Lil Wayne, Sexual Violation, and The “Acceptable” Black Male Discourse
By Sexual Correspondent Andrea Plaid
I give mad kudos to Cara for her smartly written analysis about Lil’ Wayne having his rape exploited as talk-show fodder on Jimmy Kimmel’s show. She said a lot of what I was thinking when I saw the clip. She felt her thoughts were “long and wandering”, but she sorted through several pieces of baggage packed in that 2 ½ minute clip and, sometimes, the usual short-n-snappy post writing style just doesn’t cut it. But we can further unpack this conversation around race, men, and sexual violation.
The final consideration in analyzing the reaction to this story is the question of race. Again, Sociological Images asserts that the reason people do not see this as rape is because Lil’ is not only male, but a black male.
It’s certainly true that black men are hyper-sexualized, and that anyone who is hyper-sexualized is instantly construed as unrapeable, all other considerations becoming irrelevant. But at the same time, while Lil’ Wayne’s race surely plays a part not only in the failure to interpret his “virginity loss” as rape but also the prodding by the while males for him to brag about the assault he endured, I’m unsure that this would necessarily be interpreted as rape if a white male was the victim. For an example of why, you can again see above.
Then again, Anthony Kiedis is also interpreted as hyper-sexual both due to the image that he has created for himself and by virtue of being a rock star. Take that away and leave his situation with clearly older predators in tact, and you may have a situation where a white male would be seen as a victim, but a black male (or perhaps other male of color) would not be. It’s not easy to say. While we can say with certainty that racism plays a role in the reactions we see to the story that Lil’ Wayne recounts, we can’t say how exactly the reactions would be different when racism is taken out of the picture.
Unpacking the Kiedis/Wayne Comparison
Though both are famous male musicians whom were raped by older women in their lives (Kiedis’ father’s girlfriend; Wayne’s babysitter), the analysis can’t just rest on “these guys survived sexual violation.” It’s the same mushed notion that all female victims suffer rape and other sexual violence without consideration of other factors, like race. Rock stars, especially white ones, are given more latitude to discuss and display a gamut of emotions and experiences, including physical, emotional and sexual violations, from classic rock to emo and beyond. Lil’ Wayne, being a Black male–and a hip-hop artist at that, in an industry that says Black male voices are profitable and, therefore, listenable only in R&B and hip-hop–simply isn’t allowed that same space to talk about such issues.
Unpacking the Statistical Silence
The National Center for Victims of Crime runs down some of the latest numbers :
- About 3% of American men – a total of 2.78 million men – have experienced a rape at some point in their lifetime.
- In 2003, one in every ten rape victims was male. While there are no reliable annual surveys of sexual assaults on children, the Justice Department has estimated that one of six victims are under age 12.
- 71% of male victims were first raped before their 18th birthday; 16.6% were 18-24 years old, and 12.3% were 25 or older.
- Males are the least likely to report a sexual assault, though it is estimated that they make up 10% of all victims.
- 22% of male inmates have been raped at least once during their incarceration; roughly 420,000 prisoners each year.
When I did a cursory Google search for specific statistics on Black men and sexual violation, I came up with white supremacists’ fantasies. Not helpful.
Sexologist Bianca Laureano led me to Dr. Darrell Wheeler, who’s an associate professor and Assistant Dean of Research at Hunter College School of Social Work. When I told him about the dearth of numerical information, he kindly offered me one: in his study of sexually risky behavior of Black men who have sex with men (MSM) and Black men who have sex with men and women (MSMW), about 30% have been forced to have sex.
Then he stated, “Black male sexual violence is a very sensitive–often taboo–subject in Black communities.”
Unpacking the Intra- and Interracial Narratives
Part of the taboo is it seems that the only violation folks, both inside and outside some Black communities, want to give an ear to from and about Black men is how they are “racially violated,” how racism denies them their humanity, which is closely tied to their sense of “rightful” manhood: getting a job, providing for themselves and their families, protecting their women and children–and more negatively, their male privileges, like feeling entitled to participate in this society’s sexism and misogyny. Several books written by Black men riff this theme, from Richard Wright’s Native Son, Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice, James Baldwin’s Nobody Knows My Name and Notes of a Native Son, and Nathan McCall’s Make Me Wanna Holler. Then, of course, such riffs exist where there are, well, riffs: before folks start hollering about Teh Evils of Hip-Hop, also consider James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” Marvin Gaye’s “Make Me Wanna Holla,” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Joe.”
