A review by dvdpcp
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down by Joan Morgan

2.0

This was a tough one. Obviously it’s not for me so I was trying to treat it as a conversation I’m overhearing and just listen respectfully which ultimately I did, but there was so much that I just didn’t like, so much internalized misogyny I think clearly again I’m not the intended audience so grain of salt but I think I was also imagining this book was so long ago which it was but then they started talking about Lemonade which was a while ago but not crazy like I was thinking. The conversation at the end for the 18th year was better but still seemed steeped in respectability politics a little. There were so many things she pointed out that “feminists” have to contend with that just were not contradictory to me, and there was so much stuff about gender I just did not agree with. And things that felt wrong, like when she doesn’t want gender equality bc she likes chivalry, not acknowledging the possibility that men could treat women well out of love and respect not prescribed roles that hinge on sexual favors and layered reciprocity. I respect that this book was so important to so many people I unfortunately think I was not one of them and I read it too late in my education to appreciate it fully. I’m curious about her new work centering pleasure politics and what that looks like.