In life, there are many paths to success. For Karrine Steffans, her share of prosperity was found inside the boardrooms (and bedrooms) of select music industry heavyweights, from Irv Gotti to Jay-Z. Although Steffans insists that her story was written to "shed light on an otherwise romanticized industry," Confessions of a Video Vixen best serves as a commentary on the state of paternalism and sexism found in modernday society.
At its best, the book also serves as a cautionary tale of the cultural influence and global impact bequeathed to the hip-hop industry and individuals, like Steffans, within the industry’s wide expanse. Without a doubt, for all of Karrine Steffans' success as a glorified whore, one would be remiss to also note the damage she's done with special regard to the advancement and worth of all her affiliated demographics - in particular young, black women.
It would be unfair to blame Karrine Steffans for the proliferation of the degradation of the music industry's "video girls." However, as with most things in life, one rotten apple can spoil the whole bunch. Although commonplace, Steffans’ experience and her catalog of video work shines as a testament to the widespread sexism among (male) industry professionals, and the devastating self-hatred, prevalent amongst women, that propagate and fuel hip-hop's vicious cycle of hopelessness and despair.
In Confessions' updated version, Steffans, when asked about the industry's treatment of women, said the following:
- The entertainment industry is vast and is a reflection of the society we live in. I believe what's happening in hip hop now would be a disappointment to its founders, as it's so filled with ignorance and hate. It has done exactly what those who oppose this culture have always wanted it to do - enforce self-hatred among its people. Somewhere in corporate America, someone is laughing at us - at how we degrade our own women and poorly influence our youth. We, African Americans, no longer have slave masters but have become slaves to ourselves through the hip hop industry's recycling of the same ignorance and hate that brought us to this continent in the first place. Maybe that's a bit too political a thought, but it's how I feel.
Article comments
1 - tink
One wonders, when the premise of a book does not match the end results, where the responsibility for that rests on? The author or the editor? Was this the book that Ms. Steffans wanted to write or the one that the editors/publishers wanted to print?
A good 'food for thought' article. THANKS!!!
2 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
3 - Mac
Clayton,
I'm sure you will say, "of course Mac doesn't agree." I actually do agree, but think you're not approaching the realities honestly. There are some overarching issues that you failed to address. We as black people, and its fine if we're all agreement, hold other black people to higher standards than the world hold's itself. We often jump into a right wing evangelical styled rant about the mental/intellectual impoverishment of our "brothers" and "sisters." I'm not saying, "let's all go to hell in a hand basket." But greedy white men and black men and brown men are happy to sell anything. White men sold our whole bodies as chattel. What makes you think they care if they sell our image? Its all money. They can laugh, but they sell White women, Asian women, short women, tall women, and any other kind of sex or sexually provocative "thing" that society will let them sell. Society will always want sex. Its how we procreate? Some of our society's most sexually repressed are its worst products and become rapist, serial killers, and sociopaths generally.
Brother I'll tell you right now. Clearly you can make money doing and selling other things than sex, but isn't the concept of sex being sold age old. If the media doesn't give the people what they want then it doesn't sell. I'm sure you remember the female version of Creme de Caroline. It sold okay, but that was b/c we grinded to sell it. It didn't fly out of our hands. While people got on soap boxes and denounced the project as being exploitative, the truth of the matter was that it was tame and therefore damn near lame. The point was to have tame picture and focus on the facial beauty and overall attractiveness of female students at UNC. That's not what sells. People want fantasy. People want butt naked. People want raunchy. People want nasty. That's why porn is a HUGE industry. Is it right? NO! Are people getting wealthy? Yes! How are you gonna fight dollars and sense? ILook at Maxim, FHM, GQ, Esquire, Bender and the list goes on and on. These magazines make sure they feature scantily clad (mostly WHITE) women as centerfolds.
My point is that its not a race issue. Its not a hip-hop issue. Its just that its a greed issue. Fight greed! Fight poverty! Continue to fight for education! Promote marriage! Set positive examples by showing strong family units! These women wouldn't be so inclined to be in these videos if they weren't getting paid. They wouldn't be so quick to flock to rappers if they could make good livings for themselves. If they had a father and a mother to look to they probably wouldn't see a rapper as a valid option for a husband or timeworthy man. If they wereeducated enough they would more likely be journalist then accessories.