When the media does address or show male sexual violence, it shows it in prisons (Shawshank Redemption, American History X—and note the survivor is the white male protagonist) The only account of a Black man experiencing sexual attacks in recent memory still fits into the narrative of Violence in the Legal Complex–namely the heinous physical and sexual assault on Haitian-American Abner Louima by mostly white NYPD officers. And even at that—Louima’s violation is rarely referred to as “rape.” Newspapers wrote he was “tortured” or “brutally assaulted.” If they refer to the sexual violence at all, the press said Louima was “sodomized” (with all of the homophobia stinking up that word) or describe in graphic detail what happened. Even when I hear Black pundits and other folks talk about the white police brutality suffered by Black men, the names roll off the tongue: Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Amadou Diallo, and Louima. The fact that cops shot Bell, Grant, and Diallo is emphasized. Louima surviving cops raping him is rarely—if ever–articulated as such.
As Cara mentioned, part of this may stem from the fact that Black men, like Black women, are viewed as “unrapeable” due to society viewing us as “hypersexual.” Another thought-strain, coming from within some Black communities, is that we cannot talk about sexual violence least we are doing our part of maintaining the Hypersexual (and Violent) Negro stereotype. So, we are to keep quiet in order to uplift The Race. However, some Black women are opening up the conversations around our own sexual violations by Black men and women.
And publicly—and even reluctantly and perhaps unwittingly–Lil Wayne has done the same for Black men and, hopefully, for other men of color. And if we’re calling ourselves feminists and womanists, we should be the first to offer this empowering language to—and give and hold that space for—Black men, so they can name what actually happened to them and not have it become the fodder of stereotypes and fantasies that misogynist late-night talk show hosts and guests can exploit.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
cocolamala wrote:
i can think of 2 illustrations of this situation in film/pop culture:
Antwone Fisher’s biography talks about him having an early sexual experience with a caregiver. he talks about the coerced nature of the situation and his lack of power to refuse her advances.
in contrast,
Sweetback’s Badass Song depicts a boy in a sexual situation with a grown woman, but in that scene, the youth is encouraged by onlookers to engage with her, and (if i remember correctly) it seems like these are his first steps towards manhood….
different attitudes, similar situations.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 1:21 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
@cocomala–thank you for those, esp. Sweetback Badass Song. I think, because that film was sooooo bad in my opinion, I forgot about it…and that scene of Sweetback’s violation in particular.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 1:42 pm ¶
Kjen wrote:
Great post!
I’ve been thinking about safe spaces and the continued silence within communities since the first post. The silence we see is about more than uplifting the race/not airing the dirty laundry.
Silence also helps simplfly the narrative and make others feel safer.
Until a few years ago, I was so sure I knew who was a rapists and what I could do to prevent making myself a target. I felt safe, smart, in control and smug (empowered!) to tell you the truth. Now that I am finally convinced of the fact that nearly anyone can be a villain or victim (friends, family, strangers, etc), I’ve been able to look at the argument with more nuanced understanding. But I’ve also never been able to recapture that near impenetrable sense of safety again. To be honest, there are moments when I miss that. I understand why people are so reluctant to admit how vulnearable we really are.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 2:47 pm ¶
fruitoftheloon wrote:
What about the scene in Pulp Fiction where Ving Rhames and Bruce Willis’ characters are held captive by the white supremacists? It would take a full-length dissertation to unpack the whole scene, but I do want to comment on the fact that by the end of the movie the rapists are (or will be) dead. I can think of other books and movies that have done this as well (even a romance novel, surprisingly). Most of these encounters usually have a few things in common: first of all, it’s usually suggested that the rapist is homosexual. Although rape sometimes occurs as a way to demonstrate power, usually the raped hero is victimized in part because he’s sexually desired. The focus shifts then, from being raped by someone with more power, to being raped by a sexual ‘pervert’. In Pulp Fiction, the white supremacists aren’t just violent, they’re BDSM-loving homosexuals, for example.
