[ SECRET POST #2874 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2874 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 074 secrets from Secret Submission Post #411.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 4 - random images ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[a_potato]

When this poem was written has to be taken into account. It was during a time when women were feeling more free to express themselves sexually, and also during a time when black women were feeling more free to adopt their own notions of beauty as opposed to the societal (read: white) standard. Power and confidence viewed through the lens of attraction makes more sense in that context (and it really is more about confidence, than anything else).

Also, the fact that it speaks to one sort of power, or one sort of consequence of confidence, does not mean that it's denying any other source of power. And while it's definitely true that women definitely tend to be reduced to their sexuality, and it's also true that that's a problem, the answer isn't to brush aside or stop acknowledging the power of sexuality -- it's to add other sources of power to it. It's not, and shouldn't be, a zero-sum game.

I'd also note that your version with the roles reversed doesn't actually sound ridiculous at all, because men do derive power from being able to attract women. The fantasy of women falling all over themselves to get a particular man pops up constantly in fiction, and it's something that a lot of men aspire to.

[flipthefrog.livejournal.com]

yep that's pretty much what I came here to say, thanks. 1978 was a hell of a lot different than today--she's expressing a sentiment that legit had rarely been done before at that point, finding power and beauty in her own natural body--note that the poem mentions nothing about makeup or clothing, with the exception of heeled shoes.

[a_potato]

Yup. There is one other oblique reference to clothing aside from the heels, but it's there to make the point that she can't and doesn't wear the "right" clothing. She just is who and what she is. The poem wasn't reinforcing the standard; it was showing it to be a crock.