“We recognize that pleasure is an experience of freedom and also a measure of it.”
This is our newsletter-first column, Microtones. It runs on the site on Fridays, but you can get it in your inbox on Thursdays by signing up for our email newsletter.
Happy Black History Month! This month I am leaning into Black joy in the face of more police violence and continued violence against Black communities. For me, Black History Month isn’t only about learning about the horrors that Black people have survived or the ways we have continually fought for freedom in the United States. It’s also about recognizing the role of Black joy and Black pleasure in our survival.
Black joy shows up in our culture through things like music, dance, art, and fashion. Black joy shows up on Black Twitter as we crack jokes, create memes and trends, and share images of our successes and happiness. Black joy shows up historically in the creation of communal traditions like jumping the broom or singing songs during protest marches. Black joy is essential to Black liberation.
Over the past two years with my Pleasure Practices column I’ve introduced many ways for you, my dear readers, to practice pleasure in your life and sometimes also to bring pleasure to your loved ones (see last year’s February column for example). A critical aspect of pleasure activism is that the work starts with the individual but must always go beyond our own lives to truly create change. You can make all the bacon sandwiches you want, kayak every day of the summer, put glitter on everything you own, but to truly invest in the work of pleasure activism, we have to be invested in the pleasure and joy of others, especially marginalized people.
So, if you’re a Black person, lean into your pleasure practices hard this month. Say no to things you don’t want to do. Demand space in your life for Black joy in whatever forms speak to you the most: food, music, art, movement, nature, travel—whatever evokes that deep bodily enthusiastic yes in your bodymind, do it. And do it knowing that this work is not separate from or in opposition to your work to resist anti-Blackness in this country.
If you’re not a Black person, this month’s pleasure practice is to actively support and facilitate Black joy. This could mean offering your skills, care, support and/or resources to a Black person you love (please don’t approach strangers, colleagues or acquaintances! Only people you have a real sustained relationship with) without expectation, in the hopes that it brings them joy. This could also mean attending or otherwise supporting Black History Month events around town, listening to or watching media that represents Black joy rather than Black trauma and death, signal-boosting representations of Black joy on social media or donating to local Black led organizations like Freedom Inc, Urban Triage, Harambee Village, or the Rape Crisis Center (which works with all people, but is led by an incredible Black queer woman).
Pleasure activism is an intentional sustained practice of investing in and learning from our individual pleasure. But pleasure activism also means working to deeply understand that pleasure—who has more and less access to it, whose pleasure is more likely to be policed, criminalized or shamed—is political. Politics must be at the heart of the work. Pleasure activists bring pleasure to our lives and the lives of our loved ones, but we also bring it to political organizing and movement work. We recognize that pleasure is an experience of freedom and also a measure of it. So this month, I encourage you to celebrate Black joy in the ways that make sense for you and your positions in the world because badass bitches know that pleasure is a path to liberation for all. Onward. xo
