Legendary comedian Mo’Nique received a lot of backlash after her comments about Black women wearing bonnets in the airport. For her, we should always present ourselves in public with “pride.” What she’s really talking about, though, is respectability.
The politics of respectability have always been connected to how Black women present themselves. Too often, Black women are held to high standards no one else is – and yet, no matter what they wear or do, sexism and anti-Blackness continue.
This issue goes way back.
Sojourner Truth said this in her famous “Ain’t I A Woman” speech back in 1851. Because of her Blackness, she was not awarded the same feminine privileges a white woman received. If she was truly seen as a woman, she wouldn’t have been enslaved to begin with!
We can also think of First Lady Michelle Obama, a fashion icon in her own right and a symbol of poise. Did any of that stop the disgusting narratives the press placed onto her? It didn’t. You can be one of the most accomplished, “respectable” Black women in American history and still get criticized.
Respectability politics will not save us. What we wear will not save us. We have to stop policing ourselves and challenge these old fashion “rules.” White people do enough policing of Black women – let’s stop doing it to each other!