Chidera Eggerue aka The Slumflower

[snarkvark]

We stopped critical thinking when social media became a place where you'd get cancelled or dragged for having a different opinion to the seeming majority online!

People stopped thinking for themselves because people (LIKE AJA!!!) would instigate pile-ons if you dare disagree with whatever the current woke master was saying.

No wonder we have situations like the Florence v Slumflower incident!!!

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Can people just leave out if she did or didn’t descend from slaves. I’m not sticking up for CE but if we don’t know HER family history or background personally I’d leave whether she did or didn’t alone tbf. It’s not up to us to decide.

I also agree with the posts above. She has cancelled herself! In the beginning of this I actually was more on CE side due to having the books and following her for some time.
I did believe the thoughts that FG did copy her book but the more this has dragged it’s probably not the case.

To the person who said CE hates white people at this point I reckon she hates anyone who isn’t adoring her or backing her points. Black white asian etc, straight, gay the lot!

Lastly how many stories can someone post? What is the limit? I was up as I couldn’t sleep at 3 and she had like 50 stories. It’s now 9am and there’s more I’m tired!

How many stories can someone post they’re all SO dense too, I honestly can’t keep up and am not smart enough to form an opinion so have loved just reading this thread tbh!

Re the books & plagiarism, I haven’t read either so can’t say but they both feel like entry level feminism made beautiful? CE says she made the first aestheticTM version of this book & I believe her, but I can’t imagine there was this sort of beef when the second illustrated kiddies book came out...? Like isn’t it inevitable in the publishing industry? Couldn’t a scholar / academic come for both of them saying they’ve ripped and simplified their life’s research? I genuinely don’t know but what a palava

 

[chlosib]

How many stories can someone post they’re all SO dense too, I honestly can’t keep up and am not smart enough to form an opinion so have loved just reading this thread tbh!

Re the books & plagiarism, I haven’t read either so can’t say but they both feel like entry level feminism made beautiful? CE says she made the first aestheticTM version of this book & I believe her, but I can’t imagine there was this sort of beef when the second illustrated kiddies book came out...? Like isn’t it inevitable in the publishing industry? Couldn’t a scholar / academic come for both of them saying they’ve ripped and simplified their life’s research? I genuinely don’t know but what a palava

I agree with this - I don’t see what CE is seeing at all. Yes the books cover the same topics, and the artwork looks inspired by the same era (artwork FG has been producing years before the release of this book), but how on earth has this argument gone from one based on potential plagiarism, to arguments over racism.
At the end of the day, its not racist that FG sold more books than CE. Are we now supposed to take the stance that unless BW are the best sellers in every single category then the actual WW are undeserving and are only profiting off the back of privilege?
This whole ‘black people deserve to sit with their feet up their entire lives whilst white people pay for everything’ just seems so far fetched and reaching. If the argument was based with facts, she’d have more success at helping people to see her point of view but all I’m reading is a bombardment of aggression towards absolutely anyone who dares to have another opinion. She’ll turn support away at this point.

 

[bunnyblue]

Re the books & plagiarism, I haven’t read either so can’t say but they both feel like entry level feminism made beautiful? CE says she made the first aestheticTM version of this book & I believe her, but I can’t imagine there was this sort of beef when the second illustrated kiddies book came out...? Like isn’t it inevitable in the publishing industry? Couldn’t a scholar / academic come for both of them saying they’ve ripped and simplified their life’s research? I genuinely don’t know but what a palava

Yep yep yep. Like a few years ago when those Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girl books became popular there were suddenly all these
similar books being published. This is discussed on Booktube but basically publishers will of course want to jump on certain trends and in some cases even take inspiration for a book cover for a book they think did well that is a similar genre / theme / will appeal to the same audience.

So Chidera saying nobody is addressing the plagiarism allegations, well they are, a few of them have said Chidera doesn’t own the rights to graphic books about feminism, and you can hardly say nobody else is allowed to do something similar ever again.

 

[YoureaRocketQueen]

There seemed to be a lot of emphasis put on the fact that Florence stole "we don't owe you pretty" from Chidera. But Chidera stole that from Erin McKean so where do we stop...?

