The Oscars just keep getting more and more racist, don't they?
Best Actress-winner
Patricia Arquette has recently come under fire for a feminist, post-win
Oscar speech that revolved around equal pay for women. While that sounds like a noble cause, her use of phrases like, '“To every woman who gave birth," "To every taxpayer and citizen of this nation," and, "We have fought for everybody else's equal rights," rubbed many the wrong way (What about women that haven't given birth? Non taxpayers?
Non-citizens?). Elaborating further backstage, Arquette also stated, "All the men that love women, and all the gay people, and all the people of color that we've all fought for… [need] to fight for us now.”'
Yikes. Not only is this getting heavily into '
Oppression Olympics' territory, where members of marginalized groups pit themselves against each other over who is the 'most oppressed,' her speech also buys into the idea of 'feminism' as something does that does not include men, or gay people, or people of color, etc- in a nutshell, what many of us call, 'white feminism.'
This particular brand of feminism revolves around ignoring concepts of intersectionality, where, for example, race and sexuality affect gender.
It's very easy for rich, cis, straight white women- like
Patricia Arquette- to see feminism as this 'one thing,' because they benefit from privilege: he privilege of being rich, so poverty doesn't have to intersect with their feminism
. The privilege of being cis, so being non-binary doesn't have to intersect with their feminism. The privilege of being straight, so sexuality doesn't have to intersect with their feminism. And the privilege of being white, so race doesn't have to intersect with their feminism.
In addition to Arquette's white feminist rant on
Oscar night, fashion correspondent Giuliani Rancic also made headlines by claiming actress
Zendaya Coleman's faux locs made her look like she smelled like 'weed' and 'patchouli oil' on the red carpet. Many pointed out that her comments had racist undertones, especially because Rancic recently praised white teen
Kylie Jenner's similar hairstyle of fake dreads as 'hip' and 'edgy.'
Zendaya blasted Rancic on Instagram, claiming she wore the hairstyle specifically because of the racial climate around natural hairstyles on
Black people, and that she found Rancic's 'slurs' to be both offensive and stereotypical.
Rancic quickly said she never *meant* to be racist, and that she only meant to call Zendaya a 'hippie.' That's a nice backtrack, but especially when placed within the context of Rancic's glowing praise of
Jenner's hair, it was clear that Rancic carries subconscious biases about
Black hair. This is a classic case of '
Black features' being unacceptable on black bodies, but being accepted and praised on white bodies.
What next with these
Oscars???
Thanks for watching.
Links:
'Zendaya Shames
Giuliana Rancic for Oscar
Night Comments About Her Dreadlocks:'
http://www.people.com/article/zendaya-blasts-giuliana-rancic-oscars-dreadlocks-fashion-police
'Patricia Arquette’s Feminism: Only for
White Women:'
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/
2015/02/23/patricia_arquette_on_pay_equality_insulting_to_feminism
.html
'Patricia Arquette Loses Feminist
Goodwill with Comments
Backstage at Oscars:'
http://www.mediaite.com/online/patricia-arquette-loses-feminist-goodwill-with-comments-backstage-at-oscars/
'Patricia Arquette:
Time For Gays,
People of Color To
Stand Up For
Women' (
Honestly, how RIDICULOUS):
http://jezebel.com/patricia-arquette-time-for-gays-people-of-color-to-st-1687434603
'The
Gender Wage Gap Is A
Chasm For Women Of
Color:'
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/09/18/3569328/gender-wage-gap-race/
'“Racism begins in our imagination:” How the overwhelming whiteness of “
Boyhood” feeds dangerous
Hollywood myths:'
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/22/racism_begins_in_our_imagination_how_the_overwhelming_whiteness_of_boyhood_feeds_dangerous_hollywood_myths/
'
Three quarters of whites don’t have any non-white friends:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/27/three-quarters-of-whites-dont-have-any-non-white-friends-2/
Demographics of Texas (
Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Texas
Relevant tumblr links:
http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com/post/111951449503/sourcedumal-baritonepats-flacamaritza-dont
My other videos:
Reader Request: On 'Feminism:'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxH23MBY5s
Oppression Olympics RANT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV3Q8GrXuak
white
Girl With Box
Braids RANT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MA7RQRbSao
The New York Times, '
Angry Black Women,' and Accountability:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwTKq1wLgbA
Social Media and Anti-Black '
Safe Spaces:'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhn3YGAExHM&feature;=gp-n-o&google;_comment_id=z12syttqmoaxhftrd04chrjq2uyni3t53u00k
#VogueArticles and The
Erasure of Black Women:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwKTbuQvMSw
- published: 24 Feb 2015
- views: 10473