Black Spirituality

For the past few years, a photograph has circulated on social media of a Black women’s writing group from the 1970s called the Sisterhood. Pictured are the writers Nana Maynard, Ntozake Shange, Louise Meriwether, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, Alice Walker, Audrey Edwards, June Jordan, and Toni Morrison—all the current patron saints of literary culture, before they were anointed, when they were working artists.

We don’t always need a million herbs or candles or a long ritual. Sometimes (most times) we just need to call our spirits to us and pray.

90s Black Hairstyles

I think the general idea that people will be more accepting of someone who presents more femininely and who is/looks like a cis woman vs. someone presents/is a cis man is very narrow minded. 

Black femininity will always be feared and ridiculed on black skin. Black women and femininity has been tied to the devil, to casting spell over white men, to being “our fault” for sexual assualt and rape. Black femininity has been something feared by white women and white men alike, and often the justification for white women to treat black women like dirt. 

When you bring up cis women, be clear about who you mean. Because yes, certain trans people do hold a lot of privilege over black women, even if they are cis. 

The assumption that all feminity is honored and that masculinity is feared is such a bad take. 

People will accept and embrace white masculinity over black femininity any day. There are literally movie tropes about the white masculine hero, that is an image that is honored and revered. 

If you are white, and your a masc presenting, there are a lot of doors you will have open that someone who is black and femme presenting won’t be able to access. 

Even if you are trans, and even if they are cis.