“font-family: Verdana;”>After finishing Steve Harvey’s
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man participating in the exploitation of women readers.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>He should tell his publisher he saw a vision of Sojourner Truth and she asked him, “Must I think like you and follow your standard of being a lady in order to be treated right?” He’d then say that her question was a burden on his soul prompting him to walk away from an industry that preys on the emotions of women.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>I can imagine that news about Harvey’s transformation would stun followers and critics alike. Media outlets would harass his publicist until Harvey granted an interview, which would likely be given to the Oprah Winfrey Network since Oprah played a major role in promoting his book.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In a tearful live primetime interview, Harvey would reveal to Oprah that he didn’t fully understand what he was talking about. His only thought was that independent women must be stopped from spreading their anti-male-dependency views and that he wanted women to assume their traditional role of subservience to men.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Oprah would then ask him why he would do such a thing. In response, he’d attempt to correct her by saying “why would
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>we that she was complicit in perpetuating the self-help of the oppressed. Shocked, Oprah would cut to a commercial break only to return with an empty chair beside her.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>While I enjoyed imagining this, the reality is that Harvey would not turn away from making money as a bestselling author. Besides, he’s not advocating violence against women, only perpetuating the idea that women need men to achieve happiness. What is wrong with teaching women how to think like men?
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>Talking Back out that “we often are in a cultural context that defines freedom solely in terms of learning the oppressor’s language.” Not to say that all men are oppressors, but in a society that favors masculinity over femininity, men are privileged in a way that women aren’t. For Harvey, women must learn to play a dating game created by men using rules set by men. Therefore, any process of women adopting the ideas of men and living out the fantasies of men is “learning the oppressor’s language.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In my youth, I was acquainted with the Nation of Gods and Earths or Five Percenters through my love of hip-hop. Through them I learned a simple mathematical principle that 85 percent of the people are ignorant of how they are oppressed. The knowledgeable leaders account for 10 percent of the population, but they use what they know to exploit the ignorant. The remaining 5 percent are the poor righteous teachers whose purpose is to elevate the consciousness of the masses.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Harvey “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>’s book is marketed to 85 percent of the population that would try magic if the book failed. Harvey is a Ten Percenter exploiting the masses, and hooks is the poor righteous teacher trying to elevate our consciousness.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Harvey
and the
self-help industry make a living by exploiting the people they
serve. Every dollar spent on “how to get a man” books contributes
to the maintenance of these gendered prisons in which some women
are incarcerated. If a book claims that it will deliver a husband
to a woman by telling her how to “play the game” and she believes
it, then she has already lost.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>To contact MK Stallings, visit his website MKStallings.com.
