Latest / Soul Salon with Ayandastood / 5: beauty & desirability Ft. Asherah aka @therealasherah
Transcript
- 0:00If you're trans, you just have to be extremely gorgeous, extremely palatable, extremely desirable.
- 0:05If you're a black, you have to have the makeup all the time.
- 0:09You just have to be palatable to European standards.
- 0:12You don't know who to trust.
- 0:13You put just accept the hometown version of people like you.
- 0:22The sun shines out of you and into me.
- 0:26Hello, sun shines and welcome to reimagining with I understood a podcast where we reframe,
- 0:32rethink and reimagine everything, standing in the way of love and liberation.
- 0:38I'm your host, Ayyanda, and I am delighted, enchanted, ecstatic, overjoyed to have a slice
- 0:44of your precious time today.
- 0:46Amazing. Okay, hi, Ashra and welcome to reimagining with I understood or I should really say reimagining
- 0:58with Ashra.
- 0:59I'm so excited to have you here today.
- 1:01I'm feeling so blessed and grateful to have you and just to be with you.
- 1:07And I feel like I've seen you stitching so many people and so I now see your face on my Zoom
- 1:11and I'm just feeling very delighted.
- 1:13So this is a brand new podcast and you're my first guest.
- 1:17I'm so excited.
- 1:18Like it's perfect.
- 1:19Yeah, everything comes full circle.
- 1:21I feel like I've been following you for, I don't know how long it is, but you're such a
- 1:25presence and someone who really stands out to me on TikTok and that I love.
- 1:29And so I just wanted to start each episode with a guest with a new ritual with an affirmation
- 1:35so that we can really be present in this moment together.
- 1:39I think as a black creator, especially, and I know your experience as a black trans creator,
- 1:45it can feel like it's a thankless job.
- 1:47And I guess I wanted to just make notes of how much you've impacted me, how much your
- 1:52content has really moved me and stuck with me and all these people all over the world
- 1:56who I'm sure are like thinking of you in moments that you never hear or learn about.
- 2:01So I guess I wanted to share that perspective today to know that you are thought of and
- 2:05you are felt.
- 2:06So I want to say, of course, that I am in love with your content, your voice, your perspective,
- 2:11your commitment to showing up for and uplifting other black creators and uplifting all the
- 2:16different communities that you're a part of.
- 2:18I feel like the way that you use your platform to both spread love.
- 2:22I think the tribute you made to lipgloss, for example, what you said about like who
- 2:27her content is for and the black goals who feel misplaced.
- 2:30I was like, that really stuck with me.
- 2:32That was so powerful.
- 2:33And then also how you use it to have these like critiques that just get to the absolute
- 2:38hearts of the issue or the topic, but it's also so generous in the way that you share
- 2:43your own experience.
- 2:44You'll often like use yourself as an example.
- 2:46And that's something I really struggle with.
- 2:47It's hard to be vulnerable and like name your own privileges and speak through that lens
- 2:52as well as the ways that you're a priest.
- 2:55So I think that's just a fantastic practice that you do where you're always interacting
- 2:59with other creators.
- 3:00And it's like, your page is like, it has this community feel, which I really like.
- 3:05And so I just wanted to say I see you in Zulu, my native language, which I can't speak.
- 3:09And I'm ashamed.
- 3:10But we say, so what now, which means hello.
- 3:12And that literally translates directly to I see you.
- 3:16And so I wanted to say the sun shines from you into me and I'm so, so grateful to have
- 3:20you with me today.
- 3:22Thank you so much.
- 3:23That means so much.
- 3:24Honestly.
- 3:25You know, you are most welcome.
- 3:27So with that, I would love to start with a question that is an invitation from Audrey
- 3:32Lord.
- 3:33And it powerfully and simply is what do you need to say?
- 3:38I always feel like I need to say what I feel from my heart because I feel like my heart
- 3:44is compiled of my subconscious and different things that I think about the world myself.
- 3:48How I perceive how I perceive others, how my lens, my unique lens of how I see the
- 3:54world and how I interpret my surroundings.
- 3:57So that is basically everything I want to say, the beauty of the world, the ugliness,
- 4:02the chaos, the magic, everything.
- 4:05So can you say more about that?
- 4:07I love what you said about perception and how you feel the need to speak about both how
- 4:13you are being perceived and how you perceive others.
- 4:17I think that everyone, depending on their experiences, will perceive the world and perceive
- 4:22others differently.
- 4:23Some people see through a lens of bitterness.
- 4:26Some people see through a lens of pain.
- 4:28Some people see through a lens of gratitude.
- 4:30So I luckily enough have a positive mindset and I learned to have a balance between how
- 4:36I see the world.
- 4:37Sometimes I am bitter, sometimes I am pain, but sometimes I am grateful for the experiences
- 4:42I have because if not for these experiences, I don't think I would be the person I am
- 4:46today.
- 4:47I've gathered maybe not the strength, but the gratitude, I don't know if that's the best
- 4:51word to describe it to you, be the person I am.
- 4:54Yes, without your experiences, you wouldn't be the person you are today.
- 4:58And who are you in your own words?
- 5:00I am beautiful, I can be ugly, I am powerful, I am strong, I am the collective, I am
- 5:10God, I am space, I am time, I am important, I am valued, I am matter, I am a sister, I am
- 5:17a friend, I am talented, I am driven, and that's the thing that I try and tell myself all
- 5:24the time.
- 5:25I love, love, love all of those things.
- 5:28I think you mentioned so many different forms of things which I love it, like you're all
- 5:32things, you're both the adjective you used to describe yourself and then also the values
- 5:38that you have, the importance that you have, you mattering, I love how you said I am
- 5:42the collective, I am God, I am all these things and there's so much power in those, which
- 5:47of these do you think, these words that you use to describe yourself, do you have the
- 5:51strongest connection to?
- 5:53I think I am important and I have value, people can make me feel like I don't have value
- 5:59and I am not important and I shouldn't take up space and I know the importance of me
- 6:03taking up space and I know how it helps me and how it helps others.
- 6:06So every time people just like see me taking up space on our trigger quote unquote by my
- 6:11existence, I know that I am doing something important and I am not only living my truth
- 6:16but I am expressing the truth of many other people who don't have the privilege, like me
- 6:20to do so.
- 6:21Ah, love that, yes, and that brings it back to like how you are the collective and how
- 6:25you being in your truth enables, I love that enables others and I love what you said
- 6:30about how you're doing it in a way that other people don't have access to.
- 6:35And so to that point of other people, what do you think people most often get wrong
- 6:39about you?
- 6:40I think people get most wrong about me, people quote unquote think that this might
- 6:46sound controversial that I am a good person but I don't think you can be defined by good
- 6:52and bad.
- 6:53I don't like to put myself in that bracket.
- 6:54I put myself because I feel like I try to have a balance between the two because I feel
- 7:00like a typical quote unquote good person doesn't have boundaries to stand up for themselves
- 7:05or like doesn't put themselves first and as much as I do a lot for other people, I would
- 7:09do anything to put myself first and I am selfish in the sense where like I look out for myself
- 7:15when I look out for what's best for me before I do anything like in the airplane you put
- 7:19your oxygen mask on before anyone else because actually I'm living like for me and everything
- 7:25I do should be in my self interest first before it was I care about I try to remind myself
- 7:30about.
