Gatekeeper, by Jessie Reyez dropped on Soundcloud about eight months ago, alongside this short film (posted to May 10, 2017 on YouTube) about her direct experience with a big time producer who tried to exploit her (which inspired the song).
CW: visual sexual harassment, intimidation, verbal abuse, mild violence.
Towards the end of the video, Jesse touches on something very real for many folks who are in vulnerable positions and that is when someone has power to destroy you and your dreams.
"You don't want your dream to slip through your fingers." She tries to frame the reasoning for some of her actions in her being young and dumb. But it's not just that.
A lot of things can cause someone to not want their dream to slip through their fingers or to put their trust in a wolf in sheeps clothing. It can be a dream for yourself or a dream for your family, age has very little to do with it. For the purpose of this blog I want to stick to recent movements in the entertainment industry to try to rectify the destruction of the dreams of the vulnerable who are trying to pursue their dreams. I want to be very pointed when I talk about who are the most vulnerable in this narrative, and they are women of color, young women of color, queer and transgender folk and if these trans and LGBT folk are of color they are exceptionally vulnerable. Historically, in all aspects of the world these folks have held less value than white women.
How true is this? Very.
The easiest example: #metoo
I hope you are familiar with the #metoo hashtag. It took the internet by storm last fall. Its origin story is very simple. The message of Me Too was created by Tarana Burke back in 2006. It was reapporpriated by Alyssa Milano after the Harvey Weinstein stories broke last fall and more recently has been taken up by Rose McGowen who just signed a deal with E! Hollywood for a reality show (gross as it is the epitome of White Feminism). TIME magazine did the ultimate fail when they put whistleblowers on the cover as their person of the year but failed to include Burke, instead opting for the the more visible (and White Feminist icon extraordinaire) Taylor Swift, whose lawsuit was hailed as a landmark for women the world over (but people were grossly silent in supporting singer Ke$ha in her longterm battle against producer Dr. Luke). And if you look at the montage images of the women how have come forward against Weinstein, and indeed many of the prolific "misconduct" men in Hollywood- they are overwhelmingly white.
In a video published by The Root, Gabrielle Union-Wade discussed how despite women of color lodged complaints in Hollywood for decades, it took the "pain of Hollywood white royalty" to produce the "perfect victim" (which is true in so many assault narratives, as evidenced by character witnesses being called to testify). It was the white Hollywood royalty who were worthy of justice, not the decades of women of color who came before them.
I would like to expand upon this and say that the white Hollywood royalty came forward (and those that continue to) did so when they were established and secure in their positions and roles. It was at this point in their careers they did not face the same consequences of having their dreams slip through their fingers. No, they had achieved their dreams. They have amassed power, respect and various kinds of capital which allows them to come forward and raise their voice. As evidenced but the latest Time's Up campaign.
But Jesse raised her voice before white Hollywood royalty did. Women of color and their communities have long raised their voices seeking justice for sexual exploitation committed against them and their communities. In the rare instance that avenues of justice are made available to them, women of color face excruciating scrutiny in a process that already believes that the victim is lying (Anita Hill comes to mind, and her perpetrator is a Supreme Court Justice).
Women in the R.Kelly sex cult spoke up, and while it hurt R.Kelly's ticket sales, causing him to cancel a tour- the movement to help those women has not awakened the world en masse. I myself even recall having conversations about my disgust at R.Kelly but failed to even ask "Is anyone caring for the women?" Of course, it gets complicated when the idea of consent enters the picture versus Stockholm syndrome, age, etc. But these should not be excuses from asking the questions or intervention.
Now I am not speaking from an white savior position of "we have to save these poor women of color! They are being exploited by an evil black man!" I'm speaking from a reality that as a society we do not value women of color to the same degree we do white women and white purity. There is a term for it, it's called misogynoir. But this will be a separate blog entry entirely because there is a lot to be said about it... a lot already has been said about it.
