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The Hypersexualization of Black Women in Music

28Mar

By The Bougie Aunt9103 Comments

Media/Culture

The Hypersexualization of Black Women in Music

The Bougie Aunt | Published 12:00 p.m. E.T. March 28, 2021 6 minute read Image Credit: Robert Roberg THE JEZEBEL TROPE The Jezebel trope afflicts Black women due to the promiscuous reputation Jezebel is regarded to have and the religious justification it simultaneously serves. Jezebel is an infamous figure in the Bible who promoted the worship of the foreign idol, Baal, persecuted the Israelites who monotheistically believed in Yahweh, and is thought to have engaged in prostitution. Moreover, Jezebel functions as a siren since she lures her husband, King Ahab, away from worshipping Yahweh to revere Baal, epitomizing Jezebel and those who behave in the same nature as the downfall of society. While a few of today’s historical scholars are attempting to redeem Jezebel’s r...

27Aug

By The Bougie Aunt8338 Comments

Government

The True Faces of ‘Mount Rushmore’

The Bougie Aunt | Published 1:00 p.m. E.T. August 27, 2020 10 minute read SUPPORT NATIVE AMERICANS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BROKEN PROMISES The Age of Exploration (starting from the 1450s AD to the 1650s AD) triggered the colonization, and consequently, subjugation of indigenous people. Europeans seizing land that did not belong to them was justified through technicalities, like deceitful negotiations. The land removal was exacerbated, however, by the ideology most Native Americans possessed towards land. To them, land was viewed as communal rather than private; no one who acquired land truly owned it because it belonged to the Earth. Europeans were able to pounce upon that ideology and take advantage of it. The decimation of the Native Ameri...

19Aug

By The Bougie Aunt4345 Comments

Education, Human Trafficking

Debt Bondage Is Hidden in Plain Sight

The Bougie Aunt | Published 2:00 p.m. E.T. August 19, 2020 10 minute read SUPPORT DEBT BONDAGE WORKERS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS! WHAT IS DEBT BONDAGE? Debt bondage, also called bonded labor, is where a worker enters themselves into slavery through accepting a loan or falling heir to a debt. When a worker accepts a loan, it is usually through false promises by an employer that the worker can reimburse him/her. However, as time passes, and more debt acquires, workers find themselves in slavery - hidden in plain sight. If the worker was not able to reimburse their employer by their death, usually the employer will pass the debt onto a family member. Thus, making debt bondage generational. HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS TO DEBT BONDAGE Involuntary servit...

Innovative Initiatives: Mason Education Initiative

17Aug

By The Bougie Aunt3409 Comments

Education, Innovative Initiatives

Innovative Initiatives: Mason Education Initiative

The Bougie Aunt | Published 12:00 p.m. E.T. August 17, 2020 10 minute read *Innovative Initiatives is my project where I inform y’all of lesser-known enterprises that are positively contributing to an underrepresented field.* THE TALE OF TWO CITIES New York is a great example of a state where the American Dream is romanticized, but it tends not to actualize itself for many. For example, New York City is the largest city in the nation, but is also one of the cities with the largest income inequalities. People in the top 90th percentile make seven times more than people in the 10th percentile. And, this income gap can be reflected in the majority of New York cities. For the purpose of relevancy and scope, I will be focusing on Queens, New York. Queens, New York was one of the...

15Aug

By The Bougie Aunt3714 Comments

Education, Government, Human Trafficking

The Untold Truth of Labor Trafficking

The Bougie Aunt | Published 9:00 p.m. E.T. August 15, 2020 10 minute read SUPPORT LABOR TRAFFICKING VICTIMS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS! WHAT IS LABOR TRAFFICKING? Labor trafficking is a type of human trafficking where victims are instructed to perform activities through the usage of fraud, coercion, or force. Labor trafficking occurs in both the illegal and legal sectors of economies. The hot spot sectors are the following: agriculture, construction, electronics manufacturing, mining/fishing/forestry, textile and apparel manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing. The industries where labor trafficking is prevalent is alarming because most of them can be further categorized into private sectors. And, every single industry listed is vital f...

