What is a terrorist? Someone who is capable of causing me undue harm at a moment's notice, a non-state actor engaged in warfare who holds me hostage in a public space by utilizing physical force to bring me to surrender to their power. A person who does a drive-by is a terrorist whether they roll through my street or not because they raise the probability that if they *want* they can get me, and the possibility of getting got could frighten me, cause anxiety and panic, even if I am not around them physically or do not seem to be engaged in a harmful act. This is why domestic violence perpetrators are terrorists: they may not escalate for years. The violence is often inconsistent or seldom...its a heated argument here, flowers there, slap in the face during heated argument there (not his or her fault, you shoved them first right), then its broken bones, and in many cases death. So do these characteristics fit Beyonce? I think it depends who we are and how her image appeals to our perception of beauty and perfection. I will try to examine this from both hooks and others' point of view.
Perhaps, hooks believes that Beyonce is *similar to* a terrorist because her image could be considered destructive to many black women. Her skin has progressively lightened over the years, her hair has become straighter, and yet I notice cognitive dissonance in many black feminists regarding this issue. Some, like this author, say, "Well I know Bey participates in consumerism and all that, but..." But what? When someone acquires this much mass appeal and influence, their commodification increases materialism as a social value. Well, maybe its ok to keep straightening my hair, my role model Bey *chooses* to do it. Really? You and I may carefully pull our faint memories of Destiny's Child and recall when tracked up Beyonce with darker skin was palatable to her predominantly black audiences as a kind of "ghetto fabulous princess." Back then she was the round the way Bey, I-can't-stand-dat-guh, dat-high-yella-heffa could steal my man B Yonnn Sayyy! And let's pull more memories, yes, the Beyonce who was selfish, disruptive, narcissistic, and oh no she betta didn't outshine Kelly wit' her loud yella a**! Yes, I remember those opinions back when. Fast forward, and we see that ghetto got glammer and the skin lighter, and the outfits more couture,and the audiences grew, and her soulful voice stayed, and performances bigger, and before long she wasn't nobody's child honey, she was regal, marvelous, and more like a queen than a show pony for the music industry. Some women, regardless of race, feel very empowered by this Beyonce. They want to *be* the essence of that widely appealing woman, regardless of how much more European her features became for her to secure her fame.
This brings us back around to the conflict: We should be very uncomfortable that Beyonce became an amalgam of male desire and female fear: the curvy body/booty, straight silky blonde weave, big hazel or gray or green eyes, small nose, pouty mouth, long stems, fair skin, and throaty earthy voice. She indulges male decadence and female arousal as she implies that the rest of the "women" are incapable of reaching her standard without also adopting her features, which have been imposed *not chosen* by mainstream standards of beauty. Terrorist? Only if I desperately wish for beauty to be more complex and inclusive of "negroid" features--the first being dark skin and natural black hair--coils y'all, for real. Until then, so long as we deify Bey we keep toxic ideologies in our communities because she helps us justify the obsession with weaves, clothes, bags, and all the things inhibiting us from acknowledging our culture of death--waste, pollution, unemployment, and human labor exploitation, which are all causally related to overconsumption and simply not giving a f***.
Is it fair to say that Beyonce is a terrorist? Is she solely to blame for all the world's problems, which obviously preceded her fame and wealth? Of course not! no one individual can be solely to blame. However, as a woman of influence she does not get to reject or be immune to the consequences of her own rejection of black aesthetics for far more fortune than we can conceive. Oh I know what you are thinking. But don't get cute and start saying black is relative and accuse me of being an essentialist. You know which black I am talking 'bout. I mean dark skin, wide nose, big lips, and kinky hair. (We ain't about to see Esther Roll and James Amos on today's cable channels! I ain't got to remind y'all about the visual representations in My Wife and Kids...on the air quite awhile ago, but one of the few shows about black family life to reach mainstream audiences)
Regardless of our opinion, no one is making us watch the golden Isis, but the fact that its awfully hard and nearly impossible to avoid does bother me. She is 'terroresque' because she successfully vamps my attention, which is the most valuable thing she can take from me. As I type this, engaging her image, she makes a living. She doesn't inspire me, she doesn't give me hope for humanity or women, she's just......exactly.
annaxmalina
blakekathryn
baratheonpilled
yousharknotpass
romaincrisis
2087