When I see descriptions of how “successful” Black women are in most reports, it gives me pause because most of those standards seem to be set by others. There is very little measure of real community engagement, but there are a lot of discussions about brands of material possession. Instead of stories of real personalities, I hear about how many trips and properties that are owned. Frankly, the discussion seems to be about consumerism, not about uplift or much of anything else, and I would remind people that consumptive success measured externally can always be reclassified.
No one, and I mean no one, should be teaching women to buy our way to happiness because that is a road to debt and stress. Purses, shoes, and clothing should never cost more than rent, and coming up with a way to justify that is just an excuse to maintain the status quo. Even rich people should consider why they need to spend so much when most people are looking elsewhere. Financial instability is not a flex, and women do not need to prove ourselves through buying our ways into acceptance.
Additionally, consumption images only teach women that we are fine as long as we have money, and most women are underemployed and underpaid for the jobs we manage to get. Again, feminism should not be centered around external validation, and salaries are externally determined, not internally measured. Having money is something fewer people will be able to attain, and it is not a worthwhile pursuit while the rest of the world is looking to be stingy.
Most importantly, obsolete images fail to prepare new generations of women for the world we are faced with, and it keeps us centered on a past that is no longer possible. No, a bunch of women are not going to be able to become millionaires on rental properties while vacationing all over the world. Yes, women are going to need to stop emulating “male” behavioral traits as signs of strength. Suburbs are expensive and cars depreciate once someone drives them off the lot. We should not aim for the past as active adults.
The problems with the patriarchy are not centered around genitalia, and just like a dominant narrative in Black face, having women be hedonistic monsters is not a real answer to the problems created. Feminism should be redefined around single women with no children because that is who we are when nobody is looking. Struggling to have enough money or buy enough stuff has nothing to do with identity at the end of the day, because almost nobody will remember possessions.
Chasing A Dying Empire 