7:50 am

sapphrikah:

msalexismarie:

This was the first thing I saw upon existing the tube in London, England.
A lot of people have been surprised by my post on what my experiences have been living in England as a Black woman. Most have expressed sympathy and have empathized with my situation; others have come to the conclusion that it is simply the city of Manchester, the college town I am in, filled with thousands of young people which breeds such ignorance.
I don’t want people to have such a terrible view of Manchester, there is a lot this place has to offer outside of some of the horrible encounters I’ve had. I also want to make it known that this has not been an isolated experience. It is not a matter of Northern England vs Middle and Southern England.
To be quite honest I wanted to kiss the ground when I came back from London and stepped off of the bus in Manchester. There, in Central London, not only did I encounter much of the same fetishistic racism and sexism, but I was also being judged by my class. London was actually the straw. I am sure the story I write about it will be the most intense as it was the night I spent in London when a man, drunk off of his privilege, held my face between his hands and kissed my mouth; without permission or fear of repercussion.
Dear Tom from London, if you ever see this: Fuck you.

To be honest. I think it has A LOT to do with the fact that you have a fro. When an ungodly percentage of black womyn have perms/weaves/pressed hair, or even if natural, often locs that still fall and flow like straight hair. I only say this because its not just about you being black or natural (not that that isn’t the HUGE CORE of the deal) but these people are not at all used to a living breathing fro in front of them. Seriously. (That is seriously and frighteningly indicative of white privilege and how much white beauty standards have penetrated us, to the point where people find fros wildly exotic because they never, ever see them, because almost all of us get rid of them, even though that is how our hair grows out of our heads.) Anyway, I say all this to say that people who are telling you this is just happening to you and it is isolated or only happens where you’re at or whatever, probably aren’t people with fros. Or the combination of a fro and a body and face that society would Sara Baartman like people do yours.
You are a heavily curved womyn, with an unmistakable beauty, and all of that in combination with a black expression/identity they are not at all used to seeing, provokes all this disgustingness. People should consider that before the tell you you’re making shit up, or that it is “isolated.”
Matter of fact, people need to stop trying to make fucking excuses and recognize this as a disgusting occurrence that needs to end. Period. All the eroticizing and fetishizing and whatnot. This is nothing that needs and excuse, people ought to be fucking outraged. Period.

^Yes! To the critical commentary. I bolded for emphasis. I totally agree with you.

msalexismarie:

This was the first thing I saw upon existing the tube in London, England.

A lot of people have been surprised by my post on what my experiences have been living in England as a Black woman. Most have expressed sympathy and have empathized with my situation; others have come to the conclusion that it is simply the city of Manchester, the college town I am in, filled with thousands of young people which breeds such ignorance.

I don’t want people to have such a terrible view of Manchester, there is a lot this place has to offer outside of some of the horrible encounters I’ve had. I also want to make it known that this has not been an isolated experience. It is not a matter of Northern England vs Middle and Southern England.

To be quite honest I wanted to kiss the ground when I came back from London and stepped off of the bus in Manchester. There, in Central London, not only did I encounter much of the same fetishistic racism and sexism, but I was also being judged by my class. London was actually the straw. I am sure the story I write about it will be the most intense as it was the night I spent in London when a man, drunk off of his privilege, held my face between his hands and kissed my mouth; without permission or fear of repercussion.

Dear Tom from London, if you ever see this: Fuck you.

To be honest. I think it has A LOT to do with the fact that you have a fro. When an ungodly percentage of black womyn have perms/weaves/pressed hair, or even if natural, often locs that still fall and flow like straight hair. I only say this because its not just about you being black or natural (not that that isn’t the HUGE CORE of the deal) but these people are not at all used to a living breathing fro in front of them. Seriously. (That is seriously and frighteningly indicative of white privilege and how much white beauty standards have penetrated us, to the point where people find fros wildly exotic because they never, ever see them, because almost all of us get rid of them, even though that is how our hair grows out of our heads.) Anyway, I say all this to say that people who are telling you this is just happening to you and it is isolated or only happens where you’re at or whatever, probably aren’t people with fros. Or the combination of a fro and a body and face that society would Sara Baartman like people do yours.

You are a heavily curved womyn, with an unmistakable beauty, and all of that in combination with a black expression/identity they are not at all used to seeing, provokes all this disgustingness. People should consider that before the tell you you’re making shit up, or that it is “isolated.”

Matter of fact, people need to stop trying to make fucking excuses and recognize this as a disgusting occurrence that needs to end. Period. All the eroticizing and fetishizing and whatnot. This is nothing that needs and excuse, people ought to be fucking outraged. Period.