This reading looks at the negative connotations and attitudes that are connected to the Black Females butt and how it defines their sexuality. Janell Hobson comments on the fact that society generally perceives black bodies as “grotesque” and connects this assumption to the ‘othering’ factor. The white body is what is deemed to be ideal and the pinnacle of beauty, the black female body is the opposite and something that is not to be desired. She goes on to talk about the focus on the black women’s backside in rap music. What it believed to be a celebration and acceptance for a black women’s butt in comparison to a white women’s, is in fact not the case. While white women are mocked for not having as large a butt, black women are still being
Using “All About That Bass” as an entry point, I will analyze how “body positive” media perpetuates a “white feminist” ideology of who is included and targeted in their messages. For this analysis, I will look at three key themes embedded within the song’s lyrics and music video. First, I will discuss the song’s (cis)heteronormative basis for its “body positivity,” as well as how sexuality and fat politics are often paired. Next, I will analyze the function of the racialized body and what it means for Trainor, a white woman, to appropriate racial tropes for
Finally, black women are stereotype for being gold diggers, video vixens, and jezebels. Black women that are gold diggers exchange sex for money or gifts. These women are not committed in a relationship with men. They are sexually active and seek for sexual favors (Wallace, Townsend, Glasgow, & Ojie, 2011). For example, Hugh Hefner the founder of Playboy has 3 to 4 Playboy Bunnies (girls) that live with him in his mansion. These Playboy Bunnies have sex with Hef for fan and gifts. Black women that are video vixens appeared in hip hop music videos. These women are female models that exploit their body. They can be seen dancing in videos with their boobs and butts out. For example, Draya Michele is a video vixen. She appears in many videos
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black
People naturally categorize themselves, this allows people to fit into social groups. Also people naturally categorize others, this is how social norms and stereotypes are made. Historically, African Americans have been stereotyped in a way to make them seem inferior to the white people around them. Using media as a main outlet for portraying black people, caricatures developed. The longest lasting and most easily recognizable today are Sambo, Mammy and Sapphire.
Why as white people have we been lulled into thinking its safe to be around other white people. Why have we been taught since birth that it’s the people of that other color we need to fear? They’re the ones that will slit your throat (Moore 57). The mass media has played and will continue to play a crucial role in the way white Americans perceive African-Americans. As a result of the overwhelming media focus on crime, drug use, gang violence, and other forms of anti-social behavior among African-Americans, the media is fostering a distorted public perception of African-Americans. Looking at past examples of African Americans treatment
I am taking some classes that will eventually qualify me to major in Astro - Physics, or Chemical engineering, I also want to work with NASA and train as an astronaut. It was amazing to know that Dr. Mae C. Jemison who happens to be the youngest of three children born to a middle class African American family, Charlie Jemison, a maintenance worker and his wife, Dorothy, a teacher. Dr. Mae C. Jemison was the first black woman
It is suggested that one of the reasons why artists use misogynistic lyrics in their music is that they have internalized the negative stereotypes about women that are prevalent in American society. African women were historically portrayed as animalistic sexual beasts and African males in a submissive role, giving in to wild instinct or bodily impulses. The internalization of such stereotypes may be a possible explanation of the hyper sexuality within certain hip hop music. Various authors have argued that misogyny is merely an outgrowth of the cultural acceptance of misogyny at large.
