Black Girl Docs: ‘Black Woman Walking’ by Tracey Rose

liz says:

yes, and i HATE it. I used to get this a lot by guys in my neighborhood when i was 12. I didn’t dress like a video vixen, I didn’t act like one either. i was a bookworm athlete, yet and still dudes driving by or walking by felt the need to whistle and cat call me from their cars. It was annoying and I think in some ways damaging. I am still trynna work through those issues lol.

miss smith says:

I would also like to add that if a black man is in his element socially, I rarely see any kind of discrimination of race. It happens to my white girlfriends as well. I’m curious if there are any studies done on this anywhere.

Nuu On says:

You know what is REALLY annoying? Surfing the web and finding yet another article that complains about Black men. This daily, perpetual intellectual assault is on par with dealing with cat calls– except that instead of someone yelling ‘compliments’ you are being overtly Dissed.

Damn annoying!!

And as far as unwanted attention is concerned, I’ve heard older Black woman complain of the exact opposite– that is, when they get older they are treated like they don’t exist. I suggest you enjoy the attention while it lasts because soon you may just become invisible.

NinaG says:

Another thing, check out Latoya Peterson’s essay on Racialicious entitled ‘Not Rape Epidemic’. That is really an amazing piece related to sexual assault and harassment

Tyra D. says:

As far as the video goes, I wish there had been more than 3 women giving their experiences or opinions. In fact, I think the video would have been much more effective by talking to more teenage girls because, honestly, I think they do experience the greatest disrespect. I’ve seen groups of teenage boys (and grown men)be very aggressive in their approach to girls their age, much like the way the girl in the video describes them grabbing her arms, etc.

I’m glad Miss Smith acknowledged how her low self esteem influenced her to encourage this kind of treatment when she was younger. This is an obvious statement, but boys are still not being shown how to treat women and are still getting the impression that black girls/women are fair game. On the other hand, our girls are still being neglected and some how not getting what they need emotionally in healthy ways. That probably would have been a much more in depth and interesting angle for Tracy to take.

As for me as a grown woman, I have to say I have not felt disrespected by men on the street. The attention is both verbal and non verbal, no it doesn’t matter what I’m wearing, and it comes from ALL men, not just black men. However, I don’t have a visceral reaction to it. If the guy just stares, then I keep it moving without responding. To date, no one has shouted anything back to me. If my vanity gets the best of me (and a self assured woman is prone to vanity)and I find the “compliment” especially flattering (usually it is), I’ll smile, say thank you, and keep it moving. I have never felt harassed.

As for Nuu On’s comment, sounds like black men and women are going through the same thing, because I for one am tired of hearing/reading about how black women are angry, non-supportive bitches with attitude who don’t give black men freedom to do, act, and say whatever they want. And further more, I don’t think that there is any woman who lives for the compliments she gets from strangers to make her feel like a person.

Cicely says:

I have had to defend myself physically.
I’ve been grabbed.
I’ve been humped from behind in clubs while I’m dancing with my girlfriend, and told it was okay because I am a woman.
I’ve been told that it would be great if I would stand over a man because he’d like a “golden shower”.
I experience it everyday and am quite militant about it.
I argue back, tell them off and laugh at these “men” aloud.
They infuriate me.
I am an educated woman.
I dress well.
I will speak to normal men who do not engage in this type of behavior.
I am not the property of the men who choose to hang on street corners and comment about my body parts.
I do not need the comments or “compliments” they give to the body part of their choosing.
We as women have let this type of behavior go on unchecked for far too long and unless we decide it is not acceptable and tell these “men” that we find their behavior unacceptable, we won’t ever have a respectable relationship with the men who deserve our respect, conversation, and companionship.

P. Elle says:

Honestly the lewdest comments I’ve ever received came from a white man who must have been out his mind because I was dressed like a librarian. I wasn’t inviting anything with provocative clothing.

Mike says:

I understand the concern about this issue, there is no excuse for this type of behavior and it sad that a woman should fear walking the streets in broad daylight let alone fear her own kind.

And while i do not want to come off as, “well white men do it too”, tone of this video is unmistakably bias distracts from the issue by labeling it a black men thing.

I am not sure where these women on the video or the director hang out at by I have seen with my own eyes vulgar behavior displayed by young of all races.

Just cause a of low quality and of another race doesnt say it, doesnt mean their not thinking it, it means they are not comfortable approaching a black women on any level.

Another issue is that while this documented how women feel it did not address the offenders, and challenge them on video about their behavior.

That would have given more insight on the type of men who do this which I would suspect share the same traits, lower to middle working classif not unemployed, urban, northern cities, basic education, young, and so on.

A very select group, something I believe the director and producer purposely ignored to engage in what could be seen as racist and sexist journalism.

They took a serious topic and sabatoged the real issue of sexual harrasment, I question the real purpose of this video.

Lianne says:

I remember when I was in college in NYC, it was summertime and I had on a cotton summer dress that came for my knees, not revealing just a nice yellow dress. I was in the 50’s on the west side and I hailed a cab. As I was getting into that cab I was sexually assaulted by a man (he grabbed all of my ass). I turned around to discover he was a black man. As the cab drove away I was in tears, how could a brother do smething like that to me? I didn’t even KNOW him.

All black men aren’t sex hungry pigs, I KNOW THIS…I love black men. But you GOTTA ADMIT..there are some brothers out there that are making it hard for that stigma to go away. For every beautiful, respectful black man out there there are always two that are the exact opposite. Harassment is not singularly tied to black men either, I don’t think she was trying to single black men out, this has just been this writers experience.

sloane says:

this is absurd, this video is about the experience of black women, not black men. taking a serious grievance of an oppressed group and twisting it to paint yourself as the victim (NU ONN AND MIKE) or to somehow invalidate the veracity of the message that you are being given is just despicable. statistically women are more likely to be raped by men within their own race, so it stands to reason that they’d be more likely to be sexually propositioned by men within in their own race. so this shit ain’t coming out of nowhere and to talk about sexual harassment between black women and white men is just a red herring to distract from the real topic at hand: sexual harassment of black women at the hands of black men. it is not my job as black woman to sugarcoat the fact that i am being sexually harassed by black men everytime i walk out the door. i have been groped, grabbed, followed across the street at night, physically threatned for refusing advances. i actually had to threaten to call the police on some dudes in car who wouldn’t leave me alone while i waited for a ride at night who were mad because i refused to acknowledge them. i hate calling on other black people especially black men but was afraid these idiots would pull my ass in their car! so i don’t give a fuck about adjusting my tone for YOUR fragile ego. the harassment is real and it’s dangerous: there’s no ambiguity about it, it’s not complimenting a woman, it’s harassment, and sometimes that harassment escalates into violence. it’s a problem that needs to be fixed on the part of black men and wrapping it up in a pretty little box so that it looks better to you isn’t go to fix it. i refuse to be called disloyal because some black men have problems controlling themselves and seeing women as full people deserving of basic courteousy and respect.

Jody says:

Anytime I see one of these ‘the evil black men do’ pieces I want to vomit. Only black women feel compelled to racialize everything while the rest of the world deal with issues as gender. I dismiss it out of hand.

Cindy says:

RideABlackCowboy…you need to get a life…(And I bet your handsome black self probably has 3inch dick!….have fun with the low life while you can, loser. This sexy, black, young and educated woman prefers her REAL black man!)