Ciara tends to be very sexualized in general. Did anyone see her performance with Chris Brown at the BET awards? This is how she markets herself…But I feel Ciara’s video is too sexual, and I blame that all on her. We need to start making women accountable in these situations.”
“I think the portrayal of Black women in general, rather a Black rapper or rip-off artist like Justin Timberlake, is discraceful no matter who does it. We have girls and boys, Black, white, latino, asian, in middle school watching this crap, and thinking this is how men and women act, and women should have to get half naked to get status while boys have to be immature, crass, and disrespectful, its alienating to the self and destroys creativity. What ever happened to convincing and natural sexuality?”
“I find it hard to believe that a lot of people can read Ciara’s performance in this video as one of powerful female sexiness. She goes out of her way to get his attention, performs for him, and is used as an object by him. Given the music industry as a whole and the way it has a double standard for the sexualization of men and women (cool vs. sluts) I think this plays into that mentality. The girl is suppose to do whatever to get the cool, calm, collected man. If that was what she was going for Epic Fail, she only reinforced the sexist mentality of the music industry.”
“I’m more interested on why so many sisters are willing to go along with this stuff. Our ancestors had no choice in the during slavery and Jim Crow. These wom[e]n can’t say the same. Why are so many women of all color willing to be treated like this by men of all colors? Men who do it are disgusting, but it’s the women I don’t get.”
“It is the idea and practice that women have to be overtly sexual, in a way that is geared towards the male gaze, in order to sell records…As someone mentioned up thread, Ciara’s not been shifting the units, hence the increasingly sexualised videos…It’s not like we even get a nuanced version of sexuality, it’s always “I am sexy, don’t you want me? I want you to want me?”…Finally, what message does it send out, when even someone as successful as Beyonce feels the need to behave like a Video Girl whenever Jay Z is in her videos?”
“As for Ciara and Janet-both “grown women”-give me a break. You want to know all the women who-as “grown women”-refused to be sexualized in their own video and still made it?”
And not only is Ciara a “slut” and/or “victim,” she’s a racial amnesiac. Or folks were done with the BDSM and/or race play imagery in general:
“A WM with a chain around a BWs neck, our ancestors are crying inside.”
“From the piece the Cruel Secretary linked: “White master seeking black slave, however, seems the more popular of the combinations. ”::: re-reads sentence:::“White master seeking black slave, however, seems the more popular of the combinations.”::: rubs eyes and reads sentence again, aloud this time:::
“White master seeking black slave, however, seems the more popular of the combinations.
::: folds top lip into mouth:::
::: quietly exits internets:::”
I need to work this in reverse. First of all, let me grapple with BDSM, race play, and racism.
And I’m going to work it like this:
1) All slavery isn’t wrong. There, I said it. And I mean it like this: nonconsensual slavery—the taking and owning of people and forcing them work or do whatever else the slaver wants, i.e. American slavery—is wrong because the slaver is making the enslaved person/people do this against their will. However, in a BDSM (bondage/domination/submission/sadism/masochism and their various combinations) usage, “slavery” isn’t wrong because the arrangement is agreed upon and that consent is continuously talked about and negotiated. As stated at Center of Human Sexuality’s (CHS) sexuality.org:
Modern BDSM is premised on consent — informed and freely given. The word “consent” is so fundamental to BDSM as it is practiced today that there are a large number of tools, vocabulary, and customs available to ensure that activities that are nonconsensual do not occur.
What happened in, say, American slavery of Africans isn’t the same thing happening when Justin Timberlake, an individual white man, is pulling on Ciara’s, an individual Black woman’s, dog chain. The Black folks who got hauled over during that slave trade didn’t give white folks permission to put us in chains and drag us to the “New World.” Ciara and Timberlake negotiated—again, the core BDSM idea of consent–that particular part of the video. He’s also not standing as a proxy for all white men and their enslaving fantasies no more than she is a stand-in for all Black women wanting to be on a lease. Nor is either one giving people permission to assume that all men can and will go out and do this to all Black women. Every thought need not be acted upon. And, of course, not every word means the same thing in every situation.