It's like any "self help" book, it's just repackaging of the same things in a different order and a new font. It's rare you come across anything that isn't a reworking of a previously shared idea.

It's just that Florence's rehash of old news was on the same management and publisher as Chidera's so it's caused all of this trouble. Also the fact that they bought advertising space in Chidera's name which is a pretty low blow and completely unnecessary.

I would like to know how much money Florence made from the book in comparison to Chidera. And how much of that money Chidera feels she is entitled to in reparations?

This is feminism at it's finest though hey?

 

[lemonpeach]

There seemed to be a lot of emphasis put on the fact that Florence stole "we don't owe you pretty" from Chidera. But Chidera stole that from Erin McKean so where do we stop...?

It's like any "self help" book, it's just repackaging of the same things in a different order and a new font. It's rare you come across anything that isn't a reworking of a previously shared idea.

It's just that Florence's rehash of old news was on the same management and publisher as Chidera's so it's caused all of this trouble. Also the fact that they bought advertising space in Chidera's name which is a pretty low blow and completely unnecessary.

I would like to know how much money Florence made from the book in comparison to Chidera. And how much of that money Chidera feels she is entitled to in reparations?

This is feminism at it's finest though hey?

They haven’t bought ad space under Chidera’s books. The reason Florence’s book appears is because that’s how google and Amazon algorithms work. They combine ads for things which are frequently purchased together or by someone looking at that item, to maximise sales. It is also based on a person’s previous searches, the things they engage with on social media etc (remember they’re always watching ) There’s a number of screenshots in this thread that show Florence doesn’t always appear when people search Chidera’s name.

I don’t know for sure, but I imagine Florence will have received a similar cut from her sales as Chidera got for hers as this is an industry standard. Authors generally don’t make a huge amount on their sales.

 

[YoureaRocketQueen]

They haven’t bought ad space under Chidera’s books. The reason Florence’s book appears is because that’s how google and Amazon algorithms work. They combine ads for things which are frequently purchased together or by someone looking at that item, to maximise sales. It is also based on a person’s previous searches, the things they engage with on social media etc (remember they’re always watching ) There’s a number of screenshots in this thread that show Florence doesn’t always appear when people search Chidera’s name.

If this is fact and nothing has been paid for to promote Florence over Chidera then the whole thing is utter bullshit. To me that was the main low-blow because in terms of design and graphics, I think the two books are not alike and I keep wondering what I am missing with that, the aesthetic and graphics are worlds apart, from different decades!?. The premise is always going to be very similar because they are writing about the exact same thing.

 

[lemonpeach]

If this is fact and nothing has been paid for to promote Florence over Chidera then the whole thing is utter bullshit. To me that was the main low-blow because in terms of design and graphics, I think the two books are not alike and I keep wondering what I am missing with that, the aesthetic and graphics are worlds apart, from different decades!?. The premise is always going to be very similar because they are writing about the exact same thing.

My best guess is that if someone has paid for the ads in google search, then it would’ve been Amazon. When Florence’s book does come up, it’s the link to buy it on Amazon. The amount of money it costs to buy a top ad on google is pretty big and publishers usually don’t have a big advertising budget. Especially when someone like Florence has half a million followers she can advertise to on her own Instagram. Amazon on the other hand has enormous budgets. If the publishers were going to advertise her book under Chidera’s then I don’t see why they’d do so on behalf of Amazon (since that’s where it links to), an enormous corp.

 

[Justalurker2020]

How many stories can someone post they’re all SO dense too, I honestly can’t keep up and am not smart enough to form an opinion so have loved just reading this thread tbh!

Re the books & plagiarism, I haven’t read either so can’t say but they both feel like entry level feminism made beautiful? CE says she made the first aestheticTM version of this book & I believe her, but I can’t imagine there was this sort of beef when the second illustrated kiddies book came out...? Like isn’t it inevitable in the publishing industry? Couldn’t a scholar / academic come for both of them saying they’ve ripped and simplified their life’s research? I genuinely don’t know but what a palava

An actual academic would either be happy that young people are writing about feminism in an accessible way that introduces people politely to the subject, and/or would be annoyed at how complex ideas have been simplified down to pithy statements. They would *not* be calling plagiarism because Chidera’s definition of plagiarism isn’t... it? (Said cause I’m an academic!)

