The wildly popular festival helped catapult an era of sexually empowered women in pop culture.
Rape culture at the event complicated that.
It follows several southern college students as they prepare for the annual event.
Some are fraternity brothers brushing off their step routines for a competition at Freaknik.
A self-proclaimed classy hoochie is making a shopping run to find a few sexy clothes to bring.
So, the segue in True Life was natural.
This is heaven, son!
says his friend, Gator.
It seemed that way.
Women down here dress like hoes with the short skirts and all that, says one woman.
They dont have any respect for themselves.
They want that negative attention.
Im sorry youve got a mind, youve got a brain, youre intelligent.
You dont need to act and dress that way.
Gwen, the classy hoochie seated nearby, is quick to defend herself: I had on less clothes.
But that didnt mean I was less intelligent.
That didnt mean I was asking you to grab my ass.
Then a man in an Iota Phi Theta sweatshirt brings this debate to a near end.
If you were dressed inappropriately, I dont care how much intelligence you got, he says.
I dont see intelligence.
I see your naked flesh.
Now, I would not grab your body.
But there are people that will.
So, you should dress appropriately.
A statement like that reflects rape culture and undercuts the very notion of freedom of sexual expression.
Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told streams Thursday on Hulu.
When I was young, I liked Lil Kim, she continued.
I vibed with Foxy Brown.
I danced to Uncle Luke and the 2 Live Crew.
Any song that told me to shake my ass, I was down for it.
I dont think I internalized it as anything more than what I saw on TV, she said.
But thats me as a child.
But in the 90s, it was happening in a wave.
And music videos from artists like Hoes With Attitudes catapulted a sexualized hip-hop into an entirely new direction.
It probably depends on who you ask.
Im feeling to take this.
The messages can conflict with womens enjoyment.
Thats what we saw at Freaknik and in that True Life episode.
But they would too often flail inside a patriarchal system.
Women know you have autonomy over your body, Johnson said.
And that is where the challenge comes in.
It wasnt just a few Black women breaking through the deep-seated Black male-driven sexualized art space.
There were many, and across all forms of entertainment and culture.
Director Sidra Smiths queer short film, A Luv Tale.
Singers Janet Jackson and Meshell Ndegeocello.
Ursulas (Samantha MacLachan) sexy serenade for Cleo (Queen Latifah) in Set It Off.
And even sometimes, I will argue, in uncomfortable ways.
I think that the erotic is also about confronting discomfort.
There was always the church hussy, Ibaorimi, whose father is also a pastor, said.
Somebody that was just doing a little too much.
Why is her skirt too little?
or Why is that dress so formally fitted?
Youre being a distraction.
And then of course, we would call that purity culture.
Its the issue of purity.
Social critic bell hooks spent much of her1997 Paste interviewwith Lil Kim questioning her about it.
Kara Walkers artwas almost boycottedin part for itssexual imagerywithin the context of slavery.
Everything comes back down to agency, Ibaorimi said.
Is somebody telling you to do this?
Because the potential of sexual agency was still such a radical notion.
But there was always a demand for someone who wanted to be titillated.
I think its too much a part of us.
Because in the absence of being a part of scholarly discussion, pop culture became the default learning tool.
The plot presents sex work as a desperate option and not a viable job.
On top of that, its protagonists (Theresa Randle) life only improves once she quits.
Because, of course, why else would a Black woman want to be a sex operator?
Writer-director Ice Cubes The Players Club didnt inspire much more progressive thought.
So, bad things are going to happen to you until you quit.
Its like, How does media follow along into those narratives of what being sexual means?
Thats something that I would love to know from that generation, Johnson said.
And what would then become the path toward Black sexual freedom for women within this increasingly murky space?
Johnson puts it on the individual.
Liberating yourself sexually, she said plainly.
There are Black women that love to fuck.
You know what Im saying?
Visit RAINNsNational Sexual Assault Online Hotlineor theNational Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.This post originally appeared onHuffPost.
