Introduction Here we go again. Like the previous two books, Toxic Femininity: The Blackman's Guide to Modern Black Feminism wasn't planned in the least; rather, it came about as the result of some very interesting events in the past year. Most notably, my run-in with one Ms. Kimberly Nicole Foster, of For Harriet fame. Always the one to run off at the mouth half-cocked, she made a series of statements, not just about the Black Manosphere, not just about the Passport Bros, but about other Black women who dared to disagree with her warped worldview, that I simply couldn't resist weighing in on the whole ball of wax - and along the way, having a grand old time of it. In the fall of last year - October to be exact - the idea struck me to actually take my numerous live show and podcast takedowns of Foster's ridiculous notions and ideas, write them down and publish them as a book - especially now that I had actually taken to posting my replies to her drivel in writing. I'd been writing about what I would call Modern Black Feminism for years - dating back to at least 2014 or so - but it had never occurred to me to compile all of those writings and present them as one coherent volume for the brothers at large. And since October 2023 was the first time that I returned to actively writing about Modern Black Feminism - the last time I'd done so was five years ago - I thought that my community tab posts on YouTube would make an excellent basis for a full-scale book. Kimberly Nicole Foster was the catalyst for that idea, so it's all her fault. As I began putting together the early notes and research in the fall of last year for what would eventually become the book you're now holding in your hands, an interesting research question popped into my mind: Why aren't there any books for level headed Black men, about what Modern Black Feminism is, where it came from and how to deal with it? From what I can tell and by all accounts, no such stand alone volume exists. Perhaps the closest we have to it was written at the close of the 20th century, by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, called The Assassination of the Black Male Image (1997); and of course, Hutchinson, the always pugnacious Ishmael Reed and other intrepid Black man writers, thinkers and scholars, weighed in on the matter in articles and essays published in newspapers, magazines and other outlets around the country. But none of them had actually undertaken the project of writing a book-length treatise of exactly what Modern Black Feminism is, how it moves and shows up in real time, and what Black men can and should do about it. As is so often the case, it became all-too apparent that I would have to write the book myself. And so, after the dust settled on YouTube between Foster and me in early 2024, that's exactly what I did. This is the fastest book I've written to date - from conception on the drawing board in October of 2023 to "it's a wrap!" in late June of 2024 - it took a mere nine months. My previous two books took me at least a year, if not more, to write. But at the same time, and unlike the other two books, this one was also the most challenging. I say that because, and as I point out above, to my knowledge there has never been a book-length treatment of Modern Black Feminism, conceived of, written and presented by a Black man, and I was understandably concerned with getting it right. While I hope that what I've done here will inspire other Black man writers to weigh in with their own takes, I realize that I may stand alone in this regard - and as such, I want what I write to be able to stand the test of time. By the way, that phrase, Modern Black Feminism is my own creation; by that I mean, that what demarcates the Black feminists of today - like Foster - and those of yesteryear, like say an Alice Walker or a bell hooks - is the internet. Modern Black Feminists live and breathe online, and bring their own peculiarities along with them. This book attempts to make clear the distinctions and similarities between Modern Black Feminism and its O.G. predecessors. You will get to decide whether I've done a good enough job of it. The subtitle of the book is a homage to Sister Shahrazad Ali, whose immortal classic, The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman is still going strong 35 years later. It was literally written the same year Kimberly Nicole Foster was born, and when Brittany Cooper and Feminista Jones were in grade school(!) and is still as relevant as ever. Sister Ali's views about Black feminism were quite clear, both in print and in numerous filmed interviews up to the present day. She felt that it was a Fool's Errand on the part of Black women to attempt to ape what they saw "Miss Ann" do. Sister Ali was of the view that White feminism was really about White women being upset with White men, and had absolutely nothing to do with Black men and Black women - not the least of which, because both of us were chafing under the boot of Jim Crow for roughly a century after the end of the Civil War and several centuries of chattel slavery prior to that. She was and continues to be a major inspiration to me, and thought that I would pick up where she left off insofar as Black feminism - or as I like to put it in this book, Modern Black Feminism - is concerned. A word about the order, structure and makeup of this book. As noted above, this book came about as a direct result of my interactions with Foster on YouTube last year (she would constantly come over to my channel and spam up my comments section, but I never went to hers and spammed up the place with comments), and I decided that in addition to printing my replies to her kooky takes, that I would also go back into my archives and reprint selected articles I had written about Modern Black Feminism in the form of Brittany Cooper and Feminista Jones, two other "big names" in the online Black feminist world. Indeed, this book really centers on my de facto debates that I had with all three - Kimberly Nicole Foster, Brittany Cooper and Feminista Jones - and to whom I refer to in this book as the "Big Three" of Modern Black Feminism. By no means am I suggesting that they are the end all, be all of Modern Black Feminism; they are NOT definitive or comprehensive. Rather, I want to argue that they are illustrative of what Modern Black Feminism is, in real time, over the "theory." That's another major theme that I touch on in this book: The distinction between the "theory" of Modern Black Feminism, and its actual practice. And much of that practice is self-serving, self-aggrandizing, contradictory, and most of all, downright hypocritical. Throughout the book, I also point out the very real mental issues the "Big Three" have and demonstrate, are issues that are well-documented among some of the biggest movers and shakers of the White feminist world as well. So here, we can say with confidence, that the Modern Black Feminists have done their job of "monkey see, monkey do" in aping their White feminist sisters well. I would even go so far as to say that these mental and emotional issues would be even more acute, since there is mounting evidence that prolonged exposure to social media can and does have deleterious effects, especially on human female brains. I also want something to be very clearly understood, since this book just might be my most controversial yet: We must make a very important distinction between Modern Black Feminists in particular, and Black women at large. The two are NOT one and the same. The former hews to a particular ideology - one that is wrongheaded, factually inaccurate, anti-Black male, anti-Black love and relationships, anti-Black family and ultimately, anti-Black American society itself. On the other hand, the vast majority of Black women are NOT these things, and I want to caution my brothers reading this not to allow themselves to fall into the trap of thinking that ALL or even MOST rank and file Black women are in fact, part of the Modern Black Feminist party faithful. While they do have a degree of influence online, and that influence seems to be on the wane at the present, they are not, nor have they ever been, representative of a plurality of Black women. At best, they are a fringe element - a marginal remnant - of deeply bothered, deeply disturbed and deeply butthurt Black women who are mad at life itself for dealing them a shitty hand. Brothas, simply because a Black woman disagrees with you, does not automatically make her a Modern Black Feminist. One of the chief aims of this book is to identify exactly what and who a Modern Black Feminist is out in the wild, so that you will know her on sight and to make the most important distinction between them and Black women out there who've got some sense. At any rate, roughly half of this book is made up of previous articles that have been reprinted in this volume. In doing so, I hope to convey to the reader my thinking on these issues and the length and breadth of time that I'd been doing so. Again, we're talking about going back roughly a decade from the current year of...
