RespectHer

According to the great mother of the Womanist theory, Alice Walker, “Womanist is to feminist as Purple is to Lavender.” Best known for her book, The Color Purple, she is an award-winning poet and activist who introduced womanism in her 1983 book, In Search Of our Mothers Gardens: Womanist Prose. The birth of Womanism identified and criticized racism in the predominantly white feminist movement, and sexism in the African American community. Through her prolific body of work, Walker liberated black women, and continues to do so, by creating a platform for more intersectional conversations on discrimination. Her intention was to illuminate that Womanism is kin to Feminism but allow for all to participate in the fight for equality, specifically black women.

"Nudity does not evoke assaults nor validate disgusting behavior. It only reveals the character, discipline and mindset of an individual." - Patriana Jones, The Afronudist *Let me start off by...

“You want to be a black woman right?”, we ask the internet of black fishers who haven't the slightest inkling of a clue what it takes, and the privilege it is to walk in our shoes. You want this deep chocolate or golden bronze look, that Michelle Obama intellectual flyness, that Cleopatra woman of the nile beauty. Well, you’ve manufactured a watered down version of this untamed elegance in the digital world, but here's a tip: You cannot afford the down payment on the cost of being a black woman. Apparently what we suffer and endure on a daily basis is the price we pay for being who God created us to be on this earth.

Shocked. Disgusted. Angry. Irate. Sad. Triggered. Displeased. Enraged! These represent few of many emotions I am feeling after watching the video of rape (YES RAPE) of a young black queen, Jasmine Eiland (which has gone viral). I must warn you if you go looking for the clip it is horrifying and triggering. It is the reason I am writing this and it is the very reason why this article may not flow as well as it should because I am distraught and my emotions are spiraling all over the place, as you should.

Jasmine was in an Atlanta nightclub this past weekend live streaming where she was apparently drugged and raped. You could hear her clearly screaming help me, help me, stop, groaning, echoing against the loud background music sounds of pain, weakness, and sorrow with tears in her eyes.

Ghetto. Loud. Angry. Attitude problem. Welfare Queen. Black B#tch! Ignorant.

The list goes on and quite frankly, we've been called much worse. No one wants to be called any of these names, especially not by a white person. However, what's not cool is to alter who you are to keep from being judged

I'm quite sick of this whole culture of criticizing black women for pretty much everything and turning it around in an attempt to make it a form of empowerment. You know like the whole, "You're pretty for a dark-skin girl" phrase that many are honestly convinced we're supposed to be flattered by. It's pretty much a backhanded slap, a middle finger to the culture and no more than a form of degrading. We praise and uplift women like Kylie Jenner who've made an income off black features. We say goals to "foreign women" that strut their surgical curves, big boobs, botox lips, a braided unit but call the very woman that coined this