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July 2020

Posted on July 24, 2020

Proving my femininity

Body Confidence

proving my femininity

If you’ve been following my Black Lives Matter journey on Instagram then you would know that I have made a number of contributions to the movement. Between publishing a blog about the importance of having healthy racial discourse and playing a part in the creation of the Black Irish Lives issue for The Irish Times Magazine. I have not been shy about highlighting racial issues both within the Black community and outside of it.

One of my recent contributions to the wider conversation about Black Lives Matter puts a focus on black women specifically as sometimes I get the impression that the black female voice gets silenced more than others.

In my article for Rogue, titled ‘Proving my femininity: when will black female bodies be enough?’ I shed light on how I navigate body image concerns by tackling unrealistic beauty standards for black women.

Under the male gaze and societal views, black women tend to fall under two categories: we are either fetishised, sexualised and exotified or criticised for not being feminine. While I have been subjected to both, I focus on the latter in my guest post for Rogue as I touch on perceived femininity, body types, female body hair and more.

Rogue is an all female collective which publishes content for women within a subscription model. I personally feel that the team has created a safe space for women to talk about delicate issues which is why I felt comfortable starting this conversation on their platform.

For as little as €4/month you can access all articles on Rogue and expect four new pieces to your inbox every Sunday. 

To read ‘Proving my femininity: when will black female bodies be enough?’ be sure to subscribe to Rogue 🙂

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    Tags: body, bodies, black, confidence, image
Posted on July 22, 2020

Black Irish Lives: The Irish Times Magazine

lifestyle

black irish lives

The first Sunday of July 2020 will always be one to remember because on that very morning I drove down to my local newsagent to pick up a copy of a special edition of The Irish Times.

Not only was I excited to get my hands on an issue that centres on black writers, black voices and the black community within Irish society. But I also wanted to bear the fruits of labour.

In the weeks prior to the release of the ‘Black Irish Lives’ issue of The Irish Times Magazine, I had spent a good bit of time interviewing talented black people in Ireland for the ‘People to Watch’ segment of the issue.

Working alongside RTÉ presenter Zainab Boladale for the shared byline, I got the opportunity to discover amazing black talent in a variety of industries. From music artists to gastronomy lovers, the black talent in Ireland really has no bounds.

Among many others, I interviewed European junior champion, Gina-Akpe Moses and discovered that she has her eye on winning Olympic medals in the future as well as Drogheda-based drill rapper, Offica, who is not green to creating hit singles.

Working on a project that positively highlights how well the black community has integrated within the Irish society brought me great joy. It was an absolute honour to take part in something so monumental in Irish history and I enjoyed every second of amplifying incredible black talent!

A massive thank you to Rachel Collins and Emma Dabiri for creating the Black Irish Lives issue of The Irish Times and if you didn’t manage to nab yourself a copy, you can have a read of the ‘People to Watch’ segment here.

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