Black Girlhood WRITTEN BY Noel Matthews
When my best friend told me she cried like Jar Jar Binks when I wore braids. in the same way that the “feminist” every time she watched the Barbie movie, In middle school, non-Black boys movement often has–it places at its which she managed to do four times in a would say I’m “not Black enough” forefront issues that are central to white single week, I didn’t know what to say. I to have an issue with them saying women’s approach to feminism while didn’t leave my viewing of Barbie feeling the N-word. I have a plethora largely ignoring issues that uniquely extremely emotional or like I’d had this of stories from growing up in a marginalize Black women and other cosmically-altering,
wildly-spiritual predominantly white community as women of color. It’s not enough
experience. Maybe I’d missed the whole a Black person. And it seems like for Black women point of the movie, but as a Black woman, Barbie didn’t touch on any of these. movements I still couldn’t suppress that gut feeling that
chant
that
we must “dismantle
the
this movie wasn’t for me. This isn’t to say Maybe the Barbie movie wasn’t patriarchy.”
More
than
that the Barbie movie wasn’t empowering for me; maybe it wasn’t for Black this,
we
must
enough or that I didn’t pick up on what women. This fact would be dismantle
all
all of the corny
jokes were trying completely fine if only the narrative the
oppressive
o
f
structures
to put down.
But I can say around the Barbie movie weren’t that support the American society we
that the fact
that
Robbie
an
is
Margot that it is a champion of inclusivity and “ f u n c t i o n ” objectively diversity. The inclusion of Issa Rae u n d e r
(more so survive) today.
stunning, tall blonde bombshell and that I as “President Barbie” isn’t enough
There
am a 5-foot Black girl with a mess of curls to count as an incorporation of a re
v e r y
and a wide nose did lead to a *slight* Black feminism or Black narratives. few
spaces
feeling of disconnect from the narrative. It felt as if, once again, Blackness i n
t h e
Past physical differences, there were parts was meant to be represented
media
of my Black experience that seemed to through the use of a single Black a n d
p o p
be excluded from the story of childhood token character. Simply including
culture
and teenage growing pains that Barbie characters of color doesn’t entail
w h e re
illustrated.
Black
diversity–diversity
comes
from
giving these characters substance I’ve heard it all. I’ve been called an “Oreo” and doing justice to the complexities and had my hair compared to ramen that come with these cultures. noodles. People at a before-and-aftercare program I went to would say I looked The Barbie movie misses its mark
3
when feminist