Second of all, in the aftermath of the rape the hero usually gains back his ‘masculinity’ by torturing and killing his rapist. This helps to reassert his physical masculinity, but also creates a silence around the event. If the man who raped the hero is dead, no one else knows about it, and it can be hidden or even denied. When Rhames’ character stands over the body of his rapist, intending to kill him, he also makes Willis’ character leave town and vow to never mention the incident, allowing him to extract physical revenge while ultimately erasing any evidence of the act.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 3:48 pm ¶
Cara wrote:
@ cocolamala – thanks for the SSBAS reference, that scene was pretty gross.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 4:28 pm ¶
Celeste wrote:
I think it also matters what type of music the artist makes. I think that if Common had the same experience he would be taken more seriously. Having a very sexual public image certainly does not mean that someone can’t be raped, especially as a child. However, everytime someone discusses this subject I get that like a cop car song in my head and I have trouble taking his situation as seriously as I would with a different artist.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 4:33 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:
@fruitoftheloon:
“…[I]in the aftermath of the rape the hero usually gains back his ‘masculinity’ by torturing and killing his rapist. This helps to reassert his physical masculinity, but also creates a silence around the event. If the man who raped the hero is dead, no one else knows about it, and it can be hidden or even denied. When Rhames’ character stands over the body of his rapist, intending to kill him, he also makes Willis’ character leave town and vow to never mention the incident, allowing him to extract physical revenge while ultimately erasing any evidence of the act.”
This was probably not the best example. I know there aren’t a lot of examples to refer to in the first place, but this one is really not good at all, and for the reasons that you referred to in the first paragraph. There IS a lot to unpackage in that scene, agreed. But make no mistake: everything that happened in that scene can be viewed as a basic reinforcement of White masculinity and dominance by way of the “emasculation” (problematic, I know, but that was the idea) of Rhames’ Brute Negro character. Rape = the means to that end; otherwise, why not just torture him? Seriously, until that scene, everyone worked for Marcellus Wallace, everyone was terrified of him, and everyone did what he said or else. If that’s not a direct challenge to the social order, I don’t know what is. It’s not insignifcant that Willis’ character both saved the day and got out of the scene with his “manhood” intact. It’s also NOT insignificant that the men who cut Rhames’ character down to size were White supremacists, and that there were so many elements and overtones in that scene that were distinctly reminiscent of a lynching. Last but not least, while Rhames’ character could kill his rapists, and Willis’ character could leave town and that would be that, the third member and most important participant in that scene – the viewing audience – knows his shameful secret…and is subtlely invited to gloat about it.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 5:38 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:
Oh, where ARE my manners? Good job, AJ!
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 5:39 pm ¶
Katie wrote:
Just wanted to say that I think this is a great post.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 5:51 pm ¶
Nathan wrote:
@ Fiqah
Great analysis of the scene, and a reminder that I need to … *cough* actually finish watching that movie one of these days.
But I wonder that you seem to be conflating to some extent the motives of characters with that of producers, which seems odd to me.
“But make no mistake: everything that happened in that scene can be viewed as a basic reinforcement of White masculinity and dominance by way of the “emasculation” (problematic, I know, but that was the idea) of Rhames’ Brute Negro character. Rape = the means to that end; otherwise, why not just torture him?”
I don’t see how that does not gel with the motives of the villains themselves.
Obviously, as mentioned above, I have not watched through to the end of Pulp Fiction, so there are doubtless a number of elements I am not aware of that affect the scene.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 9:56 pm ¶
Logan wrote:
Another reference to male sexual assault/rape, though a little more on the Little Wayne situation, can be found in the Pearl Jam song “Alive.” Its been a while since I listened to it/analyzed it, but basically the second verse is the singer/teller of the story going into detail on how his mother effectively raped him, which leads to a sortof mental breakdown on the part of the boy who can’t comprehend it when combined with the revelation that his real father died without his mother letting him know. Not a PoC, but the song came out in, looking it up, 91, so nearly 20 years ago, even though most didn’t pick up on the meaning of the second verse. Lyrics for those interested:
“”Oh, she walks slowly, across a young man’s room
She said I’m ready…for you
I can’t remember anything to this very day
‘Cept the look, the look…
Oh, you know where, now I can’t see, I just stare…”
Vedder in an interview stated the she was his mother and the look was between her legs. Admittedly the incestuous part was arguably more damaging than the underaged rape, but still, the song’s over 20 years old by now and still played on the radio, so in a ways relevant.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 10:26 pm ¶
jvansteppes wrote:
Thanks Cruel Secretary and Cara for both these pieces. I especially appreciate your mention of the homophobic undertones of the word ’sodomize’. This is so rarely acknowledged..
