I hadn’t meant for this to happen, but growing up as an activist (I advocated for for veganism, LGBTQ rights, religious freedom aside from Christianity, etc.) has made me very sensitive to certain words. Ebony was one of them for a time, as it’s largely used in a sexual context and like… You don’t see me going around saying, “I want a cute white”, right? So I think it’s understandable that when people would say things like “I’ve never fucked an ebony before…”, I feel uncomfortable and offended because it’s dehumanizing. I won’t get into the obvious difficulty that comes with being Black, Queer, a woman (and all of those at the same time 🙃), but I can summate by saying I already have enough parts of my life where I’m treated like that and my sexual expression is one of the only ones I can have control over. Though, even that can be greatly influenced by others… I’ll have to do a separate post on this subject!

Anyway, what I recently came across that I somehow forgot is that there is a magazine centered on Black music, culture, and entertainment called Ebony. I had never known that they are the sister company of another Black-oriented magazine called Jet, which was hilarious to find out because I would masturbate to the Beauty of the Week in the issues I could find growing up… 🫢 The women photographed weren’t even naked, but one often does not have to be to show off a body. 🤤

Got a little off topic there… The point of this was to know if others had or continue to have the same discomfort with the word Ebony being used, and if so, do you consider the word Black an acceptable replacement? I personally prefer and use Black, especially if the only other option is African-American. Ultimately, Black people have the final say on whether a word is okay or not… I disregard the well-meaning but dismissive opinions I’ve received about the subject to non-Black people - but this is specifically about a weird experience I had with a group comprised of no BIPOC being uncomfortable that I used the Ebony tag for my pictures. I’d like to hear how the collective feels, and I promise that I won’t press because your opinion is different from my own. Let’s discuss!