Black Girl Luxury Isn't About Them
How To Decenter Whiteness In Your Wellness Convos
In today’s post:
QTNA Beauty & Pop Culture Questions
The Full Beat Black Girl Luxury Isn’t About Them: How To Decenter Whiteness In Your Wellness Convos
Should men be allowed to keep their podcast equipment? I hate to put it in black and white, but maybe Deante Kyle of the Grits & Eggs podcast should be allowed to keep his for now. His show is funny, very Southern, and he's currently telling men that they're scary (which we already said, but it seems that they're listening??)
Did ya'll read about Patti Lupone's one-sided beef with Audra Mcdonald? It gave hater energy and I'm not going to link it because you don't need that in your life. Just know Audra gave her the Mariah treatment. 🫶🏽✨️
Is RHODE a billion dollar brand? It is now.
broke the news for me, and despite my undying disdain for celeb brands…yeah, hell yeah Hailey.
Black Girl Luxury Is Not About Them: How To Decenter Whiteness In Your Wellness Convos
Recently, my FYP has started to deliver content asking viewers to consider white supremacy’s role in our everyday lives. I am especially in favor of thinking critically about how racism, ableism, and sexism shape our lived experiences. My considerations of beauty and pop culture would certainly fall short without these lenses. However, there has been a pendulum shift too far in the direction that much of what we see labeled as Black luxury is an aspiration to become white, and be in proximity to whiteness. Imani, or @crutches_and_spice, challenged her followers to consider that tradwife, conservative debates, and red pill/manosphere digital content are tentacles from the same far right Cthulhu.1
This was an important request and I am confident that it helped spur some of the conversations we’re still having online, despite the speedy shifts in online discourse. Because far-right algorithms can amplify extremist propaganda and polarising narratives. This amplification can exacerbate societal divisions, promote disinformation, and bolster the influence of extremist groups, we should be careful about what what systems benefit from the content we ingest.
It appears that to engender, or perform, deep critical thought, some creators argue broadly that pilates, ski trips, and medical-grade skincare generate interest for those who want to be closer to white people, full stop. These blanket assertions rub me the wrong way because they center whiteness without true critical analysis.
There is an overlap in whiteness and wealth, white families always have been far more likely to hold the type of assets—homes, stocks and bonds, retirement accounts. But there's more at play, and at stake than shaming people, especially Black women, for desiring proximity to whiteness. For example, Black women's renewed interest in pilates is exactly that, renewed.
Kathleen Stanford Grant, a professionally trained dancer, became a certified pilates instructor under Joseph Pilates. Grant helped to popularize and teach the method to others, especially Black dancers in Harlem. This context is important and allows us to learn more about the exercise method, the woman who popularized it, her professional background, and what transitions led to white women being it's growing attendee base.
But how do we arrive at this information? By asking questions about the state and history of the practice. If we initiate our discussion of pilates, or any other “Black girl luxury” trend or activity, as a means of shaming participants as aspiring to whiteness we:
center whiteness,
foreclose our access to vital context, &
shame participants presumptuously.
Such an approach does not prevent us from having necessary conversations about how Black people are historically pushed out of activities and experiences we help to popularize. We can have that conversation without centering whiteness.
We can should be at the center of our conversations about wellness and beauty.
My use of H.P Lovecraft’s Cthulhu here is specific. It serves as an excellent metaphor for far right digital content because of its construction as a tentacled monster who waits to awake and take over the world, [and] has the ability to infiltrate your mind and drive you mad through a constant powerful summons to join him in his lair of darkness. Add in Lovecraft’s own racist leanings and the connection is just…🤯
Thanks for the mention!
I didn’t know the history of Grant and Joseph Pilates yet I am thoroughly unsurprised. Black folks have invented, mastered, improved, and/or revolutionized so many areas of our lives.