Some in the music market were unsurprised when the allegations about the DJ Tim Westwood came to light final week. There experienced extensive been stories recounted by Black girls of his alleged abuse of energy – rumours that circulated amid pals in Black nightlife and the new music business. An investigation by the BBC and the Guardian specifics the accounts of several Black ladies, some teenagers at the time – of alleged predatory conduct and groping on the component of the veteran DJ. Some declare to have been groped at his exhibits, when other individuals maintain that they have been enticed to a flat on the assure of professional direction, only to be abused.
In 2020, a Twitter account was created, named Surviving Tim Westwood and a hashtag of the very same title began to development. Then the account disappeared, potentially because of to Westwood’s legal group, as he has denied all the allegations. Nevertheless it was also probably indicative of a deep-seated fact: that Black women’s voices are usually silenced. This is just one particular instance of how misogynoir, the time period employed to describe misogyny especially directed at Black girls, might have aided and abetted Westwood in keeping away from accountability right up until now.
Westwood was a deified determine in Black songs – beloved by party-goers as very well as field gatekeepers. Lots of men and women, particularly Black adult males, credit score him with providing hip-hop and rap music that would normally have been relegated to the underground a mainstream system. What is telling about that argument is how Westwood’s negligible impact in a lifestyle that is significantly even bigger than him is dealt with as more crucial than the allegations made by Black females. So, even though the effective, predominantly white, industry executives who ongoing to employ him as people allegations swirled should really be held accountable, there is plainly an intraracial gender challenge in this article, too – namely that Black women’s tales were diminished in buy to justify Westwood’s standing in Black lifestyle overall.
Colourism performs a aspect too. Attractiveness requirements exalt lily-white or racially ambiguous women – so it might very well have appeared difficult to several that a highly effective gentleman these kinds of as Westwood could desire these dim-skinned girls. Possibly it was the presumed undesirability of dark-skinned women that authorized him to allegedly pursue them in a covert way, with out alarm bells ringing. Meanwhile, the fetishisation and hypersexualisation of Black women of all ages flourished on his reveals – as it does elsewhere in a lifestyle in which the mere expression of our sexuality is witnessed as an invitation. In 2016, Cardi B was a visitor on his YouTube channel, TimWestoodTV. When she questioned “do you have sex with a whole lot of Black women of all ages?” he responded “not as much as I’d like to … but we could rectify that”.
When #MeToo and #Time’sUp felt like times of genuine accountability for lecherous men, the movements felt whitewashed. Meanwhile Tarana Burke’s a long time-lengthy perform with survivors of sexual abuse, in the course of which she originated the phrase Me Also, went uncredited.
It is complicated to convey to irrespective of whether there has been sizeable alter inside the new music marketplace. In spite of private conversations amongst ourselves, girls are however hesitant to talk out about the sexual inappropriateness they’ve confronted, not only for fear of not being believed, but for their work. On the exceptional instances that they do report their accounts, non-disclosure agreements can further silence them. This is what helps make the recorded testimonies of these Black females so profound the hope is that they will split by way of the wall of silence that shields alleged abusers inside of the new music market.
The restrictions that #MeToo exposed probably led to a much better understanding of the complexity of troubles that have an effect on Black gals – and it surely feels as if there are a lot more mild-skinned and white people who want to be greater allies. But it is very important that women of all races and shades band collectively mainly because the hypervisibility of dark-skinned Black girls, of whom there are so few in general public everyday living, leaves them specially exposed to racism and misogyny.
Black musicians are starting to come across their voice in tackling this. Lately the singer Ari Lennox was requested “is a person fucking you great right now?” by a South African radio broadcaster. She visibly recoiled and questioned: “Why request it in that way?” In the earlier, a Black female could possibly have felt the want to parry this kind of issue the way Cardi B did with Westwood, but, by reacting in the way that she did, Lennox was equipped to established an instance that our boundaries are to be respected.
Malcolm X once said: “The most disrespected female in The united states is the Black lady.” This is nevertheless relevant now, and beyond America. It is promising that Westwood has stepped down from his slot at Funds Xtra until eventually additional detect, but there is still a very long way to go. By “protect Black women”, we indicate defend us all – not just the kinds we’re taught to believe are deserving.
