Nikita Dragun has been a bad bitch from the beginning, and despite the Insta Baddie persona she maintains, she’s always been super open about her journey as a trans woman. She’s legit the ‘started from the bottom now we here’ meme and it’s impressive AF.
Being controversial from the beginning because of course people can’t handle women actually profiting off the sexualisation of their own gender, she’s used to bad press. This week, she’s making the rounds online again after her wild AF look on the VMAs carpet. Which included men on leashes.
Yeah, the internet went apeshit.
Calls that she’s a fake feminist, or not a feminist at all, or a misandrist, or that she’s oppressing and discriminating against men, etc are flooding her Insta and Twitter feeds, and I think it’s time to set some things straight.
Nikita Dragun Isn’t Reverse Sexist
Okay, I get that the image of a bunch of guys in chains on the red carpet is confronting. Sure. But why is no one actually trying to think about why she would create this look, or what it means? Nikita has always been about throwing stereotypes out the window, and disproving discriminatory views on women, specifically transwomen. She’s all about subverting power. I mean, just look at this absolutely iconic response she gave to the transphobic comments from Victoria’s Secret.
dear Victoria’s Secret,
you said trans women can’t sell the “fantasy” so here i am as a TRANS WOMAN selling the FANTASY! 👼🏻 pic.twitter.com/rKQHp7SLNq— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) December 5, 2018
Nikita Dragun’s look at the VMAs was a subversion of the fetishization of women as slaves or accessories to powerful men. She dressed as a powerful woman, using typical symbols of fame and money such as a feather boa and her Marilyn Monroe/Madonna inspired hair.The whole point of her look is to be controversial and uncomfortable – that’s the point of subversive art.
She makes the look disturbingly glamorous on purpose – it’s all about challenging what an accepted norm sexism and the subjugation of women is. It’s supposed to fire people up.
This cancelling Nikita BS needs to stop, especially because I’m aware most people stan Snoop Dogg despite him doing the same thing in 2003, but more disturbing and without the artistic subversion or consenting and very well-paid male models.
my mood board. snoop dogg 2003 vmas. marilyn monroe hbd. madonna. pic.twitter.com/8MbJoSOqVU
— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) August 27, 2019
On top of that, to subjugate an entire gender class you need to actually have the societal power to do so – which Nikita, as a trans woman, really doesn’t. Nothing she does or says will ever actually affect the quality of life that cis men face, so chill.
reverse sexism? sexism is prejudice + power. men are the dominant gender with power in society. my VMAs outfit was a statement on me as a woman taking that power. might i add with consenting paid male models. help me understand how i’m sexist towards men? make it make sense.
— Nikita Dragun (@NikitaDragun) August 28, 2019
Racism though? Now That’s A Valid Criticism
Oh yeah. Don’t think the whole “Black guy in chains” thing didn’t immediately make me a bit nauseous. There’s obviously a looong history of Black slavery in America, and considering it was abolished fairly recently, it’s a bad look to be stuntin’ a leashed Black man on the red carpet. Asian women obviously don’t have a history of oppressing Black men, and I think she was focusing more on gender than race, but this ain’t it chief. I stan the subversion of white male power over Asian women, but seeing a Black man tied up is not a look, TBH.
Image Sources: Twitter: @NikitaDragun
