Archive for Rant

Fat Girl Fairytales: The Amazing Transformation of Jennifer Hudson

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by ThePBG on January 8th 2012
in Culture, Lifestyle, Rant, TV Tales, Uncategorized     
tags: , , , , ,    

Can we talk about Jennifer Hudson being in cahoots with those “diet” people over at Weight Watchers to make people think that FAT=HORRIBLE & TACKY? Yes, let’s do that. I’ve been meaning to rant about this for at least a week. I’m about sick and tired of seeing Jennifer Hudson in these awful TV ads for Weight Watchers. She’s been wailing like a newly-freed slave for those Weight Watchers coins ever since she gave birth to her son. Weight Watchers apparently thinks that not only is Jennifer Hudson is of, at least, mediocre intellect, that the rest of us fat-ass [Black] women watching TV are as well. While all of Jennifer’s Weight Watchers commercials have rubbed me the wrong way in general, I have to say this one here is the one that REALLY makes me wanna slap the wig off of somebody’s head:


In this ad, the Fat and Tacky Jennifer in the ugly dress and cheap curly weave that we all remember from American Idol is singing “I Believe In You and Me” (The Antebellum mix by DJ Toby Kinte From the “Give Us Us Free mixtape) and out of the shadows comes present day, New and Improved Jennifer Hudson in a fabulous dress, bone straight, high quality weave hair and of course 100lbs lighter (or whatever it is that she lost). New and Improved Jennifer goes on to do a duet with Fat and Tacky Jennifer that only sounds like two Black Baptist Girls fighting for a solo, all in the name of convincing us to lose weight. OK, cool. Whatever.

Have a damn seat.

Have a damn seat.

 

But I find this commercial most disturbing because most of us understand that Old and Tacky Jennifer didn’t have the same access  [read :money] to the things/practices/procedures that made New and Improved Jennifer able to look the way that she does now. Let’s pretend that New and Improved Jennifer never lost the weight. Here’s what you have:

This Jennifer won the Grammy, Golden Globe & Oscar. New & Improved Jennifer ain't doing shyt but singing for Weight Watchers.

 

There are a couple of things I need Weight Watchers to stop trying to telling us using Jennifer Hudson, a beautiful, rich Black woman, to do it:

Stop telling us there is something inherently wrong with Fat Bodies. There isn’t. This isn’t about how much anyone cares about fat women’s health, because they really don’t. This is about playing into the insecurities of women who have been lead to believe that skinny = best-thing-on-Earth-and-if-you’re-not-you-are-ugly/sick/undesirable. For profit. Everybody should know by now that “fat” doesn’t necessarily equal “unhealthy”. Body policing and fat shaming needs to die in these mean American Streets.

Stop telling us through these awful commercials that tired ass “This could be you story”. The average woman (who is a size 12/14, by the way) is not going to be able to transform like Jennifer did without Jennifer’s funds. And those funds came to be via the success she enjoyed with her Fat Body.

Quite frankly, I’d respect Jennifer more if she were doing ads for hair weave, makeup and body shapers. That’s a more accurate depiction of who she “is” now.

 

~pbg

 

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Rip The Runway: Vogue, “Slave Earrings”? REALLY??

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by ThePBG on August 21st 2011
in Beauty & Style, Blogging Community, Culture, featured, My Voice, Rant, The Internet     
tags: , , , , , ,    

OK, Last week Nivea for men posted a wack-ass ad insinuating that black men with beards and afros were “uncivilized” and “didn’t give a damn”. It was just an asshole move on their part and after getting slammed for it in every corner of the World Wide Web, they took the ad down and issued an apology. 

Fast forward to this week: Here’s Vogue Italia with their “slave earrings”. Yep, “SLAVE EARRINGS”. Check it:

"Slave earrings"...on a white lady, no less. Hmph.

From the Vogue Italia website:

Jewellery has always flirted with circular shapes, especially for use in making earrings. The most classic models are theslave and creole styles in gold hoops.

 If the name brings to the mind the decorative traditions of the women of colour who were brought to the southern Unites States during the slave trade, the latest interpretation is pure freedom. Colored stones, symbolic pendants and multiple spheres. And the evolution goes on.

