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    This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
    This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
    This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
    Audiobook7 hours

    This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America

    Written by Morgan Jerkins

    Narrated by Morgan Jerkins

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    From one of the fiercest critics writing today, Morgan Jerkins’ highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves her incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today—perfect for fans of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists.

    Morgan Jerkins is only in her twenties, but she has already established herself as an insightful, brutally honest writer who isn’t afraid of tackling tough, controversial subjects. In This Will Be My Undoing, she takes on perhaps one of the most provocative contemporary topics: What does it mean to “be”—to live as, to exist as—a black woman today? This is a book about black women, but it’s necessary reading for all Americans.

    Doubly disenfranchised by race and gender, often deprived of a place within the mostly white mainstream feminist movement, black women are objectified, silenced, and marginalized with devastating consequences, in ways both obvious and subtle, that are rarely acknowledged in our country’s larger discussion about inequality. In This Will Be My Undoing, Jerkins becomes both narrator and subject to expose the social, cultural, and historical story of black female oppression that influences the black community as well as the white, male-dominated world at large.

    Whether she’s writing about Sailor Moon; Rachel Dolezal; the stigma of therapy; her complex relationship with her own physical body; the pain of dating when men say they don’t “see color”; being a black visitor in Russia; the specter of “the fast-tailed girl” and the paradox of black female sexuality; or disabled black women in the context of the “Black Girl Magic” movement, Jerkins is compelling and revelatory.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 30, 2018
    ISBN9780062799395
    Author

    Morgan Jerkins

    Morgan Jerkins is the author of Wandering in Strange Lands and the New York Times bestseller This Will Be My Undoing and a Senior Culture Editor at ESPN’s The Undefeated. Jerkins is a visiting professor at Columbia University and a Forbes 30 Under 30 leader in media, and her short-form work has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Elle, Esquire, and the Guardian, among many other outlets. She is based in Harlem. 

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    Reviews for This Will Be My Undoing

