Ciara clapped back at critics who criticized her dress choice at the Vanity Fair Oscars party.
The 37-year-old rocked a thong-baring, low-back, crystal-studded sheer gown designed by Peter Dundas.
Once the pictures of the barely-there dress hit the internet, social media users lost no time to share their thoughts on the allegedly demeaning outfit choice, which some were found particularly objectionable Being a wife and mother.
Shaming was misconstrued by culture writer tiwa adebayo, Partly because it tied up Ciara's role as his wife, while her husband, Russell Wilson, a Denver Broncos quarterback who accompanied her to the festivities, took photos with her on the red carpet. It was also unfair. Models Emily Ratajkowski and Alessandra Ambrosio, as well as actress Hunter Schaefer, all wore similarly revealing outfits, but their wardrobe choices weren't equally disturbing.
Ciara addressed the one-sided reactions in a humorous TikTok on Wednesday, wearing a long wraparound to one of her audios on the red carpet. The caption read “selective outrage” and received over 100,000 likes.
But why did Ciara get so much hate for her outfit choice?
adebayo, who have analyzed the overall policing of black women during award ceremonies, Yahoo tells Life that a lot of the satire targeting Ciara exists at the pointy intersection of misogyny and racism, sometimes being labeled misogynist.
“It seems like the biggest group criticizing her, especially on Twitter, are actually black men,” Adebayo says, explaining that many are projecting their own preconceived notions of what a wife should be. And how should the mother present herself.
“It speaks to respectable politics, especially because they have put aside the softness and perceived ‘awkwardness' of their dress,” she adds. “And they've taken that and applied it to her husband, Russell Wilson, which means he doesn't have control over his woman in quite the harmful way.”
And even though Russell appeared to admire his wife's performance Gift, Experts say it's important to remember that Ciara has the right to choose what she wears, regardless.
“Some may think it's a show of solidarity that her husband seemed fine with it, but we have to remember that Ciara's body is hers. She gets to choose how she dresses and what she wears.” will adorn the body. Her husband is her companion, not her master.” Donna Oriovo, a race, gender and gender therapistYahoo Life Tells.
“Too often we associate love with possessiveness, and malice with dominance over a wife. When we see things in a true partnership, we stop acting as if her wardrobe choices are meant to embarrass her husband. but a choice he very likely made for himself,” Orivo explains.
This also extends to her role as a mother.
“Some people believe that a mother's body is also owned by her children. The person that a woman is before being a wife or a mother does not matter anymore, so we treat her only as a mother or a wife.” We are expected to dress according to the role we play in. Systems of power define it,” Oriwo says.
In terms of selective outrage, Adebayo says there appears to be a pile-up effect after being internet honked at a target for a day, and black women often wind up in the bullseye at faster rates.
“With algorithms functioning, it very easily becomes an echo chamber and you hear people start to agree with you and that amplifies your view. As it pertains to Black women, if women in general are often Internet hate the next day, it's going to happen at a very high rate to black women,” she says.
Ultimately, Adebayo says, the conversation surrounding Ciara's dress is just one small part of a larger conversation on the general policing of women's bodies.
Adebayo says, “This is symptomatic of a wider trend of paradoxically high standards for black women.”
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