Seriously? Hoteps Be Gone

This woman’s sleek side-eye is perfection. Photo courtesy of Henri Meilhac via stocksnap.io

Things you should know before you begin reading this post:

Back in December, an article was brought to my attention by an author friend. After reading it, I laughed while simultaneously rolling my eyes at the ignorance on my screen. Upon some discussion with my editor, it was decided that it was okay for me to respond. You see, my first inclination was to bring out a can of virtual whoop ass, but I must remain professional. curtsey 

Had the blogger approached me in a cordial manner and asked why I choose to pen Interracial Erotica/Erotic Romance, I would have been more than happy to field his questioning, but from his posting (and the vitriolic Facebook message), it’s clear that there is an agenda. An agenda that does not include intelligent, logical, and thought provoking dialogue. Since I was attacked instead of invited to have a conversation, and I’m a writer who’s more than willing to ride the wave of opportunity when it presents itself, I’ll use my own platform to clear up misconceptions and respond adequately to ‘he who shall not be named.’ 

He opened the floor for discussion. Shall we dance?

If you’re a voracious reader who happens to peruse categories on Amazon before your One-Click finger is activated, chances are you have noticed Interracial stories are divided into two different categories. 

“Interracial Erotica” often houses the fetishy stuff. You know, stories with no real plot and involve BBC (that’s big black cock for the uninitiated) and cuckold fantasies, in addition to slave master/mistress plantation fantasies. Either the mandingo is front and center or the slave girl, or some equally appalling pairing. Those are a big ole nuh uh for me. The authors who write these tales have every right to pen what their heart desires, but my consumer logic tends to bypass these types of stories. I’m as kinky as they come, but these tales are not what tickles my reader or writer love button.

And trust me, I read some out there stuff if you follow me on Goodreads.

Then you have “Interracial Romance.” These are stories that involve people of color finding love. This category is not limited to a person of color finding love only with someone white, but that particular pairing seems to heavily saturate interracial romance. “Interracial Romance” often is attached to the “Multicultural Romance” tag. Authors who write in the genre mix and match keywords in order to reach their target audience, and multiracial and interracial usually accompany each other when it comes to keywords. Not always, but this is true a good portion of the time.

My stories fit in the middle. I call myself an Erotica/Erotic Romance author. I usually categorize my stories as “Interracial Erotica” because they cover sex that’s not exactly vanilla. My protagonists have varying sexual interests, as well as varying sexualities. “Erotica” is the category that tends to encompass everything under the sexual umbrella; however, I also believe my work fits into “Interracial Romance” as my heroes and heroines always get their happily ever after/happy for now endings. Oh, and did I mention I write stories with plots? No porn on the page here. Well, I lie. They’re classy-ish pornos (with plots).

“Urban Fiction” tends to encompass stories that usually feature black characters who deal with hardships in their lives. Could be drugs, could be prison, could be gang violence, could be baby mama/baby daddy drama, backstabbing girlfriends/boyfriends, family drama, and the ins and outs regarding the hustle of urban living. Stories of survival and getting by. They may feature characters who are self-professed thugs. Think gritty turned up to 100. There’s a huge market for ”Urban Fiction.” It sells well, and the demand is there. I don’t read the genre, but I don’t knock people who read it or write it. There’s an audience for everything. Just as there are some people who choose not to read interracial stories because they prefer their protagonists to be of the same race. 

There’s your quick introduction to Amazon categories in all its confusing and boring glory.

I was a reader of  Interracial Romance for two years prior to publishing. I wrote a short story on a whim as part of a writing challenge, but the characters kept talking to me long after I was done. The story that played out in my head was something I hadn’t seen in the interracial/multicultural genre; a BDSM relationship involving an interracial couple where the relationship wasn’t heavily focused on sex and fetishization, but a mutual respect for each other instead and the ins and outs of maintaining a relationship that includes D/s. I could go on a whole other tangent about misconceptions involving black people and BDSM, but that’s another post for another day.