- 7:31I love that.
- 7:32I feel like in one of your videos you say we're all horrible and I think that's such
- 7:37a more honest version of it of the truth because I think this attachment to being a good
- 7:43person or thinking of yourself as a good person is based so much in like an illusion is no
- 7:48such thing.
- 7:49And so owning that and it's something that I think about a lot where it's like you don't
- 7:53want to be put on a pedestal.
- 7:54You maybe have values that you're able to articulate in a certain way, but we're all a mixture
- 8:00of many different things.
- 8:01It's interesting that for you being a good person has this self sacrificial element to it,
- 8:09I think it's better to embrace that there's no good without the bad and vice versa.
- 8:13And then in your life, your daily life or in general, what fills your heart with joy?
- 8:19Many things do fill my heart with joy, but I think one of the first things I think would
- 8:24be music, art, expression of any kind.
- 8:27I just love when people just make statements, even if it's in what people wear or if it's
- 8:32in music or if it's in art or it feels my heart with joy, seeing it done in different ways,
- 8:40how people have a different expression of sadness or joy or pain.
- 8:48For some people, it might look more deeper, it might look less deep.
- 8:52I feel like the way, for example, Taylor Swift would articulate pain is different from
- 8:57doing like an Adele or Amy Winehouse with like, they would maybe interpret pain more,
- 9:02melancholy, and hers is kind of just like sad, but not so it's different to see how different
- 9:08people express themselves. It brings me joy.
- 9:12Yes, different forms of expression.
- 9:14I haven't thought about it that way.
- 9:16I've been thinking a lot about how people transform melancholy and joy into art and how powerful
- 9:22that is and also just how when we feel pain, we gravitate to kind of expressing it or to sharing it
- 9:27or making art of it and I think that's really beautiful.
- 9:30And then on the flip side of that question, what breaks your heart?
- 9:33More breaks my heart. I think the first thing that breaks my heart in life is bigotry.
- 9:39It irritates me but it breaks my heart in the sense where like, because people just don't care
- 9:44or don't know any better or have misinformed opinions, they literally affect the lives of
- 9:49millions of people who you don't know. They form misinformed narrative misconceptions about
- 9:54people that you've never met, you've never spoken to based off little to no knowledge.
- 9:59I remember having a friend and before she met me, she was super transphobic.
- 10:04Like she didn't have the knowledge that she did now but because she's been friends for a while
- 10:09and she's seen me grow. She could see who I was on the inside and it took her knowing me
- 10:15to not be bigoted towards trans people because she could see me for me if that makes sense.
- 10:20Other than what strangers on the internet don't know what I've gone through, she could see me
- 10:24for me like she knew me. So it was sad she was telling me that she hadn't met me last.
- 10:28She wouldn't know these things. She's had her brothers and it takes just meeting one person
- 10:32of a different experience to empathize with them. I think it's quite sad how people just have
- 10:38this hate in their heart and misconceptions about people they don't even know and it takes
- 10:42them meeting this person even to change their mind completely which is that breaks my heart.
- 10:47That breaks my heart as well. I love that that's the first thing I came to mind for you.
- 10:51Like I mean bigotry I agree. I'm curious like that's such an interesting tension because on the one
- 10:55hand it's like it's amazing to be a vessel for someone to have opened their heart up to like love
- 11:01and realize their own bigotry but on the other there's this like kind of dehumanizing feeling of
- 11:07how could you be just one person away from hating all of my people like does that and also how
- 11:14these things exist in our most intimate relationship. So there's almost an element of
- 11:19not forgiveness but there's something underlying that they were and also trust.
- 11:24Like can you ever fully trust that you're not just this exception to someone? So how do you grapple
- 11:28with that? I try my best to the what I don't know I think that friend was an exception I think
- 11:38I try my best to surround myself with people that are genuine and who already like
- 11:45have a similar experience to mine and it's just to protect myself because on surface level maybe
- 11:52because of privileges I have or because they're closer to me I'm a more proximity to them they
- 11:56might feel the need to respect me and not respect other people like me. So there's a huge fear where
- 12:03I had an interaction with a person I was speaking to I think in a romantic way and I just saw
- 12:11on their Instagram story they not only said something very misogynistic they said something extremely
- 12:15chanceful and I called them out on it like why would you do something like that and it was like the
- 12:20I expected him to be like cool to me I felt like because I was the more desirable trans woman
- 12:27woman that he was bashing was I was in society's eyes less desirable he was like making it look like
- 12:33I was different than she was so it was like he can only accept us in this form where for me like
- 12:41hyper feminine desirable beautiful so it was heartbreaking to see how people quote on quote like
- 12:50are accepting of you but they accept people like you in this less toned down manner like
- 12:57if you're trans you just have to be extremely gorgeous extremely palatable extremely desirable
- 13:02extremely this or if you're black you have to have the makeup all the time you just have to be
- 13:08palatable to your pan standards yes so it's because you don't know who to trust because
- 13:15people just accept the toned down version of people like you wow yes yes that is so heartbreaking
- 13:22thank you for sharing that and I feel like you wrapped such powerful words around that experience
- 13:27because it's like a false kind of acceptance where although if they have like a checklist of the
- 13:32things that they're using to justify that acceptance it's still rooted in it's deeply rooted in not
- 13:38even still anti-blackness transphobia all the things that you thought that in them loving you they
- 13:44didn't stand for and not only purely that but just in that relationship and so that word heartbreaking
- 13:49is the perfect word and it's saddening that this we're talking about these like really intimate
- 13:54relationships where you put your trust in maybe your god is down and it's sad that in your experience
- 14:00as you're like in these close relationships that you've mentioned how they even those relationships
- 14:06are not a safe place and like that exists for family for friends for lovers for partners and so
- 14:11I'm curious on that point like you already kind of I want to dig deeper on this question kind of
- 14:17getting into the conversation around beauty and desirability and you've already taken us there
- 14:22I love the things that you were mentioning about having to be you mentioned that word a lot
- 14:26having to be palatable having to be hyper feminine and requirement of especially black trans women
- 14:33to be hyper feminine and to and like appearance matters I know you've spoken on your tick talk about
- 14:37how based on how you present you will go on a different feedback so I'm curious like how have
- 14:43beauty, desirability and ugliness affected you on an offline throughout your life
- 14:49it's very complex than nuance but I remember starting to talk about a year ago and I had a
- 14:55friend who studied it years before me and she's a black trans woman she's beautiful in her own right
- 15:01but to other people she's not perceived as desirable and she's someone asked like why wouldn't you
- 15:07take tick talk seriously why don't you want to take it she said no one's going to listen to me because
- 15:11I'm not desirable and I knew immediately because I've had an experience where because of the
- 15:18features I had the only ugliness I quote on co-hat is looking queer and looking trans but I've never
- 15:26had that experience where I've been made fun of because of my features I can count the amount of
- 15:30times I've been called ugly in my life so I don't know what that feels like but I don't know what it
- 15:35feels like to look very queer and that is equated to ugliness like in between the androgyning I grew
- 15:42up as a very androgynous child and people could never place me based on how I look they I always got
- 15:47questions like are you a girl or a boy are you trans are you queer very early so that was my
- 15:54perception of ugliness because people could not put me in a bracket I feel like men wouldn't know
