- Roxane gay will smith was being skin#
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Roxane gay will smith was being skin#
Thick skin was also on display at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards, when the director Jane Campion made the bizarre claim that the tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams “do not play against the guys, like I have to.” Whatever led to that strange, unnecessary and incorrect claim (Ms. Judge Jackson was applauded in many circles for her calm and composure. During Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, that distinguished jurist endured all manner of insult, racism and misogyny from Republican senators asking ludicrous questions that were really opportunities for grandstanding. We also witnessed an example, last week, of a woman forced to wear incredibly thick skin as she was left largely undefended. And what gets lost in the discourse is that, however disappointing the incident was, it was also a rare moment when a Black woman was publicly defended. Unfortunately, the incident has become something of a Rorschach test onto which people project their backgrounds, opinions and affinities. Rock’s trying to maintain his composure in the immediate aftermath of being a target of violence. Pinkett Smith’s exhaustion with being a target of humor, Mr. I am trying to hold space for all of those layers - Ms. Smith might not have been able to take that joke, at his wife’s expense, given the layers of context and public and private histories leading into that evening. Rock’s gibe was not in any way the same thing as domestic violence, but I can see how Mr. In his memoir, “Will ,” the actor writes about the guilt he felt because, as a child, he could not protect his mother from his father’s abuse. Smith most likely saw his wife’s pain, and it’s possible he was himself experiencing a moment of fragility, of thin skin. Rock and the world on Monday evening via Instagram. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opened an inquiry into the incident Monday afternoon, and Mr. Smith could have made so many better choices that did not involve putting his hands on another person in front of the entire world. Violence is always wrong and solves very little. Even if later, long after these public shamings, their treatment is re-examined and condemned, the measly acts of public contrition are too little, too late.
Famous women such as Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes, Janet Jackson, Monica Lewinsky and Meghan Markle have been pushed to the edge by such scrutiny and the unreasonable expectation that they thicken their skin to derision, disrespect, insults and jokes. Pinkett Smith has spoken openly about her struggles with hair loss - which is difficult for anyone but especially hard in the sexist and image-conscious world of American celebrity, where women, especially, endure an endless litany of comments about their appearance, their sartorial choices, their relationships and anything else people can find to pick apart. He has reportedly said he did not know about her alopecia, but he probably at least knew that the joke would sting, since he produced the documentary “Good Hair,” about Black women and their often fraught relationships with their hair. Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a condition resulting in hair loss that disproportionately affects Black women. Pinkett Smith’s husband, Will Smith, laughed, but she rolled her eyes, and her face fell. Jane 2 ,’ can’t wait to see it.” The audience, including Ms. And we won’t know we’ve been wronged or wounded until it’s too late.ĭuring the 2022 Oscars telecast, the comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s closely shorn hair. If our skin gets too thick, we won’t feel anything at all, which is the most unreasonable of expectations. In some situations, yes, we’re humorless. Because sometimes, people can’t take a joke. I’ve stopped aspiring to be thicker-skinned, and I no longer expect or admire it in others. If you can’t laugh along, you are humorless. We often see this when comedians want to joke about race, sexual assault, gender violence or other issues that people experiencing them don’t find terribly funny.
Roxane gay will smith was being free#
There is a strange idea that there is nobility in tolerating or, better yet, enjoying humor that attacks who you are, what you do or how you look - that with free speech comes the obligation to turn the other cheek, rise above, laugh it all off. But it should be obvious that the targets of jokes and insults have every right to react and respond.
Roxane gay will smith was being license#
Long live creative license and free speech. It should go without saying that comedians are free to say what they please.
Done less well, it leaves its targets feeling raw, exposed and wounded - not mortally, but wounded. It can force us to look in the mirror and get honest with ourselves, to laugh and move forward. Done well, comedy can offer witty, biting observations about human frailties. Thick skin comes up often in the context of comedy.