2) Just because the white guy’s doing the yanking doesn’t mean he’s in control. In BDSM—and in race play–the “top” (“the person leading or initiating the BDSM activities” says CHS) can do no more than what the “bottom” (“the person following the top’s lead or being done to,” according to CHS) tells or allows zie to do. Even in some memoirs about stripping, the women have stated they felt in control of the situation, of the arousal. Even though we’re so used to seeing the image (and, in some cases, reality) of White Men at the socio-economic Top and Black Women at the socio-economic Bottom, in this particular instance, Ciara originated the idea of the video and chose her musical collaborator, Timberlake, to play the role that he did in the video. And, actually, they do throughout the video what’s called in BDSM “switching”:
Although some people are 100% top and some are 100% bottom, the majority of folks switch, at least occasionally. That is, many folks sometimes bottom and sometimes top. This can be arranged in many different ways. Sometimes partners take turns with each other. Other times, someone will only top one partner and only bottom to some other partner.
In many cases, we can talk about continuous white and male privilege and power differentials and sexual aggression and violence and, yes, we can relate various situations where all these things take place with other ones—just not in every case.
Sexual practices, like BDSM and race play, may be one of those situations…because what zie sees may not be what’s actually happening, especially with practices that are considered as non-traditional being viewed through the intersecting lens of oppression.
3) Just because it’s Justin doesn’t mean things are going to jump off. I’m not denying that Timberlake betrayed Janet Jackson, a woman he said he’d admired (if not crushed on), by letting him take the heat for Nipplegate while he went to win Grammys.And, as several commenters and regular contributors have said, Timberlake has gained his cred with audiences through displaying some effed-up race and gender politics in his videos as well, especially concerning women of color.
When we talked this video amongst the special correspondent staff, Wendi Muse commented:
OK, yeah, this is sexist because he is fully clothed and Ciara’s role is more that of a stripper…and I have to say that Justin’s objectification of women, period, and then on top of that, PoC ladies (does anyone remember “Senorita”!?) helped him gain acceptance as an R & B singer…sounds bad, but it’s kinda the truth. If he only paraded around Britney look-a-likes, it wouldn’t help him gain that industry cred. Having said all that, I watched the video and my first thought was something along the lines of…wow, who knew Ciara was that hot? Is she the new Grace Jones?!?!
My co-contributor Arturo says about this video, “Call me crazy but that looked rather mild, on the sexy/BDSM meter. Overall, though, I saw Justin as more prop than possessor here. The song was too bland to carry more sinister overtones.” In this particular instance, Justin may be neutralized. Which brings me to Ciara herself.
This is what one of my other co-contributors, Thea, says about her:
In the context of Ciara’s oeuvre (yes I did say Ciara’s oeuvre) I think this is just kicking it up a notch. She has always come across to me as the opposite of a submissive pop princess (like, say, Jessica Simpson). She is seriously fierce and athletic and I appreciate that there never seems to be any attempt to downplay her physicality and ferociousness. I have to say one of my fave R & B videos of all time is Like A Boy, where Ciara and her dancers basically do a Drag King routine at the end of the video. (And if you ask me, I love Beyonce, but both the song and video for Like A Boy are far superior to If I Were A Boy, B’s diluted ‘08 take on the same subject.)Like A Boy, like Love Sex Magic, is interesting in that it really doesn’t feel like a display for the enjoyment of men. (Contrast this with portrayals of women dressing up as men that simply play into male fantasies. Think a Pussycat Doll wearing a fedora.) It feels like an expression of Ciara’s understanding of what it means to be a woman, rather than an attempt to be sexually titillating to men. Even in the Love Sex Magic video, I don’t feel like it’s for men, because it falls just outside of what is considered a sexual ideal in our culture. I think Ciara joins the ranks of artists like Mariah Carey and Kylie Minogue, where a quick glance at their vixen/sexpot/high femme/diva images might miss the depth, joyfulness and sense of fun that underscores the way they play their sexual identities. Sure from a distance Love Sex Magic looks like any other vid - some lady clad in sexy clothes humping furniture - but if you look closer, Ciara is definitely the powerhouse in this video, and she’s also far more aggressive, demanding and powerful in her poses than say, the whole Britney Spears virgin/whore dance routine. “Powerhouse” doesn’t really play into the socially sanctioned male fantasy if you ask me.
