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[misespinas]

"What does he know of the half-starved wreaths toiling from dawn till dark on the plantations? of mothers shrieking for their children, torn from their arms by slave traders? of young girls dragged down into moral filth? of pools of blood around the whipping post? of hounds trained to tear human flesh? of men screwed into cotton gins to die?"

Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

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« Books I’ve read in 2024 »

January...

Piercing by Ryū Murakami (184)

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon (206)

February...

Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (68)

Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig (281)

(WIP) 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (893)

[misespinas]

Hell‘s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Hunter S Thompson

The mental gymnastics some men go through to condone rape is fucking beyond me.

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"I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. And I, to whom so great a vision was given in my youth, — you see me now a pitiful old man who has done nothing, for the nation's hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead."

 -Black Elk (Heȟáka Sápa) on the Wounded Knee Massacre.

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my mom insisted on me changing because I didn't wear a bra with my shirt and I wasn't "thinking about my dad" and his feelings. What the fuck dude

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“[I]sn’t this fear of rape precisely a call for rape? Just as there are faces that just ask to be slapped, couldn’t we speak of women who just ask to be raped?”

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks (1952)

Recently I’ve begun reading Frantz Fanon and found his theory on gender related to race in Black Skin, White Masks (1952) to be disturbing.

He has two chapters in the book I will focus on, one titled “The Woman of Color and the White Man,” the second “The Man of Color and the White Woman.” It should be noted, he does almost exclusively focus on the relations between the black people of Martinique/Antilles and their French colonizers.

“The Woman of Color and the White Man” is extremely prescriptive and critical of black women for their apparent attraction to white men. His point of reference for this is Mayotte Capécia’s I Am a Martinican Woman (1948). Capécia’s work is rampant with colorism and has been widely criticized for its descriptions of internalized black inferiority.

Fanon would describe that “It is commonplace in Martinique to dream of whitening oneself magically as a way of salvation,” and claims that “a lot of girls from Martinique, students in France, [...] confess in lily-white innocence that they would never marry a black man.” Fanon speaks of black women as though they are children, writing in a patronizing tone, “[black Martinican women] too one day will realize that ‘white men don’t marry black women.’” He writes with a tone which conveys that black women are not capable of being attractive. On top of this, his belief seems to be that black women only have one real job, “to whiten the race.”

Fanon is insecure in his manhood and believes he cannot be a complete man as a white man is capable of.

In “The Man of Color and the White Woman,” the descriptions of the black men are far less judgemental. He writes, “between these white breasts that my wandering hands fondle, white civilization and worthiness become mine.” Even if we focused on less sexual descriptions (there are several within the chapter), Fanon wrote, “By loving me, [a white woman] proves to me that I am worthy of white love. I am loved like a white man.”

It is evident that Fanon views women as tools, but their worth differs depending on their race. He claims this is not unique, later in the chapter explaining that “with Antillean men we learned that their main preoccupation on setting foot in France was to sleep with a white woman. [...] this ritual of initiation into ‘authentic’ manhood.”

Black women have the purpose of procreation according to Fanon, while white women have the purpose of sexual pleasure. A black woman cannot be sexually enjoyed, and a white woman cannot mother his children.

[misespinas]

Marlena Shaw, 1977 ♡

[misespinas]

Recently I’ve begun reading Frantz Fanon and found his theory on gender related to race in Black Skin, White Masks (1952) to be disturbing.

He has two chapters in the book I will focus on, one titled “The Woman of Color and the White Man,” the second “The Man of Color and the White Woman.” It should be noted, he does almost exclusively focus on the relations between the black people of Martinique/Antilles and their French colonizers.

“The Woman of Color and the White Man” is extremely prescriptive and critical of black women for their apparent attraction to white men. His point of reference for this is Mayotte Capécia’s I Am a Martinican Woman (1948). Capécia’s work is rampant with colorism and has been widely criticized for its descriptions of internalized black inferiority.

Fanon would describe that “It is commonplace in Martinique to dream of whitening oneself magically as a way of salvation,” and claims that “a lot of girls from Martinique, students in France, [...] confess in lily-white innocence that they would never marry a black man.” Fanon speaks of black women as though they are children, writing in a patronizing tone, “[black Martinican women] too one day will realize that ‘white men don’t marry black women.’” He writes with a tone which conveys that black women are not capable of being attractive. On top of this, his belief seems to be that black women only have one real job, “to whiten the race.”

Fanon is insecure in his manhood and believes he cannot be a complete man as a white man is capable of.