- 15:58how to sexualize me and then they would then be angry about it then when now I fit into this
- 16:04standard of a very hyper feminine cis beauty standard of looking a specific way and having a
- 16:11specific type of look is the most privileged I've ever been in my life and I feel like
- 16:17people take me more seriously people are nice to me for the first time I didn't like to pass
- 16:22one on quote when I people would especially men men would open the doors for me men would see me and
- 16:30like because it was always in between it was never in between in the sense where like it was either
- 16:35hate crime or objectification and now it's an objectification in the sense where like I'm able to
- 16:41garner privileges because men see me as desirable and on the platform I realized how much growth
- 16:49I've had in the sense where like I talk about very serious things I don't even like show off
- 16:54my beauty I just like try and look as presentable as possible and people get distracted from the
- 16:59message in the sense where like it's like instead of this thing to what I'm saying it's like
- 17:03you're gorgeous you're beautiful you're this and it's like sometimes I feel like people don't want
- 17:08to see me and my intellect my talent the work I put on the inside but they want to see the outside
- 17:13and in romantic relationships as much as I do have a privilege where my desirability gives me more
- 17:19of a privilege to then other trans women where some men might want to be seen with me some men might
- 17:24want to take me more but I feel like they only see me for how I look and the sexual desirability
- 17:31I can give to them if that makes sense because for the sexual like gratification because with men
- 17:37I don't think I've ever had a male friend before in the sense where like they either attract
- 17:41it to me or they either like hate me I've never had a situation where they hadn't romantically or
- 17:47sexually just wanted to exploit me so it's this experience where you work so hard on the inside
- 17:54and everyone just wants to see the outside and comment on the outside and as much as it's not
- 17:59painful in the sense where I am a very hyper feminine person and I've always been very feminine
- 18:04and I love feminine things and I was always a very feminine child like the little marmaid like I
- 18:10was in tears because that was the kind of stuff I loved and I feel like I was bawling and crying
- 18:17because that was the kind of thing I loved and I was never allowed to express so I feel like I'm
- 18:22living through my childhood like I just have stuff like this with me all the time so I just feel
- 18:27the hyper femininity is truly who I am but it's I feel like it's all people want to see they don't
- 18:34want to see beneath all this because if I were like an Instagram model or like the first chapter
- 18:40it would make sense as to why people are looking at my looks but I'm saying very important things
- 18:44and it's like they keep crossing by and even in relationships I'm doing a lot of things like I'm
- 18:51the therapist I'm the friend I'm everything but it's still how I look that is the most valuable to
- 18:58them yes yes yeah wow you said so many things that was so powerful and there are many many things
- 19:04that I want to unpack within that that I also have noticed in your comment sections yes there's
- 19:09so much I love your hair like I love the pink I love your voice and I can imagine that and I love
- 19:14the parallel you drew with that and relationships and being flattened and how desirability leads to
- 19:20this kind of shallow engagement with who you are as a person who is a very deep person a very
- 19:25profound person a very theoretical and intellect like deeply invested in like kind of getting to
- 19:31the nature of things and having really really important things to say like uplifting people's
- 19:35go fund me is like drawing as you said you draw so much everything you speak about is so deep
- 19:41and important and you speak about violence and beauty and the Madonna whole complex and misandry
- 19:47and so I can imagine how deflating it is when the comments are not engaging with the substance
- 19:52of what you're putting out I feel like in those experiences both romantic like on an offline like
- 19:58in those romantic relationships and on the internet it seems like you're seeking for a deeper
- 20:03engagement like how do you deal with that once you recognize like for example in a relationship
- 20:07that this person is only honoring you for your desirability and you want more than that how have
- 20:12you over time learned how to react or respond and I know we shouldn't focus on the response I'm
- 20:18just curious how in your tool as you've grown as you've learned and as you've recognized this pattern
- 20:23how do you feel like you're responding to it if at all I someone who grew up very selfless and like
- 20:30I want to do everything to make my partner happy and I found that this actual desirability was what
- 20:36made them happy so now I withdraw it as much as possible and as much as like if my annoyance of
- 20:42people but I make sure to withdraw sex or any kind of sexual talk or interaction as much as
- 20:50possible and like try to get to make sure the person wants to know me wants to know how I'm doing
- 20:56wants to know what I'm thinking I want to see me for who I am on the inside of course they
- 21:00appreciate my looks even I can appreciate looks I love how people express themselves also
- 21:05alongside with who they are on the inside it's you know I just try to create a balance between
- 21:09it's you so it's not like I'm just this trophy yes I love that yeah I'm glad that you found that
- 21:16way and I love what you said like what are you thinking I always feel that attention to me is such
- 21:22critical like love language like someone who deeply attends to you like attends to you what you're
- 21:26thinking what you're feeling and cares about those random runs that you want to go on and it can be
- 21:32difficult to and I feel like based on what you're sharing it's nice that you've found the kind of
- 21:37green flags for you in that respect I want to go back to something else you said that I feel like
- 21:42so many things you said about being online and specifically what you said about how your
- 21:48black trance woman friend she said that no one's going to listen to me because I'm not desirable
- 21:53that was such a powerful like I feel like wrapped up how desirability beauty and silencing
- 22:00interact and such in a very like concise way knowing that it seems like your approach to creation
- 22:07it's almost like it's out of love but it also there's a sense of responsibility and so I guess
- 22:12how do you then use your desirability as a weapon as a tool in what you do and in what you create
- 22:18because it seems there's an element of that within your content but I'm curious if that's
- 22:23reaching or not I'm glad you noticed that because I don't think people notice I think with
- 22:28desirability I'm looking quite attractive I'm someone who's at his attention to detail and growing
- 22:34up my mom was someone who was so very beautiful and desirable and I would just I adored her I adored
- 22:40everything she did I loved the way that she walked the way that she talked and it was who she is but
- 22:44it was very manufactured in how like she could switch her accent she would speak softly she could
- 22:52make her voice lower to some more sensual or all those kind of things so I sat down and studied
- 22:58I studied women like Margarita Monroe I studied Naomi Campbell I studied Rihanna and I noticed
- 23:04little things to how they pop their lips or how they move their hair or how to switch their eyes
- 23:09I studied everything to make sure I could embody that perfect way that I walk everything is
- 23:14rehearsed to the way my hair looks as much as the passion of mine it's rehearsed and people
- 23:19notice it I feel like the difference between I would go out if I were a lip gloss and didn't
- 23:24wear lip glosses different or if I have pink hair I find people are more receptive to very feminine
- 23:29others like a few people are just so excited when I have hair styles like this or the way like I
- 23:37would walk or the way that I would what's called it will all depend on the person and it's I've
- 23:43also tried to do that on social media with like as much as I'm saying important things I try to the
- 23:49way I look at the camera with my body language because I obviously know people respond to these
- 23:54things and like even if it's little details that I want to give up let's see like sometimes I go
- 23:59in front of the mirror and I look at what I'm wearing and then I embody like the character of
- 24:04what I'm wearing in the sense whereas like do I want to intimidate people today do I want to
- 24:08welcome people today so I do the same thing on TikTok like depending on the message I could wear
