Serena Williams, you know better girl. Okay, perhaps I should start from the very beginning. When the news broke of the Serena Williams twitter avatar which displayed her in a seductive pose behind a curtain with nothing but lingerie covering her, the first thing that came to my mind was “ Serena girl… You know damn better”. Before the women rally against me, give me a moment to explain. I understand that my feelings on this may come to a surprise to some who see me as this She-Ra a** feminist chick who is down to ride or die for her sistas. Hell, I am. But I am also the first to correct a sista when she is setting herself up for failure or even worse, to be deemed a fool. I am not tripping about her posting a sexy picture online, it is the timing of the picture that perturbs me.
White Hypocrisy & The Rapper Common. Gotta Love It.
In this particular situation, Serena would be the latter. I say that because of the very recent situation William faced with a fan who turned into obsessed, weirdo, stalker man. Patenema Ouedraogo, 40, was caught on the grounds of Williams’ Palm Beach Gardens estate earlier last week. When he was asked for his driver’s license, authorities found out that he had been named by Williams as a suspected stalker.
According to the affidavit, the police found a letter on Ouedraogo’s belongings when they searched him which stated that he was in love with Serena and felt they were soul-mates and that she was in love with him too. Ouedraogo has now been charged with stalking and cyber-stalking and his bond has been set at $25,000. If he makes bail he will be placed under house arrest. Serena had taken out a temporary restraining order agains Ouedraogo but because he could not be found it was never served.
However, as he could not be found it had not been served. The accused man said he knew where Serena was all of the time because of her twitter updates. Luckily, Williams was not at home at the time as she was in New York attending the Met Gala with a host of other celebrities.
Some creepy ish right ladies? I’m sure even a few fellas find that this behavior veers between crazed fan, overzealous obsession and call 911 this mothersucker is crazy! After a disturbing experience like that, one would assume that the victim would want to be more cautious. After all, you officially have a STALKER. Not Serena. Her next go to move was to post a sexy picture on twitter. The same place where her alleged stalkers said he received his updates of her various locations during his stalker missions. Which leads me back to my original statement, Serena Williams, you know damn better. What in the world possessed this woman to put a picture like that up on a public forum, directly after she was made aware that she had a stalker is beyond me. She can’t be that starved for attention so what the hell is it? Did she not take the stalker incident seriously? Even though the man had gained access to her home. Did she think he was “just playin” as the kids say? Is she in that much of a push to prove her sexiness to the world? I really don’t get it.
Again, before my feminist sistas jump on my back yet again, allow me to explain further. In situations like this, the only thing that she can control is herself. She cannot control whether people hate her or become obsessed with her. She does not play a decision making role on whether or not a nut job is going to fall in love with her and deem her his “Queen To Be”. So, if you know this, and you should, then why encourage their behavior? Especially when you have already received clear and concise information that some nut job is in love with you and is stalking your home!
“But LJ! It is her right as a woman to show her body when, where, however she wants to! She should not have to censor herself just because someone else is unable to control themselves.” Well yeah you are right dear. This theory generally works in the world of sugar plum fairies where everyone gets along, people hold hands and sing and dance in circles. However on planet Earth, things don’t generally work out that way. Unfortunately we live in a world with a fair share of nut jobs. Watch the news and you will see. Nut jobs whom we usually have little control over. Therefore, this goes back to my original statement, we must control ourselves. We must do what is best for our own safety and preservation of our own lives. We must avoid danger at all costs.
I think that Serena putting the sexy picture up so soon is like her encouraging this kind of attention from the crazies. Of course I’m sure she is not consciously trying to attract this type of attention however that is exactly what is happening.
“But LJ! She could attract this kind of attention no matter what she does. She doesn’t necessarily have to put sexy pictures up on the internet to garner this kind of obsessive behavior. Some people are going to obsess over her regardless of what she does.”
Yes you are right grasshopper. There are some crazies who will obsess over her no matter how sexy or raggedy she might appear. However, putting a picture like that online so soon after you were made aware that you had a stalker damn near in your home still seems foolish to me. Why give them more ammunition purposely? Perhaps if she had of waited a few months afterwards my concern with this would be minuscule but because it happened so soon after her home was almost ambushed, it gives me reason for major concern. While I am not suggesting that women be forced to constantly alter our own behavior for the sake of someone else’s lack of self control, I am insisting that we apply a little thing called common sense. When it is applicable of course. In this case it was very applicable. Needless to say shortly after Serena took down the sexy pictures on twitter. Go figure. Serena Williams there are bad people in this world. Just because you look like She’Ra does not mean that you can defeat all of the evil that exists in this world. Just a heads up.
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