Also when I say ‘academic’ I should point out that people can be academics without going through the traditional route (ie PhD), like for example Rachel Cargle is a great example of a modern public academic.

 

[YoureaRocketQueen]

Can anyone find any links to images, pages or sections of text that Chidera has cited as outright plagiarism?

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Can anyone find any links to images, pages or sections of text that Chidera has cited as outright plagiarism?

CE has shared images of both books post it noted up with headers like dump him etc so I assume she’s done that work, I’ve not seen her shared page by page comparisons on her stories yet but admittedly I do skip when the top bar is like: .......

 

[Blueblue123]

I think Chidera clearly hates white people and just sees them as a monolith and we've all done awful things and owe black people money.
Now I'm fully aware of white privilege and the fact that we live in a racist society and that white people and white passing people like myself have it much easier. We have a role in making sure this changes! But white privilege does not mean that we cannot challenge black people because guess what? People of all races can be horrible people and do horrible things. We should not give people a free pass to be awful because of their race, thatsmsdness, disagreeing with a black person does not make you racist!

I don't believe she does. Her enemy used to be black men as there's the sentiment that black men often place more value on non black women due to white beauty ideals etc. At this time she was criticised for being part of a knife crime campaign when she was vocal about her dislike of black men who didn't accept her kinky hair and black features.

When she rinsed that persona, her enemy became men in general and she pivoted to the pick up artist style content, demanding men on dating apps for money and respect. Around that time she said she didn't care about male s*icide.

Now she's rinsed that, she's attacking all white people.

The only consistent thing is positioning herself as a victim of some kind of system or -ism, gaining support from people who also feel a similar oppression then alienating them when people realise she's only fighting for number one.

 

[Lanavalentine]

Ironically I find the majority of white women supporting Chidera to be racist.

Demanding comment and action from Black women, coddling Chidera like she’s a baby that needs protection from evil (which to me doesn’t scream someone in support of racial equity, but rather trying to absolve their own white guilt), happily supporting a Black mental health charity denying a potentially significant donation, fueling Chidera’s content without recognising that it’s holding other Black women’s projects back (as Aja noted)...

It’s very performative and I suspect most of them just want Chidera to re-post or like their comments in order to feel “approved” by a Black woman.

I say this all as a white woman, and it should be noted that I am definitely not some paragon of perfect anti-racism allyship and obviously still make mistakes, but... yeah. I don’t think this is how anti-racism works at all.

 

[flutterby1999]

I've been following this whole thing pretty closely after doing an essay on it for one of my uni modules and I have to say both FG and CE have been rubbing me up the wrong way, the way both of them have handled this is awful. The overarching problem here is literally just capitalism and corporate feminism. Plus CE's claim that hers was the first book like this - it really isn't, Girl Up by Laura Bates was released in 2016 which is basically the same thing. As well as this, both of them talk about plagiarism as if their ideas aren't just repackaged from bell hooks, Kimberle Crenshaw and a whole bunch of other feminist theorists and academics. I get that making feminism accessible is important but not like this.

CE's comments about male suicide are also totally unacceptable and I will never forget that she said that. Maybe an unpopular opinion especially because I call myself a feminist academic(ish) but patriarchy hurts men and women just the same and women need to start including men in the feminist movement and stop excluding them constantly. On the other hand, men need to stop talking over female experiences constantly but hey, the two come hand in hand.

 

[lemonpeach]

As well as this, both of them talk about plagiarism as if their ideas aren't just repackaged from bell hooks, Kimberle Crenshaw and a whole bunch of other feminist theorists and academics. I get that making feminism accessible is important but not like this.

I completely agree with a lot of what you’ve said, but Florence has pretty widely acknowledged and referenced the work and writing of prominent feminists who have inspired her. I think she’s been specific about her awareness that she didn’t come up with the theories in her book. Unless I’ve just completely misinterpreted what you meant!

 

[flutterby1999]

I completely agree with a lot of what you’ve said, but Florence has pretty widely acknowledged and referenced the work and writing of prominent feminists who have inspired her. I think she’s been specific about her awareness that she didn’t come up with the theories in her book. Unless I’ve just completely misinterpreted what you meant!

