Tressie McMillan Cottom is an academic (Sociologist) who also writes for the New York Times and has appeared on The Daily Show. Thick was published in 2019 and was a finalist for the National Book Award. It is a collection of essays on race, gender, politics and culture that are meticulously researched and brilliantly argued. This is the kind of collection that bears taking your time to read. McMillan Cottom gives the reader a lot to think about and made me rethink things I thought I knew. It’s a provocative work and remains culturally and politically relevant.
There are eight essays in the collection. While all of them are about the experience of being Black in America, five of them have a special focus on being a Black woman or girl in America. These essays are very powerful and probably will make some white readers uncomfortable. Even when they deal with issues with which you may be familiar, McMillan Cottom’s descriptions and personal experiences give them an extra punch. “Thick,” “In the Name of Beauty,” “Dying to be Competent,” “Black Girlhood, Interrupted,” and “Girl 6” cover issues such as body image, the beauty industrial complex that is set up to sustain white standards of beauty, the sexualization and abuse of Black girls, and the lack of Black female representation in prestige media. “In the Name of Beauty” is absolutely fascinating and could be taught as a course on its own. McMillan Cottom describes the aftermath of an article she wrote in which she referred to herself “unattractive.” She then goes on to dissect the culture of beauty in the US and the political and economic forces that bolster it. “Dying to Be Competent” was especially interesting because McMillan Cottom — a highly educated and successful intellectual — discusses her medical treatment during a pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. It was sad and infuriating. Black women as individuals are viewed as incompetent and their concerns ignored, particularly during pregnancy (Black women are 243% more likely to die from pregnancy/childbirth than white women). Yet, paradoxically, when Black women serve others and are meeting others’ expectations, they are “superhuman.” “Girl 6,” the essay in which McMillan Cottom discusses the lack of Black female representation in prestige media (eg, a full-time paid opinion writer for the New York Times) was not just an outstanding argument for her point of view but also a delightful snark on NYT columnist David Brooks and some of the dumb crap that he and other privileged white guys write about. This essay and others revealed to me the enormous amount of work a Black woman, especially a successful one, has to do to make it: a full-time job such as a university position, supporting a church or other volunteer work for the community, and side gigs such as writing. McMillan Cottom and other successful Black women writers like Roxane Gay, were not full-time NYT hires but rather occasional contributors. This may have actually made it harder for a Black woman to be hired as a full-time writer.
The other three essays, “Know Your Whites,” “Black is Over,” and “The Price of Fabulousness” deal with a more general Black experience in America. “Know Your Whites” is especially interesting for its take on Obama and Trump, and how America could go from one to the other. “Black is Over” is about US academia and the preference for “ethnic Blacks” from outside the US, which of course McMillan Cottom is not. And “The Price of Fabulousness” is a very interesting piece on wealth, investment and the importance of image/clothing/respectability if one wants to move upward.
I highly recommend this collection. The essays are sharp, provocative and compelling. A book group could discuss this one for months.