/məˌsäjəˈnwär/ By Ki DaeJanae’

Misogynoir

• Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against black women.

• “Misogynoir shows how sexism and racism manifest in black women’s lives to create intersecting forms of oppression”

Moya Bailey first coined the term “misogynoir,” she defined it as the ways anti-Black and misogynistic representation shape broader ideas about Black women, particularly in visual culture and digital spaces. While trying to understand “What Is the Black Gothic” it was triggering and almost unbearable reading about the mistreatment and oppression of black women. Not only are black woman oppressed by slavery, the afterlife of slavery, racial capitalism, and other systemic oppressors. We are also oppressed by our black male counterparts. Stories like Native Son, Beloved, and Sing Unburied Sing are fictional stories but mirror the existence of everyday black women. 

Today’s black women are oppressed in an almost futuristic way with technology, especially in media and digital spaces. The history of abuse and sexual trauma experienced by black women in America contributes to the hyper-sexualization and objectification of black women and young black girl’s bodies. Digital media and social networks provide space and opportunity for black women and girls to be left unprotected and are often oppressed and exploited by their black male counterparts. Black women and young black girls are lusted for and sexualized but not respected, accepted, and protected by black men online or in physical spaces. 

When thinking of an online community that exploits black women particularly there is one well-known online platform that stands out, Kevin Samuels. Kevin Samuels is popular on YouTube, with over 1 million subscribers. His live streams attract thousands of viewers, most of them looking for concrete relationship advice. He is a self-proclaimed relationship guru who tells black women they are not good enough and rates them on appearance, upbringing, and if they have children or not, etc. He and his clickbait followers watch as women choose to go live with him to explain their worth and value. He spews false narratives about how black “modern women” are causing black middle-class marriages to be non-existent, rates women on sex appeal and body size, and he has no respect for femininity. Black men account for the majority of his followers and without proper education or healing for themselves through their own journeys some use Kevin Samuels messaging to dismiss black women and project their self-issues onto vulnerable black women. 

What is even more sad and surprising to me is that he also has plenty of women who follow and support his content. There are women who are contributing to the idea that women have no other value than our physical looks and our ability to be partners and wives to men. Kevin Samuels opinions on women and relationships without any concrete supporting evidence or education fall true to some who will take what is said and run with it because media has a part in influencing that a woman’s sex appeal is a validation of our self-worth because most of the time that is what we see mainstream as soon as we grab our phones and log onto social media. 

The reason platforms like Kevin Samuels help to contribute to misogynoir is because he neglects to understand and explain how racism intersects with the debasement of black women. Some of these opinions and views of black women stem from the self-hate and their lack of acceptance in society as a black man. We are unable to successfully fight against these systems of oppression because the trauma from racism causes this type of pain and shame to be inflicted against black women from the same black men, we give birth to, protest for, and choose to love.