this white feminist idea that “no man will ever understand what its like to walk down the street in constant fear” okay but gay men, black and brown men, trans men ……
Janelle Monáe has landed. Since 2007, she has been beloved for funky records that map out the world of Cindi Mayweather, her android alter-ego who lives in the year 2719. Now, Monáe’s turning the sonic spaceship around. “This album is more near-future,” says a thoughtful yet lighthearted Monáe of Dirty Computer, over lunch a few months before her two big concerts in NYC. “So, for the first time, I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m here now.’ ” The LP, an amalgam of dancy beats, classic R&B and laid-back neo-soul grooves, has an impressive guest list: Grimes, Pharrell, Stevie Wonder, Zoë Kravitz and Brian Wilson all make cameos. More impressively, though, the new effort launches us into the Moonlight and Hidden Figures star’s reality—her feminism and activism, her self-described pansexuality and what it’s like to be black in America today. Pleased to meet you, Janelle.
I love your super-stylized look. Where do you mine your inspiration? I love the ’80s. I’ve been pulling from Bowie, Blondie—just when people didn’t give a fuck about their clothes. It was a vibe. It wasn’t about name brands; it wasn’t about designers. Everything you had on was about how you wanted to express yourself. You didn’t let the trends speak over your art.
Prince, who worked on Dirty Computer, seemed to believe that, too. Prince has been an inspiration to me since I was a little girl. He did, in fact, scare me a lot. I think it was the fact that I had never seen a man express himself like Prince. You just got the sense that this is a free-ass motherfucker, you know? And it inspired my free-ass–motherfucker spirit. And then I got to form a great personal relationship with him. If anybody understood where I was trying to go musically and sonically, it was him. Whatever you needed, he would say, “I’m here.”
Your past few records were set far in the future. Was there a moment in terms of women’s rights that made you think “I need to move to the present”?
It was the whole. It wasn’t just women’s rights; it was also minority rights, poor people’s rights. And if you think about the election—like, Americans voted [Trump] into office, and everything he stands for is so divisive. That right there should be enough to make you feel awake, alive and feel a responsibility.
Was it tough to explore those issues? I really just had to spend time getting to understand myself: How do I talk about these questions that upset me? How do I talk about the sting of being called a bitch for the first time? How do I talk about the sting of feeling like my existence as a minority could get me shot and killed by police? Speaking to Stevie Wonder was a help. He’s on an interlude on the album. I don’t want to misquote him, but it goes: “Do not let your words of anger get in the way of your expressions of love.” I think this album is rooted in that.
What narratives drive Dirty Computer? I think the narrative first comes from a young African-American woman living in America through my lens. You take off the makeup, the costumes, the artist—I am the daughter and descendant of working-class parents and grandparents. My grandmother picked cotton in Aberdeen, Mississippi. She helped build this country, and when I think about being a woman, being a minority and being a queer black woman, I think it makes me feel a deeper responsibility to make sure people who are like me feel seen, are heard and feel celebrated.
On Twitter, Missy Elliott wrote, “I wonder what artist would take a chance on me directing a video for them.” And you essentially did this: [Raises hand]
Oh my god. First of all, I grew up idolizing Missy Elliott. She is the master of visuals, so I would be honored to have her do anything. It’s been a long time coming.
When did you first meet? When I first started my career, I did a showcase here in New York City. I was so nervous. I didn’t look like any of the other artists who were performing that night. My music didn’t sound like them, and I was in this tuxedo and had natural hair. I wasn’t what you would call a “typical” R&B black female artist, and I was really having anxiety about it. I did my thing, and I remember seeing her in the audience. When I came offstage, she was one of the first people to greet me. She told me she loved my performance and thought I had something special. Just the affirmation I got from her right there helped me embrace the things that make me unique.
Who is inspiring you now? I love Cardi B’s authenticity. I think I’m just inspired by strong women. I’m inspired by the #MeToo movement; I’m inspired by Time’s Up. I’m inspired that black people are telling our stories for ourselves. We’re not letting society or the entertainment industry erase our stories—they’re coming out authentic. I’m inspired to be alive during a time when Black Panther is kicking so much ass at the box office. We’re in an incredible time.
