bell hooks - Are You Still a Slave? Liberating the Black Female Body | Eugene Lang College

There's no money in Liberation. That's the sad truth.

conversation about Beyonce begins at 28:40

A beautiful conversation. I could watch it over and over.

I am "celibate," or at least have been for some time, for the exact reason bell hooks mentioned.  I also found the audience reaction very interesting.  She had earlier called out our culture for idolizing fame, money, etc. ... Sex is also high on that list of status symbols.  I agree with her on how narrow and unimaginative our definition of sex is ... And that being a sexual being does not necessitate engaging in some prescribed behavior.   At any rate, for the exact attitude personified in the audience reaction, I don't find this an easy topic to discuss.  But I do wonder about the "sex positive" messages that seem to assume there is some vast pool of potential partners that are respectful and just waiting to safely explore any kind of behavior with utmost reverence ... and that any "negative" messages only exist in a person's head.  I don't feel this is going to be particularly liberatory for young women, who will soon find lots of "nice guys" are not so nice in bed.   Celibacy can be a form of self respect and preservation.  

"We have to create our own standards".  "The cost of liberation."  This is refreshing...

on the beyonce thing, I think many are too hung up on the hyperbole of the word "terrorism" and the (un-implied) implications of respectability politics here. Here's what I think: Beyonce Knowles can do and be whatever type of woman and artist she wants to be and DESERVES to occupy a huge space in pop, her fans' hearts, and to sell out entire stadiums. But when "Beyonce" is constantly SELECTED to be on the cover of almost every magazine (cultural and fashion), all over TV and the radio almost more than any other female artist, and has the formal audience of the President of the United States and endorsement of the First Lady, it creates a DOMINANCE of "that" image and an amplification of "its" impact in the extremely influential visual/political space that implies the SUPREMACY of her type of femininity in a space that TRULY lacks varied representations and celebrations of other types of women and femininity. So, Beyonce Knowles, as an individual artist and person, is not an anti-feminist terrorist (she is a proud feminist), but "Beyonce's" CO-OPTED image by the massively influential visual media/political space BECOMES a WMU (weapon of mass undermining) of the strides we are trying to make to teach and show people many, varying types of femininity that are worthy of the same representation, respect, admiration, compensation, etc as the different types of masculinity. Like Lena Dunham, Carrie Bradshaw, and Kim K - who aren't "bad" women for doing what they do and creating what they create, but are nevertheless VERY impactful agents of imbalance to equal representation of women and feminism when they are SELECTED and HERALDED as the dominant and supreme female images in the visual/political space. Beyonce's image is certainly a hegemonic device for patriarchy and capitalism. No doubt. She's not "bad" as an artist though, but her image DEFINITELY needs to be COUNTERBALANCED with other ones! I think the more constructive thing to do here in the service of promoting feminism and varied female representation is to demand of entities like Sony, television, radio, magazines MORE counter-hegemonic representations so that they can reach the same level as the Beyonces and the Britneys and the Lenas and have the same impact as them. It's not gonna do any good to keep criticizing Beyonce personally for not portraying different types of femininity or political ideals because she was never meant to do that and probably never will (authentically), so we should stop trying to put so much on her. As a comedian once said, "TV, mags, and radio are called 'mediums' because their content is usually neither 'rare' or 'well-done' (lol steak jokes yyyyyyeaaaahhh). So instead of asking King B to dismantle the system from within (impotently using the "master's tools" as bell astutely pointed out), we should put the pressure on these mediums OURSELVES. For example, this current bruhaha references Beyonce's recent TIME magazine cover and whether or not she had her own agency in choosing how she was represented on it/in it. Does any care or notice that TIME magazine is historically and invariably a propagandist rag??? I'm not gonna be mad at Beyonce for being semi-nude, with blonde hair, and cast in greytone on the cover! I'm gonna STAY mad at TIME magazine for doing business as usual and heralding pro-capitalist, pro-patriarchal, western imperialist figures and villifying non-patriarchal, non-capitalist, non-western imperialist figures. Same with Sony, TV, the music industry, etc. We have to implore and PROVIDE the change we want to see and change the DEMAND for what they keep offering, and not just expect them or people like Bey to do it on their own. I also think we should CONTINUE (because I see alot of men and women doing this these days and it makes me so proud) to provide and celebrate counter-hegemonic examples of femininity (and masculinity) in our everyday conversations, debates, and interactions with our friends and the people we meet. That helps alot. p.s. I'm going to also offer one of my personal (and ugliest) opinions here just to put it out there for someone to correct me or add some insight here but...........I PERSONALLY think Beyonce should NOT be slated as a feminist icon (outside of pop) because she has done NOTHING to empower women OUTSIDE of sexuality and materialism. And furthermore, the Beyhive (i'm talking the hardcore fans), to me, speak to her lack of effectiveness and power of harmful disparate impact in those areas, because when I look at the beyhive i notice how they are often some of the LEAST sexually empowered, most financially unstable/disempowered, and least educated (and I don't just mean formal, snobby, education/degree holding) people ever and therefore are the LEAST likely to wield their agency as women, men, or people of the LGBT community and make effective challenges to the patriarchal system or change ANYTHING for that matter. Sorry but I really do think that and I'm not proud of it. Beyonce is like the damn Khalessi of pop music and she has a bunch of slaves that are only good at helping HER and her few friends achieve the Iron Throne and are the least likely to ever achieve power or autonomy for their own authentic wishes and interests.

