Lucretia McEvil
Karrine “Superhead” Steffans graces the cover of the November-December issue of Today’s Black Woman (TBW) magazine. She is featured in an article about her life as “Hip Hop’s Most Notorious Woman”. Karrine is a mother of a nine year old son; author of the book titled “Confessions of a Video Vixen”, and is a former “Video Vixen” or video background girl/dancer/eye candy. She has also admitted to being sexually involved with a variety of Hip Hop artists and industry folks. Karrine dropped many names and graphic details about her sexual promiscuity in her “Confessions of a Video Vixen” and shook up the Hip Hop world with her detailed sexcapades.
The problem with having someone like Karrine on the cover of a magazine geared towards today’s Black woman is simple by definition. She is not a role model nor is she what our daughters and sons should see under that headline. Karrine should not be idolized or glorified as Today’s Black Woman. The values or lack thereof that she has chosen to live her life by are not indicative of the values that today’s Black women, and more importantly today’s Black daughters are in desperate need of. In a world where Hip Hop, money and sex rules the way, young Black women need to be able to see positive influences from women of color. Young Black men need to see women of color that personify the qualities instilled inside such as strength, intelligence, love, and understanding, not just a big butt and a smile. A young man should be able to see on the cover of a Black oriented magazine a woman he can look up to and wish his own sisters and daughters can look up to.
Karrine Steffans speaks in this article, that in her opinion her son will love her regardless of her actions. While this may be true, he could have a lifetime of challenges to face due to his mother’s very public past. She states: “All he knows is that his mother writes books, and that is what is keeping the bills paid: that’s what I do. He is truly a nine year old and no one has discussed it with him, and no one ever will, because he is nine. Now when he turns 13, well that’s another issue. That might cause some questions to come up. But, to me, it’s not really a big deal.” Not really a big deal? Shame on you, Karrine!! At 13, when he questions you about the things that his homeboys and their fathers have heard about you, what will you say, the truth? He may choose to resent you because of that, and how will you soothe him then, with the knowledge that the lifestyle he is accustomed to and the bills being paid are a direct result of those actions. I would rather see you as the head French fry cook at your neighborhood fast food joint. That’s what I consider by any means necessary.
Karrine Steffans also states in the article that she is bothered about the public perception of her “first 25 years” and that she is “not the only person that has this issue”, at this I am not willing to say that one cannot overcome the ills of their past to become a positive, productive member of society. However, when your soul has already been sold through your past actions, and yet you sell it again in book form, I am hard-pressed to find the positivism in that! Most importantly, that infamous past is glorified publicly for her child to suffer from. In this same article Karrine tells us that she’s “gotten more flack from my own people”, she goes on to say; “If I walk into a room full of White folks, I am their goddess…..but I walk into a room full of Black folks, they’re like ‘Oh my God, there she goes’.” That is because we, (Black folks) are ashamed of you. Why would you want to be viewed as a goddess by a room full of White folks? Should you not yearn for your own to sing your praises? Are we, her “own” to believe that Karrine Steffans actually believes that White people view her as a goddess? Poor, poor Karrine.
This writer believes that if Karrine has truly turned her life around that she should embrace this turnabout with humility, if not for she than for her own child. Speak out in a way that draws support from your own and lift yourself up to become the best mother and role model that you can be. Speak out against your choices and actions in a way that shows the change in you. It is my own opinion that Karrine will ride her past exploits until the last dime is paid out to her, I only hope that today’s Black women see her for what she is, and teach our daughters to follow the correct path to success, by showing them how to use of healthy lifestyles, education, and self-empowerment as the tools to gain success in life, not what is between their legs. “You got to use what you got, to get what you want”, nobody ever said that didn’t mean your brain.
Kimberly Hunter is a free-lance writer and author of the online blog “Ninjagirrl in Motion” (http://ninjagirrl.blogspot.com). She resides in Rochester, NY, where she is raising her daughter, while working in education and pursuing a dual B.A. in Communication/Journalism and English. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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