This woman Ms. Stephens (yes, I read the book) did an excellent job of depicting life. She got her ass beaten religiously for years as a product of a loss childhood leading her into abusive relationships. She let it be known that she was not in full control of her life at any point while in her heyday. She starts the book and ends the book recounting the last time she found herself sprawled passed out in a bathroom floor (albeit Mr. Chow's in Manhattan) from a drug induced, food deprived tear for the last three days. If you read what she's said then its pretty clear that life is about more than fucking, sucking and hip-hop. The problems remain 1)you have to be able to read 2) you have to be intelligent to understand that she's denouncing the life she led, but also feels compelled to be honest and say you can survive and have everything you (given the limitations of being a whore) want in it if that's all you want. It seems as if you would have her to continue her life as a whore than use her brain to acquire wealth. Its her story...she can tell it and has that right. If it wasn't such a compelling story we wouldn't be talking about it almost two years after its release. You'll see in January when FX shows "Dirt." That's what Americans want. Sure she should go on TV and talk and go around the country and speak, but let's be honest...will she really reach her audience? Imagine at the end of her speech and all she hears is, "is it true you fucked Jay-z?", "Do you laugh at Ray-J?", "was Beyonce mad at you?" Sure go out and try, but the book is fair. Atleast she's tried. You've gotta take the good w/ the bad...no one's perfect and people lose respect when the public finds out they aren't perfect after they've been fronting like they are.
I kindly dissent....
4 - Katie McNeill
well I wasn't going to read it and now I'm sure that I won't. the review was fantastic by the way.
5 - canice
I honestly agree with Karrine having the right to tell her story but it was indeed just a smart way to make money. After all, count how many women who are out there doing the same damn thing. She didnt have to live that life. Please Im not rich either. I have two kids, two jobs and Im working on my bachelor's but the thought of sucking or fucking for it makes my entire mission meaningless. She wrote the book out of anger.....after all........she left out a name who she considered to be a friend. So what? Everyone else was a enemy huh? That was her dumbness for sleeping with them. And come on oral sex......trifling. These celebs are only passing stuff onto eachother. I agree, she needs to donate a large sum to atleast young women who may be stupid like her. Now that she and her son are not living in a car anymore. Poor baby. Poor Karrine.
6 - kourtnee ford
i think the book was very good. she told the truth. she i using herself as an example to help others. i respect her as a person because she did somethings bad but in the end came out on top.
7 - cincy_extra
I have not read Ms.Karrine's book, but feel that her motive was not just to let people know the truth. Just my oppinion, but the lady may have just woken up from the mess one day and decided to do something to salvage her openly meaningless life in a way she could finally financially benefit from all those wasted years sucking and fucking. She actually had houshold names to put in her book so people are going to stop. My boyfreind wants to read her book and is in jail. I wonder why he cares, but I will eventually end up reading it when he comes home with it. I just hope that she does not glorify that nasty lifestyle in any kind of way to encourage anyone (like my boyfriend) to be abusive to women and treat them horribly the way Karrine chose to be treated. Let's face it with out even knowing her or have read the book, she could have walked away anytime and still wrote her book. That's what I would have done. I am a model, and recently told my photographer to find someone else to take it all off, because that is not me. And he promised me fame and furtune, pointing out he put my name in the "Hollywood Review". All ploys just to get at what is in my pants. Duhh! I wouldn't touch any nasty MF just to get to the top. Nobody not even Jay-Z is worth it. At the end of the day they are going home with money in the bank, not you. I refuse to go home without atleast my dignity intact. The black man is not to be trusted with certain things people should know by now. I'm not trying to give my man any STD's either. Sometimes being stronger is playing along, but knowing where to draw the line blank and anyone else in her shoes. People will do to you what you let them. If they want to go all the way and you go along with it, you vitimized yourself. Let you all know what I think after I have read the book.