Late last week, a friend posted a link to an article entitled “White Women Do It, Too: 8 Things Black Women Can’t Get Away With,” on her Facebook page. Initially I wrote it off as another article that purports to speak to some sort of glaring racial inequality when it is really inventing and then reinforcing the damaging social stigmas and stereotypes they claim to loathe. That was until the comments on the article blew up almost immediately, jumping to well over a hundred in less than 30 minutes. After that, I figured it might be worth a read.

On the list were items like, “Walking around straight-faced,” “Speaking in a baby voice,” and “Getting a nose job.” None of those things would I agree carry any negative stigma with anyone except black women. If that was the entirety of the list, I could have left it there and been satisfied with my mystic powers of prediction. However, other items on the list included having sex on the first date, getting knocked up, and leaking a sex tape. From those three points, it was clear to me that LaShaun Williams wrote this piece as Jerome Nichols bait and well she hooked me.