Azealia Banks

Thank you

"Anyone who knows anything about gay cultures knows being a gay man doesn't mean you want to appear feminine. Many gays identify as masc (Grindr-speak for masculine) and deride femmes on a daily basis. Even if Banks invented feminine character traits—which she didn't, since she's not fucking Eve—these qualities would never apply to all gay men."

good lord what a stupid rebuttal O_o

#notALLgaymen

But isn't the idea banks puts forth in her tweets that gay men appropriate femininity radically offensive? And isn't it also ignorant about what gay identity is actually about? The vice writer is whatever but banks is saying uncool things and doing so bc she knows they are uncool and will piss people off.

I dunno, "you are appropriating femininity!" is not exactly a simple slur.

Really Azealia is expressing in crude, tweet-ready form ideas that have come out of radical feminism and lesbian feminism, which in certain corners are intensely critical of gay men and trans women, in part due to allegations of the appropriation of femininity and the way this is used to further marginalise women and in part the position (espoused esp. vis a vis trans women) that such appropriations cannot make you a woman (see Adrienne Rich, Sheila Jeffreys, Julie Bindel etc. Also I'm trying to remember the name of the charming writer who argued gay men were sexually attracted to other men only because they hated women even more than they wanted to fuck them).

I profoundly disagree with the general thrust of those positions and find them offensive on several levels, but simply to call Azealia "radically offensive" or just homophobic/transphobic is to ignore that these are popular positions (though certainly not uncontested ones) within various stripes of leftist discourse which would say the real problems are misogyny/sexism and cultural imperialism.

Julie Bindel peddles a lot of transphobic crap in The Guardian, for instance.

To be clear, I think Azealia does engage in homophobic/transphobic posturing, but the issues are involved enough that gay men who appear to be somewhat misogynistic themselves should think twice before they jump on the high horse they affectionately name "bitchell".

Ehhh radfem has little to no purchase among black Americans -- especially, I presume, for someone as race-conscious as Azealia, even if her rhetoric sometimes coincidentally aligns with their stances. Like unless she spent a lot of time in white womyn's spaces, which I somehow have a hard time seeing, that's probably not where she picked up those ideas.

Anyway, these threads pretty much sum up my thoughts on the matter:

https://twitter.com/perlucidum/status/554053026889998336
https://twitter.com/smallspooky/status/562687132477968384
https://twitter.com/smallspooky/status/562687479841837057
https://twitter.com/smallspooky/status/562688194966478848

Sigh

I'm not saying Azealia's been reading rad fem, just that the propositions are similar.

the proposition is rigid, essentialisti definitions of gender. she probably picked it up from mainstream transphobic culture

Is transphobia an issue in black / race conscious feminism? The only such stuff I read tends to be very scrupulous about recognising intersectionality.

huh, that smallspooky twitter has blocked me, and i've never seen them before or know of being blocked by anybody else

I'm blocked by iggy and azaelia

im ok with that although sometimes its annoying for work purposes

haha

Start a second Twitter account that only follows, never posts.

Is transphobia an issue in black / race conscious feminism? The only such stuff I read tends to be very scrupulous about recognising intersectionality.

― Tim F, Thursday, February 5, 2015 4:07 AM Bookmark

Not ~usually~, but as treeship says, pervasive mainstream culture is transphobic as hell, which has the chance to infect all corners.

unrelated but the stuff about sam smith at the bottom of the first twitter thread rev linked is otm

Ha. He told me the Sam Smith stuff was based on something I'd said that got him thinking further.

i just remembered that the last high-profile queer person to get into trouble for using "fag" as a pejorative was...perez

cis white gay middle-class men and their institutions deserve the draggings they get but riding on azealia banks's coattails to deliver them is nagl, and neither is ever saying you're fine with any gay man being called a fag

the sam smith stuff is v otm though

azealia's points are pretty agreeable i think just poorly argued

i generally pull for her whenever these sorts of controversies pop up because i feel like her entire career is discussed under sexist pretenses (i.e. like every album review has to first justify the basic legitimacy of her art simply because she disses people on twitter)

also like..... i can't imagine who many shitty white gay men she's personally encountered

i think Wale and Lupe Fiasco album reviews probably have to address them being twitter crybabies just as much at this point tbh

Cover star of the next Playboy music issue apparently.