I used to think environmental feminism was the whitest most Birkenstock organic oatmeal exclusive “goofy white feminist” thing ever. Then one day my professor told me about how it’s a reproductive justice issue that like ¼ Black kids in a neighborhood in the south Bronx have asthma because there’s a giant power plant / waste center thing by where they live or something. And the environmental standards are so low that it affects their health and livelihood etc. and it literally changed my entire life lol. then I thought about the garment industry and environmental waste from that and how it affects those making the clothes. and I thought about who those creative garment workers are!!!!!!!!! And why their work is undervalued and the implications etc. and how this is actually in every facet of my life and not just like white woman ignoring the lives and issues of PoC to pick up bottles on the beach. Like this is serious. It’s just life changing really to realize how shallow and goofy I was being avoiding these issues.
Or rather, not connecting them properly to have a comprehensive understanding of how injustices relevant to me are connected to the environment and preservation of the integrity of these environmental systems?
This is gonna start off sounding weird but stay with me for a second:
We really need to move on from the current performative culture of “no terfs allowed” and “reblog to make a terf angry”
Because that’s not a valuable solution to the underlying problem.
You know what would really bother trans exclusionary/exterminatory radical ‘feminists’? IRRELEVANCE. They’re just like the Alt-Right; their worst enemy is an audience that isn’t receptive to their message of hate and won’t give them a voice to keep spreading it. Instead of giving them a free pass to go back to their echo chambers and prey on young wlw that they can indoctrinate and radicalize into their transphobic cult, make it so that their voices don’t actually reach anyone in the first place. Deny them stable footing to build a platform on.
You know how you do that?
Build an alternative culture of radical acceptance and validation for trans women in women’s spaces and especially wlw safe spaces.
Don’t just toss out a “fuck terfs” every once in a while and think your job is done. If you actually want to be an ally to trans women, BE AN ALLY TO TRANS WOMEN. Make your spaces a safer place for us, and be VOCAL about it. Be consistent, persistent, and insistent on defining us authentically as women and make it obvious that we’re accepted and welcomed as such. And make sure you are boosting the voices of trans women in queer and women’s spaces if there’s any doubt that you don’t have the best information to hand out on trans issues, because misinformation about us is the best weapon terfs have. START DENYING THEM THAT WEAPON BY ACTIVELY PRESENTING A TRUTHFUL NARRATIVE ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE INSTEAD.
This exposes new generations to the reality of trans women’s lives and identities instead of letting terfs pick off and cultivate the vulnerable ones who don’t know any better and using the dismissive nature of performative allyship to convince these young wlw that there’s some gender conspiracy that’s letting men invade women’s spaces.
(Which is obviously insane just on face value. Can you honestly even imagine a cis man having to face the reality of womanhood for an extended period of time? It’d be a trainwreck. The whole basis of their philosophy falls apart in SECONDS when you just represent the lived experiences of trans women in an honest way. No cis man could live a day in a trans woman’s shoes.)
If you don’t have the energy to deal with these people personally, by all means care for yourself by keeping them at a distance. But NEVER believe that slapping a “twerfs can choke” in your bio is by itself enough to deal with the source of the problem, which is terfs preying on vulnerable young wlw by feeding them misinformation about trans women.
If you really want to be an ally to trans women you HAVE to present an alternate narrative of truthful information so these younger generations won’t be swayed by the false narratives that terfs are currently selling them.
Deny them their recruiting grounds by ACCEPTING AND VALIDATING AND WELCOMING TRANS WOMEN IN WOMEN’S AND WLW SAFE SPACES, STAND UP FOR US WHEN YOU CAN, AND NEVER LET TERFS CONTROL THE NARRATIVE ABOUT US. Make their voices irrelevant by exposing them for what they are: predatory radicals that use the same isolation and misinformation tactics as the Far Right to cultivate new generations of twisted, vile rhetoric and a philosophy of violence and hatred.
Don’t just “reblog to make a terf angry”. They take out that anger on US while you remain safe in the ‘terf-free zone’ you want your blogs to be.
Instead build an authentic culture of love and support for trans women and spread visibility for the truth of our womanhood so terfs can’t keep selling their snake oil to new generations of vulnerable young wlw who end up making comics about literally boiling us alive.
Reblog to start building that culture of trans positivity and make the world a safer place for us to live.
as non trans women, it’s easier for us to hate terfs than it is for us to hate transmisogyny. we aren’t threatened in any way, shape, or form by violence that targets trans women, whereas terfs will attack anyone who shows support for them. the sooner we recognize that vocally hating terfs but never calling out forms of transmisogyny perpetuated by members of other groups is performative allyship, the safer the trans women in our community will be.
alder-knight 