Press

Below is a snapshot of some of the spaces and publication that referenced me, my writing and/or my social media posts. Mentioning any author, writer, academic, journalist, book, publication etc. here is not tacit agreement with all of their politics and/or business practices, related to the specifically-mentioned works below or any of their work otherwise. I have no formal business affiliation with anyone listed here unless stated elsewhere. Opinions represented in my work that is referenced in the press below are my own.

Last updated: spring 2021

•••

2021

Books

• Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance - Moya Bailey; “Preface,” Introduction,” “Chapter 1: Misogynoir Is A Drag,” and “Acknowledgments”

  “…my first post, ‘They Aren’t Talking about Me . . . ,’ discussed my concern about my own apathetic response to ‘misogynoir’ in music; it was the word’s first appearance outside my dissertation.10 Once I used the word, other members of the collective started to use the term and it appeared in more CFC posts. From there, some members of the blogosphere began to use it, but no one more compellingly than womanist blogger Trudy at her now sunsetted Gradient Lair.11 Her work introduced online communities to the word, and she deftly articulated its utility. Her work and others helped the term reach a wide range of audiences, including an international one.”

  • reference: the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years, on Gradient Lair and elsewhere

  “I offer an invitation to readers to see this book as the first of many that address misogynoir in several arenas and locales, where I and other writers take on the unfortunate dynamism of this noxious reality. Trudy’s blog entries on misogynoir helped the term move through Internet spaces.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

  “This chapter explores Janet Mock’s and other Black trans women’s use of digital media platforms to create redefined representations of themselves outside the problem- atic lens of transmisogynoir. […] “‘Drag’ becomes a way to both describe the practice of men donning dresses to behave as women for comic effect and evoke the resultant negative screed that often accom- panies these portrayals of Black women. Sonic and sartorial drag can be forms of misogynoir and transmisogynoir…”

  • coinage of “transmisogynoir” on Gradient Lair

  “The work and camaraderie of my Internet family, Izetta Autumn Mobley, Jessica Marie Johnson, Danielle Cole, Sydette Harry, Antoinette Luna Myers, Dr. Bianca Laureano, Mai’a Williams, Tourmaline, Trudy, and the late Stacey Park Milbern, were essential for ensuring an ethical and accountable text.”

  • reference: the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years, on Gradient Lair and elsewhere

• Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness - Da'Shaun L. Harrison; “Chapter 2: Pretty Ugly: The Politics of Desire”

  “…the violence my body has long endured was the ungendering of my Being, particularly due to the ways in which patriarchy shows up through anti-Blackness, anti-fatness, heterosexism and misogynoir—a term coined and proliferated by Moya Bailey and Trudy. Black women, while mostly described as ‘strong’ and thought not to be able to experience pain, are still oftentimes viewed as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘weaker’—the latter most often being what informs the former. […] To provide a point of clarity: this is not intended to compare my experience to that of little Black girls robbed of their girlhood and Black women robbed of their womanhood, but rather to name the severity of the violences transgressed against them… […] My assault, though made possible by heterosexism and anti-fatness, too, have all happened in conversation with misogynoir and the ways in which men engage bodies that “belong” to Black women—even when those bodies actually belong to Black girls, Black boys and Black adults who are not women.”

  • reference: the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years, on Gradient Lair and elsewhere

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “A Qualitative Study of Black College Women’s Experiences of Misogynoir and Anti-Racism with High School Educators” - Seanna Leath, Noelle Ware, Miray D. Seward, Whitney N. McCoy, Paris Ball and Theresa A. Pfister, Social Sciences

  “Misogynoir refers to the ways in which racism and sexism intersect and contribute to harm against Black women and girls through interpersonal encounters and institutional structures. Understanding the functionality of misogynoir as an ideological construct can help scholars and educators contextualize the innumerous ways that Black women and girls are subject to inequitable and harmful treatment in educational settings and broader society.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Misogynoir Nearly Killed Meghan Markle” - Moya Bailey, Bitch Media

  “I coined the term misogynoir in 2008, though you probably didn’t learn about it until Trudy started doing some important theorizing of it on her blog Gradient Lair a few years later. At the time, I was thinking specifically about the health of Black women: I was a graduate student writing my dissertation about the way patients—specifically Black women—and future physicians (nearly exclusively white men), were represented in medical school yearbooks in the 1910s. I was simultaneously observing how Black women were portrayed in popular culture and on social-media platforms in the late aughts. I wasn’t surprised to see the hypersexual, angry, and vapid caricatures of Black women in either venue or time frame; but recognizing how little those images had changed in the intervening century was startling. The survival and mutation of the tired Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire tropes had me wanting to name the pernicious and synergistically adroit anti-Black racist misogyny that dominated the public sphere. I landed on the portmanteau “misogynoir,” a word that many Black women have found useful because it succinctly articulates the degrading representations and the resulting disparate treatment they engender for us in society.”

  • reference: the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years, on Gradient Lair and elsewhere

• “Here's why some are calling Meghan Markle's treatment by royals ‘misogynoir’” - Kamilah Newton, Yahoo! Life

  “The term, coined in 2008 by Northeastern University women's studies professor Moya Bailey, author of the forthcoming Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women's Digital Resistance, and Trudy (aka @thetrudz) […] has only recently been gaining ground in popular culture. It describes ‘the specific combination of anti-Black and misogynistic representation in visual culture and digital spaces that shapes broader ideas about Black women.’”

  • reference: the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years, on Gradient Lair and elsewhere

• “31 Totally Accurate Tweets About D’Angelo & Friends Verzuz” - Xaviera, icrecreamconvos.com

  “D’Angelo is 47. Method Man is 49. Redman is 50. Generation X holdin Verzuz down, once again! #Verzuz #VerzuzAtTheApollo”

  • reference: a tweet (2021) - Twitter

• “No, We Will Not ‘SayHerName’” - Nathan Odige, The Minority Report

  • reference: a tweet (2021) - Twitter

2020

Books

• #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice - Sarah J. Jackson, Moya Bailey and Brooke Foucault Welles; “Chapter 2: Visions of Black Feminism: #FastTailedGirls, #YouOkSis, #SayHerName”

  “@GradientLair, the Twitter account for the Black feminist blog authored by user Trudy, tweeted ‘Fast Tailed Girls’: Examining The Stereotypes and Abuse That Black Girls Face #FastTailedGirls, along with a link to a post expanding on the need for and the background on the hashtag.”

  • reference: “‘Fast Tailed Girls’: Examining The Stereotypes and Abuse That Black Girls Face” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• A Tumblr Book: Platform and Cultures - edited by Alexander Cho, Louisa Stein, Allison McCracken, Indira N Hoch; “Chapter 11: We Are More Than Footnotes: Black Women and Intellectual Theft”- Aisha Mahmud

  “At the time, I thought for certain that media outlets would listen to these women when plagiarism was brought up to them. And yet, there was no big blowout, nor were any of the accused outlets publicly reprimanded or the writers held accountable. No apologies were issued, and nonblack writers continued to profit from the emotional and academic labor of Black women who were quite literally just living their lives. Whole ideas, terms and trains of thought were lifted directly from Tumblr posts I myself had reblogged and sighed in on, only to appear in online articles. Black feminist bloggers such as Moya Bailey and Gradient Lair (Trudy) had already coined and popularized a term on Tumblr to describe a sinister prong of racism that targets Black women specifically: misogynoir. Misogynoir rears its ugly head in everything from fandom disputes to simple everyday racism, and the theft of Black women's ideas and experience that occurred on Tumblr was simply a new instance of it. Even the term ‘misogynoir’ became mainstreamed without Bailey or Gradient Lair being credited, as they have noted elsewhere.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• This Book Will Make You Kinder: An Empathy Handbook - Henry James Garrett; “Chapter 7: Exercising Empathy”

  “To avoid empathy-limiting mistakes toward Black women, for example, it's not enough to listen to Black men and white women and sum up what we learn. Black women's oppression cannot be understood by adding together the oppression that Black men and white women face. The oppression faced by Black women is greater than and different from the sum of its parts. Moya Bailey, a scholar of critical race, feminist and disability studies and Trudy, an indie creator, writer, social critic and womanist, coined and developed, respectively, the word misogynoir to describe this unique form of anti-Black misogyny.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• Me, not you: The trouble with mainstream feminism - Alison Phipps; “Chapter 1: Gender in a right-moving world”

  ...the comparison between Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford can only go so far. Hill, a Black woman, had a much frostier reception than Ford did: even the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced that it would oppose Thomas's nomination 'with regret' (Thomas is also Black). Hill was questioned by a group consisting entirely of white men. IN an interview at Stanford University eleven years later, she wondered how those men, and others might have reacted if she had been 'white, blond-haired and blue-eyed.' That question was at least partially answered by the reaction to Christine Blasey Ford. Even Donald Trump called Ford a 'fine woman; and 'very credible witness' (before mocking her at a rally in Mississippi). Hill's experience reflects what Moya Bailey and Trudy call 'misogynoir.' This blend of sexism and racism shape Black women's experiences..."

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “Toward a More Just Feminism” - Margaret L. Signorella, Psychology of Women Quarterly

  “Nonetheless, as Mariana Ortega described, White feminists exhibit a ‘loving, knowing ignorance,’ which she defined as ‘an ignorance of the thought and experience of women of color that is accompanied by both alleged love for and alleged knowledge about them.’ This ‘loving ignorance’ ignores the reality that ‘racism empowers white women to act as exploiters and oppressors.’ Trudy referred to this as ‘mainstream feminism,’ in which the ‘feminists most often allowed to occupy this space…cisgender, heterosexual, thin, middle class White women with citizenship.…affirm existing hierarchies and aren’t intersectional.’ In just the past few years there have been incidents that illustrate Trudy’s conception of mainstream feminism as ‘most visible to the masses.…and the one that dominates credit.’ Trudy herself and colleague Moya Bailey, both Black women, experienced erasure of their pioneering efforts. Specifically, after Bailey coined the term misogynoir to refer to anti-Black racist misogyny and Trudy elaborated on the concept and its applications, their writings were frequently uncredited or stolen.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies; “The Idea Of Feminism Isn’t The Problem; The Current Manifestation Of ‘Mainstream Feminism’ Is” (2013) and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “‘Tumblr Saved My Life’: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of how Black Trans-Masculinity Operates through Tumblr” - Shahan D. Bellamy, Arizona State University

  “Trudy of the Gradient Lair is, like Bailey, an instrumental force behind current understandings of misogynoir. Ironically, Trudy, a black woman, is almost never cited when discussing misogynoir. The erasure of Trudy’s intellectual contributions itself is a prime example of misogynoir in action. Trudy’s theorizations are extremely important because they expand Bailey’s articulation of misogynoir beyond media representation.”

  “Trudy’s articulation demands a recognition of the dialectical and, at times, mutually constitutive relationship between anti-black misogyny and popular culture. Larger sociopolitical factors shape visual and popular culture, which means that scholars should engage with the ways that media contributes to the material, socio-political conditions of black womanhood. Because other theories do not allow nuanced examinations of misogyny and girlhood, in this chapter, I specifically utilize Bailey’s and Trudy’s theorizations surrounding the dehumanization of black women to help shed light on interlocutors’ experiences of being perceived as black girls.”

  “I conceptualize Hyper Invisibility as the places where the socio-historical context of black masculinity and Bailey and Trudy’s theorizations of misogynoir meet. It thus provides a way to conceptualize and codify the experiences of black transmen, both before and after socially or medically transitioning. It is a language tool to try to articulate the complex nature of black transmasculine existence.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Enacting Transbutch: Queer Narratives Beyond Essentialism” - Sarah Lynn Cavar, Mount Holyoke College

  “There is no essentialized sexgender without racial essentialism, no naturalized cisness without its constituent whiteness. The entwinement of white supremacy, colonialism, misogyny, and cissexism are precisely what subjects women of color, especially Black women, to multilayered violences.”

  “See the term misogynoir, coined by queer Black woman Moya Bailey, to describe the specific form of racialized 26 misogyny directed at Black women as a racialized category, not simply as members of a shared political identity. The term was popularized by Trudy, the writer of now-inactive blog Gradient Lair, a blog critical to my early digital education from its establishment in 2012.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Book Review | Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets, by Feminista Jones” - Florence Madenga, Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience

  “In magazine pieces and other popular media, the story of how Twitter threads came to be has been attributed to venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who began linking tweets in his timeline before the feature was available on the platform. But Jones reveals that actually, as early as 2013, a Black woman activist, @thetrudz, linked her tweets together by replying to herself, so that she could connect her tweets to tell a story that her followers could digest with a click on the original tweet. Jones then asks, ‘Could someone before @thetrudz have done this also? Perhaps. Could @thetrudz and Andreessen have started linking tweets near the same time? Possibly. But @thetrudz is not mentioned in the same breath as Andreessen as an innovator. And remember, origin stories matter’ (p. 42). Jones wants to make it very clear in the book that Black feminist scholars and activists have a strong and quantifiable presence on social media, and they are dedicated to pushing for and maintaining spaces where their voices can be heard.”

  • reference: general use of Twitter as @thetrudz and @GradientLair

• “‘Know That We Exist’: Storytelling as Self-Making for UndocuBlack Students” - Brittnee Meitzenheimer, UCLA

  “Moya Bailey’s work around racism, ableism, sexism, and patriarchy is relevant here. Bailey with Trudy the creator, curator, writer and social critic for Gradient Lair, a womanist blog on Black women and art, media, social media, socio-politics and culture, “had significant roles in the creation and proliferation of the term misogynoir. Misogynoir describes the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience.”106 Like intersectionality—a conceptual framework and term to describe the particularities of Black women’s experiences in the world that other grammars and language failed to capture—misogynoir frames an oppressive matrix felt only by Black women. Misogynoir explains that “what happens to Black women in public space isn’t about them being any woman of color. It is particular and has to do with the ways that anti- Blackness and misogyny combine to malign Black women in our world.”107 Misogynoir helps to clarify the particular mistreatment and secondary violence Black women experience from the state after reporting, seeking resources, or otherwise being a survivor of domestic violence.”

  • reference:  “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Where No Michif Has Gone Before: The Form and Function of Métis Futurisms” - Chelsea May Vowel, University of Alberta

  “When I speak of Indigenous peoples, I am not limiting myself to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit of North America, but rather to Indigenous peoples globally, recognizing that these definitions are fraught, contested, and like all definitions of what it means to be human, often rooted in anti-Blackness. I have been hugely influenced by Black authors, whose work I only began to access in my thirties, having been raised instead on a steady diet of whitestream theorizing, as well as fantasy and science fiction prior to that. In particular, Octavia Butler’s work expanded my understanding of what is possible in terms of speaking back to whitestream visions of the past and future. Butler’s work never elides or pretends to solve racism, misogyny and misogynoir, ableism, homophobia, classism, or any other systems of oppression. Neither do these structures forbid Black possibility; they exist as they do now, as constraints that must be contended with and resisted.”

  • reference: the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years, on Gradient Lair and elsewhere

• “Doing impact work while female: Hate tweets, ‘hot potatoes’ and having ‘enough of experts’” - Hannah Yelin and Laura Clancy, European Journal of Women’s Studies

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “‘The person’ versus ‘the personality’ meme demonstrates how looks can be deceiving” - Stacey Ritzen, The Daily Dot

  • reference: a tweet (2020) - Twitter

• “A TikToker Has Put Jeff Bezos’ Insane Wealth Into Perspective With A Shitload Of Rice” - Lavender Baj, Pedestrian

  “I can’t stop thinking about that rice illustration that person did to show how rich Bezos is, using each grain of rice as a symbol of 100K, and how many people I know who don’t even have 1 grain. Like the lowest unit of measurement in the illustration is still beyond us.”

  • reference: a tweet (2020) - Twitter

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “Resources specifically in the time of coronavirus” - Taking Back Ourselves

• “Inclusion & Accessibility: STEM Is About Discovery, Innovative Solutions and Communication” - Samantha Yammine, ScienceSam

Reference Sites

• “Trans Agenda For Liberation: Pilar 1 - Black Trans Women and Black Trans Femmes: Leading & Living Fiercely” - Transgender Law Center

• “What does misogynoir mean?” - Definitions.net

2019

Books

• Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World From the Tweets to the Streets - Feminista Jones; “Introduction - It All Started When…”, “Chapter 3: Thread!” and “Chapter 11: Combahee Lives”

  “I am a proud queer Black feminist. My Black feminist identity has been influenced and shaped by the works of Sojourner Truth, Audre Lorde, Queen Latifah, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, Florynce Kennedy, Missy Elliott, Michele Wallace, Patricia Hill Collins, Amy Garvey, @thetrudz, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and the Combahee River Collective, among many others.”

  “I recall seeing @thetrudz's threads and being blown away by her ingenuity. Until then, those of us who used multiple tweets to get a complete idea or story out relied on services like Storify, a now-defunct platform that allowed social media users to create 'stories' compiled of tweets.”

  “Combahee  lives in the  work of twenty-first-century Black feminists who bravely navigate the world wide web and streets around the world with a  message of empowerment and liberation for  Black women and girls. Their theorizing lives in Crenshaw’s ‘intersectionality’ and achieves clarity with Bailey’s and @thetrudz’s ‘misogynoir.’  The radical work lives on in Gandy’s reproductive justice and Kendall’s ‘Hood Feminism.’” 

  “The term ‘misogynoir’ was coined by Moya Bailey; the theory behind the concept was developed by @thetrudz to explain the unique type of misogyny directed against Black women.”

  • reference: the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years and “Black Women, Online Space and Boundaries” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code - Ruha Benjamin; “Introduction;” “Notes”

  “Twitter’s relatively hands-off approach when it comes to the often violent and hate-filled content of White supremacists actually benefits the company’s bottom line. This is a business model in which more traffic equals more profit, even if that traffic involves violently crashing into other users—as when Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones received constant threats of rape and lynching after noted White supremacist M*lo Y*annopoulos rallied a digital mob against her: a high-profile example of the macro-aggressions that many Black women experience on social media every day.”

  “The term for the specific form of anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience is ‘misogynoir.’”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games - Ebony Elizabeth Thomas; “Acknowledgements”

  “There are so many who I could name, but some of the most important during the write of this book have ben the #DiversityJedi collective of authors, critics, educators and librarians [...] and Black feminist Twitter (I'Nasah Crockett, Trudy of Gradient Lair, Mikki Kendall, Sydette Harry, Mariame Kaba, Eve Ewing, many others). During my bleakest moments, all I'd have to do is log on and get lifted by my sisters in virtual spaces. I am ever grateful.”