    4/5

    167 ratings19 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Very insightful and well written! I was able to think about the Black women in my life differently after reading this book.
    • 5/5
      As a Black woman from South Africa, this felt like spending a day with another Black woman who had similar and also different experiences from mine. The Black woman experiences is indeed not monolithic even though it is fundamentally the same. Reading this felt similarly to reading Eloquent rage by Brittney Cooper. They both share their most intimate experiences generously and they both call for accountability from everyone. Thank you for writing this book ?
    • 5/5
      She does not try to submit to white standards of respectability and that is why I love this book. I note other reviews that are critical, oft from white women who except respectability politics.
      But she is honest. Honesty is not respectable. Honesty is I believed this and I grew. I believe this now and I am growing. These are my fears and these are how they've changed. Honesty is not respectable.
    • 5/5
      I'm blown away by the vulnerability expressed in this brilliantly written book
    • 5/5
      A collection of wide-ranging essays about the author's experience with race, gender, and striving to succeed in a world designed to hold her back and hold her down. She fearlessly relates intimate moments, doubts, fears, and the cultural pressures that have shaped her. This was a deeply affecting look into a world that I have limited experience with and I truly appreciate the author's willingness to open herself so fully to those who may or may not understand her. She is an inspiring figure and a truly evocative writer.
    • 5/5
      Memoirs and essays are my absolute favorite genre, and this collection was no letdown. As a white woman in the current climate, I've made a commitment to seek to read, see, and listen more to works produced by people of color, especially women of color, to hear their stories and experiences. Funny, truthful, uncomfortable, and enlightening all at once, Morgan Jerkins has unapologetically shined a light onto her experiences with race, gender, and its ideology in present-day America.
    • 4/5
      Much to think about. Much I had no idea (as the author so clearly knows).
    • 4/5
      For the most part this was really well done. I especially loved the chapter for Michelle Obama. Other chapters though, the overall impact seemed really young. Not quite juvenile but not really mature either. I can't wait to see how she does as she continues her journey.
    • 4/5
      Great and powerful writing about being a black woman in America.
    • 5/5
      Memoirs and essays are my absolute favorite genre, and this collection was no letdown. As a white woman in the current climate, I've made a commitment to seek to read, see, and listen more to works produced by people of color, especially women of color, to hear their stories and experiences. Funny, truthful, uncomfortable, and enlightening all at once, Morgan Jerkins has unapologetically shined a light onto her experiences with race, gender, and its ideology in present-day America.
    • 4/5
      An easy read, which is kind of surprising when you consider the content. She easily could have clubbed you over the head with truth, but her wit and humor do a much better job of hitting home. It does exactly what a good memoir should -- open you up to a new perspective.
    • 4/5
      This is likely the best memoir/exploration of intersectionality that I have encountered. Well-written and fiercely articulated, the author delves into her experience of race, sex and feminism as a black woman. She crafts a good criticism of mainstream feminism (it's more than a little white) and provides a gut-wrenching view of what it's like to grow up as a black woman in America. This is definitely a book more people need to read and it particularly speaks to the era we are currently experiencing as a nation.
    • 5/5
      I received an ARC of this book free through the LTER program.This book is a magnificently-written scream of rage and fury. It's honest and sometimes funny and I read it in one sitting. Everyone should read this book; I hope it becomes super-successful. It lays out Jerkins's doubts and inconsistencies along with a sure and unwavering uplift for other Black women.Jerkins ties together the personal with the systemic, the historical with the extremely current moment. It's so quotable that I stopped even trying to keep track of all the sentences I wanted to quote in this review. If you need a gift for a young person of any race or gender (especially a young Black woman) going out into the world this spring or summer, please give this book.
    • 4/5
      This collection juggles a lot of contrasting thought about blackness, womanhood, and privilege, and for the most part I think she managed it well. Jerkins is smart and articulate, and certainly I can learn a lot from what she has to say. Her youth works both for and against her—against because as I mentioned earlier sometimes it feels like all her triggers are on the surface of her writing, which doesn't always serve her as an essayist with a point to develop. But on the other hand, her enthusiasm and earnestness are totally in her favor, and keep her thoughts fresh and far away from any kind of polemics. I wonder if the essays are presented in any kind of chronological writing order, or if it was just well edited as a collection, because her thought and expression do progress throughout to a really triumphant note... that's probably my secret shameful love of the fist-pump ending showing, but whatever—it worked. I'm so interested to talk about this in my book club next month, both because it was my pick and because I think it's a great group of people to get into this collection with—diverse ages and races, all feminist (that's loosely the book club theme), all very outspoken.
    • 5/5
      I found this collection of essays eye opening and important in understanding the black woman experience. She writes about her teenage years and trying to fit herself into white expectations and the racism involved in the way her body was (is) perceived. She writes about Michelle Obama, Beyonce and her personal experience living abroad. I liked every one of these essays and feel a little more aware after reading them. I received this book from a LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway.
    • 5/5
      Whew - hang on, this is an INTENSE exploration of a woman's most intimate secrets and her most public persona. I have so many sticky notes in this book that it looks like a porcupine. Here are the chapters with a brief description of each:1. Monkeys like you - Morgan, raised in a white middle class community, tries out for cheerleading and is not chosen. She becomes more aware of the differences in how black girls and white girls are perceived.2. How to be docile - 22 reminders of how black women are commanded to live up to white eyes/expectations3. The stranger at the carnival - all about her acceptance of, and finally joy in, her hair and body 4. A hunger for men's eyes - catcalling and porn viewing5. A lotus for Michelle - a loving appreciation of Michelle Obama6. Black Girl Magic - considering cultural appropriation, and bell hooks vs Beyoncé7. Human, not black - Morgan's travels in Russia and Japan (she studied both languages at Princeton)8. Who will write us? My favorite chapter, about what happens when white women write and make films about black women9. How to survive: a manifesto on paranoia and peace - self-explanatory and I just have to add this one quote: "When a non-black person is complimenting you on your eloquence and presentability only because you adhere to the norm, this is not a compliment at all but a salute to white supremacy. You passed THEIR test, not your own."10. A black girl like me - what black women owe each other This is a must-read for white women who consider themselves "allies". Women of color will nod along, and there's plenty of learning from Morgan Jenkins to go around. I simply have no idea what men would do with this book. It's not for them.
    • 5/5
      Raw and intentional with each word. Discerning her journey and oppression she faces....
    • 5/5
      Morgan Jerkins' debut book of essays is tremendous. She is so skilled at interweaving personal stories within a larger cultural context. She has also done a beautiful job of creating a flow of continuous threads throughout the essays that result in more than simply a great collection, but an internally coherent and well-structured book. She has a strong voice and I feel very lucky to have been able to learn from her.
    • 5/5
      An incredible collection of essays. Highly recommend this for fans of Roxane Gay. Jerkins does an amazing job of weaving together memoir with cultural and societal history to produce compelling essays on race, gender, feminism, and sexuality.