We Don鈥檛 Need Misogynoir to Critique Kamala Harris

In one of the many plot twists in this la(te)st season of U.S. Empire, Vice President Kamala Harris has emerged as the Democratic Party鈥檚 presumptive presidential candidate. Adding to an ever-growing list of firsts, Harris makes history as the first Black and Indian woman to get the party鈥檚 nomination. Though Harris raised an unprecedented after President Biden suspended his reelection campaign, this influx of money neither guarantees her White House bid will be successful nor does it represent unequivocal support.

Harris has and should be critiqued. However, there will be critiques grounded in questions of her actual political r茅sum茅 and those grounded in misogynoir; distinguishing between the two is essential for those who want to make an informed decision when voting in November.

Misogynoir, as I wrote in my 2021 book, is the hate speech and negative media representations that malign Black women (and people read as Black women). The portmanteau describes the anti-Black racism and misogyny that sickly and synergistically creates a destructive force greater than the sum of its parts, shaping how Black women are viewed and subsequently treated in the world.

Memes and rhetoric that target Black women鈥檚 appearance; paint Black women as insufficiently feminine or unattractive; endow Black women with superhuman strength, tenacity, and childrearing capability while also marking us as hypersexual; and suggest that Black women are less intelligent and more aggressive than their white-woman counterparts all contribute to a view of Black women that has real material impacts on their lives. The vitriol already being directed at Harris is a harbinger for the misogynoir we鈥檒l see in political media in the coming months.

The misogynoir Harris will face is , coming from purported allies before she ever became the presumptive nominee. When Harris appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show in April, Barrymore looked deep into her eyes and said, 鈥淚鈥檝e been thinking that we really all need a tremendous hug in the world right now. But in our country, we need you to be 鈥楳omala鈥� of the country.鈥�

Though Barrymore may have been attempting to compliment Harris, her patronizing and comment reduced the tactically skilled, politically savvy vice president to the nation鈥檚鈥淢omala,鈥� an honorific given to her by her stepdaughters. Barrymore鈥檚 sentiments reflect an antiquated idea that Black women should be caretakers and domestics, tasked with cleaning up and setting right what鈥檚 wrong with the world.

Barrymore鈥檚 recasting of Harris has its own less laudatory counterpoint on the right. Despite having an extensive political record, , Harris has been referred to as a 鈥�.鈥� Rep. Tim Burchett, R-TN,聽and some of his colleagues have also contributed to the right鈥檚 misogynoirist misinformation campaign, referring to the vice president as a 鈥�.鈥� Donald Trump is now calling her 鈥溾€� a yet unpronounced racist reimagining of her name. Megyn Kelly has even resurfaced the long-debunked accusations that Harris鈥� year-long relationship with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown is akin to her having 鈥渟lept her way to the top.鈥�

In the weeks since Harris announced her candidacy, her family, her sex life, her Blackness, and her womanness have all made more headlines than the sobering truth of her political record.

Make no mistake: Harris is more than competent for the office she seeks, but we should be worried about her willingness to carry the banner for a party that seems more concerned with maintaining power than actually using it.

Despite the right鈥檚 attempt to characterize Harris as 鈥溾€� member of the Democratic Party, her political positions line up neatly with centrists on both sides of the aisle. Republicans speculated鈥攚hile leftists hoped鈥攖hat her decision to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 congressional address to receive honors from Zeta Phi Beta sorority signaled her plan to break rank with the current administration鈥檚 pro-Israel stance.

鈥淪he would rather address, in the summer, a sorority鈥攁 colored sorority鈥攍ike she can鈥檛 get out of that,鈥� Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 her decision, and that鈥檚 her decision to back up the protesters.鈥� he said 鈥渃ollege鈥� and not 鈥渃olored,鈥� but the resulting dustup directed attention away from the goals of Harris鈥� eventual meeting with Netanyahu.

Harris further removed any doubt about her stance when who, along with the lone voice of dissent, Representative Rashida Tlaib, D-MI, wanted to make clear their opposition to the genocide still unfolding in Gaza. At a stump stop in Detroit, Harris even . 鈥淵ou know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,鈥� she said. 鈥淥therwise, I鈥檓 speaking.鈥� Her unwavering support for Israel amid its raises more questions than it answers about what the left can actually achieve under a Harris presidency.

If Harris鈥� political present doesn鈥檛 give pause, her political past should. As a former prosecutor and attorney general who prided herself on being 鈥�,鈥� Harris has more in common with those on the right than her marginalized identities would seem to imply. has rightfully made many progressives leery of her candidacy, as she increased the rate of conviction of drug sellers and supported a weakening of San Francisco鈥檚 sanctuary city policy. Her record shows us how she will move if elected president, and these critiques of her record can be leveraged without deploying misogynoir.

, Ph.D., reminded the audience of the limits and pitfalls of representation. 鈥淏lack faces in high places won鈥檛 save us,鈥� she said, before adding, 鈥渙ur Blackness and womanness are not in themselves trustworthy if we allow ourselves to be conscripted into positions of power that maintain the oppressive status quo.鈥� We must take a beat to think about who one has to be to even 鈥渁ccomplish鈥� the feat of being the first Black woman to be a serious candidate for president.

Pragmatic presidential voters may choose Harris, but that doesn鈥檛 mean that her positionality within the hierarchies of our world are automatically aligned with the most marginalized among us. We should remain critical of Harris, and we don鈥檛 have to insult her intelligence, make her the country鈥檚 mom, or discuss her romantic history or family configuration to do so.

Moya Bailey is a professor at Northwestern University, the founder of the Digital Apothecary, and co-founder of the Black Feminist Health Science Studies Collective. Her work focuses on marginalized groups鈥� use of digital media to promote social justice, and she is interested in how race, gender, and sexuality are represented in media and medicine. She is the digital alchemist for the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network, and the Board President of Allied Media Projects, a Detroit-based movement media organization that supports an ever-growing network of activists and organizers. She is a co-author of #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice (MIT Press, 2020) and is the author of Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women鈥檚 Digital Resistance (New York University Press, 2021). She is based in Chicago, and speaks English.

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