A controversial book was recently pulled from distribution after quickly sparking conversation. It brought up the issue of white women capitalizing off of Black women.
The book is titled “Bad and Boujee: Toward a Trap Feminist Theology.” It was written by practical theology professor Jennifer Buck, a white woman.
“This book engages with the overlap of Black experience, hip-hop music, ethics, and feminism to focus on a subsection known as ‘trap feminism’ and construct a Trap Feminist Theology,” the synopsis read. “Interacting with concepts of moral agency, resistance, and imagination, Trap Feminist Theology seeks to build an intersectional theology,”.
As if this display was not offensive enough, the cover of the book is a Black woman. There is no superficial evidence of a white woman being behind the words. Buck is marketing to and capitalizing off the Black community without searching for the opinions of any Black woman who is a professional in this field of study.
Accomplished writer Sesali Bowen originally coined the term “trap feminism”. She further explained the concept in her 2021 book “Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist.”
“Trap feminism says that Black girls who have ever rocked bamboo earrings, dookie braids, Baby Phat, lace fronts, or those who have worked as hoes, scammers, call-center reps, at daycares, in retail, and those who sell waist trainers and mink lashes on Instagram are all worth the same dignity and respect we give Michelle Obama and Beyoncé,” Bowen said in her book.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bowen expresses her disappointment in the book being written and published without any aid or experience from Black women.
“I think the fact that Jennifer Buck does not have the lived experience that makes her the person to write about trap feminism or Black feminism is honestly just the salt in the wound,” Bowen said. “Now we’re also dealing with issues around cultural appropriation, culture vulturing and just kind of like cultural voyeurism that is just icky, you know. It’s just cringe and I hate that we are still doing this in 2022.”
Bowen took to Twitter to publicize an email conversation between her and Buck. It explained that she was not contacted at all during the writing or editing process but was footnoted.
Christian publishing house Wipf and Stock Publishers have since pulled “Bad and Boujee: Toward a Trap Feminist Theology” from publication. They released a statement on Twitter.
Buck has not publicly responded or explained. Bowen said in the LA Times interview that she finds this to be hypocritical.
“I want to call it kind of a psychological violence, if you will,” Bowen said. “She (Buck) has refused so far to engage in this conversation that she has started. That’s not what trap feminism is all about. Because a trap feminist can fight her battles, be accountable and hold people accountable.”
