Fear of a Black femme: The existential conundrum of embodying a Black femme identity while being a professor of Black, queer, and feminist studies

Abstract

Although a Black femme identity has been defined and embodied by many as an identity with Black feminist roots and revolutionary potentials, Black femmes are still rendered hypervisible and invisible through racist and heteronormative politics. Similarly, embodying a Black femme identity as a professor in academia often engenders these same pretenses of hypervisibility and invisibility. This essay explores what this existential conundrum has been for me as both a Black femme and professor of Black queer and feminist studies, while illuminating the mix of forces within academia that have attempted to stifle my chosen sexual identity and gendered performance.

Can femme be theory? Exploring the epistemological and methodological possibilities of femme

“…Femme stories are overlooked by the history of femininity (Harris & Crocker, 1997), tossed aside due to the tendency to see femininity as "socially regressive or anti-intellectual" (Middleton, 2019, p. 84). These feminine expressions remain chiefly unaccounted for by queer or feminist discourses and theoretical frameworks attending to femininity (Hoskin, 2017b;Mishali, 2014;Story, 2017). At best, femmes remain relegated to the margins within femininity scholarship, rarely made central.…”

“…Perhaps most importantly, femme theory asks scholars to consider what assumptions have been made with respect to femininity, by the researchers but also within the phenomena at stake. Femme theory turns assumptions about femininity on their head (Volcano & Dahl, 2008), causes one to re-think, if only for a moment, the process of coding bodies, systems of normativity and classificationbe it whiteness (Keeling, 2007;Lewis, 2012;Story, 2017) disability (Erickson, 2007), sexuality, body size (Taylor, 2018), or aging (Hoskin & Taylor, 2019;Walker, 2012). Just as queer is used as a theoretical framework to question the confines of normalcy, while shifting the focus away from the naturalization of compulsory heterosexuality, femme tutelage can be used to bolster femme as a theoretical framework through which to understand femininity beyond patriarchal norms and feminine gender policing.…”

“…Those occupying the margins must remain cognizant of their subordinated status, while simultaneously wielding knowledge of the center in order to manage their realities (hooks, 2000;Harding, 1991). Occupying the feminine margins, straddling a paradoxical in/visibility (Story, 2017), femmes offer a unique vantage point, an oppositional consciousness (Collins, 1998;hooks, 2000;Sandoval, 2004) or multiple consciousnesses (Ladson-Billings, 2000) that can provide an epistemic advantage over masculine ascendency. In this way, femme theory is intended to make visible the taken-for-granted ways of privileging and centralizing masculinity.…”

Play Aunties and Dyke Bitches: Gender, Generation, and the Ethics of Black Queer Kinship

“…However, the frequency of its usage does not rinse "bitch" of its misogynoiristic valence. For more on misogynoir and the term bitch, see Antonia Randolph, "Why Bitch Isn't Nigger: Misogynoir and the False Equivalences of Hip Hop" (paper presented at the annual meeting for the National Women's Studies Association, Baltimore, MD, November [16][17][18][19]2017).…”

“Black Is Powerful”: A Gramscian Rhetorical Analysis of Post-Racialism at the University of Missouri

“…By utilizing the identity of persons of color, the athletes send a message of inclusion to the larger, minority population of the University of Missouri, while also utilizing their identity as a form of defensiveness against stereotyping and prejudice (Andemeskel, King, Wallace, individuals are self-identifying, is often one of explanation or elaboration on their role or status in a given situation (Story, 2017). Rather than specifically signify specific races, persons of color utilize the signifier as a means of inclusion for all non-white individuals.…”