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DiscussionBlackface
I am a black american woman and I expressed annoyance to the constant mentions and comparisons of drag and/or transgenderism to blackface on Ovarit yesterday but the comment thread was removed so I thought I'd make a post.
I've been here quite a while and I did not ever really comment on the mentions of blackface but I feel like I shouldn't have to hold my tongue on something so frequently brought up like blackface, especially as a black american woman. Racism is not often discussed here, unless it's some TRA showing their ass, but it's not something deeply discussed about how it affects women of color. But something that is brought up a lot race-wise is blackface, often to prove a point. Imagine being a black member here and just constantly seeing mentions of it. And based on demographics probably by non-black members. I'm not saying there aren't black women who don't think drag and blackface are equivalent. I don't think they are equivalent but whether they are equivalent or not is not really may point. Frankly it makes me uncomfortable how often I see it. I don't like when TRAs use black people's oppression to prove points, and I find it no different when it's done here.
Plenty of users here understand how wrong it is when TRAs say how something is "no different than segregation"...so why say something is no different than blackface? The oppression of black people is not some measurement tool that everyone needs to use for comparison.
Drag and transgenderism can be critiqued on their own without the need to compare it to something else. In fact I think comparing them to blackface does more harm than good.
I think this an important perspective. I am brown, so kind of outside of this dichotomy a bit, but I think as helpful as comparisons can be, sometimes it detracts from the original offense of the thing its being compared to. We have also become very wanton with Nazi comparisons and while I do think it maybe helps certain people understand, it can also feel like it takes away from the original atrocity.
I do think saying "people can't change race, so why should they be able to change sex?" is helpful. But perhaps the blackface comparison isn't as apt as we think.
No, the comparison is apt but it's the frequency with which it is made that it seems too convenient and ready-made.
It doesn't have to be "Oh, OP is offended so let's never make the comparison again, even when the two are clearly comparable."
Women, including black women, have been brutalized by men since the dawn of time. Our victimization collectively includes the suffering of black women during slavery. Somehow, though, blackface is worse than womanface? I'm beginning to think this "somehow" is just the fact that men are included in the category of black. We see men's suffering as more real. When women say this is just as bad, how can it be--when men aren't suffering?
Do I need to outline women's suffering?
OP does not speak for all black women. I've seen posts here and elsewhere by black women making the comparison. Thinking one person of a race/ethinicity speak for all people of that race/ethnicity is itself racist. It's falling prey to the idea that "all black people/women think thus"--which is denying black people complexity and full humanity.