The Portrayal of Black Female Sexuality in our Culture

 Picture this. I am out with a group of friends bidding farewell to a co-worker. Another co-worker, whom I will call Tasha, arrives with her husband. Myself, and Tasha’s husband, are the only two blacks at the table, and are surrounded by white women. Somehow, the turns to black women. Tasha’s loudly laughs and exclaims, “Before we were married, Troy said he would never date black women! He says they are too much! They are loud and obnoxious and ghetto! They tell you what to do all the time.” I know Troy was previously married to a black woman and had a BLACK DAUGHTER. All eyes on me. I am silent. I look at Troy, with eyebrows slightly raised. He says, “Yeah. Black women are just too much.”  Now mind you, the very characteristics he has applied to ALL BLACK WOMEN, are the very characteristics exhibited by his white wife. I am in disbelief. I say, “Well that’s ridiculous. You cannot characterize an entire group of people because of the actions of one individual. I would not label myself as loud, obnoxious, or ghetto.” The subject is changed.

I left that dinner with a heavy heart. Why are black women portrayed in this manner? If he has this opinion of black women, what will this mean for his daughter?

Historically, black women have been subjected to all forms of humiliation and cruelty. Slavery objectified black women. No longer were we viewed as people, instead we were viewed as things. Things used for the purpose of labor (fieldwork, housework), breeding of slave children, and the sexual gratification of white men. What can we learn from this experience? Our bodies are only useful for physical labor and the sexual pleasure of others. In other words, our bodies are devalued. How does this early experience influence us today?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOyMIF2daqc

We live in a society where black female sexuality is ugly. It is vulgar and illicit, subjugated by the pervading racialized tropes. Black women are relegated to few social scripts in our society. Jezebel: hypersexual and seductive, Mammy: asexual, physically unattractive, Sapphire: angry, loud, man-hating and Coon: lazy, conniving, welfare queen. These images of black women are sadly, widely recognized and successfully marketed in our economy.

                              

            

                                    

The presentation of black female sexuality in our culture has led to narrow sexual scripts, in which we have no positive image. We have been reduced to big booty’s, twerking, and other sexually provocative roles.

 So what does this mean for me? I cringe when my husband playfully slaps my butt. I rarely dance, because that is what is expected of me. I rarely wear clothing from black labels because it accents parts of my body that do not need to be on display. I refuse to be confined to a label and am so conscious of this, that it is, at times, limiting me emotionally and sexually. I have to teach my children the importance and value of the black woman. I teach them it’s ok to explore and discover who they are as individuals. We need not be defined by what society deems acceptable behavior for “our kind”.

References:

http://thefeministwire.com/2014/02/black-female-too-muchness-between-hypersexual-norms-and-respectableexceptions/

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/08/music_videos_condemned_for_portraying_black_women_as_wild_and_hypersexual.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10057104

http://www.ferris.edu/News/jimcrow/question/mar08/index.htm

http://chronicle.com/article/Whos-Afraid-of-Black/135960/