Re: Pulp Fiction:
I think its important to remember that the white rapists in the film were also reminiscent of Deliverance, a film in which male on male rape is linked to an inbred yokel depravity. (I seem to remember Tarantino mentioning Deliverance in an interview somewhere.)
It sends a message that the kind of men who rape other men are especially deviant. Which contrasts with say, police officers who rape men.
The Abner Louima case reminds me of a Canadian military scandal from 1993 in which troops sexually assaulted a Somali teenager named Shidane Arone (who they eventually beat to death) while ostensibly ‘peace keeping’. The sexual assault was virtually erased from all reports and the government inquiry. It’s as if male on male sexual assault itself isn’t as scandalous as the act of speaking about it.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 10:34 pm ¶
Slush wrote:
Too bad none of those statistics specify how often the perpetrator of male rape is female. I think that is what is really different about Lil Wayne’s case, more than race – sorry, I know, this shouldn’t be a sexism v. racism conversation, but I just can’t get away from the gender dynamics of the situation – but imagine if he had lost his virginity to a man at age 11! That would not have been a funny talk show joke, to say the least.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 10:35 pm ¶
MacDaddy wrote:
I came over from Intersection of Madness and Reality. Great post. Good writing. I’ll be back. Got you linked over at daddyBstrong.blogspot.com
Blessings.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 10:53 pm ¶
ChrisRobinCox wrote:
Wow, I have to say that as a White male, my eyes have been opened a bit by checking what has been written here. In a million years, these percentages would not have been thought of by me or dare I say most others I know. Furthermore, as a White male heavily involved in the art of hip-hop and politics it is good know that Lil’ Wayne is not a dope. Because let’s face it, the mainstream media doesn’t do a good job of showing showing he’s a man of some depth. I guess I am just beginning to get really tired of the stereotypical knuckle-dragging that every Black rapper is subjected to. Brihanu, the rapper in my band, is a middle school teacher with a Master’s degree and a newly landed fellowship to complete his PhD. If the band ever hits, he will have to constantly fight to be taken as seriously as say Atmosphere.
Posted 20 Apr 2009 at 11:39 pm ¶
fruitoftheloon wrote:
@ fiqah
I completely agree with you that the film ultimately positions the white man in a position of power over the black man, and I don’t want to suggest that the Rhames’ ‘triumph’ is unqualified. The film goes to great lengths to reverse his dynamic with Willis so that he suddenly becomes the weaker of the two, and I agree that the audience is supposed to celebrate Willis’ victory and Rhames’ humiliation by emasculation.
But I think the audience is also supposed to gloat about Rhames’ victory over the white supremacists. While white man trumps black man in the racial hierarchy of the film, heterosexual male trumps homosexual rapist. The film reinforces the idea that male sexual assault by another male is so terrible that it’s worthy of murder, and that the best (only?) way to cope is through violence and denial. Judging by how many teenage boys went around talking about ‘getting medieval’ on someone after the film came out, that particular lesson seems to have been well learned.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 12:38 am ¶
veronica o. wrote:
#1…great post! amazed by the smart words of you and cara.
#2 is the video still available online anywhere?
#3 i wish there were some public outcry. i realize for all the reasons outlined that that’s ridiculous, but still…jimmy kimmel needs to hear about how effed up he is.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 12:57 am ¶
Fiqah wrote:
@Nathan: Oh, I’m definitely conflating the motives of the characters with the producers. What’s a film but a puppet show with people? The character’s “voice” is completely scripted, right? So, characters act the way that they’re written, and actors do what a director tells them. Distinguishing between characters and real-life producers is something I only do when my “suspension of disbelief” mechanism fails. Honestly, the rape inclusion in that scene to me was a lot like the obligatory partial female nudity in every 1980s B-movie: just WHY? Come on, dude. Tarantino is an envelope-pusher, and that’s why he’s still the critics’ darling film director, but as an amateur writer/critical race analyst, I seriously questioned the narrative necessity of the rape. Oh, and you should definitely finish watching the movie.
@fruitoftheloon: Thanks very much for the follow-up explanation, I’m a lot clearer on what you meant now. And yeah, I was TOO through with “get medieval on your ass” as well.
