Sociology Professor Speaks On Cardi B and Trap Feminism

Sociology Professor Speaks On Cardi B and Trap Feminism
The talk covered black identities, trap feminist ideology and politics, and the white gaze.

(Assistant Professor of Sociology Candice Robinson | SOURCE: Washington and Lee University)

“Let's get radical, let's get ratchet, let's twerk, let's use our voices and live our best lives as Cardi B says, but most importantly, let's engage with the sociology that centers women from the trap,” concluded Washington and Lee Professor Candice Robinson.

Robinson, assistant professor of sociology and a DeLaney Center faculty scholar, discussed these issues during her March 4 speech in Leyburn Library’s Harte Center Gallery. The speech borrowed the name of her 2024 book, The Sociology of Cardi B: A Trap Feminist Approach.

She told the approximately 25 attendees that “this book would be nothing without the women in and adjacent to the trap: the hood chicks, the ghetto girls, the ratchet women, those with the long nails and brightly colored hair who are twerking or talking too loud or whatever the case may be.” Robinson described these groups of people as “the women who survive and thrive in the face of structural inequalities.”

Robinson’s book uses the lens of “trap feminism” to examine the sociological significance of Cardi B, who Robinson described as a “black hood chick, former stripper from the Bronx, a sexually expressive, scorned, and idolized Afro-Latina hip-hop rapper and reality star.”

Robinson used Tulane Professor Corey Miles’s definition of trap feminism: “an intellectual framework, consciousness, and day-to-day way of being that speaks to a type of hustling that creates space both physical and ideological in response to a gendered, racial capitalism that intends to keep us confined.” Robinson added: “How can Cardi B talk about using a man for money for her survival and still be a feminist? This is what trap feminism gives us.”

Interest in Cardi B’s music and social perspectives, as well as black and hip hop feminism, led Robinson and four other black female sociologists to create “The Cardi B Collective” and to co-author the book. Her book uses “black sociology” to “name, describe and build a theoretical feminist approach to better understand the sociology of hood chicks, ratchet women, [and] ghetto girls.”

Robinson explained that trap feminism is applied to “elucidate the intellectual prowess, knowledge production and feminism demonstrated through the public life of Cardi B.” Robinson emphasized that Cardi B “knows what she’s talking about” and is “contributing to society in very, very important ways.”

“This book provides an opportunity to take seriously the intellect of Cardi B and people like her. Women in and adjacent to the trap, the hood chicks, ghetto girls and ratchet women … aren’t people to discard but people to think critically about their voices,” Robinson continued.

She used strippers as an example of underappreciated black female perspectives, saying that “strippers can kind of tell us when a recession is coming, but for whatever reason, we don’t want to listen to them … I would listen to the strippers.”

She asserted that these groups of black women face many societal challenges, saying that “there could be a whole other lecture to talk about the ghetto and trap and so on and so forth and how these structures have been developed to exclude people and to continue to exasperate [exacerbate] inequalities.”

Robinson believes that these disadvantaged women do a good job dealing with their struggles, arguing that “hood chicks, ghetto girls and ratchet women are happy. They figure out ways to do their hair and nails to get money to stretch $10 to $100 to do what they need to do, which is what society doesn't really like if we’re being honest.”

Robinson recounted that her book editor, an upper-middle-class white woman, recommended comparisons and explanations to help the reader understand the language of marginalized black women. The authors rejected these proposals, saying, “The voices we want are the hood chicks. We don't want to always translate them. We want people to expand their minds and do the work to figure out what they need to do to listen to these women.”

The book, which is over 160 pages long, also includes chapters on “Resisting White Gaze,” “Policing Cardi B’s Blackness,” “Trap Feminist Motherhood,” and “Trap Feminist Politics.”

Regarding the white gaze, Robinson said that it “is continuing to make white the norm and everything else outside of the norm.” She argued that “black women in the U.S. often struggle with how to be authentic in the face of white surveillance and behavioral norms.” She commented that “the white gaze continues to serve white supremacy, the patriarchy and capitalism, because that’s what we see as most legitimate.”

She praised Cardi B for resisting the white gaze, saying that she “trusted herself to know I am authentically me and authentically me will get me where I need to go. I am not going to dress up and … act any certain way.”

Robinson cited Cardi B’s fight with Nicki Minaj, where Cardi B threw a shoe at Minaj, another female rapper. Robinson argued that while Minaj was concerned about her public perception, Cardi B had an “insistence to exist beyond and in spite of the white gaze” that led her not to be worried about how her actions were perceived. While answering an audience question, Robinson commented that despite her wealth, Cardi B is able to keep her responsibilities in mind, bringing a “working class ideology into the Met Gala world.”

When answering a question about blackness, Robinson said that it is important to remember that there is “not one monolithic blackness” and that we should recognize the beauty of different black ethnic identities. However, she added that there are negative aspects to creating distinctions within a racial group. Robinson argued that if someone is black but says that they are professional, contrasting themself with a “ghetto black” like Cardi B, they are “disrespecting another group of persons who [they] have a racial affinity with.”

She also said that white people and politicians make similar harmful distinctions within racial groups. Robinson asked the audience, “What does it serve to say that there’s different black identities?” She answered: “white supremacy, capitalism or the patriarchy.”

On the topic of politics, she showed a 2019 video of Cardi B criticizing Trump for what Cardi called “summonsing [sic] federal workers to go back to work without getting paid.” In the profanity-laden video, Cardi B remarked that “our country is in a hell hole right now,” and that people needed “to take this serious” that federal workers “got to go to work without getting paid.”

Cardi B then dismissed comparisons to the 2013 government shutdown under President Obama. She argued that Trump was motivated to shut down the government by not receiving funding for a border wall, while Obama was motivated by “health care, so your grandma could check her blood pressure, and you b—hes could check y’all p—y in the gynecologist with no motherf—ing problem.”

After showing the video, Robinson remarked that Cardi B is a “fierce advocate for people who may not necessarily have a voice.” Robinson discussed the fact that many politicians don’t want to retweet her due to it being deemed inappropriate. Robinson, however, believes that we should “listen to women on the margins about what's happening in society and what their needs are.” She noted that both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders did interviews with Cardi B, and was glad that they took her seriously as “one of their constituents.”

An audience question asked about Summer Walker, a black female R&B singer who has expressed support for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Robinson answered that “From a trap feminist’s perspective, I got to trust Summer Walker … the same way we would trust Cardi B for supporting Bernie Sanders or Kamala Harris … we need to trust that people know what they're talking about. And if they don’t, don’t belittle them, open up the conversation further.”