Carefree Black Girls

Carefree Black Girls by Zeba Blay is a collection of powerful essays that move from popular culture to history and from the public to the personal.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading. The subtitle, A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture led me to think I might be reading about several celebrities and their impacts on their field of art and on society as a whole. I was wrong, or at least partially wrong. This is less a critique or overview of Black women in popular culture than it is a critique of the society and the various industries (music, film, TV mostly) that impose limitations and how at the various periods Black women have pushed against those limitations. Ultimately, it is a personal journey using show more popular culture as a springboard to discuss white supremacy, misogyny, and the many ways these are supported by presentations of Black women. It is also very much about these women taking more control and putting more images and messages out there that support each other rather than white supremacy.

While I am not the target readership, there is much an old mostly white man can learn here. This book is not meant to educate people like me, but that doesn't mean I can't learn a lot. In other words, the task is mine to actively learn, understand as best I can, and decide what actions I can take to make this a better world. The sharing that Blay offers serves as a catalyst for my improvement, not a textbook to simply learn a perspective.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who knows that this society and culture is based on white supremacy but might not know the many subtle ways that popular culture can enforce it. And, importantly, how it can offer alternatives to it.

I almost forgot to mention an aspect of the book that really is appealing to me. The references section includes the articles, songs, names, etc that Blay mentions in the book. With so much material being readily available online, this is a treasure trove of interesting material which, coupled with Blay's commentary in the body of the book, makes for some wonderful deeper exploration of the topics and issues.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Title: Carefree Black Girls A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture
Author: Zeba Blay
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:
"Carefree Black Girls A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture" by Zeba Blay

My Opinion:

This author gives the reader a beautiful collection of essays that will leave you to ponder over long after the read. The author hits it when giving us a good explanation of what pressure and what it's like to have a black body and see how our world sees all of the expectations that have been set on them in our society and pop culture... Now, why is that?
This novel gives the reader input on 'subjects such as racism, colorism, fatphobia, mental health, sexuality and what it means to be show more a black girl.' It was engaging learning about this author's persona regarding her own experiences, thoughts, and how well they relate to the subjects so well in an honest way. For it is essential that this type of information is put out there to be shared.

Be ready for a well-written read that shares a 'reference section that includes articles, songs, and names that the author presents in the read along with her commentary that will give one a deeper exploration of topics and issues' that is fascinating and a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! show less

In 2013, Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term “carefreeblackgirls” on Twitter. It was, as she says, “a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for black women online.”

Carefree Black Girls is an honest journey of a black girl from depression to self-acceptance through her essays on popular culture. She reviews how culture forms how people view themselves. This is especially true for the author as a Black female. She describes the difficulty with accepting and feeling safe in her black body under the sense of judgment and safety. Young black people are often commenting on each other negatively through social media and rappers as well as the role of black women in television and movies. She show more refers to the history and culture of growing up as a black woman. She explores how depression can result from all the expectations can have devastating results. Therapy and support are important for creating a supportive environment for the concept of being a carefree black girl. show less

Book Stats
Stars: 3.5 Stars
Start Date : 02/7/24
Ending Date: 02/11/24
Genre: Non-Fiction Essays about Race, Feminism etc
Form: Digital E-Arc/ Audiobook
Page Count: 240
Publishing Date: 10/19/21
Point of View: Collection of Essays

My Blog:https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2024/02/11/carefree-black-girls-by-zeba-blay/

StoryGraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/ee092c7a-a313-456e-a034-20b56b4f469f

In my backlog of Netgalley arcs that I never got a chance to read and review but since it's Black History Month ,Why Not?

Carefree Black Girls is a collection of essays written on topics of race, colorism, mental health, girlhood, problematic faves, and everything else in between for the Black Woman and Black Girl in today's society. Zeba Blay, show more having written about pop culture for many years( which she was the first one to be credited with the term Carefree Black Girls) looks through the lens of her own experiences growing up a black woman as well as other black women who are a part of Black Culture/ Black Excellence.

There are Eight Essays along with an Introduction which I'm going to rate individually so I can get a collective rating.

Introduction: 4.0 Stars- This was a solid introduction which the author told about her motivation about why she decided to write these essays.

