Thick

1. The Power of Being "Thick": Embracing Complex Identity

"Fixing my feet means knowing that I am no one's beauty queen and few people's idea of an intellectual, and showing up anyway."

Complexity of Identity. Tressie McMillan Cottom introduces the concept of being "thick" - not just physically, but intellectually and culturally. This approach represents a refusal to be simplified or diminished by societal expectations. Being thick means embracing one's full, complicated self despite external pressures to conform or shrink.

Navigating Institutional Spaces. The author's experiences highlight the challenges of existing in spaces that were not designed for her. Her journey demonstrates how black women must constantly negotiate their presence in academic, professional, and social environments that often seek to marginalize them.

Resilience and Self-Definition. The concept of "fixing your feet" becomes a metaphor for survival and adaptation. It represents:

• Maintaining integrity despite systemic obstacles
• Refusing to be defined by others' limitations
• Developing strategies to navigate hostile environments
• Valuing one's own worth beyond external validation

2. Beauty as a Structural System of Exclusion

"Beauty would not be such a useful distinction were it not for the economic and political conditions."

Beauty as Power Mechanism. McMillan Cottom deconstructs beauty not as a personal preference, but as a sophisticated system of social control. Beauty standards are designed to exclude, particularly black women, serving as a method of maintaining existing power structures.

Intersectional Analysis. The author reveals how beauty functions as a form of capital that:

• Reproduces racial and economic hierarchies
• Creates barriers to social mobility
• Determines access to opportunities
• Weaponizes desire and self-worth

Challenging Dominant Narratives. By rejecting conventional beauty standards, the author demonstrates how individual resistance can challenge broader systemic oppression. Her approach is not about self-hatred, but about naming and understanding the structural mechanisms that define desirability.

3. Structural Incompetence in Healthcare and Society

"What I remember most about the whole ordeal is how nothing about who I was in any other context mattered to the assumptions of my incompetence."

Systemic Marginalization. The author's personal experience with medical negligence during pregnancy reveals how black women are systematically rendered "incompetent" across institutional spaces. Healthcare systems repeatedly fail to recognize black women's pain, expertise, and humanity.

Institutional Bias. Structural incompetence manifests through:

• Dismissing medical complaints
• Assuming lower competence based on race
• Creating barriers to quality healthcare
• Perpetuating life-threatening disparities

Broader Implications. The healthcare example serves as a microcosm of how systemic racism operates, demonstrating how institutional assumptions can literally become matters of life and death for marginalized communities.

4. Understanding Whiteness and Its Elastic Nature

"Whiteness exists as a response to blackness. Whiteness is a violent sociocultural regime legitimized by property to always make clear who is black by fastidiously delineating who is officially white."

Whiteness as Adaptive System. McMillan Cottom reveals whiteness not as a fixed identity, but as a flexible, self-preserving mechanism. It constantly reshapes itself to maintain power, using elasticity as a primary survival strategy.

Political Dynamics. The analysis of Obama's presidency demonstrates how whiteness:

• Adapts to maintain superiority
• Creates paradoxical narratives
• Preserves power through strategic inclusion and exclusion
• Requires constant redefinition

Critical Perspective. The author provides a nuanced understanding of racial dynamics, showing how seemingly progressive moments can actually reinforce existing power structures.

5. Challenging the Narrative of "Special" Black Identity

"I have decided on being as black-black as I can be. It is my protest."

Rejecting Exceptionalism. McMillan Cottom challenges the notion of "special" black identity that seeks to differentiate itself from "regular" black experiences. She argues for embracing a comprehensive black identity that refuses fragmentation.

Cultural Complexity. The author explores how:

• Black identity is diverse and multifaceted
• External attempts to categorize are themselves oppressive
• Individual experiences contribute to collective understanding

Resistance Through Authenticity. By refusing to be categorized or minimized, the author demonstrates a powerful form of resistance that celebrates the full complexity of black experience.

6. Consumption and Status as Survival Strategies

"One thing I've learned is that one person's illogical belief is another person's survival skill."

Economic Survival. The author examines how marginalized communities use consumption and status symbols as critical survival mechanisms. What might appear irrational to outsiders is often a sophisticated strategy for navigating complex social landscapes.

Respectability Politics. Consumption becomes a way to:

• Signal social competence
• Navigate gatekeeping systems
• Create opportunities for mobility
• Protect against systematic exclusion

Nuanced Economic Understanding. McMillan Cottom reveals the intricate ways economic constraints shape individual choices, challenging simplistic narratives about poverty and consumption.

7. Black Girlhood and the Systemic Vulnerability of Black Women

"Black girls like me can never truly be victims of sexual predators."

Structural Vulnerability. The author exposes how black girls are systematically denied childhood innocence, made to appear more mature and consequently more culpable in their own victimization.

Cultural Mechanisms. The analysis reveals how:

• Black girls are perceived as inherently "grown"
• Sexual violence is normalized
• Institutional systems fail to protect black girls
• Cultural narratives blame victims

Broader Social Critique. By examining personal and cultural experiences, McMillan Cottom provides a profound critique of how systemic racism and misogyny intersect to endanger black girls and women.

8. The Struggle for Black Women's Intellectual Recognition

"When the people we read do not engage black women as thinkers or subjects, we do not feel compelled by our dominant culture to do so either."

Intellectual Marginalization. The author highlights the systematic exclusion of black women from intellectual spaces, examining how publications and public discourse consistently fail to recognize their intellectual contributions.

Systemic Barriers. The analysis demonstrates:

• Limited opportunities for black women writers
• Tokenization in media spaces
• Lack of genuine engagement with black women's thinking
• Need for structural changes in intellectual institutions

Resistance and Visibility. By documenting these experiences, McMillan Cottom creates a powerful testament to black women's intellectual resilience and the ongoing struggle for recognition.

Last updated: December 28, 2024