- 24:15something different or I could change my voice slightly so it's all rehearsed and manufactured
- 24:20just because I saw my mother doing that the most and that's how she just got everyone around her
- 24:26to like her to be super what's the called with stuff because I feel like life is all about
- 24:32perception and how people perceive you I am someone who's quite anxious my mom was very like
- 24:37social and like to talk a lot so she was very friendly so because I'm already very like to my
- 24:43soft and reserved I've gone through the mysterious route to look at some mysterious so I do it online
- 24:49and in person as much as I am vulnerable I don't like to give too much information and keep my
- 24:56I don't like to respond too much I don't respond to comments as much so it's also create this
- 25:03perception and this persona that people are actually receptive to because people actually
- 25:07notice these things I'm even surprised you did but like it does work wow I love that that's so
- 25:13interesting the word manufactured rehearsed and the way that you move from observing your mom's
- 25:19observing these people these celebrities and then how it's kind of deployed in a really deliberate
- 25:24way even if it seems effortless or if it seems really natural that there is a thought behind
- 25:29each thing you're doing in your content I think that's so interesting and like yeah I think that
- 25:33it's clearly working so that's awesome it's interesting like balancing this idea of this
- 25:38approachable person but with this persona that you mentioned and I also think there's another
- 25:42thing you said that I think was really stuck with me and you speak about it on your content a lot
- 25:47you said that you went through like you don't have much experience with ugliness and when you did
- 25:52it was only when it was being equated to queerness in a way that didn't like resonate with you but
- 25:57then that you've never been treated better now or in what do you make of that like there's also
- 26:02another quote in your video where you say when we as trans people are perceived as cis for most
- 26:08of us it is probably the best experience of our lives and you think that we would give that away
- 26:13the workers with you not us I thought that was so powerful and stuck with me but I would just
- 26:18want to dig deeper into that because it's just an amazing thing to say it just really stuck with me
- 26:24and so I wanted to hear more about that from you and from some of the nuances there that you've
- 26:30been speaking about on your platform as well I think when I started to pass or fit that standard
- 26:37it was a relief that I could get to live my life and then I could be perceived as who actually
- 26:41was on the inside but it felt like a slap on the face to the horrible life and experience I've
- 26:48had before this and how just obviously this change is amazing and the changes I'm experiencing
- 26:55medically and socially are completely like life changing and they've saved my life but
- 27:00it's so crazy how the little detail will change how people give you humanity based on how
- 27:08they don't so little details like changing my voice like we are talking higher or just telling people
- 27:14I'm trans it will literally start how they will give me humanity or how they will give me and
- 27:20it's harmful it's disgusting but it's great that I but it's like I don't believe that humanity or
- 27:27respect or decency should be conditioned not to how people how you perceive people based off
- 27:33respectability politics and etc so it made me feel like my whole life she did like or I believe by
- 27:41people I just respected people to I didn't even expect I didn't even live in a world where people
- 27:45would open doors so usually they would slam it in my face and just like give me like death
- 27:49glare so like living in a world where I walk by and I get compliments all the time people are smiling
- 27:56men are gawking these little details show how ridiculous human beings are and how we need to work
- 28:03on giving humanity to everyone not just people we deem as desirable we deem as valuable because
- 28:10we are all valuable I was valuable as a child and I'm valuable now and it has nothing to do with this
- 28:16change I always mattered and me mattering doesn't have to do with how desirable I am to
- 28:23this world many trans people of course have many different experiences some people go from
- 28:29being perceived as this to them being perceived as trans and it's very different from me where
- 28:35it was the opposite and it's heartbreaking and it's bittersweet how horrible that is and how people
- 28:43just afford you good treatment depending on what standard you fit in at 100 and thousand percent
- 28:50I feel so aligned to that and the feeling of unconditional humanity and mattering and I love how
- 28:56that brings us connects us back to what you started with where you said I matter and you said that
- 29:01twice and that's something that should be impossible to take away from people and yet it happens
- 29:08all the time in the name of desirability and in the name of who gets to decide whose ideologies
- 29:14get to be asserted on the rest of the world and then that becomes the measure for everyone else
- 29:18and so I love what you said I always mattered and me mattering isn't contingent on how desirable
- 29:24I am to cisgender people or how undesirable I am so to that point moving us from the personal
- 29:29narrative I want to keep that as the thread but to theoretically like as a result of this what role
- 29:36do you think beauty should play in people's in the world how would you define beauty or what are your
- 29:41thoughts how would you reimagine desirability for example or knowing what you've experienced what
- 29:47your friends have experienced and what we've been speaking about what do you like take away in terms
- 29:51of what you believe about desirability beauty ugliness humanity anything that comes up for you like
- 29:58maybe philosophically I feel like anyone I've ever loved or been in love with I don't think it's
- 30:05ever been about their looks if they've never been a typical type of mind I've always been able to see
- 30:11them dp for who they are and it was attributes of their humanity in the sense of how kind they
- 30:19were how deep they were I love people who are sweet and attentive creative and they have good
- 30:27and batteries to them they're patient they're witty they're funny those are the kind of things that
- 30:32make me attracted to a human being it's so much deeper than the physical body and those that
- 30:39I've never forgotten those that have a special place in my heart have always possessed these qualities
- 30:45regardless of how they looked because I had friends in the sense were like I would show them someone
- 30:50I was speaking to and they'll be like girl you can do better but you don't even know this person
- 30:55you don't even know how they treat me yeah even know how they make me feel yes that's the most
- 31:00important thing that's the beauty I see in people and that's the beauty I would like to be seen in me
- 31:06and see in everybody because those are the only people I've truly fallen in love with just having
- 31:12conversations with them and like watching them talk about something they're passionate about that
- 31:16is one of the most beautiful things just hearing people talk about what they love and talking about
- 31:21what drives them in this world so those are the things I think we should base beauty on
- 31:28yeah as much as we like the physical and all kinds of things but that's different in the sense
- 31:33where like that's a sexual thing and even the inside affects the what's it called because as soon
- 31:39as I form emotions with you I don't care what you have I will just be gravitated towards you or
- 31:44like I feel like the sexual experience even would be more powerful so it's always the little things
- 31:50even in sexual experiences where like they just like you're cutting and they just grab you and hold
- 31:55you if you feel safe and make you feel heard so those are the kind of things that I've always looked
- 32:01out for I think the world is too superficial and materialistic and I think that's one thing that
- 32:06saved me from a lot of things I think everyone is horrible regardless of however they identify
- 32:10whatever they wanted you but what I found is I found safety and I found comfort in people who are
- 32:17less superficial than less materialistic want to see people and get to know people and connect
- 32:23with people on a deeper level rather than just like for their bodies for their money for their
- 32:28clouds for their what's it called so it's always been all about who people are intrinsically on the
- 32:35inside and how that can be relatable to what is on the outside like as much as people looking
