A Look at Sukihana the Goat.
“To me, the black woman is our essential mother, the blacker she is the more us she is and to see the hatred that is turned on her is enough to make me despair, almost entirely, of our future as a people..” Alice Walker
It’s been quite a summer for rapper Sukihana, who had her fair share of newsworthy moments all in the short span of two months. In June Sukihana was forcibly kissed by rapper YK Osiris publicly as a panel of men watched. Later that month the issue of consent came up again when a group of fans initiated a sexual act with her during her concert. This week, she capped off the controversy when she shouted out sexual obscenities outside of England’s Buckingham Palace.
More shocking than the events themselves though are the complicated and nuanced conversations that have arisen from her incidents with everything from consent and rape culture to respectability politics being brought to the gladiator stage of social media. Before we get on our phones and begin using our Twitter fingers though, here are three things we need to get from her stories.
In the days following Suki’s encounter with YK Osiris, she shared on her Twitter that she often uses laughter to hide her nervousness with an industry of men who often feel entitled to approach whomever they choose, often confusing a public persona with a person’s personality.
Her public admission that she felt scared to advocate for herself in addition to her saying she was hurt by his actions should bring home the central point that she was a victim of unwanted advances. Point blank.
Women are often targets of men’s sexual fantasies and entitled energy and in Suki’s case, men often feel as if her openness entitles them to her space. Instead of people focusing on her persona, they should instead focus on the fact that she’s human and not an object to be consumed at will.
As I evolve as a man, my limited perspective of sexual freedom for women has changed and grown as I reflect on my own hypocrisy. With that said, while I’m all for women expressing their sexuality, I do think advocating for restraint in public settings isn’t policing women or upholding white supremacy. Sometimes we lean so heavily on academic talk that we get away from the heart of the issues which is that our private actions and thoughts have a place. It’s just not always in public settings where others’ sense of freedom can be infringed upon.
Suki With The Good Coochie on Instagram: “I was tryna be classy but business class is good enough Cause suki international now😭🥹🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧💚💚💚💚”
July 17, 2023
In short, I’m not trying to be white telling you not to scream obscenities publicly or asking you to refrain from showing parts of your body publicly. I’m all for you expressing yourself, but even freedom has limitations.
Just this year, a male podcast host, DJAone, reinforced this point when he took it upon himself to tell Suki about sexual acts he wanted to do to her when it was clear to viewers she was uncomfortable. Sexuality has a place, but the freedom to say things isn’t enough to justify how they may make others feel.
It’s interesting how much of the conversation around Sukihana is rooted in racism and colorism. Suki’s open with her sexuality, she’s victimized, and the first place a lot of folks go towards is saying her looks exclude her from being a victim.
The Shade Room on Instagram: ”#TSRClapbackSeason: #Sukihana claps back at a commenter who had something to say about her appearance.”July 16, 2023
The fact Suki felt she had to explain that she’s attractive to men recently plays into my belief that deep down people don’t feel as if you can be a victim if you don’t fit their idea of beauty.
More so, they equate “nonconventional beauties” with promiscuity because in their minds sex is the only thing they could offer men.
Beneath people’s I’m just saying are a slew of hidden biases that need to be unpacked. A lot of black men don’t see darker-skinned women as attractive and they can’t have compassion for women they don’t find attractive because they secretly hate women. They don’t truly love black women if they don’t conform to their ideas of beauty and conventionality which influences them to project their views onto others. Until we can address how we view each other, we will always miss the major issues and go for the lowest-hanging fruits.
In short, Sukihana deserves the basic compassion any human should receive. We don’t have to agree with all of our actions, but when we see her being attacked and treated unfairly we should separate our feelings towards other actions and focus on the injustice at hand. Straight up.
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