Say what you want about Amber Rose, but she has found a way to keep her name in the media. If she isn’t breaking-up-to-make-up with Wiz Khalifa, she is shutting down Kanye West on Twitter. If she isn’t deflecting the slut shaming that comes her way, then she is having a city wide slut walk. Say what you will: Amber Rose has kept her life happening as a B-List celebrity. And it seems that she won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
In recent history, Amber Rose appeared on the Tyrese and Rev. Run hosted show “It’s Not You, Its Men”. She appeared on the show for promotional reasons. Within the interview, there are some topics that came up: how she is perceived and the point behind the Slut Walk. She gets into the meaning of the Slut Walk and gave the reasoning behind it. And then, that is when things got interesting.
Amber Rose, in all actuality, had to address the situation of when “No means No”. She clearly states:
If I’m laying down with a man — butt-naked — and his condom is on, and I say, ‘You know what? No. I don’t want to do this. I changed my mind,’ that means no. That means f-ing no. That’s it… It doesn’t matter how far I take it or what I have on, when I say no, it means no.
Right after that, Rev. Run gave the classic adage that many people follow: “dress how you want to be addressed” to some applause from the crowd. Rose quickly dismantled that nobly sexist idea by reiterating that a person’s outfit does not mean she is DTF (down to fuck) or that they should be mistreated in any way. In short, Amber Rose spent a lot of time explaining to Tyrese and Rev. Run why she believes certain behaviors are not okay.
And you know what? She is absolutely right.
Why Amber Rose is Correct
Amber Rose is correct for the simple fact that she is addressing the pervasive rape culture mentality that has hampered people regardless of race, creed, or gender. And this ideology – that women are not in full ownership of their bodies – is part of the problem. Women don’t owe it to anyone to actually “look appropriate” unless we are talking about professionalism for a job. Their outfit and their wardrobe is not some sort of categorical flaw that should be assessed on the respect that you have for them, either. All this leads to is mistreatment of women because they don’t do what is expected of them. And that’s foolishness.
And yes, they are looking sad. Successful. Yet sad.
What is even sadder is that Tyrese and Rev. Run – two black men – would even condone to such beliefs. The same mentality that many men put on women is the same respectability politics laden mentality that Black men face on a daily basis. This falls right in line with expecting men to “pull up their pants” and “not wear hoodies” so they won’t face any drama. No Black man should condone behavior of respectability politics. Survival tactics that doesn’t assure survival isn’t a survival tactic at all; it is cow-towing to those that don’t care about our survival anyway.
Amber Rose Epilogue
Amber Rose, regardless of her outfits and even her actions, should be treated like a human being. That is not only fair but it is also her right. Condoning the ideals of chaste femininity is nothing more than respectability politics under rape culture. As a people, we need to stop making people responsible for things they are not responsible for. Also, we have to agree that people are in ownership of their own bodies. Kudos to Amber Rose for taking a stand for equal treatment and fairness.
Maybe she is more than a B-List celebrity. I can’t wait to see what else she comes up with.