What if Ciara, in the midst of her trying to promote this single, is also offering some fantasy fodder–not a mandate or command–for some Black women to sexually express themselves? Not just dom and/or top (the slicked-back hair, sunglasses, the sky-high stilettos; the stripper who feel feels zie is controlling the arousal), not just sub and/or bottom (the chained Ciara, the armrest Ciara), but the switch (where she stands over Timberlake and then leans back and he catches her; after that they slide their hands over her body). And what if she wanted to play out this fantasy with a white man?
As Seattle Slim crystallizes in her comment:
And to add further to the mix, I wonder how many WOC in IR relationships with white men take issue with this video? I certainly don’t. Quite frankly, it reminds me of a couple weekends at my house. Yes, we go there.
An alternative idea of sexuality meeting with status-quo becomes a battle for some Black folks and other PoCs because it’s the:
1) “wrong” kind of seduction—stripper and BDSM forwardness instead of petal-and-pearls, rain-on-the-pane smoove-jazz romance.
2) “wrong” white guy–Timberlake instead of, say, Robin Thicke (who did a GQ photo shoot with Rihanna not to long ago with an S/M-esque picture of his spank-ready hand above Rihanna’s butt or his D/S-interpreted snap of his biting off her bathing suit strap)
3) “wrong” sex act–BDSM and/or race play instead of tumbling into said petal-and-pearls bed. In other words, she’s not behaving like a proper, uplifting Black woman.
What folks may not see in the enraged haze is Ciara and Justin are also behaving like the sexual beings that they are, including acting out a possible fantasy. In an upcoming Bitch roundtable on music and misogyny, hosted by our own Latoya, Nuyorican queer activist and academic Marisol LeBron says this about how young women may use hip-hop to explore their own ideas around sexual practices and our thundering about it:
I think they’re not really allowed to …thats the big issue…They’re demonized for wanting to be “sexually scandalous.” I think the question of public and private sexuality is crucial here. [What I mean is] You can be a freak in the sheets but not in the streets. That’s what I mean when I refer to this politics of respectability. We’re concerned with these images of women of color’s sexuality, desires, and practices being seen in a public domain. I think a lot of it has to do with hip-hop’s white consumership. Its like you need to censor yourself because white dudes are watching.”
The white dudes and the ancestors.
Using them as the justification to chastise Ciara’s—and yeah, even Justin’s—publicly played-out fantasy may keep us all intra- and interracially correct for a minute…but it also may flatten our sexual horizons. LeBron continues:
I’ve been doing a lot with psychoanalytic theory recently, and one of the main things is that people don’t know why they desire what they desire and that they often desire things that they’re not supposed to or that are not good for them. In many ways current discussions about hip hop sexuality denies basic tendencies that people as sexual beings are working through.
How do we critique the sexism without critiquing the sexual practices, though? Perhaps with the working understanding that we can’t police Ciara’s—or Justin’s or anyone else’s—sexual desires, sexual activities, and sexual fantasies because we all may have a sexual peccadillo that’s not “correct” but gives us utter pleasure, wherever we wish to display it. Because, I’m sure, the ancestors could wag their fingers at our own versions of anal beads or, at least, our fantasies about having them used in us.
Many thanks to S., Latoya, Thea, Arturo, Wendi, Mollena, and Bianca Laureano.
