Some within the music trade had been unsurprised when the allegations concerning the DJ Tim Westwood came to light last week. There had lengthy been tales recounted by Black ladies of his alleged abuse of energy – rumours that circulated amongst buddies in Black nightlife and the music trade. An investigation by the BBC and the Guardian particulars the accounts of a number of Black ladies, some youngsters on the time – of alleged predatory behaviour and groping on the a part of the veteran DJ. Some declare to have been groped at his exhibits, whereas others keep that they had been enticed to a flat on the promise {of professional} steering, solely to be abused.
In 2020, a Twitter account was created, named Surviving Tim Westwood and a hashtag of the identical identify began to pattern. Then the account disappeared, maybe because of Westwood’s authorized staff, as he has denied all of the allegations. Nonetheless it was additionally presumably indicative of a deep-seated reality: that Black ladies’s voices are sometimes silenced. This is only one instance of how misogynoir, the time period used to explain misogyny particularly directed at Black ladies, could have aided and abetted Westwood in avoiding accountability till now.
Westwood was a deified figure within Black music – beloved by party-goers in addition to trade gatekeepers. Many individuals, particularly Black males, credit score him with giving hip-hop and rap music that will in any other case have been relegated to the underground a mainstream platform. What’s telling about that argument is how Westwood’s negligible affect in a tradition that’s far larger than him is handled as extra necessary than the allegations made by Black ladies. So, whereas the highly effective, predominantly white, trade executives who continued to make use of him as these allegations swirled ought to be held accountable, there may be clearly an intraracial gender problem right here, too – specifically that Black ladies’s tales had been diminished so as to justify Westwood’s standing in Black tradition general.
Colourism performs a component too. Magnificence requirements exalt lily-white or racially ambiguous ladies – so it could nicely have appeared unattainable to many {that a} highly effective man resembling Westwood may want these dark-skinned ladies. Maybe it was the presumed undesirability of dark-skinned ladies that allowed him to allegedly pursue them in a covert method, with out alarm bells ringing. In the meantime, the fetishisation and hypersexualisation of Black ladies flourished on his exhibits – because it does elsewhere in a tradition through which the mere expression of our sexuality is seen as an invite. In 2016, Cardi B was a visitor on his YouTube channel, TimWestoodTV. When she requested “do you’ve intercourse with loads of Black ladies?” he responded “not as a lot as I’d wish to … however we may rectify that”.
Whereas #MeToo and #Time’sUp felt like moments of actual accountability for lecherous males, the actions felt whitewashed. In the meantime Tarana Burke’s decades-long work with survivors of sexual abuse, throughout which she originated the phrase Me Too, went uncredited.
It’s troublesome to inform whether or not there was substantial change throughout the music trade. Regardless of confidential conversations amongst ourselves, ladies are nonetheless reluctant to talk out concerning the sexual inappropriateness they’ve confronted, not just for worry of not being believed, however for his or her jobs. On the uncommon events that they do report their accounts, non-disclosure agreements can further silence them. That is what makes the recorded testimonies of those Black ladies so profound; the hope is that they may break by the wall of silence that protects alleged abusers throughout the music trade.
The constraints that #MeToo uncovered probably led to a greater understanding of the complexity of points that have an effect on Black ladies – and it actually feels as if there are extra light-skinned and white individuals who need to be higher allies. However it’s crucial that ladies of all races and shades band collectively as a result of the hypervisibility of dark-skinned Black ladies, of whom there are so few in public life, leaves them notably uncovered to racism and misogyny.
Black musicians are starting to seek out their voice in tackling this. Not too long ago the singer Ari Lennox was requested “is somebody fucking you good proper now?” by a South African radio broadcaster. She visibly recoiled and requested: “Why ask it in that means?” Prior to now, a Black girl may need felt the necessity to parry this sort of query the best way Cardi B did with Westwood, however, by reacting in the best way that she did, Lennox was in a position to set an instance that our boundaries are to be revered.
Malcolm X as soon as stated: “Essentially the most disrespected girl in America is the Black girl.” That is nonetheless relevant now, and past America. It’s promising that Westwood has stepped down from his slot at Capital Xtra till additional discover, however there may be nonetheless a protracted method to go. By “shield Black ladies”, we imply shield us all – not simply those we’re taught to imagine are deserving.
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Michelle Kambasha works within the music trade