Lavish Rebellion [DOT COM]

I scrolled to Fefe Dobson on my iPod today, in hopes that her song “Ghost” was already there. Thankfully it was (because you know that feeling when you’ve just got hear a certain song at the moment) and I pressed play only to push the repeat button six more times. Such a good pop song.

And while later on I continued listening to Dobson on Spotify (the moment continued), I clicked on “Related Artists” and saw the name Skye Sweetnam. I was like, “WHAT!” I remember her! She only had one album as a solo artist, but I liked her single “Tangled Up In Me.” Gawd. Early 2000s memories. She’s still in music now but is today the lead singer of the band Sumo Cyco.

Earlier this week, the great feminist activist and founder of Ms. magazine Gloria Steinem spoke to Black Enterprise and their Money Editor Stacey Tisdale. In their interview, Tisdale asked Steinem about the relationship between Black women and feminism, which over the years has been strained or challenged by accusations of White women practicing exclusivity. One of the notable statements Steinem made was in crediting the empowering movement to the Black women she met decades ago, like in the 1970s: “I thought they invented the feminist movement. I know we all have different experiences, but I learned feminism disproportionately from black women.”

In the years since the inception of Ms., Black feminism and womanism were created in response to many women of color feeling as if they were excluded or forgotten in women’s rights discussions. Womanism was first used a term in a short story by author Alice Walker (who later published The Color Purple), an acquaintance of Steinem for many years.

I personally found it disheartening when Black and White women couldn’t come together they felt their experiences were too disparate to unite. I mean, really, don’t women of all colors want the same damn things: equality and respect(?) I know it goes deeper than that, but I’m going to save such expanded thoughts for future pieces and leave it at that.

Head over to the Black Enterprise website to watch the interview with this link here! It’s really good! Also, yesterday, March 25, was Steinem’s 81st birthday.