(Photo Credits: Ciara/Justin Timberlake–from lovebscott.com; Rihanna and Robin Thicke–from buzzworthy.MTV.com; Ciara–aceshowbiz.com; Grace Jones–kalamu.com)
*amazing*. YES YES YES YES.
Wow!! From you, bfp, that’s *very* high praise. Thanks for the compliment!
I’d never heard of “race play” before. Kind of disturbing.
I’m really struggling with this. As a young feminist of color i feel so second wave with my reservations on the issue. I think just because psychoanalytic thinking stops at “people don’t know why they desire what they desire and that they often desire things that they’re not supposed to or that are not good for them,” i don’t know that we should. And why is psychoanalytic thinking still relevant for folks considering it’s racist/sexist/ableist history?
I don’t buy the public/private split either. That’s a false dichotomy, right? Haven’t we already critique the “what happens in my bedroom is my business” rhetoric of the mainstream gay rights movement? Haven’t we also critiqued this rhetoric when deployed by single issue abortion rights advocates who don’t deal with how race, age, ability and sexuality affect the so called “private” decisions that women make? Or when the state wants to deal with “domestic” violence?
I understand that desires should not be policed but where does justice connect with desire? Individual acts rarely only affect just the folks involved. The ubiquitous nature of videos like this one, even with transgressive race play, doesn’t shift hegemony on its own. What I see in this post-feminist moment is basically the rearticulation of what patriarchy has tried to get women to believe for your years. “You are in control of sex and sexuality. I only respond to you. There’s no power imbalance here and if there is, you’ve got it all.” Makes me think of lady gaga’s astethetic and lyrics.
I think the video still perpetuates heteronormative, consumptive, male controlled fantasy. It’s not just ciara in the video, it’s the constant ratio 1 man: 20 women. Him clothes, her not so much. Why does sexual liberation look so much like oppression (to me)? This video is still a tool for capitalism, for selling us a whack song that sounds like every other song.
There are some politics of respectability at play with Ciara and Beyonce that aren’t coming at them externally but that they willingly participate in as folks who haven’t agreed to any kind of transgressive or liberatory praxis. They both play coy when they aren’t performing, becoming demure coquettish little interviewees that don’t take up space when they aren’t performing. They totally play into the lady in the street/ freak in the sheets mentality, no? Doesn’t a meta critique of capitalism and consumption need to be here too?
Yeah, but at the same time, it’s not the job of famous WOC who are given the opportunity to hold a large audience to uplift the race and model respectable lives. Yes, they are role models. But they’re not famous for being role models, they’re role models because they’re famous. Expecting people like Beyonce who buy into the dominant hegemonic narrative to be subversive is begging for disappointment, I think.
@ moya
i agree with most of your analysis. what interests me is why was there such furor and uproar over this video in particular. a critique of mainstream music/ black music/ black music videos/ black musicians/ black music industry…completely legitimate. a critique of justin timberlake and his various levels of fucked up ness also legit. but why did this video in particular cause such furor? is it because of the kink? is it because we dont want to see black women in certain positions, even in fantasy/music video land? are there certain types of consensual (as much as consent is possible within capitalism) sexual expressions that should not be expressed?
i agree that the public/private dichotomy needs to be critiqued. but isnt there a need with in a just world for freedom of sexual expression. not just a right but a need?
i dont know exactly.
the idea that this video is about sexual liberation is ridiculous. obviously it is not. it is a repeat of the same old same old. but within it is this moment of transgression i think. a moment that made folks: that is going too far…
when maybe it is just wasnt going far enough.
Oh dear…let’s see if I can tease out some of what’s going on here:
@Derek and @moya–I think this is where the rhetoric of sex-positivism may come into play when expressing discomfort (BDSM call such a feeling “squickiness, a cross b/t “squeamish” and “icky”) with a particular sex practice. It says this: “It’s not my particular practice” or, more simply, “I’m not into that.” The “I” statement 1) situates and acknowledges that the comfort rests with you and only you so 2) you don’t come off as if you’re trying to criitque or police others’ desires. Whereas you both may dislike BDSM/kink or any other sexual practice for whatever reason, others, well, do.
