Women

By Thembisa S. Mshaka Patriarchy is an attention whore. When men raping and sexually assaulting women is the topic, the survivors are routinely relegated to the shadows, and the men wind up in the spotlight. Whether we see the actual perpetrators, or the men (and the women who love them) rush to defend them, the conversation is diverted to the perp’s well-being. The impact of being accused on them. Their careers. Their families’ rights to privacy and respect. And once the coddling of the offender has been taken care of, the patriarchal gaze turns with condescension to the women who survived....

07 February, 2020 /

So the Grammys happened this past Sunday. In keeping with my theory that 2010 is the Year of the Woman in Entertainment, the ladies represented. It was wonderful to see Roberta Flack duet with Maxwell and to see Stevie Nicks, even if she was relegated to tambourine and backing vocals with Taylor Swift. Lady Gaga served a brilliant performance, holding more than her own solo and with Elton John. Sasha Fierce and her all-woman band delivered a frenetic display of Sasha’s incomparable vocal skill and unmatched movement capability in 5-inch stilettos as she took “If I Were A Boy” to...

03 February, 2010 /

[caption id="attachment_61" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Breakfast of champions of rap"][/caption] Pulling out some of my photos from the '90s, from a time I am so blessed to have lived and worked in; a decade that gave us hip-hop's golden era. I found the photos of BIG in this note, and reconnected to a time when hip-hop had purpose; had a sense of humor; had much more respect for its women (and indeed a chorus of female voices to boot); had a hunger for innovation that eclipsed its need for shine. Hip-hop's commitment to being dope is what turned the spotlight on her...

21 May, 2009 /

So my new favorite Sunday show, The United States of Tara comes to a close this weekend. In a nutshell (pardon the pun) Toni Collette deftly dances between her central character, named Tara, and that woman’s other personalities, or ‘alters’: T, a petulant, hypersexed teenager; Alice, a prudish but alluring homemaker cut from Donna Reed’s cloth; Buck, her male alter who lives at the intersection of trailer trash biker and delusional Vietnam vet. And then: there’s Gimme, the feral child, an alter that screeches, cowers, destroys and even pees on sleeping relatives in the middle of the night. The show has led me...

04 April, 2009 /

BOTH LISA CORTES AND MO'NIQUE ARE FEATURED IN PUT YOUR DREAMS FIRST! CONGRATULATIONS, LISA CORTES AND MO'NIQUE! What an inspiration you both are! These ladies swept the Sundance Film Festival as Executive Producer and outstanding actor respectively in PUSH. The film adaptation of Sapphire's searing novel captured The Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Prize in addition to the Special Jury Prize for Acting, awarded to Mo'Nique for her nightmarish portrayal of Mary, the lead character Clareece's abusive mother. http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/ push_based_on_the_novel_by_sapphire Both Lisa and Mo'Nique were generous enough to share their trials, triumphs and secrets to career fulfillment in my soon-to-be-released career guide for those who...

27 January, 2009 /

Hear their lively exchange about Obama, the Black electorate, fatherhood and Put Your Dreams First on PoliticsRemixed.com here:  ' >PoliticsRemixed.com with Sai Browne After you listen, feed back. What do you think Obama's most lasting impact will be on communities of color? Comment and let me know!...

27 January, 2009 /

By Thembisa S. Mshaka You may know my byline as a journalist for the original Honey, essence.com, and as editors for GAVIN, BLAZE, and TheHotness.com. If not, hopefully you will get to know me as the author of Put Your Dreams First: Handle Your [entertainment] Business--a comprehensive guide to entertainment careers from women's points of view. As a journalist-turned-author who was reluctant to blog, I had every intention of doing a nice blog intro. That was until I saw the story that broke the camel's back on female rappers going to jail. I'm new at the image uploading and all that so bear with the layout...

03 September, 2008 /