Sex kitten Amber Rose attempts at Slut Shaming protest seem fraudulent at best.
Amber Rose has been an off and on hot topic since she caught the eye of Kanye West years ago. Her bald head, ethnically ambiguous features and curvaceous figure provide a visual delicacy of androgyny mixed with overt sexuality mixed with a bit of mystique. The fact that she has been the object of affection for two of hip hop’s most polar opposite players, the arrogantly talented Kanye West and rap’s skater boy Wiz Khalifa has helped solidify her as one of the papaprazzi’s favorite targets. Amber seems to enjoy basking in the attention, dedicating an equal number of posts to her adorable son, her twerk skills and her suggestive bisexuality. Her image is a mix of in your face sexuality and with her book, How to Be a Bad B*tch, a guide to life, love, and success, I for one believed Amber was one of the women bold enough to own the image and actions that she is ultimately judged by. Amber’s Slut Shame Walk is definitely a provocative slap in the face, but unlike the usual feminist platform, Amber’s slap is more towards other women and it’s an unfortunate contradiction of the image she has purposefully created for herself.
All things taken into account, I was surprised to see Amber speaking out about Slut Shaming and in the process of speaking out, doing her own brand of shaming in the process. As a self-proclaimed feminist, I usually support women speaking out about double standards on sexuality set by men, especially when it involves the entertainment industry. Women are constantly stereotyped, judged, belittled and treated unfairly by the opposite sex. My personal belief is that some men find it hard to separate the women that want to be judged and accepted because of their sexuality and those of us that want to be judged and accepted based on our brains and work ethics. Yes I am a woman and love celebrating that, however in business I lead with my ability to do a great job. If like Amber I posted weekly videos of me twerking and licking the faces of other women, then it wouldn’t necessarily be the public’s fault to assume that my sexuality was my most prized possession, after all its what I would be handing them to assess.
Amber’s beliefs are an internal contradiction as well, with her book defining a “bad bitch” as “a self-respecting, strong female who has everything together. This consists of body, mind, finances, and attitude; a woman who gets her way by any means necessary,” yet Amber’s actions certainly don’t support this definition in its entirety. The argument can be made that showing every bit of your body as often as possibly doesn’t necessarily mean one doesn’t possesses self respect, but self-respect requires authenticity at the very minimum. For Amber Rose to consistently lead with her sexuality, yet call a foul when she is judged by her actions is not authentic. Respect meets us where we are, so if Amber is really about that life and as her bikini top reads, “SLUT; only when I want to be,” then she should have no problem owning the term. One cannot be a proud slut Monday through Thursday and then become indignant when the masses assume you will carry the title throughout the weekend.
If the slut shaming walk is a publicity stunt, then I commend Amber on yet another way to get the public’s attention. If, on the other hand, she is truly offended by the feedback she receives from the public and wants to help other women combat that, instead of walking she would get better results by cutting back on the twerking, putting on some clothes and introducing us to her beautiful mind.