In “The Man of Color and the White Woman,” the descriptions of the black men are far less judgemental. He writes, “between these white breasts that my wandering hands fondle, white civilization and worthiness become mine.” Even if we focused on less sexual descriptions (there are several within the chapter), Fanon wrote, “By loving me, [a white woman] proves to me that I am worthy of white love. I am loved like a white man.”

It is evident that Fanon views women as tools, but their worth differs depending on their race. He claims this is not unique, later in the chapter explaining that “with Antillean men we learned that their main preoccupation on setting foot in France was to sleep with a white woman. [...] this ritual of initiation into ‘authentic’ manhood.”

Black women have the purpose of procreation according to Fanon, while white women have the purpose of sexual pleasure. A black woman cannot be sexually enjoyed, and a white woman cannot mother his children.

[misespinas]

One of the depressing things about living in Queens is the reality of the high prevalence of prostitution in Jackson Heights.

The worst part of it though is the way locals (people from my neighborhood or neighborhoods nearby) seriously discuss wanting to "pay visits" to these women:

x x x

I honestly wish I could have included more screenshots but all you have to do is check the comments of the links I shared. It's disgusting.

I pass by these women, everyone I know is fully aware of what these women experience. The fact that these women could be trafficked without any police intervention is especially fucked up because of current NYC laws.

I am in no favor of arresting prostitutes. I 100% believe they are victimized by every John and the system which keeps them in the position to prostitute themselves (assuming they are not being pimped). But this system needs to be abolished to prevent these women from being victimized

[misespinas]

Rebel against your slavery to your mind, see your bonds as self-created and break the chains of attachment and revulsion. Keep in mind your goal of freedom, until it dawns on you that you are already free, that freedom is not something in the distant future to be earned with painful efforts, but perennially one's own, to be used! Liberation is not an acquisition but a matter of courage, the courage to believe that you are free already and to act on it.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft

If a man engages in domestic violence but has never hit one of his bosses, he doesn’t have an anger “management” problem, he can manage his emotions just fine, he just thinks it’s morally okay to hit his wife/gf, and or there won’t be consequences for it

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in the club asking the dj to play mary oliver reading wild geese

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Please reblog this even if you don’t care

They’re trying to erase the existence of the rape victims of Japanese soldiers in World War II because they think the reminder of their crimes might make Japan a little bit cross

Duterte, the absolute coward, is more worried about women criticizing him than actually honoring the women this country needs to remember

Please don’t let these women be silenced.

[misespinas]

“It is not pain that hovers about his straining chest, but some flicker of melancholy pleasure like music. Were it not for the arrows with their shafts deeply sunk into his left armpit and right side, he would seek more a Roman athlete testing from fatigue, leaning against a dusky tree in a garden.

The arrows have eaten into the tense, fragrant, youthful flesh and are about to consume his body from within with flames of supreme agony and ecstasy. But there is no flowing blood, not yet the host of arrows seen in other pictures of Sebastian’s martyrdom.”

Confessions of a Mask, Yukio Mishima (1949)

Saint Sebastian by Guido Reni (1625)

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“And then I chanced to catch sight of my mother’s face. She had turned slightly pale and was simply sitting there as though absent-minded. Our glances met; she lowered her eyes.

I understood. Tears blurred in my eyes.”

Kochan dressing in his mother’s clothing. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima.

[misespinas]

Literature I want to read;

Sci-fi...

The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner

The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Star Rover by Jack London

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Realistic Fiction...

Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

Girls At War by Chinua Achebe

Another Country by James Baldwin

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet

The Plague by Albert Camus

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat

Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

My Year of Sleep and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Pina by Titaua Peu

Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro

Noon Wine by Katherine Anne Porter

Native Son by Richard Wright

Psychological/Horror...

Flowers In the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

2666 by Roberto Bolaño

The Between by Tananarive Due

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Piercing by Ryu Murakami

Foe by lain Reid

Cows by Matthew Stokoe

Feminist Literature...

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo

This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector

Empty Houses by Brenda Navarro

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Meridian by Alice Walker

Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker

Short Stories...

“Vengeful Creditor” by Chinua Achebe

“The Guest” by Albert Camus

“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver

“Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

“Investigations of a Dog” by Franz Kafka

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville

“Galatea” by Madeline Miller

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Connor

“Brokeback Mountain” by Annie Proulx

“The Body Snatcher” by Robert Louis Stevenson

Anthologies...

Konundrum by Franz Kafka

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Plays...

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

An Enemy of the People by Arthur Miller

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson