Whitney Houston and moving beyond tragic narratives for women

[Catherina]

Someone emailed this to me and I thought I'd share it. I was up for an hour last night thinking about it.

Whitney Houston and moving beyond tragic narratives for women

By SAMHITA | Published: FEBRUARY 16, 2012

....

You can hear in her voice a frustration with the way these stories are told. The images and headlines that followed Houston’s death were some of the worst and most insensitive. And every time this happens–it feels like a cautionary tale. When we continually see stories of female success ending as tragedy, there is a subtle narrative that as a woman, you can’t have it all.

Part of my frustration came from what I felt was the sexism in the reporting of her death. Every story that wrote about her death discussed her drug addiction within the first paragraph. Perhaps it is because this is the most recent information that was public about her life but it was notable in contrast to last week’s news that Don Cornelius had committed suicide. When I was searching for some background on Don Cornelius’s history of domestic violence, I could find barely any record of it. Instead, almost every obituary boasted about his (quite notable) impact on American culture.

There is a history of documenting and fetishizing the demise of women. It’s part of our celebrity obsessed culture, but it is a unique pressure for women and we love to watch women flounder. As Amanda and I discuss in this week’s podcast there is a lack of appreciation in our culture for just how difficult it is for women in the public eye.

Houston had a great impact on American culture and music, but her lasting memory is the demons she couldn’t overcome. Does this feed some fantasy about talent, drug use and caged birds that sing? Maybe–but this is the exact narrative that has to disappear if we want women in leadership positions, in popular culture or in the public eye. We must support them in strength more than we obsess over their demise.

http://feministing.com/2012/02/16/whitney-houston-and-moving-beyond-tragic-narratives-for-women/

[stockholmer]

1. if Charlie Sheen died tomorrow, somehow I think 'drugs' would also be listed in the first paragraph

How exactly do you, (and I reference a quote from the story here):

"this is the exact narrative that has to disappear if we want women in leadership positions, in popular culture or in the public eye"

make the chief cause for a person's downfall and death 'disappear'?

Addiction knows no gender, it is an illness, to suggest otherwise (ie that the pressures unique to a woman drove her to drugs) refutes all scientific knowledge of the tragedy that is substance abuse.

As for Don Cornelius, the Times obit DID mention his domestic abuse, and I would also point to the coverage about abuse that Ike Turner received when he died.

I do agree that Houston had many other problems, many did indeed stem from sexism and racism, but her illness is what brought her down at the end of the day. IMHO

[Catherina]

2. That's why I was up for a while just thinking about it

I'm not sure how I feel about the sentence you quote. Instinctively I agree with that sentence because it's the the cause of her death that needs to disappear, it's the focus the media puts on it.

There was nary a word about Steve Job's drug use or the way he abandoned his family. That struck me. And the Times may have mentioned Don Cornelius' domestic abuse but that's just it. They just *mentioned* it. You had to go looking for the details. In Whitney's case the details were the story.

I go back and forth on that sentence, not sure how I really feel about it. I wasn't around for this but when Elvis died, was drug use the first thing they talked about or was it his accomplishments? Or, honest question, is that the disrespect reserved for women?

I honestly don't know. I thought the author brought up some good points women need to think about and wanted to share it. I'm kind of weird. I don't elevate feminism over other isms. I don't think the disrespect to Whitney should be done to anyone. My concern as a woman, is that the sisters need to come together and support each other regardless of color, religion and all the other neat little categories they throw us in. It's a class war and we're the "nigger of the world", as John and Yoko put it so well, with Black women at the bottom of the pile.

I posted that article mostly for thought because I'd like to see a world where sisters all come together in solidarity the class war being waged against all of us.

Everything's circular. How much did sexism and racism exacerbate her fragility and illness? Don't get me wrong, Whitney was a big girl who made her own choices and paid for them. But how many of those choices would have been different in a world without sexism? And racism?

No answers here dear Stockholmer. I'm just thinking out loud.

[stockholmer]

3. well, you definitely have my support in the war against sexism

thanks for the well written response!

[Catherina]

4. Thanks for even more questions to think about

[DURHAM D]

7. To be honest -

what I have been thinking about since Whitney's passing is would this of happened to her if she had followed her true heart?

The questions you have raised are good ones. But I have moved my thoughts a step further back and tried to comprehend the pressures from her family, the church and community, and people promoting her career and dependant on her successes.

She was open, some would say careless, early in her career when she did not bother to hide her relationships with women. Who or what got to her? I assume there were many factors but what if she had used her remarkable talent not to the benefit of her first family but for herself and her greater family?

She did not owe us anything. I have not walked in her shoes and I certainly can not tell myself that I would have been strong enough to make better personal decisions than Whitney did under her circumstances. But I so wish she was not gone.

I wish she could of found and remained in a safe harbour.

[justiceischeap]

10. I wondered about this

There were always rumors about her and Robin Crawford (Crawford even appeared in one of Whitney's videos. Can't remember the song but Whitney was in "drag" and wooing a woman in it) and I wondered if that is why she was so unhappy with Brown. However, music stars getting caught up in drugs isn't new; it's sometimes encouraged by music biz execs. We'll probably never really know what led her down the path she took but if it's because she wasn't allowed, because of her career, to be happy, that's just a sad statement on our society. Damn sure no one close to the family is going to come out and tell the truth.

[Catherina]

14. I can just shake my head in sadness after reading your words

Families and society make it so hard for us to follow our hearts. Then add something as tight as the Black Church on top of that and the picture is complete.

I don't think this would have happened if she'd followed her heart and had a strong supportive partner she could openly love by her side.

We've got a long fight ahead of us so this doesn't keep destroying people and they can draw strength from their safe harbors instead.

Shelter from the storm as Dylan put it.