Yeah I get this completely, and I also understand that it's really hard to come up with original things and ideas these days, I must admit I haven't read enough of her book to know exactly how much she's referenced. I'm also hella used to academic spaces where you need to be saying something new that adds to the conversation productively in order to get anything published so that probably skews my views on these things.

I think I'm just seriously critical of this kind of Instagram feminism in general, they both push it so badly, it's all very focused around idolising particular individuals and assigning way too much importance to people who don't really deserve it (although that's something that takes way more unpacking) - and I guess it's not inherently a bad thing because at the end of the day both of them are introducing more people to feminism but to me it just comes across as highly performative, and above all provides a huge distraction from communal feminism because communal feminism doesn't sell. Like, women building each other up doesn't cause controversy therefore doesn't make news therefore doesn't make money. Ya know?

(I have so many thoughts I'm so sorry I think a lot of what I'm saying makes no sense lmao)

 

[lemonpeach]

Yeah I get this completely, and I also understand that it's really hard to come up with original things and ideas these days, I must admit I haven't read enough of her book to know exactly how much she's referenced. I'm also hella used to academic spaces where you need to be saying something new that adds to the conversation productively in order to get anything published so that probably skews my views on these things.

I think I'm just seriously critical of this kind of Instagram feminism in general, they both push it so badly, it's all very focused around idolising particular individuals and assigning way too much importance to people who don't really deserve it (although that's something that takes way more unpacking) - and I guess it's not inherently a bad thing because at the end of the day both of them are introducing more people to feminism but to me it just comes across as highly performative, and above all provides a huge distraction from communal feminism because communal feminism doesn't sell. Like, women building each other up doesn't cause controversy therefore doesn't make news therefore doesn't make money. Ya know?

(I have so many thoughts I'm so sorry I think a lot of what I'm saying makes no sense lmao)

Yea I totally agree with you about the issues surrounding placing too much importance on a particular individual in a movement. You’re definitely right about how it can distract from the actual focus of the feminist movement.

I think Florence’s book is a good entry point to feminism in the sense that it introduces the main ideas of some key theories with references people can go away and look up. It’s the sort of thing I wish I’d had when I was in my late teens very early 20s when I had a very narrow view about feminism, I feel like it would’ve challenged my ideas of feminism in a good way. Not that the book doesn’t have gaps either (eg classism). I think if you’re someone who’s either well read on feminist theory or just quite a bit older then it’s not going to feel especially useful.

 

[korma]

Fatpheebs: *starts campaign about stopping the online abuse which lead her to attempt suicide*

Also fatpheebs: *fans the flames of an online dispute she knows nothing about, contributing to a massive pile-on against the accused person and endangering their mental health*
*sends her followers after black and trans individuals who are also not involved with the situation, where they spew racist and transphobic abuse at said individuals, endangering THEIR mental health*
*fosters online abuse against others*
*apologises and asks not to be sent.... online abuse*

You couldn't make it up yet more examples of why this individualistic Instagram model of learning about liberation movements through individuals with no experience or expertise - individuals with nothing more than a smartphone and an internet connection - is toxic and helps no-one learn anything.

 

[holymacaroni]

Fatpheebs: *starts campaign about stopping the online abuse which lead her to attempt suicide*

Also fatpheebs: *fans the flames of an online dispute she knows nothing about, contributing to a massive pile-on against the accused person and endangering their mental health*
*sends her followers after black and trans individuals who are also not involved with the situation, where they spew racist and transphobic abuse at said individuals, endangering THEIR mental health*
*fosters online abuse against others*
*apologises and asks not to be sent.... online abuse*

You couldn't make it up yet more examples of why this individualistic Instagram model of learning about liberation movements through individuals with no experience or expertise - individuals with nothing more than a smartphone and an internet connection - is toxic and helps no-one learn anything.

oh my, I missed that part. What did she actually do? Does anyone have screenshots?

 

[lemonpeach]

I find it so funny that Florence has gained the same amount of followers since yesterday that Chidera has lost. And by funny I mean it shows how much a lot of these people can’t think for themselves and just flip back and forth