Melyssa Ford Versus Essence Magazine

I've talked about Essence magazine before on this blog and I have been a faithful reader for a while now. Recently, a conversation that Melyssa Ford, an ex hip-hop video girl, had with a friend of hers about Essence magazine surfaced. She claimed that the content of the conversation was revealed by a friend she trusted (shame on him!) without her knowledge.

Anyway, I thought the comments she made were pretty interesting. Here is a portion of what she said (with some portions removed for content).

"Right now Essence has on the cover, three of the most gorgeous black men ever created on the face of this [redacted] Earth. They have Blair Underwood who has always done it for me, Boris Kodjoe whose definition in the dictionary is fine, and then they got Lance Gross—chocolatey loveliness. And you know what they [redacted] have the nerve to have as the [redacted] title of the cover story? “How To Keep Black Men Happy and Faithful.” And faithful! How dare you?! It makes me [redacted] sick. [It’s like saying] ‘Women take note—how to keep your black men healthy and keep from straying from you ‘cause it’s your fault.’ And black women wrote this to their [redacted] counterparts. As if to say, ‘If he strays, it’s your [redacted] fault. You didn't cook enough. You didn't do enough to keep your [redacted] man happy or faithful. O-M-G."

Melyssa is referring to the October issue of Essence Magazine. About a month ago, I was having a dinner party at a friend's apartment so I took my copy of Essence with me so I would have something to read while the food was cooking. I left my magazine on the table and when one of my girlfriends (who happens to not be black) saw it, she commented "wtf, how to keep black men healthy and faithful, what about how to keep black women happy!". I have to admit, before she commented I didn't even really pay that much attention to the title. But once I did, I could easily see how someone might take offense to it. I don't necessarily think that Essence meant to convey the message it did however a woman can NEVER make a man stay faithful. He has to be faithful because he WANTS to.

Melyssa went on to make some other comments about the types of women Essence usually features on the cover and the recent change of the content of the magazine. You can read the rest of her comments here.

What do you guys think? Does Melyssa have a point?