Innovative Initiatives: Voices of Voters

13Aug

By The Bougie Aunt6955 Comments

Education, Innovative Initiatives

Innovative Initiatives: Voices of Voters

The Bougie Aunt | Published 12:00 p.m. E.T. August 13, 2020 10 minute read *Innovative Initiatives is my project where I inform y’all of lesser-known enterprises that are positively contributing to an underrepresented field.* COVID-19 & VOTING COVID-19 has brought about many changes in our daily lives, but one of the unforeseen changes was its effect on voting. Such as, the absentee ballot becoming an encouraged form of voting to ensure the safety of others. Or, the voting process being extremely emphasized this year because of recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the upcoming presidential election. With all the sporadic adjustments and excitement currently surrounding voting, it has made the voting process more convoluted for some. In an effort to diminish the con...

11Aug

By The Bougie Aunt341 Comments

Media/Culture

Fenty Skin! Is It Worth The Hype?

The Bougie Aunt | Published 3:45 p.m. E.T. August 11, 2020 10 minute read SNAG SOME FENTY BEAUTY PRODUCTS I SWEAR BY WHAT IS FENTY SKIN? When Rihanna launched her Fenty Beauty line in September 2017, the world (at least the makeup world) went into a frenzy. Her release of forty shades of foundation (the line now has fifty shades) sparked a fire of conversations centered around inclusivity. Recently, on July 31, 2020, Rihanna re-sparked the inclusivity conversation with her launch of Fenty Skin, a skincare line designed for men and women. And, y’all already know, I had to try out the products. Rihanna’s release of Fenty Skin came at the right time for me; I had been longing to revamp my skincare routine, and the next thing I saw was an Inst...

Give Black Women Their Credit! : Their Influence in Gynecology

7Aug

By The Bougie Aunt2296 Comments

Education, Media/Culture

Give Black Women Their Credit! : Their Influence in Gynecology

The Bougie Aunt | Published 10:00 a.m. E.T. August 07, 2020 10 minute read SUPPORT BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES/WOMEN WHO ARE RELATED TO THIS ARTICLE *For this article, I will be referring to Africans, African Americans, Blacks, etc. all under the collective term of ‘Black’. Otherwise, it will be confusing trying to explain all the nuances in each. And, this is not the article for that discussion.* HOW THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT IS NEGLECTING BLACK WOMEN The Black Lives Matter Movement (BLMM) has contributed to an increased awareness of how Black lives are being negatively affected by their needs being not catered to or met. The movement was able to gain great traction within these past months because of the pandemic allowing more peop...

1Aug

By The Bougie Aunt2654 Comments

Education, Government, Human Trafficking

Sex Trafficking Is Not One-Dimensional

The Bougie Aunt | Published 9:00 a.m. E.T. August 01, 2020 10 minute read SUPPORT HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS! Human trafficking is a horrible, disturbing activity that disrupts and stains a victim for their entire life. The links (paid links) I posted support organizations that empower victims of human trafficking. It helps them take back the power they have lost over their own life. I searched for products that I will be buying as well to guarantee the authenticity of me promoting them. But either way, if you click on the links, you will be helping rid this world of human trafficking. Enjoy the rest of the article! WORLD HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS DAY Two days ago, July 30, was World Human Trafficking Awareness Day. A...

‘Defund the Police’ Is Not a Radical Statement

29Jun

By The Bougie Aunt1324 Comments

Government

‘Defund the Police’ Is Not a Radical Statement

The Bougie Aunt | Published 10:00 a.m. E.T. June 29, 2020 5 minute read Among the topics which have emerged from the recent attention upon the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLMM), is the roaring call to ‘defund the police’. As expected with reformist declarations, the slogan was met with mixed opinions. On the offensive for the statement were people seeking ammunition to gun down the recent social upheaval, like President Trump, who has purposely misconstrued the slogan to present it as the antithesis to law and order. While the defense has had to repeatedly explain, ‘defund[ing] the police’ is simply asking for funds to be redirected into other sectors that are lacking in endowments, such as education, healthcare, and mental health services. The defense’s contention is reasonabl...

We Cannot Talk About Sustainability and Not Talk About Race

24Jun

By The Bougie Aunt2556 Comments

Environment, Government

We Cannot Talk About Sustainability and Not Talk About Race

The Bougie Aunt | Published 8:00 a.m. E.T. June 24, 2020 Note: I am not a vegan/vegetarian hater; I just find some of the ideologies pushed out from the diets to be either hypocritical, propaganda, or both. Especially, when it is used to further sustainability. Recently, I published an article where I stated post-structuralist geography is the reason for Flint’s Water Crisis. Now, I am back with an additional point on how post-structuralist geography is morphing our environment; it is preventing the phenomenon of sustainability from diffusing to all socioeconomic levels. The fear-induced search for a way to conserve natural resources but also further industrial development began around the mid-eighteenth century when the Industrial Revolution emerged. Then, figure...

