Megan Thee Stallion is not on trial – so why is she being villainized?

Let’s be honest, the hate that Megan Thee Stallion is getting while Tory Lanez stands trial for allegedly shooting her stems from misogynoir, a term used to describe a specific strain of misogyny directed solely towards black women.

As you may be aware, Lanez is facing assault charges with a semiautomatic handgun following a Kylie Jenner house party back in July 2020. The trial has already turned into a media circus, and somehow, a large part of social media has decided that Megan is no longer the victim. Megan has been put front and centre to be the target of verbal and mental abuse, even though she is not the person on trial, nor has she committed a crime.

The discourse originally centred around ‘Who shot Meg?’ but has now been reduced to an entertaining storyline. Megan has become the punching bag of this entire situation. How did this happen? How do you go from being the victim of a serious crime that put your life, health and mental well-being at risk to being villainized as a promiscuous liar? 

People are accusing Megan of lying in her original police statement – where she claimed her injuries resulted from stepping on glass. She addressed this in an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, saying she was too scared of the consequences (of admitting that someone in the group was carrying a deadly weapon) in a climate where police brutality is rife. Even though this has been proven truthful in court, people either criticise her for lying or take cheap shots at her sexual history.

Historically, Black women’s bodies have been sexualised and assumed to be their only source of power. The Sarah Baartman story is a good reference point as it’s often regarded as the epitome of racist colonial exploitation and dehumanisation. You might recognise the illustrations of that African lady with a very large butt. Known as ‘Hottentot Venus’, she was brought to the UK with a ship surgeon who profited from exhibiting her for the entertainment of the British public due to her large butt, which was diagnosed as steatopygia. 

Her story symbolises how Black women’s bodies were seen as commodities and sexualised at a young age, and this defined the stories of many Black women thereafter. Sexual liberation is already a taboo subject, but for Black women, that conversation quickly shifts to slut shaming, and in a profoundly patriarchal society, women very rarely benefit from it. Men are quick to use that against women to justify their bad behaviour. 

Think about it, you wouldn’t remind your daughter and sister that all the boys in the playground want her, or that she’s a little heartbreaker, nor would you ever name her first flat a bachelorette pad. Men’s sexual history is rarely used as a weapon of bad character, lack of maturity and a measure of moral compass.

Ultimately Megan suffered an attack that could have killed her. Yet, people are trying to slut shame her instead of encouraging an open and honest discourse that showcases the gravity of her situation and how this is a reflection of how society still treats women. 

“That’s the motive…can ya’ll kill the slut shaming noise, it’s relative to the case.” says an Instagram user, under the comments on the court case updates, as to reference that she clearly is a victim of this crime for reason.