black men

  • To Black Men Who've Survived Sexual Assault: We Must Speak

    ***Author’s Note: The following piece is not me trying to silence or dismiss the suffering of other communities. This stems from my longing for an intersectional conversation on sexual violence. It is my attempt to talk about the pain which is inflicted when rape culture and toxic Black masculinity converge. I do not know what…

  • Why Some Men Are So Damn Upset About Ciara’s Relationship With Russell Wilson, Explained

    Who is Ciara? You ever watch Step Up or any other movie made in the last decade featuring unrealistically competitive street dance tournaments? You know, the movies where dance-offs inexplicability result in stabbings, shootings, and random appearances from a seasoned Omarion? Well, there’s an 87% chance Ciara was somehow featured on the songs the people…

  • With Determining And Accepting Racial Identity, Do Biracial Men Have It "Easier" Than Biracial Women?

    Full disclosure: I love Sage Steele. If you don’t know anything about sportsball, Ms. Steele is veteran journalist who came up in Indianapolis news scene and made her way all the way to the hallowed halls of Bristol, CT and ESPN. Even though I have long since stopped watching ESPN, partly because of there are…

  • Maybe You're Single Because You're…Wait, Who Gives A Fuck?

    Last week, we published “Maybe You’re Single Because You’re Wack” — a piece from Dustin Seibert articulating possible reasons why some of the more physically attractive and financially fit women in his sphere of influence seemed to be perpetually single. Like the rest of Dustin’s work on VSB, it was a long, verbose, and admittedly entertaining…

  • The 10 Worst Haircuts In Black Male History

    Earlier this week, Baron Davis made an appearance on First Take and introduced us all to a new hairstyle. It’s been called a Jheri Curl, but I wouldn’t quite call it that. Mainly because it’s not wet enough. It looks more like a batch of collard greens an aint-shit cousin left on the stove too long…

  • Why The "Grown-Ass Black Man With Cornrows" Is The Greatest Hairstyle Ever

    1. Because aside from being… A) an inmate B) a grip on a porno set C) a gang member in LA (and only in LA) D) a pimp in a randomly bizarre location like Sioux Falls, SD, Punxsutawney, PA, or Saturn E) a light skinneded daytime TV star in a Tyler Perry movie …there’s no valid…

  • Acknowledging Dark Skinned Black Male Privilege

    The word “privilege” is so often used as a catch-all to describe preferential racial treatment that it loses its meaning. When something is used to describe everything, it tends not to describe anything. That said, although darker-skinned Black males don’t possess the type of privilege most commonly associated with certain social, political, and economic advantages…

  • Perfectly Normal Things Black Men Just Know Not To Do Because America Is Racist As Fuck

    We’re all aware of the potential criminality if caught driving while Black. And shopping while Black. And walking while Black. And walking with your hands in your pockets while Black. And waiting for a bus while Black. And sitting while Black. And eating while Black. And tipping while Black. And…well, you get the point. But, while the…

  • Ferguson Is Burning

    I spent a couple hours this evening at a friend’s going away party. He recently accepted a job overseas, and 50 or so people gathered at SAVOY — a Black-owned restaurant in Pittsburgh’s Strip District — to see him off. The crowd was predominately male; (mostly) Black men ranging from the early 20s to the…

  • My Street Harassment Story

    I was in D.C. around this time last year for a screening of our TV pilot. We (my now wife and I) drove down from Pittsburgh that day, and made it to town at around five. Since the screening was at 7:30, we had a couple hours to spare, so we stopped somewhere on U Street to…