Just landed in California for my birthday trip and went into a cafe to do some work before checking into my hotel. Beat It played as soon as I took my seat :â)
How does one define âfemininityâ? Femininity has no one definite meaning, the term feminine is a man made concept constructed from decades of misogyny and racism, but one thing is clear and synonymous with femininity. Tragedy. To be a woman, to embrace the feminine side of yourself is inherently tragic if you go in depth and look at the history, especially the history of black women and other women of color.
Michael happily embraced his femininity, defying the odds and what a man, a black man, should present himself as. Itâs interesting to see how that same tragedy that follows femininity latch itself on to him throughout his life.
A good example is the tabloids and the needless ways they ripped into himâwhether it be his looks, deeming him too âgirlishâ or the way they conjured up egregious and ridiculous headlines that youâd usually see reserved for female celebrities.
Michael was soft spoken, he did things with grace, he carried himself with a certain âfeminineâ energy that the white man felt threatened by. A black man? Carrying himself with poise? Being kind? Well, that goes against the brutish and savage nature that black men are portrayed to have? It was a rebellion, a conscious effort to take back his autonomy and tell the media âthis is me, this is who I amâ.
He was paternal in a way the white man didnât like, which led to the 1993 allegations. Black women are constantly told we are ghetto and cannot care for our children but Michael, even though he was a man, showed that black people are caring. We are paternal and maternal people who love our children. If Michael was a woman, Iâm so sure these allegations would have never come to pass.
Michael was extremely educated which again, goes against the stereotypes the white man places on black people. You didnât see men carry themselves like Michael did and again, white people saw that as a threat. Femininity is reserved for fair skinned women, not black women and certainly not black men.
Itâs a tragedy, the way he was demonized for being himself. A tragedy thatâs feminine through and through.
Never forget that Michael Jackson released Off the Wall, just four weeks after Chicagoâs infamous âDisco Demolition Nightâ, where disco records were blown up in a staged anti-disco demonstration that became known as âthe day disco died.â The backlash, steeped in racist & homophobic undertones against the Black, Queer & Latino roots of disco, was changing the face of radio.
Off the Wall, which drew heavily from the very sound being pushed aside, turned it into one of the defining albums of his career. It went on to win 3 AMA awards (Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Album, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for âDonât Stop Til You Get Enough.â) It was also the first album by any solo artist to put four singles in the Hot 100's top 10.
âoff the wallâ is such an essential album in michaelâs discography, it was so needed in order for michael to have that smooth transition from child star to the young man he was becoming in the public eye. i view it as the equivalent to janetâs âcontrolâ, in terms of both albumsâ themes of liberation and freedom that comes with young adulthood. i could write an essay about how important that album is not only to michaelâs career, but how well it resonates with young black listeners like myself.
With all the talk about Michaelâs sex appeal lately⊠I gotta tell yâall why Michael being liberated in his body as a black man, and how even his âcrotch grabbing,â is so powerful to me. And to understand this, we have to discuss how Black menâs bodies have been shamed throughout history as something taboo or evil.
(Loooong read ahead lol)
Black male bodies have always been a site of white supremacist control. During the era of chattel slavery, white men asserted dominance over black menâs flesh to dehumanize/emasculate them by violating and owning their bodies. Sexual and physical violence was forced on them, along with their bodies being used as property for labor. Every form of human degradation and domination was enacted to strip them of their autonomy and manhood. Black bodies were treated as a commodity meant only for white consumption.
There is also a caricature created by white supremacy, called the âblack brute,â that was forced onto Black men to keep them controlled after the Civil War. Black men were painted to be hypermasculine âanimalsâ with large genitalia who couldnât control their sexual appetite. Eurocentric standards defined Black men very rigidly, leaving no space for their full range of humanness- physically and emotionally.
Black men have also been lynched throughout American history for white ritualistic entertainment, over made-up offenses and false social âviolations.â They were violently mutilated as part of these lynchings. Removing their genitalia symbolized the white fixation on their bodies and the fear of white women becoming their âprey.â There were even medical articles written with ways to "cure" Black men of their âbarbaricâ sexual urges through castration. This racial violence stems from white supremacist insecurity, wanting control over Black men, while creating terror around their sexuality. These dehumanizing fixations and biased stereotypes are present in many areas of Michaelâs life.