  • reference: Twitter account (@thetrudz)

• University Babylon: Film and Race Politics on Campus - Curtis Marez; “Notes”

  “The concept has been further elaborated in a lengthy blog post by Trudy, “Explanation of Misogynoir.” For a revealing conversation between the two authors about the concept and its circulation, see Moya Bailey and Trudy, ‘On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure and Plagiarism.’”

  • “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• Gender Hate Online: Understanding the New Anti-Feminism - Debbie Ging and Eugenia Siapera; “Introduction.”

  “Misogynoir is the specific version of misogyny against Black women which is different in many ways to the violence suffered by White women and has to be addressed in a specifically intersectional manner, which pays attention to both racism and misogyny.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• Friends: A Reading of the Sitcom - Kai Hanno Schwind and Simone Knox; “Chapter 5: The One With the Emblematic Problematic Fave: Friends and the Politics of Representation”

  “As far as engaging with the lived experience of Black people is concerned, it would be interesting to ask what aspects of misogynoir would Charlie Wheeler, as a woman of colour, be likely to have experienced. What daily micro-aggressions or structural inequalities would she have had to negotiate working as a paleontology scholar at a US university shortly after the turn of the millennium?”

  • “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• Love WITH Accountability: Digging up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse - edited by Aishah Shahidah Simmons; "Content Note," and "Chapter 16: The Coiled-Spring First Grader Deep Inside: Sexual Violence and Restorative Justice"

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “The Impossibility of Being ‘Perfect and White’: Black Girls’ Racialized and Gendered Schooling Experiences” - Dorinda J. Carter Andrews, Tashal Brown, Eliana Castro, and Effat Id-Deen, American Educational Research Journal

  “We situate our analysis of Black girls’ schooling experiences alongside the historical and contemporary embodiment of whiteness, anti-Blackness, and cis-hetero-patriarchy that exist within U.S. political, judicial, and educational spheres. The normalized and elusive nature of whiteness allows it to go undetected and unquestioned. We utilize Bailey’s term misogynoir to name and identify anti-Black misogyny as it operates within Black girls’ lives.”

  “A student at Site B recalled, ‘This boy was going around school telling people I had sex with him [all] because I didn’t like him.’ This not only speaks to the normality of the sexualization of Black girls’ bodies but also speaks to how some Black boys have been socialized to perpetuate the misogynoir that is commonplace in society.”

  “In (critical conversation spaces) CCSs, Black girls are able to share their unique and collective racialized and gendered schooling experiences in the context of the prevailing presence of anti-Blackness and misogynoir in schools and society. These spaces can provide emotional support that is often lacking for Black girls within the larger school structure. We posit that this type of space must be institutionalized as part of the explicit school curriculum.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “High Impact of [Whiteness] on Trans* Students in Postsecondary Education” - Dafina-Lazarus Stewart and Z. Nicolazzo, Equity & Excellence In Education

  “...various scholars have elucidated how institutions of higher education are awash in trans
  oppression trans-misogyny and transmisogynoir. These realities not only highlight the continued dismissal and disavowal of trans
  people throughout postsecondary educational spaces, but also demonstrate the interlocking nature of systems of domination and oppression in ways that harm those with multiple subordinated identities...”

  “An extension of the term misogynoir, transmisogynoir refers to the ways racism, anti-blackness, and trans-misogyny manifest in the lives of black trans
  women. In particular, the term denotes the various ways in which life chances for black trans
  women are foreclosed as a result of these interlocking systems of oppression.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “The Rise of Online Counterpublics? The limits of inclusion in a digital age” - Malin Holm, Uppsala universitet

  “When the hashtag [#solidarityisforwhitewomen] was reported about on the large feminist websites that the hashtag particularly targeted in its critique, such as Jezebel and Ms. Magazine, neither the initiator of the hashtag conversation nor any of her tweets were at first mentioned in the reporting, nor was it mentioned that the critique that was being leveled in the hashtag in particular concerned these platforms. In contrast, websites and blogs explicitly produced by and for people/women of color instead provided space for women of color to comment and discuss the hashtag themselves (e.g. The Root, Shine for Harriet, Gradient Lair). When it was noticed that some of the feminist online publications in describing the hashtag and its development had erased its creator Mikki Kendall (as well as Jamilah Lemieux, the creator of the hashtag #blackpowerisforblackmen) from the story, as well as the feminist platforms’ own role in the origin of the hashtag, became widely criticized on Twitter and beyond.”

  • reference: general Twitter discussion and several Gradient Lair pieces referencing #solidarityisforwhitewomen over time

• “Resisting Media Marginalisation: Black Women’s Digital Content and Collectivity” - Francesca Sobande, Anne Fearfull and Douglas Brownlie, Consumption Markets & Culture

  “Prior research illuminates the existence of a vibrant Black online presence. Related work out- lines digital discourse which is distinctly shaped by Black women, who experience intersectional forms of structural oppression such as the overlapping effects of both sexism and racism. In particular, research about the experiences of Black people in the US is testament to the socio-cultural significance of their digital encounters and online dialogue to do with Black lives. Although such work is occurring, there has been comparatively scarce scholarly attention paid to the online experiences of Black people in Britain, let alone Black women specifically.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Dismantling Respectability: The Rise of New Womanist Communication Models in the Era of Black Lives Matter” - Allissa V. Richardson, Journal of Communication

  “Imagine what Fannie Lou Hamer would say if she could see that three of the most prominent social justice hashtags of the last decade—#BlackLivesMatter, #OscarsSoWhite, and #MeToo—all were created by Black women. In this vein, the small cohort I featured here is but a portion of the vast net-work of progressive, Black women activists who organize and communicate online.Scholars will find this a rich research area, as womanist activists grow ever-emboldened to call out misogynoir—misogyny directed toward Black women—in American culture.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Difference, Whiteness and The Group Analytic Matrix: An Integrated Formulation” - Guilaine Kinouani, Group Analysis

  “As Debbie shared disparaging notions of Africanness, she ‘Othered’ me and, re-located my body in ‘primitive’ Africa. The unconscious communication possibly being, ‘you do not belong here’. ‘Here’ could be taken to signify the group situation or indeed the country. It may be hypothesized that Debbie projected dirt onto me, a racialized and gendered notion that continues to legitimise the particular dehumanization and subjugation of black women that is located at the intersection of misogyny and anti-blackness, also referred to as misogynoir within black feminist scholarship.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “‘The Future and The Past Merge to Meet Us Here’: Black Feminism and Performative Biographism in Beyoncé's Visual Album Lemonade (2016)” - Sigbjørg Bøe, University of Stavanger

  “Beyoncé centres love, both through the lens of affection and adoration, but also betrayal, contempt, and heartbreak. Black womanhood and Black female sexuality are two of the most prominent themes explored in the production, alongside misogynoir, the historical impact of slavery, police brutality, and federal mismanagement. It contains both the personal and the political, often framing the personal as political.”

  “Beyoncé and her line of women standing in the water is a powerful visualisation of a diverse Black female sisterhood united based on shared interests

  and conviction that they must mobilise against the larger oppressive forces that produce and perpetuate police violence, and the culture that promote misogynoir.”

  “We are meant to recognise that the older generation inhabit vital knowledge the later generations need in order to survive in a world filled with misogynoir.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Making Place, Making Home: Lesbian Queer World-Making in Cape Town” - Susan Holland-Muter,  Instituto de Estudos de Gênero da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

  “It is common cause that all lesbians face some degree of stigma, discrimination and violence due to their transgressing hegemonic gender and sexuality norms. However, the degree of their vulnerability to discrimination and violence differs on the basis of race, class, gender performance, age and location, amongst other factors. Mirroring the literature to a large extent, the lesbian narratives within this study confirm that black, butch presenting, poorer, township dwelling lesbians were at greater risk of experiencing stigma, discrimination and violence based on gender and sexuality. This is due to the compound effect of misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Playing with Lynching: Fandom Violence and the Black Athletic Body” - Poe Johnson, Television & New Media

  “While this article deals exclusively with black male athletes, I do not disregard the amount of physical and verbal violence black women athletes have experienced. In fact, black women athletes, such as the Williams sisters in tennis and Gabby Douglas in gymnastics, experience an overlapping yet unique form of misogynoir fan violence. The term misogynoir, originally created by Dr. Moya Bailey and then further developed by her and Trudy (@thetrudz of Gradient Lair), theorizes the way in which racism and sexism work in concert to marginalize black women. For more, read Bailey and Trudy’s dual interview: ‘On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism.’”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Spill The Tea Sis': Misogynoir's Problem And Black Women's Support, Narratives And Identities Found In Love & Hip-Hop's Reality TV Franchise” - Adeerya J. Johnson, Georgia State University (ScholarWorks)

  “This study contributes to literature that centers on how Black women are represented in television and Hip-Hop by examining the impact of misogynoir on Hip-Hop centered reality TV and providing a contradictory site of entertainment for Black women who are supporters of Love & Hip-Hop. This study is significant because it provides insight to why Black women continue to support a show that uses misogynoir to capitalize on the experiences of Black women involved with men and women in the Hip-Hop industry in the current era of reality TV and digital and social media.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Why #WomenAreTooHardToAnimate: Exploring Gender and Identity In Communities of Play” - Sian Tomkinson, The University of Western Australia

  “It is also important to note the significance of race and sexuality in Gamergate. I do not wish to neglect the experiences of many women who were harassed with anti-Semitic, racist and transphobic attacks, many of which the above women experienced.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “How We Measure Survival: Narratives of Africa in the Public Health Classroom” - Moriah McSharry McGrath, Africa Today

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Young Women’s Sexuality in Black and White: Racial Differences in Appraisals of Sexually Active Young Women” - Laina Y. Bay-Cheng, Noelle M. St. Vil and Hannah G. Ginn, The Journal of Sex Research

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair and “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “To Study Abroad or Not to Study Abroad: That Is the STEM Question” - Matthew A Witenstein, Colorado State Journal of Student Affairs

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Women’s History Month: Black Feminism, Misogynoir, and Attempts to Erase Black Women’s Voices” - Denise Oliver Velez, Daily Kos

  “‘Misogynoir is not about non-Black women of colour or White women; period.’ [...] This is very important to understand. I have seen the term being applied—incorrectly—to women of color. Noir = black. Period. I’ve also seen the term attributed to women who did not birth it. [...] ‘When I—yes me; I know activist™️ social circles hate acknowledging this, but it is what it is—was developing the framework for ‘misogynoir,’ along with Moya and her coinage, it involved the intraracial and interracial/structural. Not gonna ignore intraracial abuse and violence. In our article ‘On misogynoir: citation, erasure, and plagiarism’ we discuss how “misogynoir” conceptually came about and the labor over the years.’”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair and “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Black Women Have to Keep Pushing Back Against Internalized Misogynoir” - Josie Pickens, Black Youth Project

  “The term misogynoir was coined by thinkers Moya Bailey and Trudy…to address the particular kind of anti-Black misogyny that Black women experience. It refers to the kinds of violence women face overall, but especially the kind of racialized violence Black women face in our everyday lives.”

• “Six Hours: R. Kelly and the Contemporary Archive of Violence Against Black Girls” - admin, Association of Black Women Historians

  “Reactions to the docuseries confirmed the blaring truth of misogynoir as pervasive, historically rooted, and entrenched in how American society responds to the violation of Black girls and women. Misogynoir, a term coined by Dr. Moya Bailey and co-proliferated with Trudy aka @thetrudz, “describes the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience.” This term disturbingly encapsulates the distrustful and hateful responses to the exposé as well as the striking inertia around holding Kelly, his co-conspirators, and his enablers accountable.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “What It Means to Be a Bisexual Trans Woman on #BiVisibilityDay” - Mey Rude, Out

  “When transphobia combines with anti-Blackness and leads to violence and discrimination, it’s called transmisogynoir, a term coined by Trudy at Gradient Lair. She was building on the work done by Moya Bailey, who coined “misogynoir” to describe “specifically anti-Black misogyny.” Transmisogynoir refers to violence enacted on Black trans women specifically because they are Black trans women. ‘The violence enacted against Black trans women is a culmination of racism, anti-Blackness and State violence against Black bodies as non-persons in general,’ Trudy writes. When transmisogynoir is enacted by men, it often manifests as extreme violence that ends in Black trans women being beaten, shot, or killed. The reality is that many men are attracted to transgender women but they’re afraid to say so in public, and they lash out because society and patriarchal norms haven’t taught them to deal with their fear and anger in any other way.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “The Violence That Black Trans Women Face” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “More Than Just Hashtags” - Tris Mamone, Splice Today

  “The intersecting forms of oppression black trans women face—racism, misogyny, transphobia, etc.—is what Trudy of Gradient Lair calls “transmisogynoir,” or the oppression of black trans women. As I look at the names of those five black trans women—Dana Martin, Ashanti Carmon, Claire Legato, Booker, and Washington—I think, ‘They were more than just hashtags.’”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “The Violence That Black Trans Women Face” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Manchild In The Compromised Land: What We Might Learn From Surviving R. Kelly” - H. "Herukhuti" Sharif Williams, Sacred Sexualities

  “...and misogynoir, a term coined by Moya Bailey and Trudy aka @thetrudz...have long been at play in how people mishandled and responded to the allegations of child sexual assault and abuse against R Kelly.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Strange Horizons - The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas” - Samira Nadkarni, Strange Horizons

  “Much of Thomas’s chapter traces out the different ways in which Bonnie is sidelined or punished by the narrative itself, reminding me of Zina Hutton’s recent series on media and fandom’s misogynoir. The term “misogynoir” itself was coined by Moya Bailey and further elaborated on by Trudy from Gradient Lair…”

  “Misogynoir is a useful framework to talk about the manner in which The Vampire Diaries repeatedly penalised Bonnie physically and emotionally as “character development,” while also having her repeatedly sacrifice herself in terms of her physical and mental health, and eventually repeatedly sacrifice her life, for White characters.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “Black Men and Patriarchy, Intraracial Sexism and Misogynoir” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Misogynoir – Introduction” - Zina, Stitch's Media Mix

  “Moya Bailey coined the term ‘misogynoir’ back in 2010 in order to ‘describe the particular fuckery Black women face in popular culture.’ A little later on, Trudy, the creator of Gradient Lair, went on to provide a lexical definition of the term that expanded it a bit to reach out beyond popular culture to the treatment of Black women in general. Both Moya’s original comments and Trudy’s expanded definition are necessary in understanding the scope of misogynoir in fandom and fan spaces as well as why it’s a problem that folks in fandom need to be aware of.”

  • reference: “Black Men and Patriarchy, Intraracial Sexism and Misogynoir” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Chance The Rapper On R. Kelly’s Alleged Victims: ‘I Didn’t Value Their Stories Because They Were Black Women’” - Kellee Terrell, Hello Beautiful

  “Even with Chance explaining himself, many Black women still flocked to Twitter to express how his quotes made them feel. And the results were polarizing: Some condemned the rapper, while others commended him for being able to admit he was wrong.”

  “‘I didn’t value the accusers stories. Because they were Black women. I made a mistake.’ - Chance The Rapper admitting his misogynoir. He sounds like any dude I grew up with in church. Something familiar about ‘good church boy’ with virulent misogynoir that becomes quotidian.”

  • reference: #SurvivingRKelly (2019) - Twitter Moments

• “Where are Black Women’s Voices in the Rolling Stone “Russian Troll” Story?” - Jon Pincus, Medium

  ‘‘Erasure’ refers to the ways the media (and more generally society) ignores the existence and contribution of some people and groups. Moya Bailey and Trudy (aka @thetrudz) give an example in On misogynoir: citation, erasure, and plagiarism: despite coining the term misogynoir, and writing about it for years they experience, to varying degrees.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Ashanti Body SHAMED During Fashion Week Performance” - Eloho, YouTube [video]

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “The Best Valentine’s Day Tweets” - Kelci Grammar, Funny Or Die

  “Whether you’re single and elbow deep in a box of chocolates and need a laugh or on a bad date and need something to look at on your phone, these are tweets everyone can enjoy.” […] ‘If you feel so bad for single people then send single people cash on Valentine’s Day.’”

  • reference: a tweet (2019) - Twitter

• “Billy Porter Slayed the Oscars Red Carpet in a Stunning Velvet Tuxedo Gown” - John Sundholm, Guacamoley

  “Billy Porter won. Everyone go home. Return your gowns and tuxes. GO HOME. Billy Porter dressed for the 3019 Oscars. I don't know what 2019 folk gonna do.”

  • reference: tweets from Oscars live tweet (2019) - Twitter

• “Best Oscars 2019 Memes: Gaga-Cooper Chemistry, Wayne's World Reunion” - Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, CNET

  • reference: tweets from Oscars live tweet (2019) - Twitter

• “There Were a Record Number of Black Winners at the 2019 Academy Awards [Recap]” - Dimas Sanfiorenzo, Okayplayer

  • reference: a tweet about Ruth E. Carter and Spike Lee, related to Oscars live tweet (2019) - Twitter

• “Werk It! Grace Jones Stuns Paris Fashion Week With Epic Catwalk!” - Paula Rogo, Essence

  • reference: a tweet (2019) - Twitter

• “What Does Misogynoir Mean?” - staff, The Gay UK

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “Moscow Mule” - Winn-Dixie (brand post of a 2018 Drift Sojourn photograph)

• “List - Content Curators and Creators” - admin, Quiet Made Manifest

Reference Sites

• “Social Knowledge Creation/Final Engagements” - Wikibooks

•••

2018

Books

• The Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities - Jentery Sayers; “Part I - Access, Praxis, Justice, Section 3 - Analog Girls In Digital Worlds Dismantling Binaries For Digital Humanists Who Research Social Media” - Moya Bailey and Reina Gossett

  “Though Bailey created the word for her dissertation, its circulation in digital spaces was largely propelled by the work of womanist social media maven and Gradient Lair founder, Trudy.”

  “As the conceiver of the word misogynoir, I appreciate its prevalence, but I know that digital feminists beyond the academy are primarily responsible for its promulgation. In particular, Trudy, womanist scholar and creator of the site Gradient Lair, has penned several posts that expand misogynoir beyond my initial writing about the word.”

