Killing The Black Body By Dorothy Roberts

Control of reproductive decisions of black women is a highly prevalent a form of racial oppression in America. Due to this form of control, the meaning of reproductive liberty in America has been significantly altered. These issues are addressed in Dorothy Roberts’ Killing the Black Body. The novel demonstrates the way in which black women were consistently devalued as a tool for reproductive means, which in itself was a form of racial oppression. The novel also provides the reader with insight as to how experiences of black women since times of slavery have drastically changed the present day connotation of reproductive freedom.

The author of “The Black Beauty Myth” Sirena Riley has encountered multiple experiences concerning body image throughout her life. At a young age, she started to feel the pressure to have a perfect body. The struggle of making herself perfect ultimately lead to eating disorders for instance, bulimia and compulsive exercising. In her journey from a young age to her college years she has learned better ways to deal with negative body image through therapy. In her article, she states “I was in three body image and eating disorder groups with other young women on my campus. I was always the only black woman.” (Riley 2002, 229) This quote supports her belief that black women have body image issues but are not open to seeking help or expressing

Racism has been a part of America for a very long time and one that has seeped into almost every part of American society. In fact, scientific studies and beliefs have, for a large part of the 20th century, been infused with an underlying racism that has tainted them. For instance, in the years from the 1880's to the mid 1940's, the African American fertility rate, or the rate at which African Americans were producing babies, sharply declined. This was the subject of a number of scientific inquiries at the time which Jessie M. Rodrique has severely criticized as being based on racial stereotypes and racist beliefs. In the article titled "The African American Community and the Birth-Control Movement," Rodrique argued that the decline in the fertility rate of African Americans at that time was not the result of ignorance and poverty in the African American community but instead was the result of an understanding and conscious acceptance of birth control as a means of personal and racial liberation.

As the end of the slave trade seem to become a reality, many slave owners in the Caribbean started to try to even out slave female to male ratios. The reproductive ability of females became needed in order to keep the sugarcane industry alive. Soon enough slave owners were beginning to realize that although they were treating the females better they weren’t getting pregnant. The theory is that many African healers and women brought with them the knowledge of how to have an abortion and used it in fear of the servitude their future children would have to suffer. This was a very important act of resistance because of the power slave women took over their reproductive system. Although they had not control over their sexuality, having a child was something they knowingly decided against, while also hindering the institution of slavery that need their children to live.

During slavery, African American men were used to impregnate several women. African American women were used for either breeding with African American men or for the white men’s pleasure. As a result, the African American family became matriarchal. Often, it is the single African American woman who holds the family together. The absence of a father figure prevented African American children from growing up with a strong male figure in their lives. The lack of strong male role models resulted in young African American men believing their masculinity was based on the number of sexual partners they could acquire. Additionally, due to the lack of sex education and protection, many young African American women tend to become first-time mothers while they are still teenagers. In addition to becoming mothers early in life, living in the ghettos lead to many health

While in South Carolina, Cora has regular access to a doctor. As mandated by her the dormitory she lives in, Cora has scheduled checkups at the local hospital. While visiting her doctor one day, the doctor spoke with Cora about a new surgical procedure. Detailing the conversation, the text says, “Dr. Stevens explained, to educated folks about a new surgical technique wherein the tubes inside a woman were severed to prevent to growth of a baby. . . ‘As of this week, it is mandatory for some in the state. Colored women who have already birthed more than two children, in the name of population control. Imbeciles and otherwise mentally unfit, for obvious reasons. Habitual criminals. . .’” (113). Here, the doctor reveals to Cora that women of color are being forced to have a surgery that inhibits the ability to procreate. By forcing women of color to have these surgeries, doctors are taking away the human ability to procreate, and the human ability to choose what happens to their own bodies. Also, because the doctors are performing these reproductive surgeries against black women’s will, the surgical procedure would be a form of sexual assault. Through forced reproductive surgeries, whites are using sexual brutality to dehumanize women of color.

Upon my learning of this case, I have to admit, I was sympathetic to these two mothers. Cramblett, herself came from a town much like Uniontown and expressed apprehension over being the only lesbian she knew of growing up; she also discussed the prejudices her family holds towards black people. It was not long, however, that I grew wary of the fact that instead of facing the issues at hand and raising her child, no matter what sexuality, gender or race, to the best of her ability in the midst of any challenge and in even in the most contrary of circumstances, she clearly would have rather taken the less diverse road.

Since the enslavement of blacks, black women have played an integral role in mothering America’s population, both literally and figuratively. During slavery, slave masters often impregnated slaves for two reasons: to further populate their own plantation or to prepare to sale them to make a profit. About 100 years later, though slavery had ended, a majority of black women found work by working as a maid, also known as “the help,” for wealthy white families. As part of their job, black women were often the sole caretakers of the children. In these jobs, black women in the South served as a cook, housekeeper, nursemaid, or some combination of the three. By analyzing the role of southern black women as mothers, two specific things are revealed: black southern mothers are forced to live a twofold-complicated life and they serve as the cornerstone for both white and black southern households. In recognizing these two things, there is a better understanding of the vital role that black women play in the American South.

When the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade ended in 1807, there would be no new slaves brought into the country so reproduction was imperative to maintaining the slave holder’s profit. First and foremost African American women had to be equipped to bear children and to raise them. A barren woman was separated from her husband and usually sold and it was not uncommon for slaveholders to demand their money back for female slaves they had purchased who had later proved incapable

During the 1970’s lots of black men and women were not getting married (Lynxwiler & Gay, 1997). Especially because abortion was illegal for a long time in United States society (Cates, 1977). In 1973 abortion became legal depending on the state a woman lived in (Cates, 1977). Many white women would travel to states who approved of abortions to receive abortions (Cates, 1977). This was not the case for black women, they were not willing to travel to receive abortions. In this case many black women were having unplanned babies and raising them (Anderson, 1977). Along with that there were regulations around when a woman would be able to receive an abortion (Cates, 1977). For example, women were only allowed to get an abortion if they were raped,

I attended Dorothy Roberts' keynote address on March 23, 2017. Her topic of discussion was one I had never considered before. This ties back into the article by Peggy McIntosh on white privelage, we read at the beginning of the semester. White privilege has allowed me to not come in contact with the idea of a particular race being discouraged from reproducing, when they did they were immediately considered unfit parents, being mistreated in the justice system in terms of their reproductive health, etc. In this paper, I would like to mention a few things that particularly stuck out to me in Roberts address and her writing. Black babies were often assumed to be crack babies and when they were victims of drug abuse, there was no help issued,

Infant mortality rates for African American women are two times higher than any other race in the United States. It is thought that socioeconomic status and low education among the African American population is the main factor in this issue, but it is not. Studies show that as an African American woman in the U.S., childbearing health is affected due to the unequal treatment in American society.

their rights and be able to recognize how they are being treated by the dominant group. In Dorothy Robert’s book ​Killing the Black Body,

Given that this article was published in July of 2015 and the topic she is addressing is still extremely relevant to our world today, this conversation is of immediate political importance as the author is crying out to the world about the relentlessness of Black American Motherhood and how fearful

The article has three sections that it focuses on; first, it introduces intersectionality and reconceptualizes heteronormativity, then offers a review of research on the black family given an intersectional context, and lastly it discusses how the intersection of black and queer identities functions within a modern context. First, they redefine heteronormativity to include race, class, gender and sexuality. They posit heteronormativity as inherently racist and cite that literature up until now has mainly offered a stagnant, rather than fluid, dichotomy of “the heteronormative and the queer” (MAIN 1). Secondly, they argue that there are two main schools of thought when analyzing the black family, that of pathology and that which