The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, asexual and often obese Mammy to the promiscuous Jezebel who lures men with her sexual charms. However, the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. The typical stereotype about Black men is the violent, misogynistic thug, and the ever-enduring pimp. These images portrayed in media and popular culture createpowerful ideology about race and gender, which affects daily experiences of Black women in America. With few healthy relationships portrayed in the media, Black women
The persistence of these problematic ideas within western popular culture has transformed black beauty standards in ways that empowers, but also, subverts black women back into these dominant narratives surrounding their buttocks. This is commonly displayed by popular R&B artist Beyoncé, who uses her large backside to market her performances and shows in order to increase her audience, and thus, her revenue. While some may argue that this may be counterproductive when challenging these westernized subjugations as it once again commodifies the black body, these sexualized articulations attempt to “serve as both economic and symbolic markers of black femininity that define her image,” Aisha Durham writes in her article, “Beyoncé, Southern Booty,
In Patricia Hill Collins’ “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images,” she illustrates four main stereotypes that Black women face. The first controlling image applied to African American women is “The Mammy.” The mammy is the faithful, obedient servant to the white family and the stereotype attempts to hide the fact that black women who work for white families are being exploited. By loving and caring for her white “children” more than her own, the mammy symbolizes the dominant group’s perceptions of the ideal black female relationship to elite white male power. The smiling mammy signals her agreement with the situation, seemingly accepting her subordination (Collins, 71). Next is the image of the Black matriarch (Collins, 73). According to the stereotype, they spend too much time away from home, are overly aggressive and unfeminine, and allegedly emasculate their lovers and husbands. This stereotype attempts to control conduct by punishing black women for assertiveness and hides the oppression by making it seem that black women are naturally this way (Collins, 74-75).
Media always find a way to portray women as sexual object. What’s so upsetting to me is how society portrays women and its always one particular group that stands out the most. Just take a great guess on what group you think stands out the most. Yes you guessed it right, Black women in media always have a very negative view. Media supports negative stereotypes about African American women by showing them in an objectifying darkness. I feel society has to bring down a particular group and that group is black women. The images of black women is very negative falling typically into the stereotypical categories as “Gold Diggers, Mammy’s, Jezebels, Baby Mamas, Uneducated Sistas, Ratchet, Angry Black Women, Unhealthy Women, and my all-time favorite,
“The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.”- Malcolm X. Black women have been stripped of their humanity for so long in popular culture that society can’t even see the truth that lies in front of them. Black women can’t express their anger, or they’re just another angry black woman stereotype. Yes, black women are angry, they are fed up with white women flaunting around their culture like it's a fashion trend, black women are tired of having to work twice as hard just to gain respect in the workplace, and most importantly they are tired of being hypersexualized. Through music videos, black women are hyper-sexualized, which maintains the sexual glorification of a black female body, while also strengthening the abhorrent stereotype of the Jezebel, which is linked back to times of slavery. The Jezebel stereotype was the slavers justification for raping and assaulting black women. Black women were depicted as sexually promiscuous and “whores” by nature. This image generated the belief that black women couldn’t be victims of rape because they lust for sexual relations. The hypersexualization of black women is a danger to black women and girls. Black women can still be seen in a Jezebel like an image in hip-hop/pop music videos. Their hardly accoutred bodies are often adorned on expensive cars or caressed by male rappers.
“Oh my gosh! you’re so pretty for a black girl.” “You’re black so I know you can twerk.” In society these phrases may be considered as compliments for black women even though they are not. However, people only know what the media portrays black women to be. It emphasizes them as ghetto, loud, angry, and ignorant. Black women are more than the negative stigma that the media portrays. In our society, the media reinforces the plague of African American women by stereotypes and falsities originating from slavery. For young African American women, the majority of media portrayal, especially in music and film, is of a bulumpcious, sexually hyperactive golddigger. This negative image of a black women is damaging to the black community by implying
Throughout history, black female bodies have been marginalized by white society and viewed as only being valued for their bodies, specifically their genitals. bell hooks’ essay titled, “naked without shame: a counter-hegemonic body politic”, discusses the domination of the black female body and how there is little discussion on how the body has been “foregrounded as a site of conquest in all efforts of colonization”. According to hooks, black bodies are rarely highlighted in a way that counters the hegemonic representation of being
Cultural practices refers to the manifestation of a culture, especially in regard to the traditional and customary practices of a specific ethnic. This can apply to any person manifesting any aspect of any culture at any time. According to the World Health Organization, female genital mutilation, a procedure involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, is practiced in 28 African countries.