I don't know why but while I was reading your post, I kept thinking of her song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"

[yardwork]

22. Autopsy results released today indicate that Whitney died of legal drugs in a lethal combination.

Whitney Houston died of a lethal combination of prescription drugs Xanax and Valium with alcohol. Each of these are legal drugs. Two were prescribed to her by a physician.

Despite the headlines and reminders that Whitney struggled with cocaine and other illegal drug addictions, it turns out that the cause of her death was legal drugs.Yes, it was irresponsible of her to drink while taking those prescription drugs. It was also highly irresponsible, imo, for a physician to prescribe Valium to somebody with known drug and alcohol problems.

[tblue37]

5. I was more annoyed by the constant claims on message boards and in some

media reports that it was all Bobby Brown's fault that she was destroyed by drugs and alcohol, as though she was incapable of making her own choices and could do only what the man in her life made her do or let her do.

[tammywammy]

8. They had a biography of Whitney Houston on last night

It was on Lifetime. They were showing The Bodyguard and since it had been so long since I'd seen it I tuned it. Anywho, I watched the Biography show on her too. I was impressed with it, they didn't put all the blame on Bobby Brown.

It was a pretty interesting show.

[Catherina]

17. Those infuriated me

Both of them were adults and knew what they were doing. And we can't blame Bobby Brown for all the heartache and pressures in Whitney's life any more than we came blame him if she had a genetic predisposition to addiction.

I did drugs when I was younger because I wanted to, not because my ex thrust them on me. And it's a good thing that was at a happy time in my life because I shudder to think what could have happened if, at the time they were available, I had all the pressure and heartbreak Whitney had to deal with. It would have been my choice not anyone else's.

The weak little woman meme is so infuriating.

[Starry Messenger]

6. I've been thinking about this article too, I saw it a couple of days ago.

When Kurt Cobain shot himself, his drug use was part of the narrative. But in that case, a lot of the blame then shifted to Courtney Love, who was accused of driving him to use and to kill himself (and perhaps even having a direct hand in killing him). He's still considered a sensitive genius who happened to use large amounts of narcotics.

When female celebrities encounter the same pitfalls of fame, history seems to judge her character forever after in a way that overshadows any huge talent she had. Marilyn Monroe is one example of how her tragic overdose is fetishised even decades after it happened.

[justiceischeap]

9. When the Beatle's broke up, who did they blame?

Yoko Ono. I think you've got a point. Somehow there's almost always a woman to blame (even if it's the woman herself).

[Starry Messenger]

11. Right? I think she still catches shit for that.

It's insanity. As if one woman would have that much power.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. I heard a new twist on this story: John Lennon wanted to leave the Beatles

but was more than ambivalent about independently leaving. He was passive-aggressive. In other words, he wanted to leave but didn't want to take responsibility (take the heat from the other members and others) for doing it. He announced that he was leaving and let others blame Yoko for the split instead of defending her and claiming the idea solely as his own.

I find this side of the story to be credible as John always was a little insecure and Yoko, being an artist, would not have dictated how John pursued his art.

[Catherina]

15. I agree but get confused when I throw in the race aspect on top of it

When I was typing my response to Stockholmer (post #2), this sentence "Or, honest question, is that the disrespect reserved for women? " originally read "Or, honest question, is that disrespect reserved for women and minorities?" because I kept thinking of this little guy and his heartbreaking death the entire time

Am I overcomplicating things by throwing race on top of it and thinking Whitney being female and Black put her at the bottom of the disrespect pile? Frankie Lymon was savaged for his drug use after his tragic death and was so forgotten, or rather erased, that people thought it was a woman singing his songs.

[Starry Messenger]

18. The racism is definitely putting her at the bottom of the disrespect pile.

This country does not value women of color at all.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Other great women who sang their hearts out were given an asterisk next to their names

(so to speak) when they succumbed to the combination of celebrity, insecurity, pain, and painkillers.

Judy Garland
Billie Holiday
Janis Joplin
Amy Winehouse

It seems as though their deaths are used to invalidate their legacies.

[Catherina]

16. That list

All favorites. RIP

[REP]

19. Don't forget "Mama" Cass Elliot - not Black but fat

People still think she choked to death eating; in fact, she had been fasting most of a week for four weeks and had lost 80 pounds, which may have contributed to the fatal heart attack which really killed her.

[no_hypocrisy]

20. Oh yeah, my bad.

She WAS good . . . .

[yardwork]

21. That was a particularly cruel rumor that she choked while eating. Way to invalidate a person's life.

I do think that women are singled out for ridicule and more easily dismissed than men in similar circumstances. When Jerry Garcia (also overweight) died of a heart attack while attempting to get off heroin, there were no rumors that he had choked to death while eating, committed suicide, accidentally overdosed, or any of the other media rumors that are typical when female entertainers die. Those rumors directed at women - I think of Marilyn Monroe, too - often belittle and infantilize their deaths.

[REP]

23. I think so, since dieting may very well have killed her

Her attempt to become more "socially acceptable" - thin - by fasting 4 days a week for over a month and losing I believe 80 pounds in 2 months (unbelievably dangerous) at least contributed to her death. Saying she was eating a ham (pig - get it, ha ha ha ) sandwich and choked ... because she wanted food in so much she didn't even chew? Jewish woman eating treyf? It's just offensive on so many levels.

[DURHAM D]

24. True that - "offensive on so many levels"

[yardwork]

25. Agree on all counts. Absolutely.

[Rex]

26. I was so mad over the way she was treated.

Not shocked, mind you, just mad. The media has no shame. None. They hover over death like vultures. I remember growing up in the 80s and 90s and thinking Whitney Houston had a jawdropping singing voice. She had a three octave scale...a truely amazing gift.

She deserves better then this.