The Misogyny of a Women’s Skin

 La’Nyjha Trent 

Harris 

English 2017-64187 

30 April 2023 

Final Project 

The Misogyny of a Women’s Skin 

Misogynoir is a word that we do not frequently use but a word that has been conveyed not only in the past but the present as well. As we went through this course, we read two novels and watched many films that gave us examples of misogynoir. To give a background of Misogynoir, it means the dislike or ingrained prejudice against black women where race and gender played a  role. In the novel Kindred, Dana, and Alice experience the act of Misogynoir. The character  Rufus the son of Mr. Weylin, displayed it against the two women in many ways. Before and after  Rufus gained possession of Alice, this is when it begins. He treated Alice as if she weren’t worth anything. When Rufus got into a fight with Alice’s husband Isaac this showed a way of  Misogynoir. He questioned her reasoning of why she wanted to be with her husband instead of him being black, although Alice is too. Rufus stated that “We grew up. She got so she would  rather have a buck nigger than me!” (The Fight 123) Even after Alice was split up from her husband and was purchased by Rufus, he made a statement that, in a sense, would belittle her in a  way. Rufus said, “I guess. I had to pay nearly twice what she’s worth to get her. That is all the  money I had.” (The Fight 147) He made it seem like she wasn’t worth any value, although she is still worth more than she could voice. In the novel, another character named Dana experiences it too. When Rufus was at his weakest, Dana seemed to hold all the cards but as soon as he had his 

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strength, he used the weakness of her skin color and used her to his advantage. She was smart and she knew many things that not even he or others that were part of the Weylin family knew.  In the novel A Different Drummer, the chapter titled Dymphna Wilson it showed us how the character Dymphna projected this against Bethrah, someone who she considered to be her friend.  Some of the gestures and comments that were made against Bethrah showed us Misogynoir.  Dymphna said, “She didn’t look at all like a maid. Maids are fat and very dark and have very thick negro accents.” (95) All negro women are to be portrayed as being the mammy stereotype based off the color of their skin. Dymphna also said, “having her for a friend was that she was  colored and there would not be any competition between us as far as boys were convinced  because that kind of thing always makes us enemies even if they are close.” (97) Dymphna made it seem as if Bethrah will not get picked because she is black and that being that she is black she  is ugly. This particular part of passage shows how society depicts women of color as not having  as much value that they deserve. In a source named Forbes: The Unique Discrimination That  Black Women Face, explained how in cases and situations that we are all familiar with such as the Breonna Taylor case gave us an insight on how the world portrayed misogynoir. It stated,  “The hashtag SayMyName was created to highlight misogynoir and how stories of Black Women  and girls often go overlooked unnoticed and untold.... experiences ranged from police violence to  sexual assault often go unreported.” (Asarel 1) With this hashtag, we have seen not only the murder of Breonna Taylor but many others die at the hands of police not only because of their gender but their race as well. Another source named Guardian: Misogynoir Where Racism  and Sexism Meets argues that prejudice against Black women is ignored by mainstream feminism. Black feminist commentator Feminista Jones said, “We are talking about  misogyny, yes, but there is a specific misogyny that is aimed at black women and is uniquely 

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detrimental to black women.” (Williams 1) This word does not only affect Black women  physically but mentally as well. The act of sexual harassment, campus sexual harassment, rape  culture, workplace discrimination, body shaming, sexist imagery in the media all play a role in  how it can affect us physically. In some cases, some of the harm that some of those acts does  affects mentally as well. My last source from the National Library of Medicine named Misogyny,  Feminism, and Sexual Harassment explains what is done that affects us as Black Women. It said  in the source, “It is illegal to harass a person because of their gender and sexual harassment  includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical  harassment of a sexual nature ......which manifest themselves in the overall development indices  of a nation.” Without equal chances to succeed and economic independence, gender equality will  remain an unrealizable dream. We must take the issue into consideration because no matter what the darkness of a woman's skin color is her voice still deserves to be loud and heard. 

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References 

Asare, Janice Gassam. “Misogynoir: The Unique Discrimination That Black Women Face.”  Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 Oct. 2022,  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/09/22/misogynoir-the-unique discrimination-that-black-women-face/?sh=4016c24456ef. 

Butler, Octavia. Kindred. Doubleday, 1979. 

Kelly, William M. A Different Drummer. Anchor; Reprint Edition (May 1, 1990), 1962. 

“Misogynoir: Where Racism and Sexism Meet.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5  Oct. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/05/what-is-misogynoir. 

Srivastava, Kalpana, et al. “Misogyny, Feminism, and Sexual Harassment.” Industrial Psychiatry  Journal, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2017,  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6058438/.