And this @moya is where what you’re saying about justice connecting with desire/sexing it up becomes trickier. What is “just”–meaning “fair” sex? To me, it starts with the adults in the situation agree–and make sure that the consent is still holding throughout the encounter(s)–that they both want to engage in the sexual practice/acts. Another part of that understanding is that every person, by virtue of being part of the group of the person zie just encountered, wants to do the same thing. And this is where anti-racism/feminist/etc. comes into play. Just because, say, *I*, an individual Black woman, may want, say, Viggo Mortensen, an indvidual white man (and myimgainary BF, so I’m going to use him as my example), to tie up my hands with neckties and spank me, doesn’t mean that I want *every* white man I encounter to do the same. Nor should I expect that every white man to want to do the same thing to me. Feminism and anti-racism helps in untangling those stereotypes so folks are, among other things, able to not be snap-judged based on such appearances.
Now, let me take that a step further: Viggo, being white, and my being Black and his spanking me may, in some folks’ eyes, may not jibe ’cause of the socio-historicity of white men in the US abusing Black women and, some folks would argue, we need to examine that….or that women have–and in some cases, still do–serve, in some men’s eyes, as punching bags. Ergo, goes the thinking, women and men should not indulge in acts that may encourage any form of hitting, least it encourages any abusive behavior. But, moya, what if Viggo and I examined all of those dynamics and we come to the conclusion that….I like his hands spanking my bottom? It gets me off, which, in turn, gets him off? Are we still in the realm of “justice-based sex” in your view? And I’m not asking that in a snarky fashion. I ask the question very, very sincerely.
@Whit–your response reminds me of a quote I just read in, of all places, Entertainment Weekly:
If we really think that being famous now automatically qualifies you as someone whose example should be imitated and followed by young people, then that can only mean we now believe that fame in itself represents a form of moral superiority.
Now, I guess I’m at the age–about to be 40 in a few weeks–where I don’t expect “transgressive” or “revolutionary” things to come from the usual folks. In this case, Ciara–as one person told me, has “marginal talent and a stellar physque”–presented an image–the image of interracial kink–that cause some pearls-clutching, racial policing, and other knee-jerk reactions. And I suspect what’s bothering folks is that it plays with a–yeah, I’ll call it–a “sacred” narrative about US racial and sexual relations, namely that a Black woman is allowing and, furthermore, seems to be enjoying, a white man pulling at a dog leash around her neck and doing these other sexual things, like licking her, nuzzling her, and yeah, watching her and her crew do some private dancing for his eyes (ostensibly). Considering the reactions to this video, some folks got shook up. And I suspect it’s because she and Justin effed with that narrative.
@admin–the idea that this video is about sexual liberation is ridiculous. obviously it is not. it is a repeat of the same old same old. but within it is this moment of transgression i think. a moment that made folks: that is going too far…when maybe it is just wasnt going far enough.
You asked Mollena if she’d be OK with printing part of our interview. I hope she said yes; I begged her to do so. Today, she’s running the 3rd part, which directly addresses the video and her take on it. It may bear on this thread.
Hey Cruel Secretary thanks for commenting.
I apologize if my “I” language wasn’t coming through strongly enough. I am asking a meta question that was raised for me, by folks responses to the video. The reason I asked my question here is because this seems like a safe space to ask it. I trust you all and trust that we are really trying to expand our thinking and go deep with what’s been raised here. I really appreciate you engaging with me about this! I am not coming from a fixed position on this and am really growing from this dialog.
That said, I think there was an assumption that I feel “squicky.” I don’t. I almost feel like I should out myself as someone who is into kink to make that point : ) I agree and totally get the race panic that was set in motion by this issue, that people are mad at Ciara and Justin for messing with a narrative that shouldn’t be messed with. But the whole conversation raised something deeper for me.