  “The crucial turning point was when…Trudy, started to use it on her Tumblr, Gradient Lair. Trudy wrote several eloquent posts in which she discussed how misogynoir operates, opening up the word to new audiences on the periphery of academic circles. […] Her use of misogynoir to make sense of events in her own life and in digital culture helped move the word into new spaces and prompted questions about its meaning.”

  “Though I coined misogynoir, I know I am not solely responsible for its use and successful deployment across a variety of platforms and users. Trudy and others really built the use of the word through their use and promotion. That labor should be compensated, but how do we do that?” 

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013), “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “Farewell” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• The Power of Vulnerability: Mobilising Affect in Feminist, Queer and Anti-racist Media Cultures - Anu Koivunen, Katariina Kyrölä, and Ingrid Ryberg; “Chapter 5: Little Pink: White Fragility and Black Social Death” - Ingrid Ryberg

  “...in recent years, Black women on Twitter have similarly pointed to the many ways in which White people search them out with the explicit purpose to harass them through thinly veiled 'disagreement' and then stalk them for days or weeks to inflict even more harm. As Trudy argues, the very presence of Black women's influential voices online is seen as a provocation by many Whites. They are 'hurt' by Black expertise, intellectual interaction and creativity.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “Misogynoir and The Concerted Effort To Deny Black Women Joy” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Sport: Queer Inquiries - Vikki Krane; “Part I - Conceptual Frameworks, Section 3 - Using Intersectionality To Study and Understand LGBTIQ People In Sport” - Dafina-Lazarus (D-L) Stewart

  “An intersectional framework and analysis, therefore, must go beyond identity convergences focused on individual identity meaning-making and perspectives. Instead, applying intersectionality will address how interlocking forces of racism, sexism, misogynoir, anti-trans antagonism anti-queer antagonism, ableism, inter sexism, etc. affect the life chances of LGBTIQ people and their participation in sport. [...] Misogynoir, coined by Moya Bailey and further developed by Trudy, is an extension of misogyny (hatred of women) to specifically name the fetishization and violence experienced by Black women due to the intersection of racism and sexism.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• Public Privates: Feminist Geographies of Mediated Spaces - Marcia R. England; “Chapter 2: Home Is Where The Heart Is: Fast and Furious Geographies”

  “The blog continues with: ‘Media is not arbitrary, random, neutral or apolitical. The characters could have been presented...without resorting to old stereotypes and racial hierarchies. It doesn't matter if the film was not meant to be ‘deep.’ Human lives are. Media characterizations have very real repercussions for real life Even a film meant to be 'just fun' can reject stereotypes and take on the difficult work of creating something that actually challenges what we think we know about people based on race.’ [...] Gradient Lair's take on race is important to note as is the intersection of race and sexuality.”

  • reference: “Fast & Furious 6: Colourism, Race and Stereotypes” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• Custom Reality and You - Peter Coffin; “Part 8 - Cultivated Identity”

  “Cultivation of identity, as previously stated, is an act performed by capital. It is the subconscious defining of people’s essence in a manner that suits an intended purpose. This is enacted by putting a ‘consumable’ at (or near) the center of a person’s identity. One might think by ‘consumable’ I mean a physical product that can be purchased with fiat currency. I intend to instill a wider definition of ‘consumable,’ however. Here, when I say ‘consumable,’ I mean everything from a product, a TV show, a franchise, a point of view or a person. I derive the concept of consumption and hyperconsumption from the work of a writer by the name of Trudy, whose brilliant writings start at a blog she ran called Gradient Lair and do not stop. If you have time and the inclination to read more material that my work here derives insight from (and a wealth of other insight), I highly recommend her work.”

  • reference: “When Online Consumption Gets Disgusting” (2015) - Gradient Lair and “Media Consumption Itself ≠ Automatic Unity, Identity, Feminism, Activism” (2017) - Storify (now Wakelet) (as well as past theorizing on Gradient Lair / conversations with author on Twitter)

• Mediating Misogyny: Gender, Technology, and Harassment - Jacqueline Ryan Vickery and Tracy Everbach; “Part I - Feminist Discourses, Section 17 - The Global Anti-Street Harassment Movement: Digitally-Enabled Feminist Activism” - Karen Desborough

  “#YouOkSis enables direct interactions between women with shared grievances to interpret possible solutions. Analyzing a sample of tweets from a #YouOkSis Twitter discussion, shows the forging of a sense of common identity and shared meanings around Black women's encounters with street harassment.”

  • reference: “#YouOkSis: Black Women Speak Up About the Violence of Street Harassment and Solutions” (2014) - Storify (now Wakelet)

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” - co-authored journal article with Moya Bailey, Feminist Media Studies

  “We, Moya Bailey and Trudy aka @thetrudz, had significant roles in the creation and proliferation of the term misogynoir. Misogynoir describes the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience. Despite coining the term in 2008 and writing about the term online since 2010, we experience, to varying degrees, our contributions being erased, our writing not cited, or our words plagiarized by people who find the word compelling. It is not surprising that misogynoir would be enacted against the Black women who brought the word to public acclaim but it is nonetheless troubling.” 

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014), as well as the lexical definition and general framework development for “misogynoir” over several years - Gradient Lair

• “Divine Reflections: Embodying Erzulie, Yemayá and Black Womanhood” - Jordan Mayfield, Wellesley College

  “As a Black woman who freely expresses her sexuality, Erzulie Dantò also disrupts the connotation of shame that is associated with sexuality. Erzulie Freda’s embrace of her sexuality also disrupts the usual hypersexual image forced onto women of African descent. Erzulie Freda is the most contradictory incarnation of the loa. She is simultaneously described as virginal and pure, yet is also claimed to be a seductress. These contradictions are rooted in misogynoir within the Afro-diasporic community and its sexist projections onto Erzulie. […] ‘Misogynoir’’ is a term coined by Dr. Moya Bailey at Northeastern University to describe the unique forms of misogyny faced by women of African descent. For more information, see Moya Bailey and Trudy, ‘On Misogynoir: Citation erasure, and Plagarism.’”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Demands for Intellectual Labor from Black Women Thought Leaders on Twitter” - Kellee Warren, Intentionally Digital, Intentionally Black AADHum Conference, University of Maryland

  “Intellectual labor: Even what is considered ‘knowledge’ and what is considered ‘labor’ are not neutral. I can do the same things that someone who is not a Black woman, or a woman, or Black does, and it is instantaneously deemed ‘not valuable’ but also ‘owed’ to people at the same time.”

  • reference: “I Do Not Care About Your ‘Learning’ On Twitter” (2016) - thetrudz.com

• “The Effect of Gender and Racial Stereotypes and Education-Related Beliefs On The Academic and Social Identity Development of Urban African American Girls” - Wanda Marie Shealey, Cleveland State University

  “...incidents that she described as both racist and sexist, or what Bailey and Trudy defines as misogynoir, where both racial and gender profiling combine to suppress Black women and girls, happen often in school. These incidents have caused her to distance herself from the White teaching staff. However, she experienced or observed misogynoir with the African American teaching staff as well and in addition to some distancing she also felt their action caused her some pain and confusion. [...] According to Bailey and Trudy 'misogynoir' refers to antiblack misogyny, where race and gender together are factors in the hatred of Black women. Bailey and Trudy created the term to address misogyny directed toward Black women in American visual and popular culture.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Legal Solutions to Street Sexual Harassment in the #MeToo Era” - Denise Brundson, Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice

  “Many women can still recall their first personal experience with street harassment because it was traumatizing.”

  • reference: “Street Harassment and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Refusing to Be Made Whole: Disability In Contemporary Black Women’s Writing” - Anna Hinton, Southern Methodist University (SMU Scholar)

  “…black feminist scholars fail to speak on disability because they are working through internalized ableism (reclaiming ‘maimed’ bodies) even as they fear the mobilization of ableism and misogynoir, or the specific, anti-black form of misogyny directed toward black women, against them in academia. […] Misogynoir is a term coined by Moya Bailey and Trudy, a public intellectual known for her blog Gradient Lair and her social media commentary.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Still, Nothing: Mammy and Black Asexual Possibility” - Ianna Hawkins Owen, Feminist Review

  “Certainly, Mammy is a political and ideological device, a fiction, an attachment, a fantasy and a composite. As a result, Mammy is projected onto countless misrecognised Black women across time in the American imaginary. In truth, to use Love’s wording, there was and is something ‘very sexy’, tempting and tasty about Mammy since she has not disappeared but persists, feeding the erotic nostalgia for domination and continuing to haunt the margins of asexual identification. […] For example, see mentions of the mammy hemming in Black asexual identification in blog posts by Trudy.”

  • reference: “Asexuality ≠ Being Single, Celibate Or A ‘Virgin’” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Fast Tailed Girls: An Inquiry into Black Girlhood, Black Womanhood, and the Politics of Sexuality” - Adriana M. Parker, Duke University

  “...experiences with being deemed fast tailed girls in childhood and adolescence. This was an expression of misogynoir, or the systematic hatred and oppression of Black girls and women, before they even knew what it was. [...] Along with this premature sexualization, #FastTailedGirls also reveals the sexual abuse and objectification inflicted upon these girls who are treated as women.”

  • reference: “Fast Tailed’ Girls: Examining The Stereotypes and Abuse That Black Girls Face” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Misogynoir in Healthcare: How Racism in America's Healthcare System Fails Black Women” - Michelle Taylor, Drexel University, Prezi (presentation)

  “Trudy, Gradient Lair (thetrudz) developed the lexical definition of misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Black Men and Patriarchy, Intraracial Sexism and Misogynoir” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “bodysecrecy: State Surveillance and Black Feminist Refusal” - Alex León Herrera, Portland State University (PDXScholar)

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• Feminist Philosophy Reading Group - Society for Women in Philosophy Switzerland

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Feminist Facts: What is Misogynoir?” - Chanju Mwanza, Verve

  “As feminism continues to evolve, new terms are constantly popping up to describe the different forms of bias and discrimination that women face according to their social, racial, and sexual identities. One of the latest terms, coined in 2010 by queer black feminist Moya Bailey and further developed by Trudy of Gradient Lair, is Misogynoir.”

• “It’s on Men to End Sexism in the Black Church” - Lawrence Ware, The New York Times

  “From the pulpit, Neichelle Guidry, dean of the chapel at Spelman College, brilliantly proclaims the truth about how ecclesiastical spaces are often full of ‘misogynoir,’ a term coined and developed by the scholar Moya Bailey and the critic Trudy to discuss the way race and gender play a role in the misogyny experienced by Black women. Yet, even with Black women leading the charge against this evil, the reality of patriarchy means many people in the Black church will not take these moral failures seriously unless they are voiced by a man who has been ordained.”

• “How the Carceral State Fuels Toxic Masculinity in Black Children” - Liljuan Gonzalez, RaceBaitr

  “I may not adhere entirely to carceral masculinity, but I still have been socialized to perform misogynoir. My role as an educator, however, helps me to disrupt this phenomenon. It enables me to provide alternatives to the Black boys I teach. [...] As a teacher, I show my Black boys a different masculinity—a masculinity that doesn’t exist to negate femininity and harm Black women and children. Our classroom we share is used as a fortified space to alter baleful practices and attitudes.”

  “Misogynoir, a term coined by professor Moya Bailey and expounded upon by Gradient Lair founder, Trudy...”

• “Afro-Brazilian Trans Women Fight Pervasive Racialized Misogyny” - Jaimee A. Swift, Truthout

  “While these assaults may have received some media attention, their ordeals speak to what scholars Moya Bailey and Trudy aka @thetrudz have coined as misogynoir, and in the case of Afro-Brazilian trans women, the pervasiveness of transmisogynoir, which is racialized-gendered misogynoir, oppression and violence against Black trans women in the diaspora.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “California Love: Straight Outta Compton, Tupac Shakur & Misogynoir” - Scarlett Harris, Spook / The Scarlett Woman

  “Surely audiences are smart enough to feel empathy for victims of racial profiling, police brutality and human rights abuses who also happen to victimise people themselves. But in such a racially fraught time, maybe Straight Outta Compton’s producers (who are also, without question, protecting themselves) couldn’t risk providing White audiences with any ammunition against this plight.”

  • reference: “What The 20-Year-Old Tupac Song “Keep Ya Head Up” Means To Me As A Womanist” (2013) and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Powerful With a Little Bit of Tender” - Cathy Greunke, cathygreunkeweb.com

  “I learned about Janelle Monáe from my favorite writer, Trudy on her blog, Gradient Lair, in this piece: Janelle Monáe’s Womanist and Afrofuturist Trilogy of Songs. Since then, she’s been one of my favorite musicians and definitely someone whose work I appreciate and anticipate.”

  • “Janelle Monáe’s Womanist and Afrofuturist Trilogy of Songs” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Misogynoir: Why Serena Williams Isn't a Sore Loser” - Riley J. Dennis, YouTube (video)

  “The umpire was treating Serena in a way he would have never treated a man or a White woman. [...] It's also important to remember that Serena's anger wasn't out of nowhere. She's been dealing with misogynoir throughout her entire career. That anger must have been building for years. It wasn't about just this call. Her whole life she's faced discrimination because she's a Black woman. [...] We only see the anger in that moment, but we don't see all the shit that's happened over the years that lead up to it.”

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Breathe: Black Womxn’s Radical Peace as Afrofuturism in Praxis” - Sara Makeba, Geechee Gal Griot

  “When Black women confront racism, misogynoir, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, capitalism, etc., we are in a crooked room. This crooked room refers to the physical and mental impacts of these intersecting layers of oppression on Black women, and the ways we are socialized to try and align ourselves with them.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Ntozake Shange, Author of ‘For Colored Girls,’ Dies at 70” - Christina Santi, Ebony

  “Hugs to everyone mourning the loss of Ntozake Shange; thankful for her gifts bringing light and clarity to so many people’s lives, especially to Black women’s. And so far, everyone I’ve read mention they got to meet her in person speak of her qualities and kindness with such affection.”

  • reference: thread on Ntozake Shange’s life and legacy (2018) - Twitter

• “Black Women Turned to Twitter to Give Ntozake Shange Her Roses—And It Was Beautiful” - Paula Rogo, Essence

  “Hugs to everyone mourning the loss of Ntozake Shange; thankful for her gifts bringing light and clarity to so many people’s lives, especially to Black women’s. And so far, everyone I’ve read mention they got to meet her in person speak of her qualities and kindness with such affection.”

  • reference: thread on Ntozake Shange’s life and legacy (2018) - Twitter

• “Lena Waithe's Vanity Fair Photos are the Images of Black Queer Relationships I Always Needed” - Brooklyn White, Hello Giggles

  “Growing up, I don’t remember seeing Black queer intimacy. In waking life or in media.”

  “The photograph with Lena Waithe and her fiancé Alana Mayo. It’s not only that it conveys love and Black queer love in a major publication, although so major. Or conveys comfort. It’s that it conveys peace. Something some Black women aspire to, desire, crave for their relationships too.”

  • reference: thread on Lena Waithe and Alana Mayo on Vanity Fair April 2018 issue (2018) - Twitter

• “Bruce MacKinnon's Viral Kavanaugh Cartoon Depicts Graphic Assault of Lady Justice” - Liz Haq, The Huffington Post

  “But some social media users were critical of the image, commenting that it is re-traumatizing for victims.” […] ‘That political cartoon is so extra. People calling it ‘powerful’ because they need to constantly see assault re-enacted remind me of ppl who trade videos of extrajudicial executions—where victims cannot even consent + not for the purpose of evidence—claiming it’s for ‘awareness.’’”

  • reference: a tweet based on my existing years of work on post-mortem media violence (2018) - Twitter

• “‘Misogynoir’: in the crosshairs of Afro-feminists” - Stéphanie Plasse, Jeune Afrique

  • reference: general reference to work on ‘misogynoir’ on Gradient Lair

• “Cardi B Dropped Her ‘Money’ Music Video. She Did That Shit” - Tonja Renée Stidhum, The Root

  • reference: a tweet from a thread reviewing Cardi B’s “Money” video (2018) - Twitter

• “Cardi B Dropped a Music Video for 'Money' and the Internet Is Shook” - Brenda Barrientos, People En Español

  • reference: a tweet from a thread reviewing Cardi B’s “Money” video (2018) - Twitter

• “Too Dark Skinned to Win Strictly: Alexandra Burke, Race Hate and Why Love Still Matters” - S. Tate, Beauty Matters

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Kate Manne’s Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny and Citation Politics” - Catherine Andrews, Toda Historia Es Contemporánea

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair and “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “‘Cite Black Women:’ A Critical Praxis” - staff, Cite Black Women

  • reference: “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) - Feminist Media Studies

• “Cardi B’s ‘Butterflies in My Vagina’ Comment at the Grammys Has Twitter Crying With Laughter” - Sage Young, Bustle

  “Cardi B said she has butterflies in her stomach...and vagina. I’m crying. That’s a level of nervousness I never wanna experience LOL.”

  • reference: a tweet (2018) - Twitter

• “Is Pluto a Planet After All? New Research Says Yes, Though the Debate Rages On” - Marielle Mondon, Philly Voice

  “Twitter, a creation most people hadn't heard of when Pluto was still a planet, also had a lot to say on the matter. ‘So after y’all pushed Pluto out in the cold now y’all want Pluto back as a planet? I hope Pluto curves scientists and the solar system.’”

  • reference: a tweet (2018) - Twitter

• “Rihanna's Cryptic Social Media Post has the Navy Buzzing With Speculation” - James Dinh, iHeart Radio

  • reference: a tweet (2018) - Twitter

• “19 Funny Tweets About Food You Missed This Week” - Pedro Fequiere, BuzzFeed

  • reference: plantain iPhone video tweet (2018) - Twitter

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “Race and Mental Health” - Project LETS

  • reference: “#NoShameDay: On Blackness and Mental Health” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “How to Read the Hashtag Feminism Archive (2013 - 2015)” - Tara L. Conley, taraconley.org

  • reference: #MyFeminismLooksLike (created by @prisonculture), and “What My Womanism Looks Like” (2013) - Gradient Lair

Reference Sites

• “Misogynoir” - #MeToo Glossary

• “Transmisogynoir” - Wiktionary

•••

2017

Books

• Social Writing/Social Media: Publics, Presentations, and Pedagogies - Douglas M. Walls and Stephanie Vie; “Chapter 1: Hashtag Activism: The Promise and Risk of ‘Attention’” - Caroline Dadas

  “Cultural critics, among others, have pointed out the tendency for hashtags that critique racial and gender-based inequalities to be quickly co-opted. Trudy, whose blog addresses Black women, art, media, social media, socio-politics, and culture, makes a similar argument: ‘The constant pilfering of Black culture and ideas in social media…has become a behavior so common and pathetic that even as Black people are participating in a hashtag on any given day, we already expect the content to be exploited and stripped of context within minutes or hours, not days.’”

