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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

On Boobquake

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Apr 27 2010, 2:00 PM ET Comment

From Beth Mann:

...it seems to be turning into something else, with many men chiming in, with their "show us your tits" camera-ready attitude. Women on parade again ... sigh. Since when did we "stick it to the man" by wearing low-cut shirts or short shorts? When women burned bras back in the day, there was a statement there, full of boldness and righteous anger. This type of happening feels like feminism lite, "cute" feminism or "male-friendly" feminism.

Aside from the unfortunate endorsement of the bra-burning myth, I think this gets it about right. I'm reminded of Lil Kim claiming that she was somehow claiming female power. Or perhaps more natively, Freddro Starr claiming he was "America's nightmare--young black and just don't give a fuck." I get the impulse but probably not. 

Anyway, in recognition of how unsophisticated I am, when I heard about all of this, all I could think about was Duff.



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