Michaelâs existence as a Black man under the worldâs spotlight made him the target of racist, intrusive attacks. His soft voice and sensitive nature attracted media speculation about his body and masculinity. Rumors about faking his voice, taking hormones, and childhood castration were just some of the speculations around his biology. There was also the intense social pressure for him to remain a cute child, making his puberty experience under white beauty standards (and a self-hating father) exceptionally traumatic. This perpetual cage of childhood was forced onto Michael, favoring the immature, non-threatening idea of him. While white conservative media initially praised him for being a "safe" Black idol, he was also criticized heavily for not conforming to their idea of Black hypermasculinity. This conditional acceptance demanded conformity for white comfort, yet also denied his autonomy as a man outside of entertainment. The infamous New York Post headline, "Peter Pan or Pervert?," shows that the media would only accept Michael as either a stunted adult or a sex criminal.
In adulthood, he was infantilized by media outlets for not being traditionally masculine or âsexualâ enough based on their racial standards. This attitude allowed audiences to consume his talent while denying his reality, intelligence, and agency as an adult Black man. Interviewers would pry about his sex life and appearance, rather than his art and humanitarian work, framing him as an odd specimen. Bashir weaponized Michael's childhood trauma and his emotional vulnerability to portray him as a strange, unstable pedophile. Michael was forced to constantly defend his psychological maturity and personal life choices on camera, more than his white peers. The media felt entitled to deconstruct every aspect of his private life, turning interviews into interrogations. This is evident when Michael uncomfortably closed his jacket after Barbara Walters claimed he was eccentric and invited attention...a human reaction to being on display for the world's judgement. His existence was pathologized as a strange anomaly. Headlines scrutinized Michaelâs clothing, makeup, and hair choices that would be praised as âandrogynousâ or âgroundbreakingâ on a white performer.
His skin condition added to the prejudice against him. This phenomenon has historical parallels: Black individuals with vitiligo or albinism were often used as attractions in sideshows or by white scientists for racist theories. The English term âwhite negroâ viewed them as a medical oddity and a different human species. For example, Henry Moss, a 17th century enslaved man with vitiligo, became a paid exhibition for white amusement, and the subject of research experiments. The stigma that treated Michaelâs body as bizarre and contaminated with sin was already embedded into our culture.
The social panic around Michael also shows in the hysteria around his dancing. It reflects the colonial white gaze towards Black culture. It treats hip movements as something inherently hypersexual or âvulgar.â Pelvic, bottom, and hip movements are major parts of Afro-diasporic cultures, using the entire body as an instrument rather confining dance to just feet and a rigid, straight spine. Black dance throughout many genres (jazz, blues, soul, modern hip hop, etc.) represents liberation and autonomy. Dance has been an ancestral outlet for the soul throughout centuries of racist oppression. However, Michaelâs dancing was criticized by white media platforms for being too promiscuous and corrupting the youth. While dance does express Black sensuality, Western culture has historically viewed it as abnormally provocative and strange. This racist view traces back to minstrel shows mocking Black dance, as well as when enslaved individuals had to dance for white entertainment. Black dance has socially been seen as lewd and sinful when compared to Eurocentric dance standards.
The judgement Michael received shows the discomfort around Black sexuality, especially as a former child star facing racial double standards. White popstars and rockstars did not face the same systemic anxieties that Michael did, regarding bodily expression. While Oprah wanted to imply a sexually deviant reason for his crotch grabbing, Michael stated it came from the power of the music. Michaelâs eroticism was subconsciously intertwined with the rhythm; his sharp pelvic and fluid hip movements became a physical embodiment of the drum itself. His creative, musical energy went hand-in-hand with his sensuality. These movements were always central to his choreography in the 1970s, yet outrage developed as his vitiligo progressed and he drifted from his commercialized âsafeâ Black superstar image.
His deliberate pelvic touch, zipper closeup, and slow hip grinding in the Black Panther dance was such a powerful way to reject the endless puritanical criticisms against him. The raw emotion in the video was also an animalistic, unfiltered reaction to racism, but was interpreted as promoting mindless public destruction. Consequently, the video faced immediate mainstream backlash and network censorship for alleged sexual and physical âaggression.â The public felt compelled to sanitize Michaelâs image, weaponizing Black sexuality and emotion against him. The objectification of Michaelâs body was not exclusive to the stage and music videos; it bled into the dehumanizing legal battles he faced as well.
The worldâs most famous and powerful figure being a Black man, loved by women of all races, challenged the racial hierarchies that America is founded on. It was a recipe for racial injustice and a curated enemy for the public. The 2005 trial was a modern-day lynching that degraded his image for the sake of greed and manufactured panic. The 1993 allegations were the calculated result of a vengeful extortionist seeking to humiliate him through the caricature of the sexually dangerous Black man. Tabloid malpractice profited off this moral hysteria, circulating baseless speculations and buying out fictional stories that portrayed Michael as a monster.