  • reference: “BuzzFeed’s Cultural Appropriation and Infantilization of Black Colloquialisms” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate - Zoë Quinn; “Chapter 13: Miss Manners' Guide To Being A Better Internet Citizen, As Told By Some Rude Nerd: The Easiest Way To Fuck Everything Up Is To Ignore Black Women”

  “Marginalized groups sharing information on tactics, incoming threats, and solutions that work can make us all more resilient and resistant to attack. The monitoring and tracking I did of the IRC room in GamerGate's early days were what led me to Shafiqah Hudson, who informed me that I was just the latest in a long series of targets abused by the same groups of people that had been attacking her community. She broke it down for me: ‘I noticed that a lot of the accounts that harassed me during #EndFathersDay have been heffed up on #GamerGate sauce. As @Blackamazon, @so_treu, and @thetrudz*—and many, many other Black women pointed out, misogynist trolls are White supremacist/racist trolls are #GamerGate trolls, and they practiced, cut their teeth, if you will—on trans and Black women.’ […] *All extremely smart people worth following on Twitter.”

  • reference: Twitter account (@thetrudz)

• Privilege: A Reader 4th ed. - Michael S. Kimmel and Abby L. Ferber; “Part One - Seeing—and Refusing To See—Privilege, Section 26 - An Open Letter To White ‘Allies’ From A White Friend" - Caitlin Deen Fair

  “Trudy of GradientLair.com does a phenomenal job of discussing the unique experience of Black womanhood and oppression in the form of misogynoir, as well as the role that White people play in perpetuating this and other forms of oppression.”

  • reference: general Gradient Lair discussions

• Through a Distorted Lens: Media as Curricula and Pedagogy in the 21st Century - Laura M. Nicosia and Rebecca A. Goldstein; “Part Two - Learning to “See” the Curricula and Pedagogy of the Media: Uncovering the Official and the Hidden, Section 5 - Black Twitter and Black Feminist Epistemology” - Monique I. Liston

  • reference: a tweet related to live tweets and years (2012-2015) of writing on Scandal (2013) - Gradient Lair

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “Bystander Intervention, Feminist Hashtag Activism, and the Anti-Carceral Politics of Care” - Carrie A. Rentschler, Feminist Media Studies

  “Her Storify situates the hashtag as a conversation occurring within Black communities, ‘a conversation we are having about our communities.’ It locates the sources of street harassment within both racist carceral law enforcement structures and the institutionalised forms of gender and sexual oppression within communities. According to one tweet from Trudy @thetrudz, ‘I’m not interested in carceral answers. Police don’t protect BW. Interested in intracommunity BM accountability and change. #YouOkSis”

  • reference: “#YouOkSis: Black Women Speak Up About the Violence of Street Harassment and Solutions” (2014) - Storify (now Wakelet)

• “The Digital Afterlives of This Bridge Called My Back: Woman of Color Feminism, Digital Labor, and Networked Pedagogy” - Cassius Adair and Lisa Nakamura, American Literature

  “The distinction that Trudy’s note proposes, however, is for consensual interactions with readers and interlocutors, on her terms rather than on the terms of those who would press her into performing knowledge work without her permission. When professors assign her essays without her knowledge or consent, she has noticed, academics may be helping sympathetic students tap into woman of color social networks, but meanwhile hostile students who would not dare push back in class might siphon abuse to her instead: bloggers ‘receive the trolling, threats and abuse [from racist or sexist readers] that [professors] do not.’ Without a permissions structure worked out by a journal or the basic rights of employment afforded to hired teachers, Trudy is paying to teach these students. By putting her work behind a rhetorical firewall and appealing to her right to control the circulation of her writing, she is staging an argument with the extractive logics of the social network and asking professional teachers to join her in this assertion of an innovative form of ethical, rather than material, intellectual ‘property.’”

  • reference: “Content Use Policy” (2012) - Gradient Lair

• “There Is a Balm: Performance, Voyeurism, and Public History through Beyoncé’s Lemonade” - Athena F. Richardson , University of Alabama

  “Lemonade is transcendent due to its intricate relationship between Beyoncé as an artist and as a black woman to a black female audience. Trauma from multi-generational misogynoir, rejection from her lover (and by American society) is what makes the scenes of healing at a plantation so powerful. It is not surprising that black women would recognize the scenes of sanctuary at the end of Lemonade as more than beautiful imagery, but a call to embrace each other and begin to reject harmful unhealthy stereotypes.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Afrocentrism, Hip-Hop, and the “Black Queen”: Utilizing Hip-Hop Feminist Methods to Challenge Controlling Images of Black Women” - Faith G. Williams, McNair’s Scholars Research Journal

  “Three years ago when I searched the word ‘misogynoir’ on the internet, of the very few links that came up, the very first one took me to a website called Gradient Lair.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Don't Try and Play Me Out!": The Performances and Possibilities of Digital Black Womanhood” - LaToya Lydia Sawyer, Syracuse University (SURFACE)

  “Trudy used also used a canonical Black feminist in her discussion of Beyoncé’s feminism, but unlike the feminists discussed in the previous section, Trudy invokes Walker to reinforce a community ethos in the service of nurturing whole Black women and the wholeness of an entire community.Trudy also represented for Beyoncé by looking to her own words to discern what she was trying to accomplish with her album. This is markedly differently from the writers on the academic feminism end of the spectrum…”

  • reference: “Beyoncé’s New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom” (2013) and “Beyoncé’s ***Flawless Feminism: A Womanist Perspective” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Black, Woman and Alive: Black Women’s Practices of Nontraditional Healing and Freedom” - Hythia Phifer, Lesley University

  “…a critical literature review of existing research about Black women using nontraditional healing methods to overcome the violent and pervasive experience of gendered racism and misogynoir, a term coined by Black Feminist writer, Moya Bailey and further defined by Black womanist writer Trudy to specifically articulate anti-Black misogyny experienced by Black women.”

  “As a Black American woman in the field of expressive arts therapy writing about the need for a holistic approach to healing Black women, I am sensitive to all forms of oppression confining both me and my community. I am intimately familiar with gendered racism and misogynoir, as well as the plight of being marginalized and surveilled.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Horizons of Home and Hope: A Qualitative Exploration of the Educational Experiences and Identities of Black Transnational Women” - Tanja Jennifer Burkhard, Ohio State University

  “I will outline the theoretical frameworks under consideration for framing the experiences of Black transnational women with respect to pursuing education in their respective fields in the climate of racism. This climate, what Moya Bailey and Trudy call misogynoir, embodies a particular type of oppression experienced by Black women, which is steeped in antiblackness and misogyny.”

  “According to Trudy, misogyny is systemic and institutionalized in the legal system and through rape culture, and, unlike sexism, can be proliferated by anyone. Misogynoir, operating similarly, works specifically to dehumanize Black women…”

  “...the term misogynoir points to the specific oppression of Black women within larger discourses on race and gender, which makes it an important entry point into studying Black women’s lives, narratives, and experiences.”

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Badass Beauties: The Culture of Rebellious Femininity” - Natalia L. Boise, University of Montana (ScholarWorks)

  “The beauty binary places women at blame for men’s reactions to their appearance. If a woman is considered beautiful, she is supposed to accept that the burden of beauty is harassment. If she is not considered beautiful, she is supposed to accept that any comment at all can only be a gift.”

  • reference: “Conversations About Beauty and Beauty Privilege Need To Be Intersectional” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “#Feminism: The Internet’s Facilitation of the Fourth Wave” - Nicole Veneto, Hoochie Reader

  “In order to build political solidarity, hooks argues that feminist activists ‘cannot bond on the terms set by the dominant ideology of the culture,’ but must ‘define their own terms.’ [...] Acronyms like WOC (women of color), cis (cisgender), and TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminist) arise from the 140-character limit of tweets and hashtagging, allowing information to be spread and linked as quickly and efficiently as possible (Munro). Even newer terminology used within feminist communities has spread from the internet, such as ‘misogynoir,’ a word coined by queer black feminist scholar Moya Bailey describing the unique form of misogyny experienced by black women. [...] ‘misogynoir’ has become a common term of usage amongst black and queer feminist communities as well as amongst academic feminists studying the intersectional relationship between race and gender.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Digital Pornotroping and Online Misogyny Targeting Black Women” - Elonda Clay, Gendered Violence Online Symposium. The Cyberhate Project - University of New South Wales

  “Digital pornotroping represents many types of online actions and hate speech acts, including trolling, online harassment, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, gendered and racialized cyberhate, nonconsensual photos posted online, doxxing, graphic threats of sexual abuse and death, surveillance, hacking, shaming, fake posts/tweets on social media meant to inflame followers, and being targeted by alt-right/white supremacist groups for cyber attack or malicious cybercampaigns.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Negotiating Normativities: Counter Narratives of Lesbian Queer World Making in Cape Town” - Susan Holland-Muter, University of Cape Town

  “Mirroring the literature to a large extent, the lesbian narratives within this study confirm that black, butch presenting, poorer, township dwelling lesbians were at greater risk of experiencing stigma, discrimination and violence based on gender and sexuality. This is due to the compound effect of misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Lived Experiences and Mentoring Relationships of Black Women Student Affairs Administrators” - Tiffany Shawna Wiggins, Old Dominion University (ODU Digital Commons)

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Serophobia in Action: A Review of Reports of HIV/AIDS-related Discrimination Filed at Unia (2003-2014)” - Charlotte Pezeril, Observatory of AIDS and Sexuality

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “‘We Don't Love These Hoes’ Exploring Misogynoir and Black Male Patriarchy through Sexual Double Standards” - Mariah Elizabeth Webber, The University of North Carolina

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “5 With Trudy” - Read Fives interview, Platypus Press

  “Music has always been everything to me. Thus, going back to vinyl feels like a reconnection with my childhood, with my late mom and with music itself, in a new way but in ultimately an old, familiar, and comfortable way.”

• “We Need to Talk About Digital Blackface in Reaction GIFs” - Lauren Michele Jackson, Teen Vogue

  “Writer Shafiqah Hudson started the hashtag #yourslipisshowing to document instances of digital blackface in real time, joined by other Black women writers and theorists such as I’Nasah Crockett, Sydette Harry, Mikki Kendall, Trudy, and Feminista Jones. As the name of the tag suggests, online minstrels are no more believable than their in-person counterparts to anyone who knows Black culture and Black people, rather than a series of types. Unfortunately, digital blackface often goes unchecked unless a black person does the work to point out the discrepancies in someone’s profile.”

• “Feminism 101: A Cheat Sheet on Sexism, Misogyny, Misogynoir and More” - Serena Sonoma, Wear Your Voice

  “…misogynoir, a term coined by queer Black feminist Moya Bailey and heavily discussed on the womanist blog, Gradient Lair, which explains the intersection of discrimination by race and gender that are faced by Black women. Transmisogynoir is its complimentary term used to explain the discrimination faced by Black transgender women and Black femmes. Transmisogynoir is perhaps one of the biggest examples of anti-feminism, as Black transgender women often face the heaviest and most brutal forms of hatred against women.”

• “Art. Dawn Okoro Takes on Misogynoir.” - staff, Super Selected

  “Nigerian American artist Dawn Okoro takes on racialized misogyny in her latest series 'Misogynoir/Resistance.' Misogynoir is a term coined by Black queer feminist scholar Moya Bailey and popularized by writer Trudy of Gradient Lair. Misogynoir is often examined through the lens of popular culture and how Black women are depicted in popular media. Okoro was inspired by “video girls” to create 'Misogynoir/Resistance,' which features subjects holding powerful stances or being partially obscured.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Misogynoir: What’s Really Destroying the Black Community” - staff, Bossadi

  “There are many Black bloggers and activists who offer their own understanding of misogynoir, and the term has been around for a while that it is easy for its origin to be forgotten or buried. Trudy, creator of…Gradient Lair, reminded readers in her article ‘Explanation of Misogynoir’ of the person who should be credited with coining the term: Moya Bailey.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Who Are You and What Do You Really Know? Gaslighting and Dolezalean Logic” - Zoé Samudzi, The New Inquiry

  “Many cis Black men, like clockwork, also opted to defend this white woman through claims that she has done more work for the community than most of us have. As Trudy of Gradient Lair incisively noted: ‘This is very specific to a White woman/Black woman dynamic. It is the same reason why Black men defend Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azalea, and Lily Allen et. al. in ways they never defend White male cultural appropriators. So much appropriation and erasure of Black women is intraracially justified because of the hetero Black male gaze.’”

  • reference: “Rachel Dolezal and White Parasitism: New Media Frenzy; Old Colonial Violence” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “What White People Can (and Must) Learn From The Rachel Dolezal Saga” - Gregk Foley, FCKNYH

  “Trudy’s piece over on Gradient Lair speaks to the even deeper violence (and that is what it is) that’s at play in situations such as this.”

  • reference: “Rachel Dolezal and White Parasitism: New Media Frenzy; Old Colonial Violence” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “Self-care and Visibility” - Tiffany Sostar, tiffanysostar.com

  “Trudy’s work revolutionized my understanding of misogynoir and the specific issues facing Black women. Her writing is excellent, and this post is no exception.”

  • reference: “Hypervisibility and Marginalization: Existing Online As A Black Woman and Writer” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Keep Your Transmisogyny Out of International Women’s Day” - s.e. smith, this ain't livin'

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “It's An (Online) Celebration! Sloane Stephens' U.S. Open Win Embodies #BlackGirlMagic” - Sameer Rao, Colorlines

  “Sloane Stephens doesn't have to be ‘the next Serena Williams.’ She can be the first Sloane and that's good too. Happy for both of them.”

  • reference: a tweet (2017) - Twitter

• “Emma Watson is Wrong to Dismiss Critics of Her Beyoncé Comments” - Zoé Samudzi, Cosmopolitan / Seventeen

  “…as Trudy, founder of the critically important Black feminist space Gradient Lair, tweeted: ‘Change without contrition is performance.’ Thorough feminist analysis does not come in one day or even one year.”

• “Who is Looking out for Sissy Brown Boys? TQ Meets Queer Xicano Chisme” - Michael Paramo, The Queerness

  “Trudy has influenced how I develop frameworks and creating original work that I can develop over time, she’s had a huge impact in how I cite other writers and how I navigate twitter overall.”

• “Solange Leads The Beyhive With Anti-Grammys Shade After Adele’s Shock Win” - David Adams, Pedestrian

  “‘Hello,’ is a good record, but 25 is not a better album than Lemonade. As total project? Even her own 21 is better than 25.”

  • reference: tweet from Grammys live tweet (2017) - Twitter

• “George Lopez to Black Woman: ‘Sit Your F**king A** Down!’ [VIDEO]” - Keith Reid-Cleveland, Black Youth Project

  “It's not the anti-Black ‘joke’ George Lopez made but the visceral disgust and sheer hatred in his voice for over a minute that sickened me.”

  • reference: thread on George Lopez’s misogynoir (2017) - Twitter

• “Chris Pratt Says His Blue-Collar America Remark Was ‘Pretty Stupid’” - Cole Delbyck, The Huffington Post

  • reference: thread on Chris Pratt, and working class as a dog whistle (2017) - Twitter

• “Twitter Strongly Disagrees With Chris Pratt's Assessment of What Hollywood Needs” - Shannon Carlin, Refinery 29

  • reference: thread on Chris Pratt, and working class as a dog whistle (2017) - Twitter

• “United Passenger David Dao Was Compared to Rosa Parks. Twitter Isn’t Having It.” - Lilly Workneh, The Huffington Post

  • reference: “Only Rosa Parks Is ‘Rosa Parks’” (2017) - Twitter Moments

• “Shea Moisture Just Made a Lot of Its Consumers Very Upset” - Jeff Beer, Fast Company

  • reference: a tweet from detailed thread on branding, misogynoir and exploitation of fictive kinship (2017) - Twitter

• “Shea Moisture Excluded Black Girls With Kinky Hair in Their New Commercial and Everyone Noticed” - staff, Jet

  • reference: a tweet from detailed thread on branding, misogynoir and exploitation of fictive kinship (2017) - Twitter

• “151 Hilarious Introvert Tweets That Are Worth Cancelling Your Plans For” - Giedrė, Bored Panda

  • reference: a tweet from “Introvert Pick-Up Lines - A Bit Of Twitter Humor” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “The Full Saga of Patreon’s Failed Payment Policy Change” - Adam Rowe, Tech.co

  “Of course, the damage from the mass of pledgers who withdrew their support has already been done, and is largely irreversible, making Patreon’s change of heart a lot less meaningful than it might appear. […] Patreon cost us creators money and most of all relationships/trust with some patrons, through no fault of our own. And unfortunately their apology now won’t repair either situation.”

  • reference: a tweet, based on being a creator on Patreon (2017) - Twitter

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “The People's Follow Button: Who to Follow” - staff, Off Tha Record

  “A writer, photographer, author, curator, and social critic, her womanist voice and the work she has done carries a deep influence across the internet. The Creator of Gradient Lair, Drift Sojourn, and Cinemacked, follow and support her and her various platforms for wonderful womanist social critique, engaging conversation and writing, and unmatched truth.”

• “Resources” - Brittany Williams and Joan Collier, Cite A Sista

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair; thetrudz.com

•••

2016

Books

• Social Inequalities, Media, and Communication: Theory and Roots - Jan Servaes, Toks Oyedemi; “Chapter Eleven: Reform and Vulnerability: Parsing Out They Cyclical Relationship of Praxis and Theory” - Kala Rotwein, Sarah Rowe and Olga Shapovalova

  “Trudy relies on social media (her blog and Twitter) as means for voicing her praxis and vulnerability. [...] Individuals are multifaceted, and we cannot characterize their praxis as illegitimate just because we see more than one aspect of their lives. Emotion is considered an illegitimate method of engaging in praxis, yet for grassroots philosophers, emotion is a key avenue in voicing their vulnerability. [...] Far from being illegitimate, grassroots praxis is better positioned to initiate change. When knowledge develops through informed vulnerability and praxis, theoretical approaches are more productive.”