19Jun

By The Bougie Aunt3368 Comments

Education, Eurocentrism, Government

Juneteenth: An Uncelebrated Holiday

The Bougie Aunt | Published 12:00 a.m. E.T. June 19, 2020 The year is 1863, you are an African-American slave, and President Abraham Lincoln just issued the Emancipation Proclamation. You are ecstatic because that automatically means you and your other slave companions are all released from the bonds of slavery, right? No, you are completely wrong. But I can reason why, as the Emancipation Proclamation is often misunderstood, and consequently, taught wrong in schools. Since the Eurocentric narrative shapes the United States’s history of slavery to seem like a linear path where the starting point is the Transatlantic Slave Trade and cuts off immediately after Martin Luther King Jr. had his Kumbaya moment (that has increasingly become more whitewashed as the years pass), the...

Why Is College Board Attempting to Shorten History?

15Jun

By The Bougie Aunt13888 Comments

Education, Eurocentrism

Why Is College Board Attempting to Shorten History?

The Bougie Aunt | Published 12:00 p.m. E.T. June 15, 2020 The College Board has recently been under fire for continuing to host Advanced Placement (AP) exams online in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary complaints revolved around the College Board blatantly disregarding the technology gap high school students face, which only widened during the virus outbreak, and became apparent after a plethora of students could not submit their exams due to technological difficulties. However, this is not the first time the College Board has acted ignorantly. This past academic school year, 2019-2020, the College Board altered their AP World History class; they changed it to AP World History: Modern. As the name implies, the revised course deals only with history the College Boar...

Why Does Flint Still Not Have Clean Water?

11Jun

By The Bougie Aunt7721 Comments

Education, Eurocentrism, Government

Why Does Flint Still Not Have Clean Water?

The Bougie Aunt | Published 4:00 p.m. ET June 11, 2020 Post-structuralist geography, where the elite seek to control those below them through the means of conforming the physical space to ensure the elite’s power. I am just using my recollection of the definition, of course, but it does not make the term less true. Why? Well, let us reflect on America’s immoral history. During the 1960s, where the Civil Rights Movement really climaxed, legislation began to be passed so that everyone, regardless of race, creed, sex, etc. would have equal opportunities to certain fields. One such field was housing. Through the Fair Housing Act of 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson promised that the act would lead to a more integrated society. And was he right? No. President Johnson essentially w...

11Jun

By The Bougie Aunt1602 Comments

Conspiracy, Government

Who Are Anonymous?

The Bougie Aunt | Published 12:00 a.m. ET June 11, 2020 Anonymity usually has two polar sides. One of the sides is commonly associated with the status one obtains for the ability to spew any unpleasant words or actions upon (typically an unsuspecting) victim. The other, more enjoyable, side is the status one takes when they do not want to receive credit for work they have contributed to that tends to be charitable. However, in the new age of the media, the former has seemed to triumph over the latter through the following: an increase in nasty comments that are generally directed at an influential person or group of people, ‘receipts’ that threaten to expose someone or something if they do not comply to something previously requested, and a newfound culture that centers around ‘can...

Innovative Initiatives: Tales by Moonlight

6Dec

By The Bougie Aunt7074 Comments

Education, Government, Innovative Initiatives, Media/Culture

Innovative Initiatives: Tales by Moonlight

The Bougie Aunt | Published 12:00 p.m. E.T. December 6, 2020 10 minute read *Innovative Initiatives is my project where I inform y’all of lesser-known enterprises that are positively contributing to an underrepresented field.* TWO YOUNG WOMEN, ONE CLEVER IDEA ‘Tales by moonlight’ is a common Nigerian designation given to stories told during the night hours. However, two young women, Tomisin Opaleye and Zara Akpan, chose to brand themselves with that name when they decided to merge forces. Their desire to collaborate stemmed from their mutual appreciation of poetry, but their intentions behind forming an enterprise incorporated other factors. Before I explain Opaleye’s and Akpan’s objective guiding Tales by Moonlight, it is important to understand their passion for...