Bodies: 3.0 Stars- This one was pretty much about Lizzo , fatphobia and fake body positivity in today's society. How black female bodies who are more curvier are treated compared to bodies that are slimer. This was ok for the most because I am a big girl myself so I relate but for some reason this essay went on too long. Like the first part was about Lizzo and towards the end it felt like a little bit of a tangent which I felt a lot of essays as I listened tended to do.

She's a Freak: 3.0 Stars- Honestly this one really could have been good if it didn't feel like a tangent again towards the end. This was about the sexualization of black women of young age which she talked about Megan the Stallion and how she owns her sexuality. Also brief talks about the double standard of black woman sexuality and black male sexuality.

Man,This Shit is Draining.: 5.0 Stars- Talking about the work field and how it's draining to report on certain topics that the author does which she gets hate mail and racial slurs thrown at her. This one gets a 5 stars because that last part when she went on F- bomb laced rant telling these people what they can do, I felt that shit. lol

Extra Black:2.5 Stars- Talks about Colorism in Hollywood and how Black Skinned Actresses are more quicker to get roles than Dark Skinned Actresses. This one needed more research and felt like she skimmed over things that really could have hammered her message down more. She did briefly talk about Old Hollywood but I think she really could have used that to her advance. She could have really nailed it home on the fact that actresses like Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, because of their light skin didn't play the Maid/ Mammy roles compared to Hattie McDonald, Butterfly McQueen and others who were darker skinned. That while yes ,Lena and Dorothy were still discriminated against because they were black so they still couldn't get major roles, they still were in a better position than Hattie and Butterfly. She just skimmed over it briefly but she did mention that Lena didn't get a role that later a white actress did get because she would be the love interest of White Male Co-Star. Like Come on this is Old Hollywood during the Jim Crow Laws. We knew that was not going to fly. Thank God for Virginia Vs. Loving...

Cardi B is So Problematic: 1.0 Star- I don't think I needed a whole freaking essay about Cardi B and Problematic things she has done and said. Also dealing with her beef with Nicki Minaj. This should have been left on the cutting room floor. With Lizzo, I understood since we were talking about Body Positivity. With Cardi it just felt like it had no sense of direction. Do we want to talk about Transphobia in the Black Community which needs to be talked about for real? Do you want to talk about Racism? Do we want to talk about Allyship and what to do to help the Black LBGTQ Community? Do we just want to go on a tangent about Cardi for 45 mins and just tack on Transphobia, Racism, Allyship in there somewhere? Because I didn't need this one at all. She could have just done an essay about trying to be an Black Woman Ally or done research about the Ball Culture and its impact on the Black Queer Community.

GirlHood:2.5 Stars- This felt all over the place which I was trying to figure out the correlations with Girlhood but I did like the fact of her being a Spice Girl Fan. The first part with her talking about growing up being a fan of Spice Girls and relating to Mel B is relatable to girlhood but the last part... I don't even know. I really thought it would be tied back into the She's a Freak Essay on how black girls get called "fast" or get sexualized because some girl bodies developed so quickly that sometimes they lose the innocence of girlhood. Like being 10 or 12 years old and because your body is developed a grown ass man is looking at you. I really thought she could have gone that route with it.

Strong Black Lead: 5.0 Stars- The Strongest of the essays for some reason. I enjoyed this one and how the author talked about her mental health.

Free of Cares: 4.0 Stars- This was a pretty good essay to end it and tie in the name of the Book.

Final Rating: 3.5 Stars

I just feel like with a lot of these essays, she really could have made her arguments stronger by getting examples from the past to back up her examples of the present. Yes ,I know she's in her 30's like me but most of these essays feel like a tangent or a rant and not a well thought out essay about a topic she's compelled to talk about. Honestly her best two Essays were the essays dealing with her personal experiences more than trying to link it with pop culture. Maybe she should have done a collection of essays more forcing on her experience being a black woman alone and just left the pop culture element out of it. show less

What a raw and real group of essays. This author put a soul out there for the world to see and examine. These stories pushed me and made me quiet my mind and listen, to open my ears and my heart to the story. I needed to see how it was for [a:Zeba Blay|19450144|Zeba Blay|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1632333037p2/19450144.jpg] wihtout enjecting my own story or my own thoughts into it. I found a lot of it moving & fascinating. I paused a few times to look up things I didn't know so I could have the images or the feel of it to understand. I think it took a lot of courage for this author to put this out there, and I appreciated it.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect show more my opinion regarding the book. show less