• Think/Point/Shoot: Media Ethics, Technology and Global Change - Annette Danto, Mobina Hashmi, and Lonnie Isabel; “Chapter 14: Digital Distribution Ethics” - Mobina Hashmi

  “In 2014, a collective of women of colour wrote an online essay called ‘This Tweet Called My Back.’ In it, they announce a strike: ‘We are Black Women, AfroIndigenous and women of color who have organized a social media Blackout. We are your unwaged labor in our little corner of the internet that feeds a movement. Hours of teach-ins, hashtags, Twitter chats, video chats and phone calls to create a sustainable narrative and conversation around decolonization and antiblackness.' The authors, who are identified only by their Twitter handles, draw our attention to the work they do on social media platforms—education, analysis, political commentary, activism, journalism, and organizing—is simply appropriated by journalists, bloggers, scholars, and activists working in more established and legitimate settings. They receive neither acknowledgement, nor economic reimbursement. [...] The authors were identified by their Twitter handles:@ tgirlinterruptd,@ chiefelk,@ bad_dominicana, @ aurabogado,@ so_treu, @blackamazon, and @thetrudz.”

• Representation: Key Ideas in Media & Cultural Studies - Jenny Kidd; “Chapter 3: Self-Representation Online”

  “Cultural critic Trudy (@thetrudz) holds that charges of narcissism and a lack of respect for the selfie are particularly problematic, but not surprising, with reference to wider identity politics. She notes: ‘That women controlling our own images—especially Black women, women of colour, queer women, trans women, disabled women, fat women, poor women (and women whose identities involve multiple intersections) etc.—is met with disdain, claims of narcissism, or even abuse, is not a coincidence.’”

  • “What’s Really Going On With The Sexist Backlash Against Selfies” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• The Beyoncé Effect: Essays on Sexuality, Race and Feminism - Adrienne Trier-Bieniek; “Beyoncé and Blue: Black Motherhood and the Binds of Racialized Sexism” - Sonita R. Moss

  "Moya Bailey coined the term misogynoir to describe the particular brand of hatred directed at Black women in American visual and popular culture. Trudy, the creator of the Black feminist blog Gradient Lair expands upon the term..."

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• The Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere: Conflict, Migration, Crisis and Culture in Digital Networks - edited by Athina Karatzogianni, Dennis Nguyen, and Elisa Serafinelli; "Introduction"

  "'And even when some marginalized women make selfies for male attention, they're still the authors of how that happens. Not media. Not bigots. The lens you apply, the courage to express yourself, as a subject and the willingness to share those selfies matter for marginalized women.' These are the compelling words of Black American photographer, feminists writer, social critic and avid selfie producer Trudy on why she considers selfies a media capable of 'empowering/ those ordinarily marginalised within the hegemonic visual rhetoric of their culture."

  • “What’s Really Going On With The Sexist Backlash Against Selfies” (2015) - Gradient Lair

  (My race is Black; my ethnicity is Jamaican, raised as 1st generation in America. Speaking of marginalized women and male attention is an analysis not a personal reflection, nor is this example the limitation I applied to selfies and empowerment.)

• Are All the Women Still White?: Rethinking Race, Expanding Feminisms - Janell Hobson; “Toxic or Intersectional? Challenges To (White) Feminist Hegemony Online” - Suey Park and David Leonard

• reference: “Black Women Are Not Just White Women’s ‘Allies’ In Feminism” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• Rhetorics of Names and Naming - Star Medzerian Vanguri;  “Section 1 - Performing Identity, Part 3 - Nominal Blackness” - Lisa Woolfork

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “The Case For Black Girl Joy in America” - Alexandria Lauren Davis, Colgate University

  “But without consensus or an agreed goal of emancipation for all, wherever I think I find love and belonging, I am met with misogynoir* the hatred of Black women. I feel some sense of obligation to articulate meaning in the space of our pain so that other Black women know they are seen and heard but... we already know. The Black women in my life know all too well how seemingly meaningless and invisible our consciousness is to the public. […] *Misogynoir is a term coined by Moya Bailey and expanded upon by Trudy of Gradient Lair.”

• “Digital Dilemmas – Small Group Activity” - Elonda Clay, Digital Activism Workshop

  “Misogynoir – a term created by Moya Bailey in 2010 'to describe the particular brand of hatred directed at Black women in American visual and popular culture.' It discusses the intersection of racism, anti-Blackness, and misogyny that Black women experience. [...] Similarly, racialized misogyny towards Black trans women is called ‘transmisogynoir.’ [...] The term was further developed and its framework expanded by Trudy of Gradient Lair.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “‘It Wouldn't Be the First Time:’ Womanism & African-American Women's Activism” - Alexandra Rice, Journal of Undergrad Research

  “Trudy of the blog Gradient Lair identifies as both a womanist and an agnostic atheist and writes of the tenuous issues black atheists face, including alienation and condescension from the black community and white atheists [...] suggests that womanist thought can even include those who reject spirituality and theism, based in the poetic nature of Walker’s definition; the 'Spirit' the womanist “loves” may simply be a humanistic sense of obligation to the commonweal discussed in The Womanist Idea.”

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair reflects on this song in particular as a wonderful example of ‘everyday womanism’ while remarking that this phrase is redundant in itself -womanism is already 'common,' for the everyday...”

  • reference: “Thoughts about Atheism and Intersectional Feminism” (2013) and “‘Ghetto Woman’ by Janelle Monae is Everyday Womanism” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Black Disabled Woman Syllabus: A Compilation” - Vilissa Thompson, Ramp Your Voice

  “I decided that as someone who views herself as an ‘educator’ within my advocacy scope, it would be fitting to create a compilation of books, essays/articles, speeches, music, and other bodies of work that accurately explains the diverse forms of Blackness that exists for Black women, and how the lives of Black disabled women meshed within that discourse.”

  • reference: “Anti-Blackness And Accusations Of Bigotry” (2013), “Anti-Blackness From Non-Black People Of Colour In Social Media Real Time…” (2014), “White People Using Blackness and Anti-Black Racism Analogies For Their Experiences Is NOT Intersectionality” (2014), “The Concept Of White Supremacy Involving Sociopathy Is NOT Ableism” (2014) and “On Blackness and Perceptions of Able-Bodied Privilege” (2014)

• “Spotlight On: Deep Brandy Album Cuts” - Laura Webster, Aye Hen

  “‘As we’re celebrating women’s history month all throughout March, who are some of the women that inspire you in both your music and in your life?’ ‘The writers and cultural critics and thinkers whose work has enriched my life and expanded my horizons--the likes of Jenny Zhang and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Rawiya Kameir and Doreen St. Felix and Durga Chew-Bose, Trudy from Gradient Lair and the Black Girls Talking collective and @pastachips.’”

• “Schoolgirls: Embodiment Practices Among Current and Former Sex Workers in Academia” - Jennifer Heineman, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  • reference: “Rest In Peace: Angelia Magnum and Tjhisha Ball” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Among the New Words” - Benjamin Zimmer, Jane Solomon and Charles E. Carson, American Speech

  • reference: tweets on ‘misogynoir’ (2012) - Twitter

• “Black Placemaking: Celebration, Play, and Poetry” - Marcus Anthony Hunter, Mary Pattillo, Zandria F. Robinson and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Theory, Culture and Society

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Epistemic Exploitation” - Nora Berenstain, Ergo

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Structures of Misogyny: Overt and Microaggressive Sexism at a Liberal Arts College” - Graham Glennon and Amber Magnussen, St. Olaf College

  • reference: “Feminisms; Plural…” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Alice Walker and Womanism” - Kai Burton, Science Leadership Academy @ Center City

  • reference: "Who Can Be A Womanist?" (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “15 Black Twitter Accounts You Should Follow Today” - Keith Reid-Cleveland, Black Youth Project

• “A Black Man’s Guide to Rape Culture: A Syllabus” - Neal Carter, Medium

  • reference: “Black Men and Patriarchy, Intraracial Sexism and Misogynoir” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Book of Addis: Cradled Embers - Syllabus and Discussion Guide” - Brooke C. Obie, brookeobie.com

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Resource List” - End Rape On Campus

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Out of Cite” - Laur M. Jackson, The Awl

  “We can certainly advance cultural thought by our damn selves, but fuck me before I take erasure of our thought lightly. And it’s hardly a coincidence Black women seem to talk about plagiarism more than anybody else. Trudy. Akilah Hughes. Jamie Nesbitt Golden. Angela aka The Kitchenista. Some of late, some for years, they and others have created the necessary discussions on and proposed strategies against the poaching that takes place carte blanche online and elsewhere.”

  “At worst, the intellectual property of the internet’s most valuable players is mined without compensation or credit; at best, writers waste words reinventing the wheel and projecting an unfinishedness to questions others have already answered. Just like ‘intersectionality’ should signal Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, ‘misogynoir’ Moya Bailey and Trudy...”

• “Transforming DH: An Interview With Dr. Moya Bailey” - Whitney Sperrazza, HASTAC

  “I’m humbled that people find it so useful, but I’m also saddened that it needs to be used so much. I credit a lot of folks online who have helped this term circulate, like Trudy at Gradient Lair.”

• “Misogynoir Monday” - Shamaka Schumake and Francisco Luis White, Equality For Her

  “This term was coined by queer Black feminist scholar, Moya Bailey […] credit for developing the lexical definition of the term is given to Trudy of Gradient Lair, who also went on to coin the term “transmisogynoir” which describes the experience of Black femmes who are trans. According to Trudy’s website, ‘her early work on this term, which came after Moya's initial work (and according to Moya Bailey herself), is why this is a term used in mainstream media and academia today as a way to understand Black women's experiences with oppression.’”

• “Being Black, Female, Confident and Beyoncé” - Shanice Brim, Saint Heron

  “For some reason, Black women loving themselves, standing up for themselves, and refusing to be misrepresented is vexatious and alarming to people. That reason is misogynoir. Misogynoir is a term created by Black feminist Moya Bailey with much of the scholarship around it being written by Trudy of The Gradient Lair. Basically, it’s a term used to describe the intersection of anti-Blackness and misogyny and all the ways in which it affects Black women’s lives.”

• “Pretty Much Everyone is Obsessed with Beyoncé's Lemonade” - Robin Hilmantel, Time

  “Womanism. Through and through. That's what this is. I feel all the foremothers and ancestors on this. And still specifically her.”

  • reference: tweet from “Lemonade: A Southern Visual 'Novel' Unapologetically About The Humanity and Complexity of Black Womanhood” (2016) - Twitter, Storify (now Wakelet)

• “This One Tweet About Beyonce's 'Lemonade' Reveals the Theme Behind Beyonce's New Album” - Kenza Moller, Bustle

  “Womanism. Through and through. That's what this is. I feel all the foremothers and ancestors on this. And still specifically her.”

  • reference: tweet from “Lemonade: A Southern Visual 'Novel' Unapologetically About The Humanity and Complexity of Black Womanhood” (2016) - Twitter, Storify (now Wakelet)

• “Beyoncé Debuted Lemonade and the World Reacted Like This…” - Stephanie Smith-Strickland, High Snob Society

  “Oh and the *lie* that Beyoncé didn't discuss 'political issues' before means you think 'politics' is only whatever Whites/Black men think it is. Because her music been political. BEEN. And I discussed how in my recent post on Lemonade.”

  • reference: tweet from “Lemonade: A Southern Visual 'Novel' Unapologetically About The Humanity and Complexity of Black Womanhood” (2016) - Twitter, Storify (now Wakelet)

• “Chi-Raq & Spike Lee's Accidental Misogynoir” - Daniellé Abena Scott-Haughton, Danielle Dash: Loud & Proud, Wrong & Strong About Screen & Stage

  “Trudy (@thetrudz on Twitter) developed the lexical definition of misogynoir for GradientLair.com, in it she explains that ‘misogynoir describes how racism and anti-blackness alter the experience of misogyny for black women, specifically.’”

• “Akai Gurley the 'Thug,' Peter Liang the 'Rookie Cop' and the Model Minority Myth” - Alex-Quan Pham and Kat Yang-Stevens, Truthout

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair has written that the hypervisibility of Black people functions in a way in which Black people are constructed and used as stepping stools who can then be turned into non-human products to be consumed by and used for the benefit of whites and non-Black people of color. [...] Upholding narratives that blame Black people for the structural racism faced by Asian people further invests in not just the dehumanization of Black people, but also in the advancement of white supremacy, at the explicit expense of Black people.”

  • reference: “Hypervisibility and Marginalization: Existing Online As A Black Woman and Writer” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Introversion Is Not an Illness, But Society Sure Treats it Like One” - Sydnee Thompson, Black Girl Dangerous

  “Introversion is firmly entrenched as a pathology not just in U.S. culture, but many places worldwide. The World Health Organization listed “introverted personality” as a disease as recently as 2011—around the same time that Psychology Today reported the American Psychiatric Association was considering adding a similar classification to the DSM-5. [...] And once you add race and gender to the mix, the prospects get bleaker. For example, as Trudy of Gradient Lair writes in her essay, “The Black Introvert Struggle,” Black women are often assumed to be 'uppity' because they further challenge the expectation of Black people as perpetual entertainers and servants.”

  • reference: “The Black Introvert Struggle” (2012) - Gradient Lair

• “The Leslie Jones Hack is Proof Black Women are Targets for Violence” - Rachel Charlene Lewis, Teen Vogue

  “The violence Leslie faces is a form of misogynoir, a term coined by queer black feminist scholar Moya Bailey and popularized by Trudy, creator of Gradient Lair. Misogynoir discusses the way that black women are discriminated against because of the combination of racism, sexism, and anti-blackness they face.”

• “Katy Perry Tweets Support For Leslie Jones – and Now Everyone is Googling ‘Misogynoir’” - Caitlin Gibson, The Washington Post

  “After Bailey introduced the term on the blog Crunk Feminist Collective, it began to circulate in social justice and feminist circles; it was further developed and popularized by the writer Trudy of Gradient Lair, a blog devoted to covering social and cultural issues concerning Black women. But the word never circulated so widely and rapidly as it did after Perry tweeted it. By Thursday morning, Perry’s message had been re-tweeted nearly 10,000 times, and Google searches for “misogynoir” had spiked sharply. Not everyone was charmed: Some feminists on Twitter noted the irony that 'misogynoir' only made headlines after a famous White woman used the term. And others pointed out that Perry’s ‘woke’ moment didn’t erase her history of cultural appropriation; she’s frequently come under fire for her use of Black culture and racist stereotypes in her music videos, and many were similarly outraged by her performance at the American Music Awards in 2013, when she appeared on stage dressed as a Japanese geisha.”

• “Katy Perry Describes Attack on Leslie Jones as ‘Misogynoir’, Internet Loses It” - Rob Moran, The Sydney Morning Herald

  “…while voicing her support for Leslie Jones in the wake of the comedian's latest brush with online trolls, she described the attack as ‘misogynoir.’ The term [...] was coined by queer Black feminist Moya Bailey in 2010, and further articulated by Trudy of the blog Gradient Lair, to describe the combined racist and sexist marginalisation experienced by Black women. [...] While many celebrated the word being shared with her hopefully inquisitive 92.1 million followers, others mocked the idea of a White woman being praised for echoing a term Black women have been using for years.”

• “To Be Totally Honest, I’m Actually Pretty Conflicted About My Whiteness. And Yours.” - Justin C. Cohen, The Huffington Post

  “…one thing that tends to get White people’s attention is how other White people spend their money. To that point, spend that money on institutions led by people of color. For example, women behind critical endeavors like Feminista Jones, Gradient Lair, and Black Girl Dangerous have spent years unearthing and sharing the knowledge that we need to dismantle racism. We should pay them for that work, and we should consider putting our own selves on the line to protect their work.”

• “Being a Black Disabled Woman is an Act of Defiance: Remembering #KorrynGaines” - Vilissa Thompson, The Huffington Post

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Back in Flint, $63,000 Later...” - Tre’vell Anderson, Los Angeles Times (live blog)

  • reference: a tweet from #JusticeForFlint (2016) - Twitter

• “This Week in Black Twitter: Readying For Black Panther, Paying Homage to Malcolm X” - Meghan Price, Los Angeles Times

  • reference: a tweet on Malcolm X (2016) - Twitter

• “Mary J. Blige Gave Viola Davis a Sew-In On TV and It Was Historic” - Taryn Finley, The Huffington Post

  • reference: a #HTGAWM season 3 live tweet

• “Bob Costas Compares Usain Bolt to Bob Marley and Irritates The Internet” - staff, The Grio

  • reference: a tweet (2016) - Twitter

• “Sick and Tired: A History of Misogynoir in Anti-Choice Rhetoric” - Destiny Crockett, Princeton (discussion/meetup)

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Fighting Misogynoir: Centering All Black Femmes and Women” - Womanist Working Collective, Community Futures Lab (discussion/meetup)

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “101 Actual Black Women More Deserving of Book Deals Than Rachel Dolezal” - Damon Young, Very Smart Brothas

• “Recommended Resources” - collective, Critlib

• “Buttermilk Biscuits” - Broma Bakery (brand post of a 2016 Drift Sojourn photograph)

• “Lamb #1823: Cinemacked” - Jay Cluitt, The Lamb (The Large Association of Movie Blogs)

•••

2015

Books

• Women of Color and Social Media Multitasking: Blogs, Timelines, Feeds, and Community - Keisha Edwards Tassie and Sonja Brown Givens et. al.; “Chapter Six: Epistemic Advantage and Subaltern Enclaves: Tracing Anti-Street Harassment Discourse Through Social Media Use by Women of Colour” - Minu Basnet

  “Acknowledging how street harassment is raced and affects women of colour different than White women, Trudy, a blogger whose Gradient Lair is focused on Black experiences, has noted that diminishing importance of race and class silences the realities of street harassment for women of colour and women in low-income statues.”

  “Social media platforms like Twitter campaign YouOkSis as well as the two blogs Gradient Lair and No Disrespect, orient the anti-street harassment discourse by functioning as alternate/subaltern enclaves by women of color.”

  “...as Black feminist blogger Trudy discussed, it is necessary to bring up race and class within street harassment discourse. As the social media participation of women of color shows, experiences of women vary and a re tied to how their identities and representation affect the street harassment scenario.”

