If you’re a fan of queer rock group boygenius, you probably already know who Lucy Dacus is. If not, there’s a chance you’ve learned her name in the last forty-eight hours as discourse surrounding the singer-songwriter began dominating the sapphic side of social media.
On Monday night, in the lead up to the release of her fourth solo studio album, Forever is a Feeling, Dacus released the music video for her single, “Best Guess.” Excitement for the song began building on TikTok in January, when Dacus announced an open casting call asking “smooth or suave” mascs to submit auditions on the platform. In the comments, fans rejoiced at the announcement, excited to audition and savor the submission videos from beautiful mascs across the platform.
When the highly anticipated music video featuring 15 masc-of-center queer folks (and Dacus herself) finally dropped, fans responded with everything from lust and appreciation to anger and disappointment. Those who applaud the video point to the positive and wholesome focus on masc sapphics, a seldom-represented group in mainstream media.
Meanwhile, others feel the representation didn’t go nearly far enough. Despite Dacus’ open call, some fans state that there aren’t enough unknown mascs featured (the music video reads as a minor who’s who of sapphic entertainment, featuring Cara Delevingne, E. R. Fightmaster, and Towa Bird,) resulting in a lack of physical and racial diversity. The music video doesn’t feature fat mascs at all, and though different ethnicities are represented, Black creators are pointing out that no one in the cast passes the brown paper bag test.
A reference to colorism, the brown paper bag test refers to a practice from the early 20th century, when African-American institutions (nightclubs, fraternities, etc.) would alienate darker-skinned folks by holding a brown paper bag next to a potential members’ skin. If the person wanting to enter had skin that was lighter than the bag, the person was deemed “acceptable.” If the person’s skin was darker than the bag, they were deemed “unacceptable” and turned away.
This term, though well known in the Black community, the brown paper bag test isn’t something Dacus (a white woman) is likely to be familiar with. However, she doesn’t need to know this history to see that the entirety of the “Best Guess” cast falls into a much lighter color palette. A scroll through the audition sound on TikTok reveals that mascs of every shade and size volunteered to be a part of the video. It feels odd, then, to see no one with darker skin or a larger body make the final cut in a cast of 15. With only 8 dancers, Kehlani celebrated mascs and provided a wider racial spectrum in her “Next 2 U” video, though she, too, is missing fat representation.
In some ways, the “Best Guess” music video provides important representation. Jiialin, a nonbinary person featured in the music video, took to TikTok to engage in the discourse following the video’s release. In a now-deleted video, Jialin shared how meaningful it was to provide East Asian masc representation. I am happy for Jialin, mascs, and lighter-skinned BIPOC sapphics who see this video and get the rush of joy inherent in seeing someone who looks like them adored, wanted, and honored. Marginalized folks rarely see our intersections represented with love, and I know firsthand how life changing that can be. In a video posted just hours ago, Jialin agrees two things can be true at the same time: the video provides vital masc representation and it fails to include darker-skinned folks.
Watch on TikTok
As a Black lesbian, the lack of dark-skinned Black women specifically feels egregious considering how impactful the styles, swag, and mannerisms of stud lesbians have been in shaping sapphic culture. And, though I know it wasn’t Dacus’ intention, the omission of dark skin feels even more painful as the video dropped during Black History Month.
Dacus succeeded in making a music video that captures a slice of masc joy—for some. Without representation of the sapphics that make up such a core part of masc culture, too many in the community are left waiting for a seat at the table.