The other day, as work for Professor Lytton Smith’s Writing Afrofuturism class, I was asked to listen to Janelle Monae’s album Dirty Computer. This was some of the most entertaining homework I’ve ever had, especially since I still find myself listening on my own. Monae covers a lot of different issues in her album: sexuality, femininity, and race to name a few. If one were to look closely, there’s probably plenty of overlap between both Everett and Monae’s work. However, one line in her song Screwed stood out to me in particular:
“Everything is sex, except sex, which is power.”
*Graphic language and assault mention
For some reason, I just could not get this line out of my head. Maybe it’s because of the catchy nature of the song. Or maybe it’s because of the circular nature of the sentence; how can everything be sex except sex itself? I decided to do some deeper digging on the quote. The origin is widely debated; some cite Oscar Wilde, while those who contest that reference a variety of authors. I found a quote from Robert Michels in a book called Constructing and Deconstructing Woman’s Power by Dr. Beth Seelig which states “‘[e]verything is about sex, except sex; sex is about power’” (Seelig, 118). I learned that the “everything” part of the quote, at least in this context, refers to Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis. Seelig continues and says that there is always an inherent power dynamic in sex. One case she cites is the power women have: they hold the “key” to sex, in some instances. Men who are sexually attracted to women can only get sex from women, so they are at women’s mercy in this regard. Monae makes a similar point; in another song on the same album called D’jango Jane, she says “we gon’ start a motherfuckin’ pussy riot / or we gon’ put ‘em on a pussy diet / look at that, I guarantee I got ‘em quiet”. Here, she asserts that if men continue to refuse to listen to the input of women, women have the power to withhold sex, which is then guaranteed to get male attention. This can be taken as a very empowering message. However, to return to the original quote mentioned, I wanted to explore a far more negative side to this idea of sex and power in Percival Everett’s work.
On a recent post, Choi began to unpack his statement on the “disturbing” sex of Frenzy. While there is certainly a lot to discuss there, I’m going discuss how sex is presented in I am Not Sidney Poitier, or what we have seen of it so far. Bluntly put, it’s horrible, in many respects. Monae and Seelig discuss the inherent power dynamic in consensual sex, but that same idea can take extreme forms. Early in the novel, Not Sidney is sexually assaulted by his history teacher, not just once, but twice. At one point, his teacher Ms. Hancock uses her position of power over Not Sidney to threaten him if he does not comply with her wishes. When he tries to back out of the situation, she tells Not Sidney “[i]f you leave, then I will fail you and you’ll never graduate from high school and you’ll never get into college and you’ll waste away on the street until you turn to drugs and die hopeless, helpless and alone” (Everett, 35). As discussed earlier, sex may contain a power dynamic. It can manifest in different ways; one way is what Seelig and Monae describe, through the power to potentially withhold sex. Here, however, the power is present in a far worse way. Furthermore, the difference in power is apparent from the get go: Ms. Hancock was Not Sidney’s teacher. Not only that, but she’s also an adult. She explicitly uses her position over Not Sidney to get the sex she desires.
Various power structures play a huge role in I am Not Sidney Poitier, and to me, both Everett and Monae observe the issue of power in sexual acts. They have the same assertion: there is often an inherent power dynamic in sex. However, rather addressing this as an instance of empowerment, Everett takes a far more negative stance, citing the fact that power in such a delicate setting can lead to sexual violence.