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Brianna Stewart

Dr. Jawana

English 343

20 February 2019

The Black Woman’s Body in Society

Ever since the beginning of time, the black woman’s body has been seen as an object. It

seems that everyone wants a part of it but not what comes with it. It was first sexualized when

the European men came to Africa and seen women doing ritual, religious dances and took it as

sexual promiscuity. African culture has always taught men and women to use their bodies in

fluid, rhythmic ways. The women were often nude and walked around freely. Men were

countenanced to murdering women who committed adultery and preformed female

clitoridectomy.

African women were not seen as sexual and were told they were not allowed to enjoy

sex. This is the complete opposite of what white men painted the African woman’s sexuality to

be. African women soon became to be known as hypersexualized beings when that is not at all

what they came from. They were looked at as dirty and provoking while white women were seen

as innocent and pure. In Barabara Omolade’s “Hearts of Darkeness” she says; “ for the white

man’s preoccupation with Negro sexuality was there at the very beginning, an outcome not only

of his own guilty sexual exploitation—his easy access to the black woman was immediately

blamed on her lasciviousness – but also of his envious suspicion that some extraordinary potency

and ecstatic experience were associated with primitive lust.”

This is where the white man’s dichotomy of desire and hate for the black woman’s body

started. White men continuously act like they hate African American women and their body, but
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were really infatuated with them. In fact, a lot of their first sexual experiences were with black

women. They were fed from black women and raised by them. Deep down they had a love for

them but treated them with hate. An example of this would be President Thomas Jefferson, who

was a harsh slave owner but was also in love with a black woman. “The master/lover ruled over

the world; he divided it up and called everyone out of their name. During the day, he would call

her wench, negress, Sable Venus, Dusky Sal, and Auntie…at night he would chant false

endearments and would feel engulfed within her darkness” said Barbara Omalade. A lot of this

had to do with the white males patriarchal control. They were allowed to have sexual freedom,

different families and wives. White men controlled everything and women even white, had no

say so.

The African American women had no control or protection over anything, not even her

body. Her name was constantly changed when she was sold, she was forced to have sex and

produce offspring like cattle. They would buy a black women and man in good health and would

put them together without even marrying them first. Or the white man would do it himself,

satisfying his sexual needs while also increasing his slave property. Some women having as

many as twenty children and resulting in death for the strain on their body. To the European

slave master, the African American woman’s body was just another way to make money. They

were just using them for labor and to replenish their plantation. Black women would sometimes

have to use their breast milk for the slave masters children and give their own sugar water.

In today’s society, the ideal image of the black woman’s body is almost the same as it

was years ago. They are expected to have large breast and buttocks and seen as a sex symbol.

The current symbolism of the Black female body exists contrary to sexual wellbeing and sexual

rights, by concentrating on existing portrayals of black female sexuality as an inheritance of

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colonialism. Even in the mainstream media, such as music videos and tv shows black women are

portrayed as a “dirty fantasy”. Surprisingly a lot of black women feel pressured to keep up this

social stigma by getting surgeries to enhance their butt and breast to look like what they see in

the media. Celebrities like Blac Chyna, K Michelle, and Nicki Minaj are examples of black

women in media that have gotten surgeries to enhance their bodies. Some women even

lightening their skin tones to look paler. These are women that young black girls are looking up

to and trying to look like.

The sexualization of the black women’s body starts at a young age, when little girls are

told to cover up just because their male family members are around. Young girls are taught at an

early age a sense of ownership for a grown man’s actions. In “The eyes were watching God” the

grandmother perceives her young granddaughter going through puberty or “womanhood” as

dangerous. They are taught to act a certain way so they don’t seem “fast” or “grown”. R&B

singer R. Kelly went to trial for sleeping with an under aged girl. Even though there was

evidence and video recordings he was still found not guilty, being acquitted in only a few short

weeks. To society and throughout the media, the young black girl was perceived as fast and

“asking for it” instead of as the victim. Before he was acquitted, a radio station played a twelve

hour, no commercial block of R Kelly’s music as a sign of support for the singer and offered him

an opportunity to tell his side of the story on the show.

Supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual harassment by his

former coworker who was black. Surprisingly after this, his approval ratings among African

Americans went up nearly fifty percent. Many asked what she had done to provoke this sexual

harassment from Thomas. The same goes for the woman who was raped by Mike Tyson, who

went on to do three years out of a six-year sentence. Because she went into Tyson’s hotel room
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willingly, she was seen to be at fault. These moments contribute to the stereotype of black

women being seen as promiscuous and sexual immoral. In each case the state failed to punish the

alleged sexual abuser of an African American woman, while members in her own community

continued to talk down on her and denounce her as “fast” and “promiscuous”. A lot of these

assumptions would not be made if the woman/victim was white. Historian E. Francis White

writes “ Virtually no legal protection was provided for women who were portrayed as loose and

licentious. Under such conditions, black women – promiscuous by definition—found it nearly

impossible to convince the legal establishment that men of any race should be prosecuted for

sexually assaulting them. The rape of black women was simply no crime at all”.

The black women’s body has been used and abused for centuries. European men have

used black women as a form of entertainment. An example of this is the treatment of a women

named Saartije Baartman. Baartman was a khoikhoi woman from South Africa who became an

exhibit of London’s Piccadilly Circus. She was known for her supposedly abnormal sexual

organs. She had a “larger than normal” buttocks and elongated labia. In the circus she was

displayed like an animal. Around this time, black women were seen as physiologically and

anatomically different. Their sexuality was misinterpreted because of their “exaggerated” sexual

organs. Baartman’s genitalia and buttocks served as scientific evidence that black women were

not fully civilized.

From slavery up until Jim Crow time, the mammy picture served the political, social, and

monetary interests of standard white America. During slavery, the mammy exaggeration was set

as evidence that black women were content, even cheerful, as slaves. Her wide smile, loud

laugher, and loyalty were offered as proof of the alleged enjoyment of serving her master. It
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seems the only acceptable version of a black female is the mammy version portrayed in the

media. The mammy character is an older woman of bigger size, large breast and big lips. You

can find her on syrup bottles or pancake boxes. This character is even portrayed in mainstream

movies such as Madea and Big Mamas house. She was seen as asexual and not desirable. She

was respected in the black community and somewhat respected with white people. They came to

her for advice and approval. A lot of people find it offensive that her character is still used in

today’s society. The older white woman isn’t seen this way so why is it different when she’s

black?

In conclusion, the African American woman’s body has been put through more that any

other race could ever imagine. From slavery, to modern day media their bodies have been over

sexualized and broken down. Because of movements like #METOO and #Blacklivesmatter,

black women are finally getting the support that they’ve needed for a long time.

Questions

1. How do you think the black community could help the image of black women.

2. How do you explain the dichotomy between love and hate of the black woman’s body

3. What does being a black woman mean to you?

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Works Cited

https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mammies/

http://www.highpoint.edu/communication/files/2264_francois1.pdf

West, C. M. (1995). Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezebel: Historical images of Black

women and their implications for psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research,

Practice, Training, 32(3), 458-466.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.32.3.458

Milkie, Melissa A. “Social Comparisons, Reflected Appraisals, and Mass Media: The Impact of
Pervasive Beauty Images on Black and White Girls' Self-Concepts.” Social Psychology Quarterly,
vol. 62, no. 2, 1999, pp. 190–210. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2695857.