“are there certain types of consensual (as much as consent is possible within capitalism) sexual expressions that should not be expressed?” - i think scarily this might actually be close to what i’m trying to get at . . . Lorde, am I channeling Dworkin?!!!
I guess what I’m trying ask is there something beyond consent as a marker of justice? We need to be able to express ourselves fully (do we?) but i’m also asking why we desire certain expressions. I suppose that sounds like a judgement about kink but i don’t mean it to be. Is it enough to say that it feels good and we are consenting adults? I honestly don’t know and that’s what I’m asking particularly when in the world we live in the actions of consenting adults have ramifications beyond themselves. Even beyond sexual desire, are there certain things that we want, that we just shouldn’t have or act on? I hope my ambivalence or indecision is coming through. This is and isn’t about sex to me if that makes sense.
It is and isn’t about the video. It raised a question for me that to me goes beyond sexual desire but is about desire period. I’m trying to think of analogy that moves away from the demonization of kink but invokes desire from consenting parties but may bear on other peoples feelings or perceptions. any ideas?
I said this thing in a facebook 20 statements thing. “I would give up a lot of freedoms for a just world.” Is my imagination not reaching far enough? Am I unnecessarily boxing off possibilities because I’m not sure that justice means freedom in the whatever you want to do as long as it’s not hurting people way? And how do we know what’s hurting people and what isn’t? or what’s a legitimate hurt and what isn’t?
Is that somewhat clearer? Thanks all!
Moya
@moya
see, i think that maybe it is because i dont understand this statement: i would give up a lot of freedoms for a just world.
i know that justice does not mean doing whatever you want. but seriously i think that we need to differentiate between freedom and license. license is doing whatever you want. freedom has more to do with the full expression of our beingness in this universe.
what i cant understand with this video and with other public displays of kink , race play, etc. is what is the harm? who is being harmed in society?
i also have to say that i have an almost –uggghhhh– at the idea that if a black woman is engaging in race pay –she is– i dont know —oppressing herself(?) im not saying that is what you are saying moya —
i dont know…i think i do need a specific example of consenting sex being unjust to others…
the only one i can think of has to do with ‘cheating’ on your partner with another.
i think also i have a hard time with theory and analysis that is not grounded in the concrete world.
i have to say something else: this video did not do it for me. like i barely noticed, it didnt raise any flags for me. and i am wondering why. and i think it is because i have a category in my head called: exhibitionism. and exhibitionism is so much about the audience and the thrill of revelation that it takes more than a white boy with a chain to make me pay attention.
i need to think about this some more…
peace and love mai’a
Thanks Mai’a! that distinction between license and freedom is really useful. What I was thinking of when i made the statement was that part of what I understand justice to mean is giving up some privileges and wants to be in community. In a just world you might not be able to eat things that you like or travel places you want to because it impinges on other people. Like if i like oranges but they don’t grow where i live and it creates a lot of waste and stresses ecosystems for me to eat them then i shouldn’t eat them right? So maybe that’s not giving up freedom that is giving up my license to have oranges b/c i want them? That’s not to be an analogy for our conversation on sex but just an explanation of what i was thinking about. Still thinking on this. thanks for indulging my digression . . .
@ Cruel Secretary, I don’t have any problem with BDSM. I understand it, and I realize some people are into it. It doesn’t really float my boat, (not that I’ve ever really tried it anyway) but that’s just me. No problem, live and let live.
I was just commenting on race play itself. That just seems a little disturbing to me. I’m sure some desire it, and I certainly wouldn’t be one to wag my finger at them, but I personally just find it a little out there. I don’t understand what would be desirable about it.
My point, which I don’t think I stated very well, is that linking a dominant-submissive relationship with race might reinforce such a dynamic as a positive thing in every day life. Given our history, I think that’s a dangerous path to tread.