I don’t like to throw things away. If something can be used, I tend to hold on to it in case I might need it someday. I get this from my grandmother. Once, I had occasion to go through some of her books, and I came across a textbook my dad used in high school that actually had a bullet hole through the middle of it. And maybe the book had it coming, who am I to say? But even though I hate to throw out anything—and that is especially true of books—I was pretty sure that one could be retired.
A little over a year ago, I bought an audio book that….let’s say it didn’t turn out to be what I expected. I thought it was going to be a thoughtful look at gender roles in hip-hop culture. I had seen the author doing interviews about the way women volunteer to be exploited in videos and the competition for spots drives women to go further in hopes that it will get them a more prominent role. She made some interesting points, and I was curious to hear what else she had to say about the power dynamics in hip-hop and the ways that women may or may not fit into the culture. And that is why I bought the audio version of Confessions of a Video Vixen.