Published September 10, 2024

Content note: sexual assault, rape, racism, double standards, misogyny, misogynoir.

A man can sexually assault a woman, can rape a woman, can have sex for pleasure outside of marriage, can have sex with as many women as he wants, can pay for sex, can force himself on as many women as he wants, can brag about it, can use it as a way to demean women, and if he has means, if he has connections, if he has good lawyers, if he has swagger, if he’s good at faking his swagger, if he has the bare minimum it takes for the system and the court of public opinion to be stacked in his favor — or, at least, against women — his actions will barely slow him down, if at all. They might even help him.

If a woman is sexual in any way, if a woman of color is sexual, if a Black woman is sexual, if a mixed-race woman is sexual, if she dares to express her sexuality in ways white men in a white man’s world might not approve of or benefit from, well, do I even need to say more?

Image by Kolonko via iStock.