  • reference: “Race IS Relevant In Street Harassment. But Not In The Racist Way Regularly Assumed.” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future - Alexandra Brodsky and Rachel Kauder Nalebuff; “Beyond Badass: Toward A Feminist, Antiracist Literature” - Daniel José Older

  “Yes, we want badass women in literature. Absolutely. But badass so often comes at the cost of their greater humanity; it turns into their singular trait. [...] As womanist, writer and social critic Trudy writes on her blog Gradient Lair: ‘I feel the most powerful when I feel the most self-acceptably complex and this means the space to thrive and be without misogynoiristic demands for performance of or desire for some rigid myth of what Black women’s ‘empowerment’ looks like...My empowerment looks like my humanity, and my humanity is my focus, with all of its history, nuance, complexity.’”

  • reference: “The Myth That Womanism Is Only About ‘Empowerment’” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• This is what a Feminist Slut Looks Like; Perspectives on the Slutwalk Movement - Alyssa Teekah; “Chapter 8: Mapping the SlutWalk Paradox: Challenges and Possibilities of Using Raunch in Transnational Feminist Politics” - Amanda D. Watson and Corinne L. Mason

  “...violence against racialized women and girls continued to go ignored. For example, according to critical race blog Gradient Lair conversations around rape remain white, even though both Black men and women in the U.S. have an asymmetrical relationship to rape culture and the criminal justice system, which purports to support survivors of gendered violence.”

  • reference: "Why The Rape Joke Conversati​on Remains A White Conversati​on" (2013) - Gradient Lair (piece no longer live)

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “The Unwanted Labour of Social Media: Women of Colour Call Out Culture as Venture Community Management” - Lisa Nakamura, New Formations

  “Though this kind of activity may not fit into traditional definitions of what labour is, some of its practitioners define it this way. A Twitter hashtag called #ThisTweetCalledMyBack, authored by a collective of woman of colour social media activists, makes reference to the iconic woman of colour anthology This Bridge Called My Back because it makes a similar claim: that the labour of educating White men and women about racism and sexism is difficult, valuable, and unappreciated. The fact that this labour occurs via Twitter and Tumblr doesn’t detract from its value or difficulty… [...] An excerpt reads, ‘The way we are moving now, it’s simply not sustainable. What is the sustainability of a movement that leaves women behind and unsupported once the teach-ins and video chats end? Will we be a movement that only allows marginalised women to perform a lifetime of unwaged labour, only to be abused, and have to crowd fund their heating bills in middle age?’ […] @tgirlinterruptd, @chiefelk, @bad_dominicana, @aurabogado, @blackamazon, and @thetrudz. 'This Tweet Called My Back.' Model View Culture.”

  • reference: #ThisTweetCalledMyBack and “The Worst Is The “Kindness” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “‘All In Together Girls:’ Black Women Make Online Community, Not War, Over Beyoncé and Feminism” - LaToya L. Sawyer, Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition (New Work Showcase 2015)

  “While Beyoncé's particular use of music to explore Black womanhood, and the intersection of race and gender in Black women's lives may be new, Trudy argued that it is a part of a larger cultural tradition: ‘***Flawless Feminism' is a fresh approach but one with historical ties in Black womanhood and Black musical oral history/tradition. It's not the only way but a way of navigating the beautiful complexity that is Black womanhood.’”

  • reference: “Beyoncé’s New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom” (2013) and “Beyoncé’s ***Flawless Feminism: A Womanist Perspective” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Teaching Trayvon Race, Media, and the Politics of Spectacle” - Safiya Umoja Noble, The Black Scholar

  “Gradient Lair wrote a post on July 15, 2013, titled, ‘How Racism Makes Trayvon Martin’s Death Just Another Object for Consumption.’ Blog author Trudy uses Black feminist and womanist lenses to reflect upon the financial opportunities arising from Trayvon’s death, including a book deal for a juror, increased social media traffic on a Facebook page that promotes racism toward Trayvon, and a ‘Zimmerman MMA training program at a gym,’ among others.”

  • reference: “How Racism Makes Trayvon Martin’s Death Just Another Object For Consumption” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “The Colour Order: Race and Colour Perception in South Africa” - Tatenda Magaisa, Wits University

  “Colourism is also closely linked to gender and class because of sexism and misogynoir (racist sexism faced by Black women in society and in mass media), colourism tends to impact Black women more than Black men. […] Colourism, like all western beauty standards is rooted in White supremacy and historical, biased constructions of humanity.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair and “Anti-Blackness And The Myths Of ‘Monoracial Privilege’ & The ‘White/Black Binary’” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Tracing Our Words Down the Academic Rabbit Hole” - Melonie Fullick, University Affairs

  “...writers like Lauren Chief Elk and Trudy at Gradient Lair...work 'gets discussed in academic circles without their participation.' These are activists and writers with large, engaged audiences on Twitter and on their blogs, and their work has been used without credit or consent...the work is 'about' them or comes from them, but isn’t in dialogue with them, and is taken up in a context that excludes their participation. While important intellectual work has always been happening in non-academic settings, it’s possible that social media helps to make this more visible and thus more vulnerable to appropriation by those who already have professional status.”

• “‘She’s White and She’s Hot, So She Can’t Be Guilty’: Female Criminality, Penal Spectatorship, and White Protectionism” - Danielle Dirks, Caroline Heldman and Emma Zack, Contemporary Justice Review

  • reference: “White Female Criminals, White Supremacy and The Media” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “The Natural Hair Movement as a Platform for Environmental Education” - Joyce M. Nimocks, Pomona College

  • reference: “Black Bodies: Objects For White Profit, Power and Pleasure” (2013) and a Patricia Hill Collins quote analysis (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Menschmaschine. Janelle Monáes Schaffen als Ausdruck Schwarzen Feminismus.” - Marion Schmitz, The Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media

  • reference: “Janelle Monáe: Not For Male Consumption” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “The Influence of African-American Music on Montage of a Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes” - Lukáš Ročňák, University of Pardubice Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

  • reference: Angela Davis quote analysis (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Tweeting Away Our Blues: An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach to Exploring Black Women 's Use of Social Media to Combat Misogynoir” - Kelly Macias, Nova Southeastern University (NSUWorks)

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) and “ - Gradient Lair

• “Constructing the Feminine: The Creation of Female Identity in New Zealand Fantasy Fiction” - Kimberley Warner, The University of Waikato

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “The Enduring Presence of Misogynoir in Chocolate Advertising” - Carla D. Martin, et. al., Chocolate Class

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “No More Misogynoir: Challenging the Problematic Depictions of African Women in Chocolate Advertising” - Carla D. Martin, et. al., Chocolate Class

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Politics 384: Transnational Feminist Politics: Knowledge, Power, Love” syllabus - Jonneke Koomen, Williamette University

• “STPEC 393A: Writing For Critical Consciousness” syllabus - Ethan Myers, University of Massachusetts

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Jenny Stanley's Letter About Street Harassment to The Irish Times Drives Home Exactly Why Street Harassment is So Harmful” - Suzannah Weiss, Bustle

  “Trudy writes on her blog Gradient Lair that in cities ‘where public transportation is scarce and most ride in cars who can afford them and live in suburbs, the poorest women (who tend to be Black and Latina) who live in apartments and urban areas and use public transportation face more street harassment than those 'safe' in their suburbs and cars and work in buildings set back from the street that they drive into. Even in dense spaces many men will skip over even speaking to a White women to harass me or other Black women.’”

  • reference: “Race IS Relevant In Street Harassment. But Not In The Racist Way Regularly Assumed.” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “9 Ways to Practice Self-Care When Dealing With Street Harassment” - Britni de la Cretaz, Everyday Feminism

• “Trudy, of Gradient Lair, has documented her experience of coping with the trauma of street harassment as a Black woman extensively. She writes that it has impacted me in the way that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder impacts people who experience other traumas or abuse.”

  • reference: “Street Harassment and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “You’re Not Alone: People & Organizations Supporting Minority Mental Health” - Feliks Garcia, The Offing

  “…#NoShameDay, observed this year on July 6 thousands of participants, including the founder of Gradient Lair, who published this powerful piece about the initiative and her reasons for taking part.”

  • reference: “#NoShameDay: On Blackness and Mental Health” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “Miss Me With the Pass for R. Kelly” - Josie Pickens, Ebony

  “Even when we acknowledge the cases against R. Kelly, we find ways to blame his victims. They are, after all, not girls who are developing mentally, emotionally and physically as they move towards womanhood and who should be allowed space to experience their bodies and the pleasures they produce without being assaulted by grown men. They are #fasttailedgirls (a hashtag created by co-founder of Hood Feminism and native Chicagoan Mikki Kendall). Through this hashtag and its connected Twitter conversation, Kendall (@karnythia) and many others hoping to lend their voices to the pathology we’ve accepted regarding Black girls and sexual violence. (Like @thetrudz—who created an online document dedicated to the hashtag and conversation—and @dopegirlfresh.)”

  • reference: “Fast Tailed’ Girls: Examining The Stereotypes and Abuse That Black Girls Face” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Janelle Monáe Had the Perfect Response to a Twitter Troll Who Said She Wasn’t Sexy Enough” - Audra Schroeder, The Daily Dot

  “A post on Gradient Lair unpacked exactly why this comment is troubling: And the ‘too damn soulful’ comment in that tweet? That’s that binary reference to the idea that “soulful” Black women exist to be “respectable” and ‘sexy’ Black women exist to be ‘non-respectable’ and clearly binary thinkers experience conflict when these lines aren’t treaded in a way they are used to consuming.”

  • reference: “Janelle Monáe: Not For Male Consumption” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “Anacondas and Bad Blood: In Defence of ‘Social Justice Warrior Bullshit’” - collective, Feminist Academic Collective

  “As articulated in the Gradient Lair quote, there is no frivolity in exploring the links between physical violence and poverty, and the meaning we ascribe to popular culture/events. Rather, it is an often alarming journey into the symbiosis between the two. [...] But it is so important to avoid the pitfall of dismissing the “drama”; as the Gradient Lair article quoted above puts it, when a figure demands we discuss one manifestation of discrimination and not the other, what is at stake is often the erasure of both.”

  • reference: “There Is No Nicki Minaj vs. Sandra Bland. Black People Can Discuss Both.” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “Weird and Wonderful: Why I Love Steven Universe” - Alice Nuttall, Alice Nuttall Books

  “Garnet’s position in the story means that she could so easily have fallen into two very limiting tropes – Strong Female Character (as in, woman who punches and kicks things a lot, and that’s about it), and Strong Black Woman. Trudy of Gradient Lair, Mikki Kendall, and Jamilah Lemieux have written some incredibly important things about the ‘strong black woman’ stereotype and how damaging it can be. While I’m not remotely an authority here—it’s not my lived experience—it seems to me that Garnet stands tall against this trope. She’s a black woman. She has incredible strength. She saves the world and the people around her on a regular basis. But, there is so much more to her than that.”

  • reference: “Human Being Here; Find Your ‘Strong Black Woman’ Stereotype Elsewhere” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Sh*t White Feminists Say to Black Feminists (and How To Counter Them)” - Kesiena Boom, For Harriet

  “We do not owe our oppressors a free masterclass in the myriad of ways they continue to trample on us. There are so many free resources that White feminists can utilise on the web in order to learn about race and racism. For example Gradient Lair and Black Girl Dangerous.”

• “Wendy’s Serves a Kid’s Meal With a Side of Racism and Misogyny” - Jesse Benn, The Huffington Post

  “…the tendency to minimize this trauma is simply an extension of a societal tendency to minimalize the experiences of Black people, and even more so Black women. Those interested in learning more about the intersectional oppression that takes place at these crossroads should head to Gradient Lair and read Trudy’s explanation of misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “The Beginning Black Feminist’s Guide to Feminism Without the Anti-Black Bullsh*t” - Maisha Z. Johnson, Everyday Feminism

  “‘My feminism’ is a term I use frequently. I believe that multiple feminisms can and do co-exist, just as Trudy…of Gradient Lair describes when she says that ‘feminism will never be a one size fit all.’”

  • reference: “Feminisms; Plural…” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “A Neoliberal Outrage: “I’m Leftwing, How Can I Be Racist?” - Henry Sebastian, Sanshistory

  “Eloquently expressed in Gradient Lair: ‘This is one of the reasons why I think that Black trans women and Black LGBQIA people and their conceptions of feminism has to be centered in womanism. If they can be free, all Black women can be free. If All Black women and all Black people can be free, all people can be free. The most marginalized have to be centered not excluded.’ This degree of self-reflexivity, the obligation to deconstruct the writer’s own “womanist” identity, is a lesson in radicalism...”

  • reference: “On Womanism and Greater Inclusivity In The Margins…” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Why Black Women And Men Critique Each Other” - Morgan Jenkins, The Toast

  “Writing this essay has filled me with fear. I’m a 23-year-old up-and-coming writer. I’m also a Black woman who is criticizing a formidable figure like Ta-Nehisi Coates. [...] I love Black men and the careers they build but I cannot blindly continue to do so at my expense as an artist too. Love is not synonymous with neglect of others. So, I lift up other Black women’s names: Eve L. Ewing, Hannah Giorgis, Safy-Hallan Farah, Huda Hassan, Sarah Hagi, Jazmine Hughes, Collier Meyerson, Doreen St. Félix, Jamilah Lemieux, Morgan Parker, Stacia L. Brown, Rahawa Haile, Trudy of Gradient Lair, Feminista Jones, Ijeoma Oluo, Bim Adewunmi, Rebecca Carroll, Jenna Wortham, Ashley Ford, Nikole Hannah-Jones.”

• “Remembering the Horde” - Chris Bodenner, The Atlantic

  “Jordan Devereaux: ‘Ta-Nehisi Coates wasn’t the only one who helped me rearrange my outlook on how to face prejudice. Trudy of Gradient Lair was pretty important, too.’”

• “Gentlemen, Here is How Not to Mansplain Feminism to Women” - Annalisa Merelli, Quartz

  • reference: a tweet from #ThingsFeministMenHaveSaidToMe (2015) - Twitter

• “What Ebro Should Have Been Talking About This Morning Instead of Our ‘Attitude Problem’” - Veronica Wells, Madam Noire

  • reference: a tweet from a thread on Ebro/Hot 97 and misogynoir

• “Black Twitter Hilariously Roasts Urban Outfitters for Overcharging for Everyday Black Hair Products” - Leila Noelliste, BGLH Marketplace

  • reference: a tweet (2015) - Twitter

• “People Are Furious With Billboard for ‘Sexualizing' North West” - Rachael Krishna, BuzzFeed

  • reference: a tweet from a thread critiquing Billboard’s misogynoir and how it mirrors society’s own misogynoir (2015) - Twitter

• “Ice Cube and Why We Need to Start Defending the So-Called B*tches and H*s” - Charing Ball, Madam Noire

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Misogynoir” - Rhodes University feminists, Gender Action Project

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “How Black Women on Tumblr Continue to Bust the White Beauty Myth” - Kesiena Boom, For Harriet

• “Centering Blackness” - Sarah Tuttle, Medium

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “Introduction to Feminism and Women's Rights Blogs” - Tom Head, Thought.Co

  “This blog site offers news and detailed commentary on race, gender, public policy, and the arts. The author also maintains one of the best Twitter feeds you'll find anywhere.”

  • reference: Gradient Lair and personal Twitter, @thetrudz

• “Rebel Girls: 22 Badass Black Women Who Are Leading Movements, Changing the World, Generally Awesome” - Carmen, Autostraddle

  “Follow Gradient Lair on Tumblr and @GradientLair, @driftsojourn, and @thetrudz on Twitter to get your fix of all the magic.”

• “TLB Weekly No. 3” - Kristy Tillman, Tomorrow Looks Bright

  • “Cinemacked is a film and television interest blog that engages the entertainment, the aesthetics and the sociopolitics of good film and television. Created by womanist writer Trudy, Cinemacked offers thoughtful critique of popular film and television and as well as relevant recommendations. Trudy gives a new perspective in which to view television and peels back often unexplored layers.”

  • reference: @Cinemacked on Twitter; “20 Good Black Films On Netflix” (2015) and “What I Mean By A Black Film” (2015) - Cinemacked

• “The Blogs I Follow and Love” - collective, Little Red Tarot

• “Things I Read This Week That I Found Interesting” - Zoe Stavri, Another Angry Woman

  • reference: “The Focus On Property Over Black Lives Is Also State Violence” (2015) - Gradient Lair

• “Blogs - Recs - Resources” - staff, Writing With Colour

  “A growing page of blogs and content that we recommend for your writing, research and diversity needs.”

• “How to Be An Ally” - Coraline Ada Ehmke, OS4W

• “Glossary” - staff, Because I Am Human

  • reference: answer to #askgradientlair on the politics of respectability (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Photographers on Tumblr” - The Photographers Directory (brand reblog of a 2015 Drift Sojourn piece, with additional notes)

• “Macro Food Photography With iPhone 6s + Olloclip 4-in-1 Lens” - Olloclip (brand reblog of a 2016 Drift Sojourn piece)

•••

2014

Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Papers

• “Hashtag Feminism, #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen, and the Other #FemFuture” - Susana Loza, Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media and Technology

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair reminds us that ‘this quest for ‘unity’ through erasure and silence has another word for it: oppression.’”

  • reference: “Mainstream White Feminism, Racism and Claims of Black ‘Toxicity’” (2014), “My Tone Isn’t The Problem. Abusive Mainstream Feminists Are.” (2014), “On Hugo Schwyzer, White Supremacist Mainstream Feminism and Its Abuse of Women of Colour” (2013), and “Requiring Accountability For Racism and White Supremacy Is Not ‘Bashing’ White Feminists” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “‘The Biggest Feminist in the World’: On Miley Cyrus, Feminism, and Intersectionality” - Alexandra Apolloni, American Music Review

  “While #solidarityisforwhitewomen was reacting to one very specific instance of racism rearing its head in online feminist circles, it broadened and spread to reflect the frustration of activists, mostly women of color, whose work and ideas remain marginal in a conversation dominated by mainstream, online feminist publications like Feministing and Jezebel. [...] While Kendall was the first to use the hashtag, it was quickly adopted by many other Twitter users. Some of the more prolific contributors to the hashtag include Flavia Dzodan (@redlightvoices), Amadi Aec Lovelace (@amaditalks), Trudy (@thetrudz), and Sydette (@blackamazon). This list is by no means exhaustive.”

• “Beyoncé's Impact on African-American Women as a Contemporary Cultural Phenomenon” - Deniz Faruk Erkan, New York University

  “It was named as ‘A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom’ by Gradient Lair, a website about black women, their achievements, and their interests ("Beyoncé’s New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom"). The themes of the album are dominantly about womanhood, such as motherhood, eating disorders caused by the ideal beauty norm, self-esteem, rebelling against the stereotypes, and enjoying sexuality as a woman.” 