It’s clear the blogger never read The Sweetest Taboo, if he had the majority of his ranting would be null and void. I don’t even know where to begin to dissect his post. It hurts my head just scanning the paragraphs upon paragraphs of garbage, but the reason I wanted to write this post was to talk about intraracial hate which coincides with misogynoir. There is a sect of black men who hate black women. Yes, I said it. It’s there it’s out in the open. This exceeds misogyny. They have grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, daughters, goddaughters, stepdaughters, nieces in their lives who are black, but that doesn’t stop the disdain. They hate these women because they’re black. Self-hate is some serious shit. These men blame their failures in life on black women. Not individual black women who may have had a hand in their demise, but black women as a whole. We are responsible for each and every fuck up in our community. Did you get that? Each. And. Every. One. Didn’t get the job you wanted because someone else was more qualified? It’s the black woman’s fault. Motherfucking Hoteps, man.

What makes this so incredibly sad is if a black woman is doing well for herself, instead of being a champion for her, Hoteps will do everything under the sun to curse her name. According to them, a woman should know her place. A black woman should undoubtedly know her place. Misogynoir.

God forbid she chooses to date outside her race and happens to find love. Oh, the comments on Twitter when Serena Williams’ engagement news made the rounds. Hotep heads exploded. A successful black woman finds love with an equally successful non-black man? UNACCEPTABLE. SHE’S SELLOUT FOR NOT WAITING ON A BLACK MAN. Nevermind the black men Serena dated in the past and had relationships with but didn’t work out. No matter. It was her duty to make it work. She was supposed to accept what was being offered regardless.

Taking Serena out of the equation, say your everyday black woman’s dating prospects have been men who are non-black. These are the only men who approach her, these are the only men who tend to ask to take her out, these are the only men who are respectful. Hoteps would prefer she remains single until the end of her days ONLY because a black man hasn’t approached her. No other man matters. Are you getting this?

Die single while waiting on the non-existent perfect black man. However, if the shoe were on the other foot and the only prospects who approached said man were women who were non-black, Hoteps jump on the opportunity like a buzzard on a carcass in the desert. ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ tends to be their philosophy. The blogger falls into this category. His sense of history is distorted. Black women can only be “sidepieces” or “sex slaves.” We’re all bed wenches! But a black man who dates a non-black woman? He’s a king. He’s smart. He’s someone who upgraded. 

See the abundance of issues here?

Below is a quote taken from the blog post that appears a few paragraphs underneath my promo for The Sweetest Taboo:

“The books that you see above are a reflection of the modern-day black woman and her disjointed mindset. As can clearly be seen, the black woman’s first choice is a white male, however failing this she will settle for a thug type Negro. Good black men are completely excluded from being selectable, that is until Tyrone leaves her with a number of children en tow or she passes her expiry because of her irresponsible choices of the past deciding to spend her prime years chasing after and  having sex with no good men.”

I was going to be much more classy about my response to all the verbal diarrhea in the post, but all I can muster is “Shut the fuck up.” 

Guess me being professional went out the window.

And really who still used the term “Negro” in 2016? The Census has been updated. We’re no longer called “colored” or “Negro,” I’m assuming the memo missed this guy. We use “black” now, dude, but if  that’s too risqué, “African American.”

I can’t speak for the authors mentioned alongside me. I can only speak for myself and the genre I write and why I choose to write what I do.

Simple answer: Because I want to. If you have a problem with it, oh well. The earth will continue to revolve, I will continue to breathe, the sky will remain blue. Life will go on. My heart will go on. Shout-out to Celine Dion

All women, including black women, deserve love and if love comes in the form of a non-black man, a woman, or a non-binary person, that’s that individual black woman’s decision. Funny how that works, people doing what works best for them. Super crazy concept!

I’ve been asked why I write interracial stories with black heroines, and Hoteps is only one of the reasons why. Black women are considered undesirable even by some of our men. We’re too bossy, too dark, too light, too attitudinal, too demanding, too high maintenance, too (insert other BS stereotype here).

We’re never passionate, we’re never intelligent, we’re never hardworking, we’re never admirable, we’re never beautiful.

Finding love with someone who doesn’t fit the mold of the perfect black man means we’re traitors, we’re brainwashed, we’re all hypnotized by white dick or the ThugLife. RIP 2Pac 

Seriously? 

Does that not sound like the most absurd gobbledygook?

Hoteps step off your soapboxes. #aintnobodygottimeforthat

Methinks dude doth protest too much. Don’t push your inferiority complex onto us. Didn’t you know, black girls and women are magic?