Back to the topic: does anyone know if there has been any follow-up to the Kimmel mess? Some kinda apology to Li’l Wayne? Something? It just seems so beyond crass for him to just not address it at all. Even if he doesn’t talk about it on the show, just do a press release or something.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 8:51 am ¶
gogojojo wrote:
great follow up. i am both completely unsurprised by the statistics and shocked at the same time. i guess i didn’t think the numbers would be as high as they are.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 10:39 am ¶
Erin wrote:
“Re: Pulp Fiction:
I think its important to remember that the white rapists in the film were also reminiscent of Deliverance,”
Yep, and they put banjos on the wall of the pawn shop intentionally to further allude to Deliverance.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 7:18 pm ¶
Nathan wrote:
@ Fiqah
Thanks for the informative reply!
I’ll leave off the discussion until I can track down a copy and finish watching the movie.
@ gogojojo
Yeah, those numbers came as a surprise to me too.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 9:06 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
Cha, netizens, ya know what? I’d like to re-direct this conversation away from Pulp Fiction and back to the issue of Lil Wayne, race, and why is it that he and other Black men–as well as other MoCs–can’t seem to have the space to talk about their experiences as victims and survivors of sexual violation. Why is it that, as Latoya ad I talked about offline, that the only expression allowed for Black men is anger or silence? Is it just internalized racism and sexism, something else? What fortifies it (intrarace and/or intragender rhetoric, religion, anything else?) What are some possible reasons behind the lack of stats–other than lack of reporting–around Black male sexual violation victims and survivors? I’d love to hear your thoughts about these issues…
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 9:06 pm ¶
elle the elephant wrote:
@Slush
I really hear you about that double-standard when it comes to male rape victims. Really, when it comes to male rape victims and how they are ignored, its not that male rape victims aren’t ignored, its male rape victims of women are mostly ignored, while male rape victims of men are punished most of the time,anyway. Like that school teacher Mary Kay something that had sex with that middle schooler a few years back, I knew many of my friends that were saying that was cool and brill how he scored with a teacher, but what if that teacher had been male? I bet they would be saying exactly the opposite.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 10:34 pm ¶
Nathan wrote:
@ TCS
“Cha, netizens, ya know what? I’d like to re-direct this conversation away from Pulp Fiction”
Aheh, oops…
Would love to contribute, but thats so far outside my knowledge base that I couldn’t add anything of value.
Posted 21 Apr 2009 at 10:40 pm ¶
cocolamala wrote:
i don’t think many ppl have the vocabulary to discuss or approach the topic of men of color and sexual abuse. To try to do so abruptly runs up agains our broader notions of masculine identity and the very specific stereotype of black men as hypermasculine.
Antwone Fisher’s autobiographical account takes these notions head on, asserting (rightly) that child sexual abuse happens to boys (even black boys)*, and abuse is not an affirmation of your masculine identity.
the Sweetback narrative does not leave room to discuss abuse of male sexuality — it solely interprets the situation as a positive affirmation of male sexuality. (regardless of the power differentials present)
Lil Wayne’s interview wavers between the two. Wayne himself makes the same points that Fisher does. (it wasn’t *great*, it was traumatic). But Kimmel wants to fit Wayne’s experience into the hypermasculine black man stereotype. This is easy for him to do because it’s a popular way to view [black] masculinity, and because Wayne projects this stereotype as part of his entertainment persona. Kimmel’s interview questions and his audience’s akward laughter (??) show that they’re unclear about when to “stop playing” and start seeing Wayne as a 3-D human, rather than a cartoon character.
*This is paired with the stereotype of the hyper sexual black woman (today: hip hop’s “hoe”) — it is an unwillingness to see black women and young girls as vulnerable to sexual abuse (see any comment thread’s responses to the R. Kelly trial) — and it results in a general lack of attention to the need to create effective legal and social remedies for sexual violence against black women.