  • reference: “Beyoncé’s New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “‘Keep Your Head Up’ - Tupac” - Patrick Saunders, Prezi (presentation)

  • reference: “What The 20-Year-Old Tupac Song “Keep Ya Head Up” Means To Me As A Womanist” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Flawless Feminist” - Linnea Andreasson, Uppsala University

  • reference: “Beyoncé’s New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom” (2013) - Gradient Lair

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “More on the Origin of Misogynoir” - Moya Bailey, Moyazb

  “It took on a life of its own on tumblr and it is amazing that so many folks I don’t know have taken it up and use it far more frequently than I have. Major thanks to Trudz a.k.a Gradient Lair. […] What happens to Black women in public space isn’t about them being any woman of color. It is particular and has to do with the ways that anti-Blackness and misogyny combine to malign Black women in our world.”

• “On Moya Bailey, Misogynoir, and Why Both Are Important” - Keir Bristol, The Visibility Project

  “One of the Black women that should be on your radar is Moya Bailey. Known for creating the term Misogynoir, Bailey defines it as the intersection of racism, anti-Blackness, and misogyny that Black women experience. The term is specific to Black womanhood, as Misogynoir cannot be experienced by women of any other race, but can be perpetuated by people of any gender or race. Similarly, racialized misogyny towards Black trans women is called ‘transmisogynoir.’ [...] Black feminist writers online have widely accepted ‘Misogynoir’ into their repertoire, including Trudy of Gradient Lair (in a piece about Misogynoir and Black men)...”

  • reference: “How Anti-Blackness Shapes Heterosexual Black Men’s Dating ‘Preferences’” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Word of the Day: Misogynoir” - staff, meta-activism

  “I recently saw a thread of false information and non-Black women of colour co-opting to erase Black womanhood, Black women’s experiences and Black women’s epistemology from the concept of misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Black Feminism Goes Viral” - Jamilah Lemieux, Ebony

  “Trudy, 34, whose blog, Gradient Lair, is known for razor-sharp cultural commentary, recognizes the web as a powerful part of the feminist toolbox. ‘While social media cannot unravel the most persistent hierarchies that oppression maintains,” she says, “it does allow small voices to gain traction…We’ve created important conversations and content and have altered the shape of modern social justice by letting people know that small voices still matter.’”

  • reference: Gradient Lair (entire blog) included in the Black Feminist Toolbox

• “Tumblr Tuesday: Civil Rights and Equality Edition” - staff, Tumblr

  “Gradient Lair - For and about Black women in media. Featuring a stand-out womanist-perspective essay on the surprise Beyoncé album.”

  • reference: “Beyoncé’s ***Flawless Feminism: A Womanist Perspective” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “‘Misogofeminists’ and the White Men Who Profit From Silencing Critiques” - Flavia Dzodan, Dissident Voice

  “Trudy at Gradient Lair and Blackamazon have written about the conflation of White women with White men to marginalize women of color. They have both traced the historical roots and patterns that this association has followed throughout centuries. It seems that now, we are to believe that a feminism that reproduces this exact same patterns of marginalization is in our best interest. Any protestations are met with further discipline and silencing.”

  • reference: “Requiring Accountability For Racism and White Supremacy Is Not ‘Bashing’ White Feminists” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Anita Hill: ‘We Can Evolve.’ But The Same Questions Are Being Asked.” - Soraya Nadia Mcdonald, The Washington Post

  “There’s a point in the new documentary, Anita, where Sen. Howell Heflin (D-Ala.) questions Anita Hill. ‘In trying to determine whether you are telling falsehoods or not, I’ve got to determine what your motivation might be,’ Heflin asks at the 1991 Capitol Hill hearing. ‘Are you a scorned woman? Do you have a martyr complex? Do you see yourself coming out of this as a hero in the civil rights movement?’ Hill, composed as ever, calmly answers, ‘No.’ Imagine if a male member of Congress tried that now: Feminist Twitter would nail him to the wall. There would be countless think pieces about institutionalized sexism and misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Recognizing Black History Month as a Disability Rights Advocate of Color” - Vilissa Thompson, Ramp Your Voice

  “Today, I wanted to share a few books and articles that tell what it is like to be a woman of color with a disability (both visible and invisible disabilities). On Tumblr a few weeks ago, I asked Trudy, founder of the blog Gradient Lair, if she was familiar with any books/articles that discussed being of color, female, and disabled. The resources Trudy provided were just what I needed, especially since I aim to propel the voices of women of color with disabilities over the course of the year.”

  • reference: answer to #askgradientlair on Black women and disability (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “The #TwitterEthics Manifesto” - Dorothy Kim and Eunsong Kim, Model View Culture

  “Trudy (Gradient Lair) has written prolifically about the plagiarism her site and her intellectual labor have witnessed in her post ‘I Could Not Be Any More Tired of Academia and I Am Not Even A Part of It.’ She writes that, ‘I have not gotten any better at dealing with the demand that I should be ‘flattered’ by people who ‘chose’ to exploit me over anyone else that they could have ‘chosen.’’”

  • reference: I Could Not Be Any More Tired Of Academia And I Am Not Even A Part Of It (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Prominent Black Female Activists on Twitter Launch #ThisTweetCalledMyBack Social Media Black Out After Mainstream Academics Steal Their Work” - Taylor Gordon, Atlanta Black Star

  “The authors are known best by their Twitter handles: @tgirlinterruptd, @chiefelk, @bad_dominicana, @aurabogado, @so_treu, @blackamazon, @thetrudz. They have been launching Twitter discussions, video chats and other digital forums of academic conversations for quite some time. These women have been harassed and rejected by mainstream media, deemed ‘Toxic Twitter,’ and many claim to have experienced countless death threats from those who oppose their online opinions—the same opinions they rarely even get credit for. On December 12, the women launched the hashtag #ThisTweetCalledMyBack to voice their frustrations with the way their social media work has been appropriated and devalued by mainstream media.”

  • reference: #ThisTweetCalledMyBack and “The Worst Is The ‘Kindness’” (2014) - Gradient Lair (for my part)

• “In Solidarity With #ThisTweetCalledMyBack” - collective, Sisters of Resistance

  “...far from being celebrated and embraced for the enormity of the work and contributions they have made to 4th wave and digital feminism, their body of work has been colonized, plagiarized by mainstream White feminism and mainstream media while they themselves have been vilified, said to constitute ‘Toxic Twitter', had their livelihoods threatened and their physical and mental welfare put at stake. […] The collective includes: @tgirlinterruptd, @chiefelk, @bad_dominicana, @aurabogado, @so_treu, @blackamazon, @thetrudz.”

  • reference: #ThisTweetCalledMyBack and “The Worst Is The ‘Kindness’” (2014) - Gradient Lair (for my part)

• “It’s Time for White Feminists to Stop Talking About Solidarity and Start Acting” - Nomansland, Autostraddle

  “White, rich, straight, cisgender women such as the writers at The Vagenda and Jezebel as well as celebrities such as Lena Dunham and Lily Allen control the mainstream feminist discourse (even whilst shirking the feminist label in the case of the latter) and form the wider public opinion on our movement, as they are afforded the coverage to bring their ideas to the masses. Rhiannon Lucy Coslett and Holly Baxter of The Vagenda have half the talent and insight of Trudy of Gradient Lair, yet it is they who have recently had a major book published and regular columns in The Guardian and the New Statesman. The aforementioned White women don’t use their privileged platform to uplift the sisters below them.”

• “Dealing With White Guilt” - Grimalkin, RN, Ofcourseitsaboutyou (Opines & Fading Memories)

  “Trudy has made herself very accessible online, and paid a heavy price for it. Here is my point: It is not the job of Black people to comfort us. [...] @thetrudz has suggested this article: 28 Common Racist Attitudes and Behaviors That Indicate a Detour or Wrong Turn into White Guilt, Denial, or Defensiveness. She also has multiple articles at her blog, Gradient Lair that are very useful. I have never read an article by @thetrudz and not learned something valuable. She also suggested this reading: Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Tatum.”

• “10 Things White Privilege Has Done for Me in 10 Days” - Olivia Cole, The Huffington Post

  “I have gotten emails from White folks telling me that they admire me, etc. and that what I’m doing is important. Although I appreciate these emails, I can’t help but wonder if they are sending the same emails to women like @thetrudz, @FeministaJones, and @BlackGirlDanger, Black women who daily do far more important work than I and receive 100x as much hate mail. They are brave and brilliant. And so, so cool.”

• “Black Twitter: A Virtual Community Ready to Hashtag Out a Response to Cultural Issues” - Soraya Nadia Mcdonald, The Washington Post

  “In December, feminist singer Ani DiFranco announced that she was holding her Righteous Retreat at Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, La. Black feminists charged the artist with trying to advance the goals of (supposedly inclusive) feminism while dismissing black women and their experiences. 'When [a Black woman] says phrases like ‘Mistress Epps Feminism,’ think about why. This isn’t even hyperbole,' said Trudy (@GradientLair), referring to the wife of the plantation owner from 12 Years a Slave.”

  • reference: a tweet based on “Ani DiFranco’s Offensive Stunt Bores Me” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Pam Oliver, Indifference, and the Disrespecting of Black Women” - Kumera Genet, The Huffington Post

  “I can expound on racial profiling, education inequality, and other forms of discrimination that impact all Black people and minorities, but I find my knowledge lacking when discussing how misogyny affects women and girls within the Black community. I’d suggest for anyone to start following the blogs Gradient Lair, the aforementioned Black Girl Dangerous, The Feminist Wire, and reading the writing of prominent Black academics like Bell Hooks and others — which is a process that I’ve recently begun.”

• “A Feminist Character ≠ A Character Who is a Feminist: Examining Claire Underwood and Olivia Pope” - NinjaCate, Jezebel (The Powder Room Kinja)

  “As Trudy over at Gradient Lair deftly demonstrates in her essay, ‘Olivia Pope, Fear And Black Women's Humanity Onscreen’: 'While Olivia has the standard external markers of the (class privileged, corporate) Strong Black Woman stereotype, such as power suits and great style, her own company, powerful meetings, a loyal staff and problem solving skills, she easily eschews this stereotype and presents a full human being with nuanced emotions with situations where she is confident and others where she is vulnerable. And a lot in between. Humor, [...] empathy, [...] sensuality and sexuality...’”

  • reference: “Scandal: Olivia Pope, Fear and Black Women’s Humanity On Screen” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Hashtag #LoveMeLike Takes Twitter by Storm As Black Women Share Empowering Messages” - Jessica Dickerson, The Huffington Post

  “The hashtag #LoveMeLike started making its rounds on Twitter with Black women expressing how they want to be loved. The woman behind the social media love-fest is known as Syd aka @Blackamazon on Twitter. [...] Black women, how do we want to be loved? How do we need to be loved? #LoveMeLike [...] #LoveMeLike my talents matter, my passions matter, my skills matter, my interests matter, my loves matter, my desires matter, I MATTER.”

  • reference: a tweet from “How A Black Woman Should Be Loved” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Revenge of the Bodies We Want: Even More Naked Athletes and Even More Unwanted Feminist Analysis” - Feminist Batwoman, Culturally Disoriented

  “Black female athletes who smile at some point in their shoot: 1 (33%) White female athletes who smile at some point in their shoot: 6 (75%). Aha. I don’t think I would have noticed this distinction before reading the work of Trudy at Gradient Lair on the portrayal of Black athletes. [...] The phenomenon Trudy discusses reappears on the pages of ESPN’s Body Issue. [...] Here, the Body Issue firmly adheres to White, eurocentric beauty standards...”

  • reference: “7 Predictable Ways That The Media Portrays Black Olympic Athletes” (2012) - Gradient Lair

• “Sit Down, ‘Pastafarians.’” - Audra Williams, audrawilliams.me

  “I absolutely think the term ‘Pastafarian’ is the result of a group of thoughtless White people who didn’t think at all about the racist implications of the way they were framing their legitimate reaction to the cultural and political power over their lives of a church they didn’t belong to or support. [...] I really recommend reading Agnostic Atheist, But Not Interested In White Supremacist Atheism, on the always stellar blog Gradient Lair.”

  • reference: “Agnostic Atheist, But Not Interested In White Supremacist Atheism” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• #DayOfTheGirl 2014 - Kyra Gaunt, Kyraocity

  “How rare is it for twerking to be discussed…or actually anything involving what Black [girls] do, think, say, write, create, believe or are…without bigotry, and sloppy, one-dimensional bigoted ideas as the basis of the discussion or the ‘critique?’”

  • reference: “Black Women and Twerking: Why Its Creators Face Bigotry That Miley Cyrus Never Will” (2013) and a Kimberlé Crenshaw quote analysis (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “‘Proportional Representation’ Has No Place In Diversity Discussions” - Léonicka Valcius, The Toast

  “In response to an Ask about the diversity of film/TV characters in the US, Trudy of Gradient Lair gave this amazing answer that exemplifies the nuance needed in discussions of diversifying spaces. It’s not just about the numbers; the meaning and power structure behind the numbers is important.”

  • reference: answer to #askgradientlair on the film/TV and diversity (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Strange Fruit PR Firm Vanishes After Getting a History Lesson From Twitter” - Yesha, The Root

  “White progressive/liberal ‘ironic’ racism and anti-Blackness is not creative or ‘different’ from other side of the aisle.”

  • reference: thread on the racism of Strange Fruit PR

• “CNN’s #ASKACOP Twitter Campaign Incites Online Fury” - staff, RT

  “Broader trends of aggression prevalent among police officers in general also came up regularly, highlighting how some communities feel more threatened by police than protected. ‘#AskACop Why do you have higher rate of domestic violence from male cops than male civilians yet you'll harm WoC and their abusers on calls?’”

  • a tweet (2014) - Twitter

• “MLK’s Nonviolence Meme” - David. C. Wells, Cryptic Philosopher

  “MLK is regularly evoked by Whites in a dehumanizing fashion in order to police Black vernacular (subversion/reclamation), police Black people’s response to continued State violence and anti-Blackness, and to control Black culture and life via the myth that the politics of respectability can ‘earn’ us humanity; humanity denied us as the very foundation and current reality of this country, in fact.”

  • reference: “Whites Dehumanize Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Into A Trope To Silence Black People” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Twelve Years a Slave: Trauma, White Ignorance and Solidarity” - Lisa Brock, Praxis Center

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair brilliantly captured this in her November 6, 2013 blog post about the film. She wrote: ‘But it was also a painful film in ways that I cannot always fully articulate with words. I felt that pain in my spirit, my skin, my bones, my heart, my existence. I still feel it. I…well…felt it before I saw the film, actually.’”

  • reference: “Yes, I Did See 12 Years A Slave. It’s Brilliant. No, I Won’t Be Writing An In-Depth Film Review.” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Bad Editing: Moving the Discussion of Street Harassment Beyond the Video” - Cherise Charleswell, The Hampton Institute (A Working-Class Think Tank)

  “In cities in South Florida for example where public transportation is scarce and most ride in cars who can afford them and live in suburbs, the poorest women (who tend to be Black and Latina) who live in apartments and urban areas and use public transportation face more street harassment than those "safe" in their suburbs and cars and work in buildings set back from the street that they drive into.”

  • reference: “Race IS Relevant In Street Harassment. But Not In The Racist Way Regularly Assumed.” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Why Men Don’t Get a Say in Feminism” - Joanna Schroeder, Daily Dot

  “Trudy, author of Gradient Lair, where you’ll read some of the best feminist insights on the Internet today, wrote a post in 2013 that summed up one of the most important ways feminist-allied men need to challenge themselves: ‘One of my Black male feminist followers tweeted that he had to get over the notion of being women’s ‘heroes’ as a male feminist; that’s male privilege. And heroism, in this context, feeds into patriarchy anyway.We don’t need to be ‘saved.’ We need everyone committed to justice—justice which truly benefits Black men as well.’”

  • reference: “Black Male Allies Needed, Not ‘Heroes’” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “B Is For Beverly Jenkins” - Olivia Waite, oliviawaite.com

  “Black Americans in 19th-century Michigan were heavily Othered, and thus may have more stake in mantaining (a typo, but I'm leaving it) the politics of respectability. The excellent Trudy from Gradient Lair explains it perfectly this post; I'm only borrowing the most relevant sentence for my analysis, but please feel encouraged to click through and read the whole thing. During the post-Civil War era and early-mid 20th century, the politics of respectability was viewed as a source of power or galvanization of Black middle class society, and a way to combat White supremacist myths of automatic Black inferiority associated with poverty and degradation.”

  • reference: answer to #askgradientlair on the politics of respectability (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Choose Your Own Path, Young Intellectual” - Danielle Bowler, Eyewitness News

  “…theory we had learnt at university and articles we had read on Gradient Lair, Crunk Feminist, Salon and other websites. All were valid, and all were allowed into this space of thinking through things, and thinking with each other. There exists a problematic idea that ‘true’, legitimate learning has to be confined to the hallowed halls of academia. Outside these institutions, it is presumed that knowledge and theory cannot exist or thrive. However, there are intellectual spaces beyond the academy and intellectual sources and texts that, although unconventional, deserve space alongside the traditional library. Just as we have to decolonise and emancipate thought, we have to emancipate ourselves from the idea that knowledge is inextricably tied to the academic institution.”