- 32:40physically nice is always great and all but one thing that may attract me to someone is the
- 32:46fashion in the sense where like not the rich clothes but how like detailed it is in the sense
- 32:51where like well you're wearing a t-shirt from your favorite group or you're wearing something that
- 32:56is spiritual or has the sense of those kind of things so even if beauty is on the outside
- 33:02which is how the inside matches the outside because we are visual creatures so as much as how
- 33:08people looking is great and all but how people also express themselves is a reflection of who they
- 33:14are on the inside how I express myself is a reflection of who I am on the inside at all times I
- 33:18have this on all the time my hair is always pink and I love to express myself depending on how I'm
- 33:24feeling sometimes I wear dark colors sometimes I wear pink colors sometimes I want to reflect my
- 33:28childhood sometimes I want to reflect my interests sometimes I want to reflect my beliefs so I think
- 33:34that's what beauty should and that's how I see beauty because the typical cis hat man like
- 33:39dressing the way he does would not attract me different than a man who is able to
- 33:44be vulnerable expresses emotions a man who's able to think and make me feel safe and make me feel
- 33:50hurt and make me feel beautiful not just on the inside but like really look at me and like be like
- 33:56you're beautiful but not from my essence rather than my form yes so it sounds like
- 34:03there's this commitment you have to the humanity of all human beings and then to a form of beauty that
- 34:09is more about people's values people's energy the way people choose to treat other human beings
- 34:16and that that should be the fundamental beauty and so one issue is this like the hierarchy is
- 34:21inverted where currently people's physical beauty as to capital B beauty as defined by the systems
- 34:28of oppression is prioritized instead of their more like inner beauty but then also that there is
- 34:34this draw to people for you who express themselves in certain ways I think for me adding to that
- 34:40the stakes of it shouldn't be so high so it's like for me it's there's also this thing of course
- 34:46number one there's like we've been conditioned to see different people as beautiful and many people
- 34:50have unlearned that but many people feel like past the point of being able to unlearn that but many
- 34:55skills people have or people maybe one person is really good with other human beings one person's
- 35:00really good with children and another person is good at art but the stakes of that aren't going to
- 35:05have a doctor like believe or disbelieve them or a police officer like but there so the stakes of
- 35:11desirability are far too high and I feel like it's this toxic thing that exists in people subconscious
- 35:17where like they're viewing it on an individual level but it's happening at such a level of structural
- 35:21violence in terms of from bullying and interpersonal violence to state violence and so I'm curious if
- 35:28you think that physical beauty can be inclusive and is inclusion the answer to all of this I don't
- 35:35think it is in my experience make that beauty for transness or if it's plus sized people we
- 35:42create it where like it's conditional to meeting certain standards like a perfect show an example
- 35:47is euphoria like as much as hunter shaper and barbie forever have done a lot for their communities but
- 35:54they are extremely palatable and extremely desirable to you the media that we have now hunter is
- 36:01white blonde passing barbie forever has a very um our glass shape she has certain features what about
- 36:09a woman who is black has an apple shape and it's that what do we have to say about her or trans
- 36:16women who don't pass or trans women who are masculine for example or choose to not medically or
- 36:23socially transition what do we have so if we say it's inclusive is it really inclusive if we're
- 36:28creating standards because beauty is in this society never going to be something that all of us
- 36:34can bear because with beauty there has to be ugliness exactly so a part of me like watching that
- 36:40video that you made was so scared because it's like if we remove beauty quote unquote like
- 36:46beauty has changed my life beauty has given me a platform on my platform i wouldn't be able to do
- 36:51so many things i would have now meet so many people beauty has truly changed my beauty my everyday
- 36:56life has made me not think about so many things made me get away with things like make me know that I
- 37:02can maybe cut in the line or like flirt with someone to get free drinks or something it's made my
- 37:08life much easier so I always thought to myself if beauty is gone who would I be then I have to remind
- 37:13myself that I more than my physical beauty and my physical desirability I would be me I would be my
- 37:21talent I would be my intellect I would be what I would be my relationships with my friends I would be
- 37:27my mind I would be my soul yes so I have to remind myself that because people constantly want to
- 37:34remind me or or show me that it's just because of how you look but it's not just because of how I look
- 37:39so I think that if we make it a society where beauty is inclusive quote unquote it becomes even more
- 37:47divisive where we create standards for what quote unquote undesirable people should look like a
- 37:52trans-presentative like this a fat person should look like this yes a black person should look
- 37:57like this they never want us in our raw form if they want natural hair it has to be curly and loose
- 38:04if they want dark skin they have to have small features if they want a fat body it has to be an
- 38:10hourglass shape if they want a trans body it has to appease to cis beauty standards it's never
- 38:16going to accommodate all of us and we'll never accommodate the people that need it the most yes
- 38:21I think we need to eradicate beauty get rid of the concept and give people worth in humanity
- 38:29just because they deserve it just because they're here yes my mom gave me this quote and I take it
- 38:35with me every day because I was bullied in school and she always tried to give me quotes and affirmations
- 38:38to make me feel better about it thank you mom I think it's the desid derata I think it's just like
- 38:45the stars the trees I have a right to be here as the stars trees rock see say that again that's so
- 38:52beautiful yeah just like the stars the trees I think rocks I don't know I have a right to be here
- 38:58so everyone should know that they are valued and they don't even have to be productive they don't
- 39:03even have to be talented they don't have to be hardworking just them being here is who value you
- 39:08contribute to the universe you are a part of the universe you are the collective you are
- 39:13god you are everything and everyone should feel that way no one should feel special because they
- 39:17have followers or feel special because they're pretty special because they have those things and
- 39:22even when you have those things people will use you for those things I'm not even wants to get to
- 39:26know the real you so that's how useless in the sense materialism is in society because as you have
- 39:34those things and people want to use those things exploit those things and not know you on a personal
- 39:40level your value should just be being here existing yes exactly not being palatable not being this
- 39:49everybody should know that there just as the trees have value our air has value the soil has value
- 39:55so do we have value so yeah so as we have value we have value in our family we have value in
- 40:02our community everyone is important and the issue that society has made it out to be is they make
- 40:09the most important people feel unimportant they make women feel unimportant they make people feel
- 40:14unimportant they make trans people feel unimportant and before colonialism and all this women trans people
- 40:21where you know every yes they were the beacons of our society yes and now that they tried to make
- 40:27us feel like we are valued it's crazy to me because we were the shamans and the priestess priest
- 40:35whatever we were the beacons of our society and it was a community a socialist community I
- 40:42would say in that sense I've not been seen socialist and practical in this society today but a
- 40:46socialist society where every single person contributes equally to society we have now because
- 40:52everyone has a different value it's more or less equality than seeing everybody's value and how
- 40:59they can contribute to our society in their own way because everybody has their own things to offer
- 41:06so that's a society we need to try to create not making one person seem more valuable than the other
- 41:12we're all valuable we all contribute we all matter just as every creature matters and every element
