Martin X. Henson is the founder of the Black Men's Empowerment Network (BMEN). Photo Courtesy of martinhspeaks.com
Activist and community organizer Martin X. Henson recently weighed in on “gendered fascism,” noting there is a faction of Black women who have become “divestors” and “femcels” that support alt-right and white supremacist ideologies against Black men.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Henson is the executive director of the Black Men’s Engagement Network (BMEN) and a consultant for Black Lives Matter’s Boston chapter. In his bio, he describes himself as “an advocate for change” who has “built a non-profit and created institutional impact for black men.”
Henson explained his position on Black women who he says promote gendered fascism in a Twitter thread that included 25 tweets on Sunday, June 12.
“There is a lot of talk about the overlap between incels and white supremacists, but the alt-right has a growing group that doesn’t get a lot of attention. Let me introduce you to Divestors, Black women who represent a gendered fascism. It’s a wild thread. Buckle up,” Henson wrote in the opening tweet.
Henson went on to define alt-right and the nature of Black women who have become divestors. He used the Anti-Defamation League’s description of alt-right people as those who “identify with a range of different ideologies, all of which center on white identity” as well as those whose “core belief is that ‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice’ to undermine white people.”
Based on his observations, Martin X said, “Divestors retain the set of far-right ideologies, believing that Black women are burdened by the black community, specifically black men, and should ‘divest’ as a form of ‘black women empowerment.’”
These women, who are known by a variety of names, recruit young Black women to their cause under the guise of self-help, broadening horizons, and prioritizing their own health and self-care, Henson said. He added that divestors heavily promote Black women having interracial relationships with white men instead of Black men because they see white men as superior partners.
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By Henson’s account, these women are actually femcels, which the Urban Dictionary defines as “a woman who is involuntarily celibate,” and “permanently single” because they “can only identify toxic masculine behaviours and only notices men that display toxic masculine behaviours, is opposed to them intellectually, but is physically attracted to these men.”
“Where incels have created ‘an elaborate sociopolitical explanation for their sexual failures’ with women, these women have also created an elaborate sociopolitical ideology, centering on the idea that black men are worthless,” Henson wrote.
He continued, “…and hypergamy through interracial relationships is the best form of social mobility. This is combined with their ideology that black men have abandoned and rejected them, which gives them justification for their anti-black misandry.”
“They are really just sharing good old fascist talking points though. This is how the alt right pulls people in,” Henson explained.
He detailed the terminology divestors often use including “conquered male,” “felony fairy,” “bullet bags” and “Tyrone” to describe Black men as well as “guard dogs” and “pick me’s” to describe Black women who defend Black men against their attacks. Henson also said phrases like “burn the cape” and “holding black men accountable” are tell-tale signs of divestor language.
“The biggest problem with divestors is that they market racist ideas as black womens empowerment,” Henson continued. “Writers, bloggers, youtubers and influencers who are divestors plus people parroting divestor talking points for engagement stopping just short of being explicitly racist.”
Henson also noted that even those who may not be conscious divestors have become susceptible to their ideologies and use of their harmful language.
“Phrases like ‘black men are the weakest links’ and ‘black women are tired of caping for black men’ moved from simple statements of frustration to calling cards and viral trends on social media, often instigated by divestors,” Henson explained.
According to Henson, the most dangerous thing about divestors is they are not separate from the Black community, but within it, and have been branded as Black feminists.
“Some might say divestors are a brand of radical black feminism. I don’t know, but my inability to tell where one ends and the other begins speaks to how ingrained divestors have become,” Henson’s thread concluded.
People on Twitter weighed in on Henson’s thoughts.
PHOTO: Martin X. Henson is the founder of the Black Men’s Empowerment Network (BMEN). Photo Courtesy of martinhspeaks.com.
