Poet Staceyann Chin Strips Down, Gets Real About the Consequences of Patriarchy

Staceyann Chin is a performance poet, radical activist, and super mom. When she was 24, Chin relocated to the United States from Jamaica in an effort to experience acceptance as a lesbian, which she wasn’t able to find at home. In the U.S., she faced the complicated intersections of being Black and lesbian. She talks about that and more in the video below.





According to the video description, “[Chin] suffered corrective rape in Jamaica and racism here in America. But her optimism knows no bounds. Through her work, the loud, proud soul is gunning for a utopia, where everyone has access to the resources that they need to be safe and happy.”

Chin's poetry can be found in her chapbooks, Wildcat Woman and Stories Surrounding My Coming, as well as numerous anthologies, including Skyscrapers, Taxis and Tampons, and Cultural Studies: Critical Methodologies. In 2009, Chin published her autobiographical novel, The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir.



Photo: YouTube

Deonna is Junior Editor at For Harriet. Follow her on Twitter at @iamDEONNA.

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