Dear New School - Thank you so much for posting these conversations freely for all of us to see. What a beautiful gift to the world. On a side note, it would be so wonderful if we could find a woke sound technician to make sure that these amazing and important voices were heard without feedback or other technical issues.

Considering Beyomce branded her self as a " feminist" the way she exploits her sexualism is not good loads of people say that shes taking control of her image and sending a message but tbh its all bullshit she doesnt giv a shit about any of that she just does what ever to make money , theres loads of her photos where she is lightened up and given straight hair to the point where she almost looks like a white woman !? , if she was supposedly a true feminist and all that , revealing her self like that to public does not send good message to young girls , especially the fact she is some ones mother now , im not having a rant at the end of the day shes a singer she has the right to do what she wants , but when she dares to call her self a feminist and act like shes for a self less cause its not right , bell hooks is right in using them words obviously when people hear the word terroeist they freak out but everyone knows what shes trying to say but instead decide to cause an argumdnt cuz they like beyonces music , im obviously not a girl , im a guy and im not black im white so people might say its not my buisness but its just pure commen sense how fake it all is

If there are other gender non-conforming black femmes + other folks watching this, please feel free to reach out - I would really love to build relationships with others who are trying to create space for us/ourselves in this world that isn't ready. I will hold space for you, and need others to hold space for me, too. <3

agreed. rape scenes (no matter what gender/race) should not be entertainment. movies with violence are desensitizing and not uplifting the vibration.

This is an interesting conversation to me as a straight, African-American woman.  While I have my theological viewpoints re: sexuality, I have to applaud Bell for this riveting discussion that challenges gender, patriarchal, bigoted viewpoints of White Male Privilege.  Bravo!

what a great discussion....long overdue! thanks for posting!

I love when Marci blackman speaks at 53 minutes and shola interjects just wonderful

bell hooks is a revelation

Thank you for this brilliant and wonderful conversation.

@The New School could you put subtitles on this? this video is used for one of my courses and I'm having trouble understanding it. thank you!

What a brilliant panel!

As always! wonderful and critical. Thank you The New School! please please keep loading all the videos. #bellhooks #southafricalovesbellhooks  

I agree with bell hooks comment about watching Patsy's torture in 12 years as a Slave.  How can we watch that naked violence without a point-of-view and think "what a great movie"?  Enough already.  I'm looking to see black women's thoughts, ideas and wisdom shown as an example of the best thought.  The kind of thinking bell hooks shares in her communications.  Enough demonstrations of twitching flesh.  

+The New School I like what you are doing. You are Waking People Up. Thank you.