 Anna Bassi, Vogue Gioiello n. 109, March 2010


It seems as if we have to teach these unaware corporations everyday that our culture isn’t up for exploitation and that they need to respect us. Hey, I’m down if you’re down. This right here is disgusting. It is a slap in the face of not only the memory every slave woman who suffered the indignities of European Chattel Slavery, but to all of their descendants, including me. A Black slave woman would be be beaten if she even attempted to adorn herself with something as fine as gold hoop earrings. No white slave traders ever said to African women “Oh, well ma’am…I’m going to take you over to the Americas and sell you into a lifetime of bondage, servitude and horrific violence, but you can keep those nice gold hoop earrings you’re wearing.” Excuse my tart language, but Vogue Italia can get the entire f*ck outta here with this ad. Slavery is never trendy, fashionable or chic.

I’m about sick of this crap. I sent the people at Vogue a letter and I encourage you to the same if ad this offends you as much as it does me. Fellow Blogger @purplepeace79 sent me this note that she put up on her Tumblr blog and she is giving us all permission to copy and paste it into the contact form over at vogue.com to lodge our complaints:

Dear Vogue,

On the Vogue Italia website, there is a product called “Slave Earrings”http://www.vogue.it/en/vogue-gioiello/shop-the-trend/2011/08/hoop-earrings. This is horribly disrespectful to people of African descent whose ancestors endured the horrors of slavery. To refer to gold hoop earrings as “slave earrings” is a slap in the face to every enslaved person who suffered at the hands of racist oppression. You should pull this item or change the change name immediately. This is unbelievable. How did you let this happen? 

Thanks for this form letter, PurplePeace. If this doesn’t drive home the point to the people at Vogue that “slavery accessories” are not that new hot sh*t, then they truly just don’t give a damn.

 

~pbg

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“Don’t Be Afraid”: Anatomy of A Rape Carol

20 Comments
by ThePBG on July 16th 2011
in Culture, featured, Music, Rant     
tags: , , , ,    

Yes, a “Rape Carol”. This is a term introduced to me by my good girlfriend Alise of NaturallyAlise.com. A “rape carol” is a song  usually sung by a man that lyrically  suggests in one way or another that there will be sex going down and that the woman’s consent is either not needed, not wanted or at best, questionable. Most of the rape carols I know of have been in R&B music from the 80s and 90s, but I’m sure there have been songs like these across all genres and musical eras.

The other night while I was enjoying time on my newest favorite site, TurnTable.fm (if you don’t know about this site, click here and read what Butta from Soulbounce.com wrote about music lovers’ newest addiction), someone played the song “Don’t Be Afraid” by 90′s R&B sensation Aaron Hall. Aaron Hall was also a member of one of my favorite male R&B groups, Guy and had his solo career usurped by pissy ass R.Kelly, the other Rape Caroler. “Don’t Be Afraid” was featured on the 1992 soundtrack for the movie “Juice” starring Tupac Shakur. It also spent a week in the #1 spot on the U.S. R&B charts, making it Aaron Hall’s highest ranking hit.

It is also the rapey-est Rape Carol I’ve ever heard in life. I didn’t realize this until I was listening to the lyrics for real for the first time the other night. Cheese n’ Rice Superstar, this song is flippin’ SCAREY!!

I’m going to pull a few of the most disturbing lyrics of this song, but feel free to read them all here.

And I squeeze and hold you tight
Everything will feel alright
Don’t be afraid, baby
When you start to scratch and moan
And your problems are long gone
Let it happen right now

Yo. WTF is this? Sounds like somebody’s being held down and fighting to get away. But all the while, he’s saying “Don’t be afraid”.

No need to run and no need to hide
All the doors are locked baby and I have you inside
You can yell and you can hit me
It just makes me horny
Ain’t nothing but a love thing baby
Between me and you
So just give in baby, don’t worry about a thing

So, she managed to wrangle herself from his grip, but that doesn’t matter. He has all the doors locked, so she can’t get away. She’s yelling and fighting, but it’s only turning him on more. He thinks it’s “love” and she should just “give in” and not worry. REALLY, Aaron Hall?? Really??

When I get through with you
There’s nobody else you will want to go to
I put all men to shame
Remember babe, this is all a nasty man’s game

Nobody else she’ll want to go to? How about the police, you son-of-a-bitch. Just a game? Hmph. We’ll see about that.

The song goes on to what seems to be some sociopathic scene of them snuggling up after what he believes was an incredible evening of passionate lovemaking. All I can see is her lying there hoping if she just does what he wants until she can get away, he won’t strangle her to death.

