The Lessons Of A Video Vixen

I first heard of Karrine Steffans a few years ago when her book, Confessions Of A Video Vixen, was published. I never read the book and just assumed it was your typical tell-all. I figured that she writing the book was just another way for her to make money by selling tales of past indiscretions and had just parlayed her gold digging into a new medium. And then I heard her speak.

On Monday, Ms. Steffans was featured on Ed Gordon’s show News and Notes. She was a part of a roundtable discussion on Sexual Media Images of Black Women. Contrary to my previous thoughts of her, I found her message positive and enlightening. She says that she does not listen to rap any more and asks that other young women do the same. She admits that her previous life was full of mistakes but she is working in her college degree and is trying to spread her message of female self-empowerment by telling her story at schools around the country. Although only 27, it was immediately apparent that she had acquired wisdom beyond her years. The State of . . . all people can change. Now, she is no longer “Superhead.”

This also made me think of one of our dirty little double standards we have for women: we judge them much more harshly than men. What if Cynthia McKinney was caught on tape smoking crack? Would she ever be elected to anything again? Would we still love a woman years after giving head to her intern and impeached ? Of course not. Let’s remember this double standard and see how it plays out during the Duke scandal.