WOMEN AS GATEKEEPERS AND MEN WHO ARE NOT
A friend of mine was writing a paper about the Weinstein scandal and #metoo for a film class. Because my degree is in Feminist Studies (yes, it literally says that on the paper) they asked me for help. After some discussion I asked them what they thought the solution to the "problem" would be. They said "To hire more women."
"Well...that's a bit sexist don't you think? I mean. Have you considered all the different ways that women contribute to the problem?"
They had not.
One of the lies of patriarchy is that men have an insatiable lust and cannot control themselves, and are violent creatures. Patriarchy tells us that men are trash. Patriarchy supposes that women will support each other. Women don't tear each other down, don't slut shame or body shame or practice elements of misogyny or violence. But this is not true.
Harassment and oppression are not a mathematical equations. You don't take out garbage and replace it with recycling. Because recycling is just selected bits of garbage that has been somehow deemed to have more value, rinsed out and placed into a different container. It's more effective to take out all the garbage and reimagine the entire system. In other words, a culture shift. This requires changes by everyone.
There is a critical moment in Jesse's video that shows how women contribute to being gatekeepers, and that not all men are trash. This happens when the woman who took her to meet the producers tell her, "I thought you knew," and goes on to explain that sex in exchange for a chance to record is "part of the game" (barf). The driver of the producer (male) undercuts it all and tells Jesse, "No it's not. You're fine."
#TIMESUP
A lot of folks will be self-congratulating over their participation in the "Time's Up Now" at the Golden Globes. I would caution you on thinking that wearing black, making a donation or rocking a pin somehow is enough (I'm looking at you Justin Timberlake). The website has some resources for folks, if you're interested.
Consider this:
-After awareness comes the work and the action.
-The works is eduction.
-And after education is action.
-Action is more than wearing black and donating money.
What will become critical as we move forward (in addition to education) is listening to the voices that have been historically marginalized, and those that continue to be marginalized.
I am referring to the folks who are the most vulnerable and therefore, the most easily exploitable. It is critical that we hear them, believe them and support the removal of gatekeepers in all their forms. These gatekeepers may be people we know. It is EVEN MORE CRITICAL that we educate ourselves (and not at the emotional expense of the vulnerable or victimized) of the many ways exploitation can manifest.
This work will be uncomfortable.
Websites to start your education:
- I would invite you to start first and foremost with examining your position of power via the safety pin box project. This project is primarily geared towards race relations, however it can be a really powerful tool to help identify power differentials that you encounter every day through various dimensions (economic, racial, faith based, ableist, etc). Being able to identify the different ways you have power can help you identify the different ways you leverage your power to make space for others. A lot of folks don't think they have power or privilege and this website and the exercises will show you how you do.
- Ms Burke's Me Too website https://metoomvmt.org BTW- Can you believe neither Natalie Portman NOR America Ferrera invited Tarana Burke as their guest? I mean, Ms. Burke was the springboard for their campaign and I think that is in poor form. But whatever. I'll have to explain another day why it is problematic. Ms Burke was invited to the party as a guest of Michelle Williams.
- The Lean In website on sexual harassment https://leanin.org/sexual-harassment/ I thought it was worth including because it has resources for male and transgender and LGBT victims of harassment who are so often overlooked in narratives of abuse.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: BE KIND TO YOURSELF AND DON'T GET CAUGHT IN THE TRAP
As we educate ourselves we will be reminded of times when we didn't say something, and we may feel shame. But now is not the time to fall into the trappings of shame that often times accompany identifying new-found culpability that then paralyzes us from taking further action. It is important that we move past shame and reflect so that we can prepare ourselves to speak up and in those moments that we do speak up.
We will have false starts and missteps.
We will have moments that we recall where we realized that we failed to act, but all of that is not fodder for beating ourselves up and opting out of future action.
If anything theses experiences are information that allow us to identify patterns that we can identify actionable moments when they arrive again.
Because they will arise again.
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