I am a huge fan of Cardi B. I admire her as a young hardworking talented woman of color who came up in the Rap Industry starting from scratch. She is truly a self-made millionaire and deserves all the success and fame coming her way. I love her music and new song, Twerk. However, the video is very explicit and not something you want your daughter or son watching to state politely! The women in the video are all women of color shaking their backside and dropping it in the dirt with thongs on. Visually this could be perceived as very demeaning to black women! Many videos such as this one is rooted in a long history of African American culture of black women being idolized as sex symbols which came from slavery. The white Artist, Lexi Panterra who stated Cardi B was discriminating against white women by not having any Caucasian women in her video seems to be a mockery to me! This really got me thinking, is this something that we should praise?
Why can’t there be any Caucasian women in the video Twerk or similar videos as much as we see black women in this role? Should women be fighting for a role of being seen publicly for shaking their assets and demonized for what our ancestors blessed us with for the world to see? I understand that sex does sell and what is provocative gets attention, however; how do these types of music videos affect women of color in their professional and personal lives? In the middle of the longest Government Shutdown in US history many women are struggling to make ends meet and some will be forced into the private industry. There is already a stigma for women being aggressive to reach the top, but we have a double stigma towards black women because of the role they are perceived to play in society. This comes from slavery when Black women were rapped and viewed as owned property for hard labor and in many cases sexual gratification. I enjoy dressing professionally with some flair and the sexy look at times but could we be sabotaging ourselves by playing into our cultures perception and box they place us in? Are music videos such as Twerk putting women in color in a deeper hole if you will of fanaticism of the big booty and not good for anything other than dropping it low? Your thoughts?