• “Thanks for Making Redefining Realness a New York Times Bestseller!” - Janet Mock, janetmock.com

  • reference: a tweet about Redefining Realness (2014) - Twitter

• “This Tweet Called My Back” - collected authors, Model View Culture

  • reference: #ThisTweetCalledMyBack and “The Worst Is The “Kindness” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “What to Expect From New York’s Black Feminist First Lady” - Andrea Plaid, In These Times

  • reference: “You Aren’t An Ally; We Just Share Biology” (2012) - Gradient Lair

• “D’Angelo is Back After 14 Years With Black Messiah” - Yesha, The Root

  • reference: a tweet from “D'Angelo and The Vanguard - Black Messiah” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Why Do White, Gay Men Keep Telling Me to Smile More?” - Derrick Clifton, The Daily Dot

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Bill O'Reilly Thinks Beyoncé is Bad for Teenage Girls” - Madeleine Davies, Jezebel

  • reference: “What’s Really Going On With White Feminists’ Critiques of Beyoncé?” (2013) - Gradient Lair

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “11 Empowering & Inspiring Black Women to Follow on Twitter” - Zellie Imani, Black Culture

• “9 Black Twitter AKA Twitter Feeds You Need to Follow Right Now” - Clutch

• “15 Fiercest Sisters of 2014” - collective, Fierce Black Women

  “Over the past year or so, more sisters have embraced the word, using it to describe behavior and attitudes that threaten to turn them into the angry black women embodied in stereotypes perpetuated by misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically (2013)” - Gradient Lair

• “Feministing Follow Friday: TV On Twitter” - Alexandra Brodsky, Feministing

• “Things I Read This Week That I Found Interesting” - Zoe Stavri, Another Angry Woman

  • reference: “Women of Colour and Media: Stereotypes, Controlling Images and Structural Violence” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Stuff I Dig Volume 1” - Kath, Fat Heffalump

  • reference: “Thin Privilege and Intersectionality” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet” - Maya Dusenbery, Feministing

  • reference: “There Is No Friend Zone” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Cultural Appropriation: The Breakdown” - staff, Unsettling America: Decolonization in Theory & Practice

  • reference: “Whites’ Exploitation of Black Culture” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Red Pepper Blog Awards 2014” - Red Pepper

  “Gradient Lair - Trudy created this blog as a Black woman’s space for reflection on art, media, social media, socio-politics and culture. @gradientlair.”

Reference Sites

• “Misogynoir” - Wikipedia

  “Misogynoir is misogyny directed towards black women where race and gender both play roles in bias. The term was coined by queer black feminist Moya Bailey, who created the term to address misogyny directed toward black women in American visual and popular culture. Trudy of Gradient Lair, a womanist blog about black women and art, media, social media, socio-politics and culture, has also been credited in developing the lexical definition of the term. […] The term transmisogynoir was created to refer to the intersection between transmisogyny and misogynoir, meaning the oppression of Black trans women. In it, it composes transphobia, misogyny, and antiblackness. It was coined by Trudy of Gradient Lair.”

  (note: my years of framework development of “misogynoir” was originally excluded from this entry, which I discussed in “Misogynoir Added To Wikipedia” (2014) on Gradient Lair. It was added only after I closed the live blog aspect of Gradient Lair in 2015 ironically due to this type of erasure. I also address consistent erasure of my years of work on this topic in “On Misogynoir: Citation, Erasure, and Plagiarism” (2018) in Feminist Media Studies with Moya Bailey, who coined the term, and who I have worked with in its development.)

  • reference: “Black Men and Patriarchy, Intraracial Sexism and Misogynoir” (2013) and “Explanation of Misogynoir” (2014) - Gradient Lair

• “Transmisogynoir” - SJWiki

  (note: This page lists this as something “trans people of colour” experience; it is important to note “transmisogynoir” is specific to Black trans women as “misogynoir” is specific to Black women. “Transmisogynoir” connects to years of work on “misogynoir” on Gradient Lair.)

  • reference: a tweet that relates to “The Violence That Black Trans Women Face” (2014) - Gradient Lair.

• “Appeal to MLK” - Geek Feminism Wiki

  • reference: “A Silencing Tactic That Involves Using Historical Figures” (2013) - Gradient Lair
    
    

•••

2013

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “What’s Your Writing Fee?” - Prof. Hacker, The Chronicle of Higher Education

  “The Internet, of course, has changed everything when it comes to the value of the written word. Outlets like The Huffington Post who don’t pay their “bloggers” for content (instead insisting that the reward is “exposure”) are the norm. Also problematic are sites that coopt content from graduate students and POC without any sort of recognition, let along compensation (see Tressie McMillan Cottom on her personal blog and Trudy on Gradient Lair for examples). Not only our words, but also our experience and expertise are valuable and deserve to be compensated.”

  • reference: “Exploitation of Black Women’s Labor…In The Name of Feminism or Justice? Please.” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Define ‘Misogynoir’” - NinjaCate, Jezebel (Groupthink Kinja)

  reference: “How Anti-Blackness Shapes Heterosexual Black Men’s Dating ‘Preferences’” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Loving Beyoncé as a Black Woman: The power of identification in An Age of Appropriation” - Sydette Harry, Salon

  • reference: “Beyoncé’s New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Beyoncé: A Feminist in Her Own Terms” - Gcobani Qambela, Thought Leader

  • reference: “Beyoncé’s New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood and Freedom” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Not All Millennials Are White and Privileged!” - Sydette Harry, Salon

  “But as a first-generation everything and a Black millennial, I respond to the laser focus on the indulged and underperforming with a special fury. As blogger Trudy of Gradient Lair points out, education and hard work have always been hailed as the panacea for all our ills.”

  • reference: “When A College Degree Isn’t A Ticket To The Middle Class For Black People” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “The WNBA Can Teach Male Athletes About Coming Out and Being Allies” - Jessica Luther, The Atlantic

  • reference: “Brittney Griner and Race, Gender, Sexuality and Sports” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “The 10 Most Sexist Female TV Characters” - Jaclyn Munson, Salon

  “Having the amazing Black female character serve as sidekick to a lead White character is not only outdated, it's plain racist. It’s the same idea that has plagued feminism since forever, one that the feminist blog Gradient Lair has discussed at length: the idea that Black women are supposed to be “cheerleaders” for White feminism at the expense of their own experience creates the illusion that the resolution of gender inequality can occur without eradicating racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism and ableism.”

  • reference: “Black Women Are Not Just White Women’s ‘Allies’ In Feminism” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “How Black Bodies are Used for White Pleasure and Profit” - staff, Ebony

  “This isn’t to say that I think of our bodies as separate from our beings; this is to say that this is how we’re treated in society—as if no persons, no faces, no names, and no souls are connected to our bodies.” 

  • reference: “Black Bodies: Objects For White Profit, Power and Pleasure” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Essence 2.0: Can the Magazine Find its Digital Voice?” - Britt Julious, The Root

  “But what the Internet and online media provides is the possibility to engage far and wide and immediately. Anyone can strive to be the new voice for Black women and as a reader, I can find those voices as quickly as possible. I often turn toward Tumblr users focusing on women of color such as Gradient Lair or Trill Wave Feminism.” 

• “We Need to Talk About Hugo, Race and Feminism” - Sarah Mirk, Bitch Media

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair collected many tweets on Schwyzer into a Storify, many of which point out that he should never have been allowed to become a prominent voice on feminist issues, including being a tenured professor and a paid writer at progressive magazines like The Atlantic and feminist websites like Jezebel. ‘Imagine Hugo Schwyzer as a Black man,’ Trudy writes. ‘You cannot. He would have NEVER been accepted by mainstream White feminism or any of those publications/universities.’”

  • reference: “On Hugo Schwyzer, White Supremacist Feminism and Its Abuse of WoC” (2013) - Storify (as Storify closed in 2018, a related reference is “On Hugo Schwyzer, White Supremacist Mainstream Feminism and Its Abuse of Women of Colour” (2013) - Gradient Lair)

• “Tim Wise Update [Spoiler! He's Still Full of Shit]” - NinjaCate, Jezebel (Groupthink Kinja)

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair, (ie. my favourite person ever. Seriously, if you really to learn about intersectional feminism, go read her blog. It's a treasure trove of womanist learning) posted this piece about... well, basically why Tim Wise is full of shit and not a real ally.”

  • reference: “I Don’t Want Tim Wise As An Ally. No Thanks.” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Five Perspectives on Ani DiFranco’s Planned Retreat at a Former Plantation” -Sarah Mirk, Bitch Media

  “Over on her blog Gradient Lair, writer Trudy said the whole retreat idea and response was so predictable that the ‘offensive stunt’ was boring. Many White feminists follow this depressing step-by-step process, she wrote: 1) Do/say racist stuff 2) claim feminism makes it ok 3) pretend cluelessness about last 400 years 4) White Tears™ 5) blame Black women/women of colour 6) career boost. And don’t let it be a celebrity who already has the career boost. Then their actions are defended to the death and if not there is such ‘heartbreak’ involved in having to critique them.”

  • reference: “Ani DiFranco’s Offensive Stunt Bores Me” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Make Them Apologize: Ani DiFranco Says Sorry for Plantation Retreat but Many White Fans Still Won’t” - Riese, Autostraddle

  “Following a significant backlash that lasted for many days before Ani or her colleagues responded, including a nearly unanimous declaration from Black women that “this is super fucked up,”Ani DiFranco cancelled the event and published a defensive response referring to the fan response as “high velocity bitterness.” The non-apology was justifiably deconstructed and rejected by the media including us, Gradient Lair, For Harriet, Racism Remixed, LA Progressive, TatiAnaMercedes, The Toast, Brittney Cooper for Salon.com...”

  • reference: “Ani DiFranco’s Offensive Stunt Bores Me” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Standing With DNLee Against Sexism at biology-online.org, and Scientific American's Cowardly Conduct” - Liz Ditz, I Speak of Dreams

  “Gradient Lair taught me a useful word new to me: misogynoir.”

  • reference: “Black Female Scientist Faces Misogynoir From Scientific Publication” (2013) and “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically (2013)” - Gradient Lair

• “The Electric Lady” - Shane Thomas, Media Diversified

  “I’ve written before about Janelle Monae. Writers such as Emily J. Lordi and Trudy from Gradient Lair have reviewed Monae’s sophomore album, The Electric Lady, at length.”

  • reference: “My Thoughts On Janelle Monáe’s Album The Electric Lady” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “You Can't Ask for Help If You're Black” - staff, RVA Mag

  “As Trudy of Gradient Lair points out in her post about Renisha McBride, whenever something like this happens, most white people will say that race had nothing to do with this situation and others like it. ‘And I am even more disinterested in how instead of accountability for the racism that causes this to happen over and over, some Whites will derail with the usual White supremacist lie that Black people “don’t care” when crime is intraracial, when most crime for any race is intraracial, but specific racist history and structural power issues make Black victims of White assailants less likely to ever get justice,’ Trudy writes.”

  • reference: “Renisha McBride (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Befriending the Non-Fiction Dragon” - Daniel José Older, ghoststar.net

  “Here are some writers/blogs that write with fire and I look up to when I’m feeling lost: Saeed Jones, Kiese Laymon, Prison Culture, Stacia L. Brown, Gradient Lair. And obviously anything by James Baldwin. Eventually, I get it together and put some shit up and when I do, it always feels good. Better for the challenge in fact, and then I want to do it again. When I stop procrastinating and make shit happen, this is the method that works best for me.”

• “Olivia Pope's Abusive Dad” - A. Lynn, Nerdy Feminist

  • reference: “Scandal: Papa Pope and The Black Patriarchy” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “***Flawless: On "BEYONCÉ:" The Album, The Woman, The Feminist” - Cate Young, cate-young.com

  • reference: “Beyoncé's New Self-Titled Album Is A Manifesto of Black Womanhood And Freedom” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Solidarity is For Miley Cyrus: The Racial Implications of her VMA Performance” - Cate Young, Jezebel

• “Doctor's Conviction Sparks Twitter Debate” - Tracy Clayton, The Root

  “Banning abortion will not end abortion. It simply means more unlicensed, untrained and/or unethical practitioners will harm those in need.”

  • reference: a tweet (2013) - Twitter

• “Twitter Responds to Ruling in Zimmerman Case” - Tracy Clayton, The Root

  “I hope men of colour are paying attention to this. You don't want Trayvon slandered in a trial as ‘evidence.’ Neither do women of colour in rape trials.”

  • reference: a tweet (2013) - Twitter

• “Juror B37 Gets Shut Down Online” - Tracy Clayton, The Root

  • a tweet (2013) - Twitter

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “5 Bloggers Who Are Blogging Better Than You (and Me)” - Olivia Cole, The Huffington Post

  “I first came upon Trudy on Twitter. She is brilliant, bold, and no-nonsense, writing about art, media, society, politics, and more. Trudy will blow your mind, every time. Womanism, black feminism, intersectional feminism...she covers it all. One of my favorite posts by Trudy: General Misogyny vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically.”

  • reference: “Misogyny, In General vs. Anti-Black Misogyny (Misogynoir), Specifically” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “17 Black Bloggers to Know in 2013” - staff, For Harriet

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair - Writer and culture critic Trudy uses her incisive voice to explore sociopolitical issues from a firm womanist stance. In each blog post, Trudy forces her readers to reconsider their own views with her brilliant writing.”

• “Here's 15 Smart Women of Color on Twitter” - Von Diaz, Colorlines

• “Say Thank You to a Badass Internet Feminist Today” - Carmen, Autostraddle

  “Gradient Lair / @GradientLair: A little bit of everything from a Black woman’s perspective – including womanism.”

• “As 25 Negras Mais Influentes da Internet #25webnegras” - Blogueiras Negras

• “PoC Tumblr Recs!” - collective, Women of Color, In Solidarity

• “Some Alternatives to Jezebel and xoJane” – Part 2 - Keidra, The Learned Fangirl

  “Trudy of Gradient Lair is not only a great source of black feminist and social media criticism, but also great pop culture criticism too.”

• “Feminist Press Featured Blog: Gradient Lair” - staff, The Feminist Press

  “Gradient Lair is a safe space for Black women, and Trudy, the writer, is perfectly blunt about her intended audience: Black women. Black women are welcome to share their opinions and find a safe space to explore issues of race, class, gender and media. While other readers are welcome to read what’s shared on Gradient Lair, its not race/gender 101 and will always center Black women and other women of colour’s experiences and perspectives. […] She often writes on misogynoir, a term coined by Moya Bailey, on the very specific ways that misogyny impacts Black women due to racism and the role of anti-Blackness in White supremacy and sexism.”

• “What We’ve Been Reading” - staff, UpRoot

  “Gradient Lair is some trenchant writing, y’all.”

  • reference: a Patricia Hill Collins quote analysis (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “This Week in Feminism: March 29, 2013” - Melodie Miu, The Campanil, Mills College

  • reference: “Black Women’s ‘Unreasonable’ Dating Standards” (2012) - Gradient Lair

• “Things I Read This Week That I Found Interesting” - Zoe Stavri, Another Angry Woman

  • reference: “The Idea of Feminism Isn’t The Problem; The Current Manifestation Of ‘Mainstream Feminism’ Is” (2013) - Gradient Lair

• “Survivors of Colour” - UNC Greensboro

•••

2012

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Beauty Blogosphere 8.24.12” - Autumn Whitefield-Madrano, The Beheld

  “On the Eurocentric beauty myth: I do my best to not superimpose my own politics onto other women's bodies, but I'm pretty sure I fall short sometimes. So this airing of concerns at Gradient Lair about White folks who shake their heads at Black people who appear to be throwing around some internalized oppression is worth remembering. It's all spurred by talk of Gabby Douglas and, yep, her hair: ‘When Whites shake their fingers at Black people with internalized White supremacy issues, the ones that make them bash Gabby’s hair, yet turn around and deny job applicants with ‘ethnic’ names, ‘ethnic’ zip codes, or braids or locks, hair texture and Black culture most certainly intersects with Whiteness.’”
  
  

•••

2011

Books

• Writing About Literature in the Digital Age - Gideon Omer Burton; “Chapter 6: Toni Morrison and the Author - Reader Relationship in the Digital Age” - Andrea Ostler

  “What helps readers connect with the issues surrounding sorrow and death is Morrison’s application of these themes from real life. One reader who experienced this connection is Trudy...a photographer and blogger. In a post about one of Morrison’s appearances on Oprah’s show and her comments about death [Trudy] remarks, ‘The fact that Toni is so emotionally evolved to fully acknowledge sadness truly moves me. Here’s the thing...nothing she said in [her] statement is ‘negative.’ The fact that she acknowledged what the pain feels like and realizes that this narrative is a part of her life story and in no way devalues her life or even her ability to do her work moved me to tears.’ What both Morrison and [Trudy] are doing is using digital media to reach a greater understanding and emotional connection to the literature and the author-reader relationship. Morrison is just one example of an author whose readers all over the world are actively participating in blogs, forums, and other social media to discuss important plots or themes of her literature.”

  “I love being able to access a blog like Trudy’s…where I can get another reader’s perspective and insight about an author or a work of literature. Whether that of a Pulitzer Prize winner like Toni Morrison or a beginning writer, the life of the author and his or her active contributions to a work of literature is what perhaps should be most celebrated in this digital age.”

  • “What Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison Reminded Me About Photography” (2011) - Tru Shots Photography (now defunct)
    
    

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• Scott Bourne’s Giveaway Winner - Canon EOS 60D and Smugmug Subscription

• “How To Start A Side Hustle: 28…Business Ideas You Can Launch Online” - Rosetta Thurman, Happy Black Woman
  

•••

2010

Books

• The Linked Photographers' Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media - Lindsey Adler and Rosh Sillars; “Chapter 17: Your Stories”

  “Twitter is her social network of choice for its concise format, ease of use, and informative nature. She is a prolific tweeter-sharing dozens of tweets with her followers daily. Twitter and other social networking activities, however, have not devoured her time and efforts. Instead she estimates she spends 2-3 hours a day communicating with others online; it is a streamlined part of her daily activities.”

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Around the World, Yet Across the Street” (guest article) - TiffinBox

• “7 Tips for New Women Photographers” (guest article) - Scott Wyden Photography

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “A Year of Twitter Awesomeness: by the Awesomest Trudy. Photographers Take a Look.” - Don Gianatti, It’s What I Do

•••

2009

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• Arts Calendar, Spring 2009 (photograph credit: Tiempo Libre) - staff, Capital Culture

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “Five Rising Photographer Twitter Stars” - Rosh Sillars, New Media Photographer now RoshSillars.com

• UPrinting giveaway winner: 1,000 business cards - Mayhem Studios

•••

2008

Mainstream Media and Indie Media Articles

• “Tiempo de timba” (photograph credit for Tiempo Libre) - Alejandro Armengol, Cuaderno de Cuba: Análisis y Provocaciones

• “Boca 2008” (photograph credit for Tiempo Libre) - staff, The Miami Miquis

• “Tiempo Libre and the TSO” (photograph origin for Tiempo Libre) - Lynne Marie Mangan: Classical Musician and Educator

•••

2007

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “St. Joseph’s Oratorium in Montréal” - Calumet Photo of the Week - July 15, 2007, Calumet Photographic

• “Sushi Lunch” - Editors Pick, Better Photo

•••

2006

Curated Lists and Shoutouts

• “Oratorium” - Photo Contest Finalist, Better Photo

• “The Hotel” - Editors Pick, Better Photo

• “Hibiscus” - Editors Pick, Better Photo