Posted 22 Apr 2009 at 12:41 pm ¶
kerrita k wrote:
@ cruel secretary. was thinking about this and other posts.
one: rape is not female rape – rape is rape. and power embodied in physical and psychic violation. gendering the act is assholetry.
two: in a cultural model where black men (and other men of color) are at the bottom of the social ladder – they are also subsequently robbed of any emotional, social, sexual or cognitive depth. so, their stories of rape aren’t even validated by mainstream or higher up individuals (like, women for instance).
three: there is an absence of any sophisticated (american) discourse that acknowledges that sexuality and sexual expression (in music, life, work) are social products – products that can be in sharp conflict with our very necessary outside presentations. presentations we may maintain for our safety as men/women/people of color.
four: i love this strand. and wish li’l wayne the same therapy, resolution, and peace i would any other individual who has been violated or in conflict about it…
-kkm
Posted 22 Apr 2009 at 10:33 pm ¶
RoslynHolcomb wrote:
I think there’s a tendency to be dismissive of sexual abuse of males by females period. One thing that used to drive me insane about Dan Abrams when he had his show on MSNBC was his dismissive attitude about this subject. Every time they’d have a discussion about these teachers raping these boys, he’d blithely claim that assault of a male by a female was different from the same assault if the genders were reversed.
I worked in social services for years and I can tell you, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. It can be, and often is, even more traumatic. At least in a girl’s case usually there’s a certain amount of empathy and she’s seen as a victim. (Note, I said usually. I know more than most that there are times when people don’t see the girl as a victim either.)
But time and time again we see this emphasis on male ’studliness,’ and how this is somehow a rite of passage or a good thing. More than one commentator on Abrams’s show would say, or at least imply that they wished they’d had teachers like that when they were an adolescent boy.
We’re destroying our boys with this notion. The violation of boundaries is absolutely detrimental to their sociological and psychological well-being.
Posted 24 Apr 2009 at 4:08 pm ¶
Lena F. wrote:
There are so many things I want to cover in this post but I will try to keep it short. First of all, I really do not even think that Lil Wayne considered this rape, a young boy being taken advantage of sexually by an older woman is a boy’s dream right? Anyways, looking at Lil Wayne, I just cannot take him seriously.
Also, this is a perfect example of essentialism, for African-American men and women are stereotyped as being these hyper-sexualized beings and unrapeable because they supposively already want it. For African-American men, claiming that you have been raped or sexually assaulted by an older women makes them look like a punk because they are suppose to be the ones in control of sex, since they are suppose to be the men. It is taboo in the African-American community to discuss any form of sexual behavior that seems different, including rape of men by women or men.
Third, because Lil Wayne is a Black male rapper, there is a whole new discourse that surrounds that as well. I have heard plenty of Lil Wayne’s lyrics and know that he is a part of this image of the misogynist and hyper-sexualized Black male. They are suppose to give off this gangsta, take no shit from anyone, disrespecting women image in their career, so hearing Lil Wayne saying that his virginity was taken away by an older woman may puzzle some people as to whether or not this was rape. It seems like all of my guy friends, who happen to be African-American, lost their virginity to an older woman too, I guess this makes them a man.
In terms of hegemony, because Lil Wayne is a rapper, and the people who are the owners of these record companies are white, these executives are still maintaining their power because Lil Wayne’s albums do sell a lot, they are encouraging him and all the other rappers to keep doing what they have been doing to make money. However, whether or not, Lil Wayne’s hyper-sexuality is a result of his “rape” is questionable, for African-American males are still considered to be sexually deviant
Posted 29 Apr 2009 at 5:56 pm ¶
Stephanie wrote:
Thankyou for this post. It’s a really difficult topic – as said by others before but one that definitely needs talking about. Those statistics blew me away, as a feminist I focus a lot on rape culture and it’s impact on women (e.g. the 1 in 4 statistic). We need to focus more on unpacking masculinities, especially as you’ve highlighted the intersection of race and gender – the constructed hypermasculinity and associated hypersexuality of Black men and how harmful this is.
@ Lena F ”First of all, I really do not even think that Lil Wayne considered this rape, a young boy being taken advantage of sexually by an older woman is a boy’s dream right? Anyways, looking at Lil Wayne, I just cannot take him seriously.”
- In the interview with Jimmy Kimmel Lil Wayne describes what happened to him as having serious ‘harmful’ consequences for him, even if he doesn’t explicitly say rape it’s obvious in the video that it was an upsetting sexual assault, yet Jimmy completely ignores this and frames it from his own ignorant perspective. Lil Wayne isn’t even the one who brings it up. Also what do mean by that you cannot take Lil Wayne seriously because of the way he looks?
Posted 02 May 2009 at 9:10 am ¶