Second Day in the sun for the tongue

Well, I've read a lot more about twerking...it's a slow day...and I apologize for suggesting it wasn't appropriation of black culture.

I hadn't seen the whole video (who could face it? I mean it has Robin "planks constant" Thicke in it) so I missed this part:

A number of African-Americans have weighed in on the implications of this objectification when added to the (I thought) harmless appropriation of a traditional dance.

This is Africa's Cosmic Yoruba, on TWERK: Booty-dancing, gender politics and white privilege:

Twerking has continuously been dismissed as low class, or “ghetto” while being associated with a lack of morals and intellect”, and when African-American girls and women upload videos of themselves twerking they are usually subject to internet trolling.

(via boing boing)

 Yoruba discusses in some detail twerking's African roots and non-sexualized uses.

  And here's Batty Mamzelle on the subject of Miley.

So I'll include it here. What Miley did last night was easily one of the most racist displays I've ever seen. From her insistence on twerking, to her use of all black women as literal props (they were teddy bears) to her smacking of her dancer's ass and the simulation of rimming, it is very clear to me, that Miley thinks that black women's bodies are to be enjoyed, devalued and put on display for entertainment purposes.

She has a lot more to say, too.

And here's Tim Maughan (white SF author in this case) speculating rather plausibly on who's behind the manufactured outrage. --Spoiler alert -- this is the culmination of his argument, not his evidence:

On August 25th Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke appeared together on stage at the Video Music Awards to perform “Blurred Lines.” It seemed to be an unusual pairing, as the only real connection between the two seems to be the sponsorship by Beats Electronics. Seen by over 10 million TV and internet viewers, the performance created considerable commentary and outrage due to Cyrus’ highly sexual and provocative performance. For nearly 48 hours after the performance it dominated discussion on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, placing higher in trending topics charts than the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria and the continuing controversy over US government monitoring of Internet communication.

Agh. Syria, again. But he's right. So back to that Tumblr of Miley Twerking On Things We Should Be Talking About. Current top picture: Dr. Martin Luther King, oddly enough.