I'm already cringing at the aftermath.

Not sure if I want to see her nude. She's got a nice ass I guess but I dunno:

https://galoremag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Galore-Issue642s.jpg

I don't think I've seen a playboy magazine in decades so not sure what's their type now. There's not that many attractive female rappers under 30 right now, though. Brianna Perry? Angel Haze? Iggy Azalea might count I guess.

Not a man so no idea if men find Azealia hot.

M.I.A. and Lauryn Hill on their prime are the sexiest female rappers I can think of.

think that debating whether azealia banks is "hot" is not a good thing for us to be debating.

That's what Playboy is there for, isn't it? To objectify.

she's hot imo

think that debating whether azealia banks is "hot" is not a good thing for us to be debating.

think that debating whether azealia banks is "hot" is not a good thing for us to be debating.

debating

sorry i stop

cannot believe she tried it with erykah who a) patted her on the head b) turned on her location

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
04/10 – Coachella Festival – Indio, CA
04/16 – Club Nokia – Los Angeles, CA
04/17- Coachella Festival – Indio, CA
05/11 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY - TICKETS
05/15 – Concord Music Hall – Chicago, IL - TICKETS
05/19 – Paradise Club – Boston, MA - TICKETS
For tickets, go to www.azealiabanks.com

Gotta say, this ended up as one of my fave albums of the year, wouldn't have believed it.

And the maybe inevitable Playboy interview (you have to buy the magazine for the naked pictures): http://www.playboy.com/articles/azealia-banks-playboy-photos.

If people read your Twitter account and don’t like you, is that because of race?
It’s always about race. Lorde can run her mouth and talk shit about all these other bitches, but y’all aren’t saying she’s angry. If I have something to say, I get pushed into the corner.

Yes, Azealia, everyone hates you because you're black.

No, but it makes it easier for certain people to.

Yeah, get off cloud cuckoo land. It has nothing to do with her being black, people don't like her because she's a mean-spirited bitch that likes annoying people on twitter.

she is tremendously unlikeable but FOH with that kind of shit, her haters are bad enough to make you sympathize w/ her which is saying something

thats @ Moka not CS

Moka, if you're not one of those people, then why the harsh reaction for me stating a simple fact? I was only pointing out that there is a sub-set of people who would check for Iggy Azelea before they check for Azealia Banks, based on the fact that one is white and easier to digest/empathise with. Are you really going to deny that?

Of course race is relevant but the Lorde comparison is weak.

can't get over the cat's facial expression

I'm sorry, slappy. I was actually mad at Banks not at you.

I don't understand what Iggy Azelea's popularity vs Banks based on race has anything to do in here right now, or think I didn't understand your question. The question she was being asked is if people reading her Twitter account wouldn't like her because she's black. She says yes, it's all about race. I think it's bullshit. People don't like her because she likes posting mean-spirited tweets and confronting anyone that dares engage her. She thinks people perceives her as angrier than Lorde? No shit, I doubt Lorde (or Iggy Azalea for the matter) spends half her day beefing with people on twitter. Race has nothing to do with her likability, at least on twitter.

It's a stupid answer but it's also a weird question to bring up. I'm sure the interviewers did their research and knew how easy it would be to just throw that bait in there for her.

Front of House with that kinda shit, inDEED.

Lorde is a terrible example because unlike Azealia she pretty much stopped talking shit as soon as her comments got reported as "news".

"Misgynoir" is a great word, thanks for the vocab Azealia.

Her album is (still) brilliant.

That is all.