I can’t believe that if we put a story of violent sexual assault on a hot track and couple it with an infectious hook it can become the most popular song in America. And still be considered a classic some 20 years later. If a DJ played this in a club today, the whole joint would be poppin’. I can’t believe I never listened to what the hell is going on in this song before just this week.  After really paying attention to what he’s saying for the very first time, I will never be able to hear it the same again. I don’t know the history of this song. I wonder if there was any backlash or uproar due to its lyrical content. I hope somebody said something when it was burnin’ up the charts.

Shout out to everybody who has ever said “It’s just a song” and to those who will flock here to defend it.

Peace to all the survivors of sexual violence, and to those who didn’t.

 

Dedicated Readers: What other “Rape Carols” do you know? Any new ones I should be aware of? What do you think of the climate that makes these kinds of songs OK to record, let alone become popular? 

 

~pbg

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Big Booty Judy: Can I Live??

29 Comments
by ThePBG on July 14th 2011
in Celebs, featured, My Voice, Rant, Women     
tags: , ,    

I didn’t watch the Espy’s last night a.) because I don’t have cable,  2.) because I don’t even watch sports and III.) I’m pretty much over awards shows. But because I do frequent the Internet, there was no way I could miss the “buzz” about tennis champ Serena Williams at the ceremony. Or more accurately, Serena Williams’ ass.

Serena walking off stage after making a presentation at the ESPY Awards.

The same thing happened last month when Free (former co-host of BET’s 106 & Park) showed up to the BET Awards in a form-fitting, sparkly dress. #FreesAss became a nationally trending topic on Twitter:

Here's Free talking to some celebs that I don't really know or care about after the BET Awards.

 

I cannot begin to tell you how uncomfortable this makes me. The comments made about Serena and Free weren’t even about me, but they made me cringe,cower and cover up sitting alone at my computer.  As a Black woman with a big butt, this type of attention is the bane of my existence. No matter what I wear, whether it be long and loose or short and tight, some combination thereof or anywhere in between, it is impossible to hide my behind. I am Big Booty Judy and I come from a family of Big Booty Judy’s. All of the women in my family have junk in the trunk. We can’t help it…we were born this way. Full disclosure: I was thin as a rail until after I had my son in 1998. According to legend, in my family you don’t “fill out” until you turn 25 or have your second baby. I did both in the same year.

To have one’s body dissected, objectified and fetishized in such a manner is an absolutely despicable feeling. It’s like being molested by the words and attitudes of absolute strangers: the stares, the cat-calls and those bold S.O.B.’s that have gone as far as to reach out and touch me. I will never understand why people think it is ok to do this. It is sickening to be approached in an overtly sexually aggressive manner for no reason other than having a high, round ass. Having people comment one way or another on something you just can’t help, something as personal as YOUR BODY when you do nothing more than stand at a bar/attend award ceremonies/walk down the street is absolutely dehumanizing and degrading. I have gone through this so much in the last 13 years that I find myself actually apologizing for my own ass to people, being embarrassed by it and sitting down when I’d rather be standing. It’s not a compliment and it is not fun to be the world’s seemingly favorite sexual fetish. I just want to have a peaceful public existence in this body. Can I live??

And for those who would dare come through here and tell me “Oh, well…they knew what was gonna happen when they put on those dresses. They wanted the attention.” I would advise you to miss me with that bullshiggity. There is nothing you can wear to hide an ass like that. Serena is one of the greatest tennis players who has ever lived, black or white, male or female. I don’t recall seeing too many comments or posts about her athletic accomplishments after her appearance on the Espy’s, DESPITE it being a sports awards show. Where’s that kind of attention? I attended a panel discussion hosted by the Black Women’s Health Imperative in May here in DC, focusing on the sexual health of Black Girls. Free was one of the panelists and spoke so eloquently and strong about her dedication to bettering the lives of little Black Girls (as well as the street harassment she experienced as a young girl due to having the body she does). Where were all the people with their comments then? Oh.

Look, my point is this: can ya’ll just stop and consider that these asses that amaze you so much are attached to women with feelings, thoughts, talents and ideas? Can you remember that our bodies are our own and that there is a proper way to admire and compliment the beauty of a woman if you feel moved to do so?

“Unf. Dat ass!” ain’t it.

 

~pbg

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