What I saw in Cyrus’ performance was not just a clueless, culturally insensitive attempt to assert her sexuality or a simple act of cultural appropriation at the expense of black bodies. There is no reason for me to assume this pattern of behavior is a compliment. I phenotypically exist in a space where I am not usually offensive-looking enough to have it be an issue for my mobility, but neither am I a threat to anyone’s beauty market. In discussing the systemic mistreatment of Black women’s bodies, McMillan Cottom, a dark-skinned Black woman, referred to herself as unattractive, writing: ”I am not beautiful. The essay 'In The Name Of Beauty' begins as McMillan Cottom recalls a time she pissed everyone off: Back in 2013, when Miley Cyrus was sporting grills and twerking in teddy-bear costumes, she wrote an article for Slate about the pop star’s use of Black women in her infamous 2013 VMAs performance.

Despite all we know about the centuries-long racism built into Western models of beauty, it is both provocative and unsettling for a Black woman to publicly assert that she is unattractive. It’s a challenging opinion that took multiple reads and a lot of mental unpacking, but it ultimately affirmed my years-long refusal of the body positivity jargon being thrown at me. In one of the most incisive essays I’ve ever read, McMillan Cottom names beauty as one of these institutions. A throughline in all of her observations is the innate difficulty Black women experience in institutions that aren’t designed for them. Tressie McMillan Cottom explores a range of topics, from the failure of LinkedIn to the presumed incompetence of Black women as medical patients. In her collection of thought-provoking essays, Dr. In reality, they deny women like me a sense of vulnerability and honesty about the way society treats us. As much as these statements attempt to erase the beauty hierarchy, they acknowledge the capital in being beautiful - or at least believing you can be. As a size-16, Black woman, I always felt restricted by language of body positivity that constantly informed me that I was “curvy” not “fat,” “beautiful in my own way” and used other condescending courtesies meant to make me feel good about myself.

It’s hard not to roll your eyes at mainstream discussions about body image that only seem to occur at the hands of celebrities and companies vying for attention and profit. Before reading Thick: And Other Essays, I was looking for ways to articulate my body positivity burnout.

Thick tressie cottom