Dear Azealia Banks, Why Do You Keep Slinging 'Faggot' As An Insult?

23 September 2015 | 4:12 pm | Cyclone Wehner

"It's her use of 'faggot' that makes headlines. Banks seems to use it as a default diss."

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Azealia Banks, widely associated with divadom, drama, feuds and 'political-incorrectness', is in trouble… again. She has used the homophobic slur "faggot".
 
On a flight from New York to Los Angeles on Monday evening, US time, the Harlem rapper argued with fellow passengers, a French couple, while attempting to exit. Reportedly, she wanted to pass them in an aisle. Some kind of physical altercation occurred – with conflicting reports of who assaulted who. A flight attendant intervened, seizing Banks' luggage. Banks called him a "fucking faggot". TMZ obtained a partial video of the incident and published an "exclusive" story with the sensationalist headline, "Azealia Banks Goes Ballistic On Delta – Calls Flight Attendant 'f***ing f***ot'".
 
Banks is known for expressing strong opinions – many, concerning race, valid. Last year she gave a powerful, and emotional, interview to the NY radio station Hot 97 about her experiences as an African-American female artist. Later, Banks appeared on the cover of Playboy, granting a defiant post-feminist interview – and again discussing the nexus between race and gender. It stands as one of her most subversive moves. All this has happened against a surging new civil rights movement in the US.
Use of the world 'nigga' has become ever more fluid since its co-option by young African-American males as a term of endearment. It's all about context.
 
Banks has been embroiled in any number of beefs – on record, on Twitter and in interviews. She was right to question Iggy Azalea's cultural co-option. Less understandable is her sparring with Angel Haze. Banks is prone to wild generalisation (there surely are some good people in Australia). But popdom wouldn't be the same without her. Banks keeps it real. 
 
Nonetheless, Banks' consistent use of (and justification for using) the 'faggot' word is seemingly baffling. Indeed, Banks, who identifies as bisexual, uses faggot – as well as "bitch" and "nigga". But it's her use of 'faggot' that makes headlines. Banks seems to use it as a default diss. She justified her dropping the term in an interview on Sirius XM.
 
"When I use the word 'faggot,' it comes from a feminist point of view," Banks explained. "The word 'faggot' came to me from my mother. And it was never a thing about a guy being gay. It was always just a man who hates women. You can be gay or straight. You can be a straight faggot… Faggots are men who want to bring women down, fuck with their heads, control them." Banks maintains that gay men can be misogynist. She concludes, "You called me a bitch, I'll call you a faggot." "What's the difference?"
 
Banks has always denied any homophobia herself – in fact, she commands a large LGBT following.
 
It may sound like a tenuous argument. But, then, use of the word 'nigga' has become ever more fluid since its co-option by young African-American males as a term of endearment. It's all about context. But, in the case of the Delta incident, Banks' putdown seems clearly a diss – as it was back when she called gossip blogger Perez Hilton a "messy faggot" on Twitter. (He was 'acting like a female', she explained.)
 
Still, could it be the case that Banks is more harshly judged than those of her male peers who use the faggot word?
 
Banks has addressed the Delta incident in a series of tweets (curiously her Twitter was briefly set to 'Private').
 
"If America is so concerned with derogatory language, why do I not see even a quarter of this outrage when I use the word "NIGGER"????
 
"America picks and chooses when it likes to be offended. And THAT is a major part of American culture that HAS to change."
 
"So, under the American social rhetoric I am only allowed to degrade myself and others like me. Is that right ?"
 
"So should I erase, fuck, shit, bitch, nigger, cunt from my vocabulary as well?"
 
Banks also reiterated her bisexuality: "I am bisexual. my brother is trans. My employees are all gay men. Nothing else to say."
 
Banks is a polarising figure even in hip hop. She's been depicted as a dissident, despite challenging white privilege. But no one in hip-hop has more consistently expressed disquiet over the absence of especially intersectional feminism in pop culture. Not even Nicki Minaj – who, when her Anaconda video wasn't nominated in key categories at the VMAs, protested the exclusion of black female artists, only to be dismissed by Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and the mainstream media as a hater/troll. That's misogynoir.
The urban world has its double-standards, if not discrepancies.
 
White feminism has come under fire this week with General Hospital actor Nancy Lee Grahn repudiating Emmy winner Viola Davis' podium statement that, "The only thing that separates women of colour from anyone else is opportunity." Before that, there's been disquiet about Collective Shout's campaigning to stop mostly black hip-hop artists such as Tyler, The Creator from touring Australia – a charge that they have disingenuously rebuffed, as if intersectional feminism never existed. The group, fronted by activist Talitha Stone, self-published an article, "The issue is misogyny, not race" by Dr Caroline Norma, when challenged on their appeal to then Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to cancel Snoop Dogg's visa. Norma writes that an artist's colour is "irrelevant". 
 
Any discussion of misogyny and homophobia in hip-hop must take into account the African-American experience – slavery, subjugation and emasculation. The hyper-masculinity so prevalent in urban culture is a defiant manifestation, and response, to this. Tyler has spoken of his hurt at being abandoned by his father – and revealed a painful lack of self-worth related to his dark skin tone. No wonder his lyrics express alienation and anger. Yet he has fostered the career of the openly gay Syd Tha Kyd of The Internet, one of few high-profile female engineers in music, and Frank Ocean. The 'faggot' diss, like the commonly used and unquestioned 'motherfucka', is as much about virility angst as overt homophobia. That said, it's hurtful, prejudiced and should be challenged. MCs such as Kanye West, himself often reduced to being a egocentric 'ranter', A$AP Rocky and 360 have grappled with, and rejected, the faggot missive.
 
Ironically, Banks lately declared that she was tired of fighting black struggles only to not be supported by the community.
 
The urban world has its double-standards, if not discrepancies. Chris Brown has made a strong comeback since 2009's damaging assault charge against Rihanna, in spite of facing some tour restrictions. Yet, when Keke Wyatt stabbed her allegedly abusive ex-husband/manager Rahmat Morton in self-defence, her career all but stalled. Banks is right: the world has issues with wronged black women who speak out. Maybe "fake outrage" is a thing.