- 41:19matters and every form matters that's the society we should look to create absolutely I literally
- 41:26agree with every single thing you've just said I love the commitment to beings as beings and that
- 41:32we should be living in harmony with each other and that any form of hierarchy and you mentioned
- 41:36so many there's desire there's also followers like even the way we speak oh this is a really big
- 41:41creator oh she the way we speak there are so many naturalized hierarchies in our language and I
- 41:47think that they all have got to go and I also absolutely love everything you said about inclusion
- 41:52being an impossibility and the use of I also have spoken about euphoria I think it's such a great
- 41:57example of the limits of inclusion and the falseness even of the promise of inclusion that it's
- 42:04almost worse because as you said it's always including the palette the people who are palatable
- 42:08to the Eurocentric beauty standard but it then becomes more difficult to critique because then even
- 42:13your own community is saying to you oh you'll never be satisfied every time you try to make these
- 42:18videos about inclusion and it's like no buts and there's black like so why would be complained
- 42:23that she's not fat like we should complain like that all these people are able body that most of
- 42:27them are cisgender that then when they are trans people they are whites they are thin they are like
- 42:33the exact beauty standard that exists for femininity and so it becomes even more insidious because
- 42:39then you get the marginalized you get the people who are like it's not that deep but it actually is
- 42:44but it becomes more difficult to recognize and I also think it's interesting this point of
- 42:48inclusion I just saw randomly this article and it was like Sarah Jessica Parker's complaint like
- 42:54fights pushes back against like ageist beauty standards and I think the funny thing about beauty
- 42:59is it will turn around and bite you like whether it's in you're gonna age climate change is going to
- 43:05be a mask is already a master's abling event like we need to get on board we need to abolish beauty
- 43:11and see the inherent value of everyone I think Beyonce is also a really good example of this where
- 43:15she's celebrated as really beautiful and then we see that same ideology literally being used
- 43:20to berate her child like what a world like in one generation something that propped you up
- 43:26can be like removed from the ground and used to really harm your child who is a precious being
- 43:32and so I think that's also why even people who are quote unquote oh I think that it affects everyone
- 43:39but I think people should treat beauty as if they didn't know which side of it they would land and
- 43:44then decide like should we be basing human value on this thing or is it just that you personally
- 43:50are on the right side of it and even that is precarious because it could change at any moment
- 43:54so that definitely energizes me and this commitment to not only to humanity but to
- 44:00communion with the earth I think is also so critical and so important and what you said about how
- 44:06they make I love this they make the most important feel unimportant that just said oh so many things
- 44:12for me you mentioned women you mentioned trans people queer people old people like wow like there are
- 44:18these beacons of our society as you say and it's all being inverted because they have to do a natural
- 44:24things to uphold a natural power structures and beauty is one of those things so thank you for
- 44:30everything you said it definitely sparked a lot in me so this idea of inclusion right I think a lot
- 44:35of the work that's been done has been propelled by and advanced by a lot of black women and I feel
- 44:44like you speak really powerfully about the nuances between black women and I really wanted our
- 44:49audience to hear your thoughts on the diversity among us and like the your thoughts on this topic
- 44:55I think discussing or having conversations with many black women from different places different
- 45:01experiences different phenotypes like it's crazy how different our experiences are and how
- 45:08we relate to each other on this and relate to each other on that because I just assumed because I
- 45:14was consuming transphobic media I didn't think that trans women and cis women could have anything
- 45:18in common and then I made friends I have my two best friends are black cis women and the amount
- 45:24of things we had in common was very scary and the amount of things I have in common with and because
- 45:29I fit into that standard where like I'm in the women's bathroom and they don't know I'm trans but I
- 45:33don't know what they would do with you and you know there's this solidarity between us like seeing
- 45:39each other complimenting each other on our hair or making like I remember I was walking from school one
- 45:44day and it was a lighter skin black woman and she just stopped me with her daughter and she said like
- 45:50you have yours she complimented my skin color which is something I was bullied for because I was
- 45:54darker skin which I think as a lighter skinned woman she knows how darker skinned women are
- 45:59she's complimented my skin and she told me how beautiful I was and it completely made my
- 46:04dear I can see days where I wear my natural hair and a black woman will make sure to compliment me
- 46:08because she knows how our hair is something that takes a long time for us to embrace our skin
- 46:14or phenotype so not only interacting with black women I know that we have this universal experience
- 46:22that we know how to ease each other's pain a lot of this time and know like I see you this experience
- 46:28is very very specific and like I see you and I know how you feel so that has allowed me to have
- 46:36solidarity and understand our experiences are very similar going out in my every day me and my
- 46:42friends have similar experiences where because we're all queer presenting in the sense where like
- 46:47it's queer but it's men like it because it's feminine and it's edgy quote-unquote we have
- 46:53experiences where I think like we're harassed in the average person because this is quite bold
- 46:59for where I live so we have experiences where I mean harass us that made us chase us down the street
- 47:06even and be weird and annoying and like we bond in those experiences where like my friend had
- 47:12what's her birthday and we wanted to take pictures normally and then we were taking pictures
- 47:16on the road which is quite a normal thing but it's her birthday and then these like three white
- 47:20men's popters my friend had a very beautiful loud hairstyle and afro and then he tried to touch
- 47:26our hair and then we were like oh my god what the fuck are we gonna do like we started complimenting
- 47:31each one of us and my friend's pop like I think he said something like once you go black he never
- 47:36go back or something a weird ass statement which happens a lot of the time and my friend was like
- 47:42you shouldn't say that for black women and then we got very aggressive and then we just had to
- 47:45like run away but I think we knew like we're still gonna take our pictures though so we found the
- 47:50spot we saw how we took our pictures and we had a great so like because those kinds of things
- 47:55happen and I told my white friend you know and she was like wow that never happens to me so it
- 48:01was quite shocking like she felt so bad because she couldn't understand the world where that was
- 48:05normal but we were like yeah that happens like most days so that kind of experience where white
- 48:11men or men mostly men in general will just hypersexualize you dehumanize you like stroke your hair
- 48:18call you black and you be in this that is something that we know of and many black women
- 48:24know because we are extremely fetishized for our race and our desire to treat white women like
- 48:34ladies quote unquote but to us who are a sexual conquest and we're not humanized so those are
- 48:39experiences we can relate to we can we can I can also relate to you like having to be
- 48:44palatable because people will automatically deem you especially white people as aggressive
- 48:49as soon as you show any type of humanity of frustration with how you're being treated or with
- 48:53the world in general you are suddenly aggressive even if you're not an aggressive person a sick
- 48:58aggression is an emotion so that is something that we bond over being perceived how we are perceived
- 49:05how we are treated how we're overlooked how we are used is something that we can all
- 49:12is a universal experience for all black women and it comes in different ways the men that like
- 49:17us the men that don't like us how they treat us how they don't treat us I have a different
- 49:22experience in the sense where I fit a very your pain standard in the sense where I have smaller