The 2005 trial was a dehumanizing witch hunt, at the hands of the white DA Thomas Sneddon who had a vendetta to prosecute Michael, even if it meant falsifying evidence. Michael's incarceration would have been a trophy for Sneddon, making an example of a beloved icon and supporting his professional reputation. That trial violated Michael on every level: subjecting him to an invasive strip search, documenting intrusive images of his private areas, forced court appearances while injured, raiding his safe space, and the destruction of his overall health. This public spectacle and media frenzy created an ignorant stigma around his legacy that still stands. The violent arrest and intrusive body search echo the centuries-old pattern of authorities robbing black bodies of basic human dignity.
I donât believe itâs a mere coincidence that the first worldwide Black heartthrob was falsely accused of sex crimes, with white men leading the attack. Belittling a Black man through abusive media and mob mentality heavily mirrored the painful past of legal and physical violence inflicted on Black bodies. A racist, narrow cultural framework created the media circus of fascination and fear around Michaelâs anatomy. These themes are obvious in the media slur âWacko Jackoâ (which Michael was very aware of), reducing a complex, brilliant human being to an eccentric animal. Even immediately after passing, that name continued to follow him in the tabloids, alongside invasive images of his body. There was also an instant, hypocritical switch to falsified sympathy and celebrating his legacy once he passed, but it was superficially done just for the nostalgic bandwagon. The media economy exploited Michael to no end, by destroying him and then capitalizing on his memory.
But Michael's spirit and strength always proved to be Invincible, refusing to be victimized by bigoted judgement or compromising his art. This is why I view Threatened as an autobiographical anthem that plays on the narrative of Michael being a scary, savage âcreature.â It flips that haunting dynamic to intimidate the biased media systems, while recognizing Michaelâs mass appeal and inescapable status. It tells the white patriarchal establishment, âEvery time your lady speaks, she speaks of me. Threatened.â It directly targets the fragile egos of Michaelâs critics and how institutions felt threatened by his refusal to submit to any boxes. âHalf of me you'll never be, so you should feel threatened by me.â The song counterattacks anyone who has tried to take away Michealâs pride and manhood. It reclaims Michaelâs power, despite the social campaign to label him as a âfreak.â
Michael was catapulted into a world eager to shame his body and capitalize on racist, gendered panic. Abusive journalism demonized his sexuality and skin condition, portraying him as a âweirdâ criminal for tabloid profit. Additionally, Thomas Sneddon relentlessly pursued Michael for over a decade to prosecute him as a sexual predator. Tabloid Junkie strongly exposes how the obsessive press wanted to, âspeculate to break the one you hate" and "circulate the lie" they confiscate. Michael was vividly aware of the systemic goal to "assassinate and mutilate" him on a literal and social level. The media manhunt around Michael mirrored the publicized, coordinated pursuits of black men for public spectacle in American history.
The historical fixation on Black biology and autonomy laid the foundation for the media attacks and weaponized sexuality used against Michael. His private, complex humanity was treated as a freakish anomaly that the media sought to brutally deconstruct. There was a permanent racialized lens observing his expression of Black masculinity, turning nonconformity and difference into a tabloid minstrel caricature. Deeply rooted social phobias and fabricated narratives stripped Michael of his presumption of innocence from the general public. The historical biases fabricated around Black men and their sexuality were triggered in hopes of his publicized downfall.
Despite these pressures, the way Michael ruled a stage or captivated the audience remains generationally sacred. Performance was the ultimate sanctuary for a self-proclaimed, painfully shy man...whose traumas and pain were transmuted into an electrifying force of self and cultural emancipation. His artistic legacy and transcendent performances are immortal archives of his Black resilience and identity. With every smooth body roll, hip thrust, or defiant "crotch grab," he exuded Black sexual liberation and somatic freedom. Michaelâs showmanship was an authentic expression of a Black man reclaiming his space, breaking the chains of his own dehumanization and the centuries of oppression against Black bodies.
i joke Abt the reblog pass but y'all genuinely gotta stop being scared to engage with black art made by black people and that includes the usage of the word "nigga"
- This will be a series due to the false narrative heavily pushed by the media that Michael despised young girls. Some will be surprised that he was in fact much more affectionate with them -
- Invincible signing 2001, Michael with a young fan named Paris!
- World Music Awards 1993, Michael with Lily Chandler [Jordan Chandlerâs half sister] I thought this would be important to include because guilters focus on Jordan who sat on the edge of Michaelâs seat due to limited amount of chairs but fail to acknowledge Lily actually sitting on Michaelâs lap for half the show
- Heal LA and Heal the World Foundation 1993, Michael with a young fan
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