White Ratchet Girls: An Intersectional Analysis of Representational Resistance and Domination

• In Event: 324 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Race, Gender, and Class Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. RGC and Media Representations

Abstract

If you had a pulse in 2013 you probably remember Miley Cyrus and her infamous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. Following this performance there was a rupture of discourse in popular culture as to the implications of this performance. While mainstream media argued that this was another pop stars fall from grace, others- those who watch the music and styles emerging from low-income black communities- saw this as the mainstreaming of an underground music scene known as “ratchet;” a scene at the height of its appropriation by young white hipsters, i.e. Miley Cyrus.

In this paper I examine the music videos of the top three west coast ratchet girls, Brooke Candy, Kreyshawn, and Lil’ Debbie i.e. white ratchet girls. Taking an intersectional lens, I argue that these white ratchet girls are appropriating monolithic stereotypical representations of blackness to transgress and resist normative representations of white femininity and sexuality. I argue that through the appropriation of blackness as a metaphor for struggle, rebellion, and difference from whiteness, these girls subsequently reify blackness to be associated with “otherness." I argue that by appropriating and making claims to representations of blackness, these ratchet girls render invisible interlocking systems of oppression that produce marginalized standpoints. Lastly I argue that these girls are part of a long history of white appropriation blackness as costumes to be worn in efforts to transgress and rebel against the status quo, i.e. whiteness. This analysis is rooted in black feminist thought, critical race studies, and intersectional studies.

Author

• Annie Neimand, University of Florida