- 49:27features and I'm very thin and slender so I sadly attract a lot of white men and it's different in
- 49:34the sense where my friend who is the West African beauty standard doesn't attract a lot of white
- 49:38men she attracts more black men because she's curvier she has very beautiful West African features
- 49:43and my friend who is lighter skin but has happens to have lighter eyes will
- 49:48me attract men that are colorist in the sense more black men who are colorist so it's
- 49:54very different experiences and how we're perceived and how we navigate the world and the privilege we
- 49:59have in the privileges we Jones and that can be different because we're both from Nigeria that can
- 50:04be different from women who are British or women who are American or women who are North African
- 50:10or women who are from different parts of the world women who are cis women who are trans women who
- 50:14look a certain way women who have quote unquote more masculine features women who have feminine features
- 50:19women who are in STEM like my friend is in STEM and she has a very different experience she has a very
- 50:25harsh experience in the sense where like she's because she addresses a certain way or she's very
- 50:29desirable like people like treat her in a very different way where like they over obsessed over
- 50:37everything she's doing like to the point where like she doesn't even show up the classes and so
- 50:43overall this experience that we cannot be like we understand because we all know what that feels
- 50:49like in different ways yes yes yes yes what about those I think that the way that you describe
- 50:58the solidarity that exists among black women and I love the way that you described like surprised
- 51:03at having so much in common and so much shared experience with black cis women I also know that
- 51:10a lot of your content you also speak about the kind of flip side of this where where when you find
- 51:16disconnection in the places that you're expecting connection or when you find othering and exclusion
- 51:21in places that you're expecting inclusion and you speak about this from in the many different
- 51:26communities you're part of like in the trans community in the black community and so I guess what
- 51:31I observe is the solidarity that exists for example among black women typically exists among these
- 51:38rungs of similarity where people we see the friend groups and they're all the like all we see
- 51:43certain people hyper relating to each other but less across whether that's class or cis gender like
- 51:50I feel like most of the friend groups we at least consume we're not seeing a lot of queer and
- 51:56straight people or trans ancestors people and there's a lot of othering that happens in these
- 52:01closed circles of black women forming solidarity and so that's not a true form of solidarity and so
- 52:06I'm curious like I think you earlier said this thing that I want to go back to where you said that
- 52:11when you started to think about how inclusion wasn't possible and beauty you felt fearful because
- 52:16you were like well then what am I then and then it's like the things that make one person beautiful
- 52:22is what makes someone else ugly and so if I'm committed to this true solidarity it's not only
- 52:27oh our pain is the same but also if my joy is predicated on your pain then I don't want that joy
- 52:33and that's kind of way I feel like I've landed on beauty way I feel like if they cannot be myself I
- 52:39also occupy many different privileges being thin being cisgendered having as you said features
- 52:45that appeal to your eccentric beauty standards if I can only feel delights in those things because
- 52:50someone else is feeling pain then in solidarity with that it's like I don't want the delight obviously
- 52:55we all want to feel delighted but what is that predicated on so I said many things but I guess just
- 53:01touching on how do you think we can strengthen solidarity among for example black women across all
- 53:09our experiences and all our privileges and disadvantages or privileges and oppression I think
- 53:15there is a division within black people in general yes yes and in general I don't feel safe in any
- 53:23spaces that are black as much as in black because I like don't feel safe but there is this people with
- 53:29black men who typically are my oppressor if I am to be with any man quote unquote I would want
- 53:34it to be someone who's black in the sense we're like there is this solidarity between the experience
- 53:40we have on the hardship that we go through whether it's through our our ways experiences we have
- 53:46how our communities it's very unique and it's something only black people can understand
- 53:52so there is a clear division between us and it's very clear white supremely we have this individualist
- 53:58you're on your own society lack of community society and I feel like a lot of black people have
- 54:03internalized the idea of that which is quite we've made our love we've made our support
- 54:10conditional to these European white patriarchal heteronormative standards which absolutely make no
- 54:17sense to me in the sense where the bottom line should be this person is black they deserve your
- 54:24humanity they deserve your support we should support one another it should not be conditional to
- 54:29if they aren't doing any harm it should not be conditional to how
- 54:33respectability politics or whether humanity is what's called the only black people I feel that
- 54:38should be ostracized are the people that are doing real harm and you know murdering and killing
- 54:44women queer people but if they're not doing any harm and they're just existing how does that
- 54:49have anything to how does like we need to start to afford each other humanity because if we stop
- 54:57the dividing and it pisses me off on TikTok because black people are always dividing for
- 55:03whether it's straight cis black and diaspora wars whether it's literally like Guneans and Nigerians
- 55:09were like right close to each other or South West East were just constantly divided on stupid things
- 55:16like I don't understand where that comes from like I went to Notting Hill carnival and as much as
- 55:21it was like it had it sounds like it was very beautiful and very powerful to be in a space
- 55:27filled with black people black story black music black culture black food being in that space as
- 55:32much as you know it was like there were experiences where like the men were quite predatory and
- 55:37which is disgusting but being in that space where you just know your people are around you know
- 55:43your music is around you you're free to speak in the accent you want to speak in or dance the
- 55:48way you want to dance because I feel like in spaces that are non-black you have to just constantly
- 55:53tone yourself down yeah or speak a certain way but when you're with black people you can turn
- 55:58off you can dance you can just be your black self so it was important to be in that space regardless
- 56:04the fears of spaces the fears and you know that men may have popped in that space but regardless
- 56:11it was a very beautiful experience and I would do it again so the issue with black spaces or black
- 56:18people in general is there's this division for stupid reasons I never know where it comes from
- 56:23it's always rooted in things whether it's based on people's religion I always see it on people
- 56:26everyday and it makes people angry because why does it matter what someone's leaving why does it
- 56:31matter how someone identifies how does it matter world black yeah and one thing I've noticed with
- 56:37other communities is especially there is division there they can point out and notice that this
- 56:42is our own and that's one thing why people do that's why I don't know why people whether they're
- 56:46clear or trans because they're always gonna stick up for their own you have white people defending
- 56:51racist defending pedophiles like picking like picking even if it's as much as they do have
- 56:57experience and care for beyond transphobia if black street or cis people think they're gonna pick
- 57:02you over their queer or trans white people they're not gonna pick you yeah that's the truth there's
- 57:06gonna pick their own they look out for their own and that's something that we don't do black people
- 57:11no specificity black marginalized or black women and queer people always have to figure out
- 57:15shit on our own we're not protected by anyone we're open to all kinds of danger I in my life have
- 57:22felt so unprotected felt so open to all kinds of things because I was never looked out for because
- 57:28I wasn't worthy of being looked out for because of who I was so we're not protecting each other we're
- 57:33not looking out for each other and if I'm outside for example and I see a black person or a black
- 57:39woman or any black specifically a black woman or a black them or a black queer person out and like
- 57:45they need my help I'm gonna help or if they're in a situation where I feel like I can tell myself
- 57:49out there that's what we should do for each other because white people really do that we really
- 57:54do in very dangerous ways I mean even in in communities in Africa where like the Asian people are
- 58:01always together they always know each other they are a community they really are a community and
- 58:07I think that's one of the reasons why they're starting to rise up and starting to create profits
- 58:12off of their community and even with Chinese food it's like the Chinese business you have
- 58:16everyone working there it's Chinese like we don't look out for one another we have black men
- 58:21bashing black women on the internet yeah it's so dumb of all the races it's only black men I
- 58:27seen sit out there and bash their own I've never heard an out of man or a white man do like well
- 58:34white women it's always women in general so it's never just your own so there is this like
- 58:41I think we've fed into this western division because I think what they wanted to do was divided
- 58:46even in this relationship they wanted to put different they wanted to confuse us dividers and
- 58:50it's worked yeah regardless of what languages you speak we need to come together and have like a
- 58:57soul plan you know that we're black and we should look out for one another yes yes yes absolutely
- 59:03and I feel like this notion of division it also seems like what you said about internalizing
- 59:09white supremacy and western ideals it feels like one huge barrier to like black love at a community
- 59:15level it's like someone always has to be better and like we're relating to each other in hierarchies
- 59:20at all times whether that's like power dominance or it's like as much as we do love to we love
- 59:25love we love each other there are such huge possibilities for it but when there's an other we love
- 59:31to laugh at the other like we love to make each other the butt of our jokes and I've just observed
- 59:35this pervasive like there's no commitment to love because when you love someone you're committed to
- 59:42understanding them and you approach them with curiosity and gentleness you don't lead with the
- 59:47judgment that you have in them or the need to be right over them or the sort of this ego and this
- 59:53whether that and the way that a lot of different black people are relating to each other I think
- 59:57it's part of the issue is that it's not grounded in love it's grounded in the need to be superior
- 1:00:03in a way and I think we definitely learned that from and that relates to all different axes of like
- 1:00:09division that you mentioned where it's an us versus them it's also interesting because
- 1:00:14in a different world where there was no white supremacy we wouldn't be a community you know what I
- 1:00:19mean like it's almost like the project of white supremacy is is in part so successful because it's
- 1:00:24created it's necessitated a form of solidarity that isn't actually natural like we were always
- 1:00:30going to be within our communities and that's where we would find home like now there's this beautiful
- 1:00:36global community of black people immigrating and moving around and all these things and so it's
- 1:00:40forming these tensions but I really think like at the root of it can be or a solution is the same tools
- 1:00:47that we are using in like more like conflict resolution places like in relationship and in community
- 1:00:52where there's when there's love and intimacy it's like about understanding instead of attacking
- 1:00:59and it's about grace and giving people space of course not if they're causing harm not if they're
- 1:01:03abusive and I mean I do believe in transformative justice and start like that no one is beyond being
- 1:01:09able to be repaired but that's a kind of a different conversation but it makes me it hot to use
- 1:01:14your word it's heartbreaking it's heartbreaking to see us as you say like drag each other on the
- 1:01:18internet and it's the way like we're always going to be wrong but it's the specific vitriolic way
- 1:01:24that like the misogyny the rape culture the misogynoir the transphobia the homophobia the
- 1:01:30anti-blackness just the also just humiliating each other and being okay with that I think has always
- 1:01:35been something that just it's so bothersome but when it works like when you find those spaces as
- 1:01:41you mentioned when you find those communities when you find like a black community of people like
- 1:01:49there's nothing more powerful than that and nothing more loving and as you said you feel like you
- 1:01:53can just exist and be and those spaces are very important even as they are imperfect and I think
- 1:01:58we can build stronger bonds it's by loving each other so before we wrap this conversation I've
- 1:02:04loved this time together I have five fill in the blank questions to close just say the first
- 1:02:09thing that comes to mind I've loved chatting to you and getting some of your I'd love to have
- 1:02:13you on again sometime but these are the five questions and you just say the first thing that comes
- 1:02:18okay I want people to reimagine the world to me love means acceptance I feel safe when
- 1:02:32I'm heard I wish I had known sooner that I'm important hmm that's a lovely theme of today I dream
- 1:02:42of a world where we can unite oh yes okay amazing how can we support you so you'll take talk I'll
- 1:02:50put it in the show notes the real ashram you just started a singing account which is so exciting
- 1:02:54that you also sing it's called definitely not ashram and I'll put that in the show notes as well
- 1:03:00and then your cash app I think it's cash app is British pound sign the real ashram please support
- 1:03:05black creators so please get that cash app out everyone is there anywhere else where we can support
- 1:03:11you your voice your work then my bio I have a link tree and that's where I could all be go for
- 1:03:17me for people that are struggling and people that for different reasons so if you can please donate
- 1:03:23I also have a playlist of videos where I have made video I crowdfunded for them so if you could
- 1:03:28interact with those videos so they get help that would be very helpful okay awesome so you heard
- 1:03:34that everyone interact with videos and I'll put the link in the show notes as well that's how we
- 1:03:40can support and do you have any closing thoughts words or things that you want to share with the
- 1:03:45audience before we close yes I could do this with anyone I'm so grateful to do this with you I love
- 1:03:52how you think I always love your content you're one of my favorite content creators and it's
- 1:03:57very important to have this conversation or these conversations with a like-minded person like
- 1:04:03yourself I just want you to know that you're important and everything you're doing it so it has
- 1:04:07really touched me and has really inspired me you're super inspirational and I hope this grows more
- 1:04:14I hope you continue to have more conversations like this with people and I'm wishing you success and
- 1:04:18love always oh thank you so much ashram I appreciate that so much and I'm sure we'll have you back
- 1:04:24because I have a mutual isma too I feel like we could have a great conversation one day all together
- 1:04:29but thank you for your kind words I'm going to internalize them did you know listeners that a
- 1:04:34gratitude practice is actually about focusing on the way that people have expressed gratitude to
- 1:04:40you it's not as much there's an amazing like episode about this it is about expressing what you're
- 1:04:44grateful for but it's about not discounting when people share that they're grateful for you so I'm
- 1:04:48going to meditate on the gratitude you've shared with me because I appreciate the love and the
- 1:04:52energy and you taking the time to say that and I feel exactly the same so thank you for being with
- 1:04:58us today may you have a beautiful beautiful day and evening in the UK and can't wait to see you on
- 1:05:03my for your page very soon okay bye that's it sun shines thank you so much for listening to
- 1:05:14reimagining with i understood a podcast where we reframe rethink and reimagine all things
- 1:05:20standing in the way of love and liberation please follow my work on substack at i understood.substack.com
- 1:05:27and subscribe if you have the means as well as on TikTok and Instagram at i understood I would absolutely
- 1:05:33love to hear from you if you have good things to say I am a cancer please be nice to me I am sensitive
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- 1:05:45on the podcast if it is five stars again i'm a cancer okay I love you have a wonderful day
- 1:05:50nourish yourself and nourish each other