The African-American Women's Agency: Clair Huxtable

This is a fairly popular clip of "The Cosby Show" where Clair Huxtable is forced to educate her daughter's boyfriend, Alvin, about the rules and roles of marriage and a woman's agency. Mrs. Huxtable offers to bring Dr. Huxtable and Alvin a cup of coffee and Alvin seems surprised by the offer. His surprise derives from the fact that Mrs. Huxtable is an independent, strong and intelligent woman, but is serving her husband. What he does not understand is that Mrs. Huxtable is choosing. She has a choice. She does not offer to get the coffee because it is her job or her duty (like that of people who serve in restaurants), but rather because it is her choice to do so for her husband and her guest. The right to choose and to have agency is one that the enslaved African women completely lost during slavery. Even after its abolition, African-American women still found themselves without the right to choose and do as they wish compared to that of their male counterparts due to the systems of institutionalized slavery implemented by those who once held them in thralldom. These systems were designed to keep the shackles of slavery intact even when slavery ceased to exist and they were very successful, but through acts of resistance as described in "Hearts of Darkness" by Barbara Omolade, the African-American woman began to disrupt these ideas and systems which continued to oppress them. This clip is great example of just how far the African-American woman has come, but the comments from Alvin blatantly and disrespectfully illuminated just how much more of a path they have to walk.


Claire Huxtable

The Re-Eradication of the Black Female Form

I think history often does repeat itself, in the case of the dichotomy between black women and white men. Black women, just like in times of slavery, continue to be the object of white male desire that they hate to love. In a historical context, as it has been well documented, black women have always been "othered" in the sense of being "the sidekick" or "the jumpoff," but at the expense of black women being labeled "whore," without having any sort of physical attraction to her white male counterparts per say.

We can have the "Nicki, Nicki, Nicki" debate until we're blue in the face, but sometimes objectification doesn't have to be live and direct. That said, it brings me to the real point I'm trying to make which is "appropriation" if that is the appropriate word to use (and in case you're wondering, no, I'm not going straight to Iggy Azalea). Instead, I'd rather focus on this new artist Meghan Trainor and her song "All About That Bass," which, when you see the video, you will see has very little to do with baselines at all. Bass in this context is referring to big booties, which of course is the "trademark" of black women or what generally comes to mind when we think of black women. We all know that wide hips had not always been celebrated by mainstream media-- until now. What better way to have the best of both worlds by having this "thick" white girl, and I mean thick like black women, not fat, singing about appreciating not being a "size 2" when the setting of the video is inside of a Barbie doll playhouse.

Now, to bring Nicki back into the discussion, we basically have white women saying that they know how to be black women better than black women know how to be black women because they've got the formula down to a science now. If you notice in the video, there are several girls with blonde wigs and loud make-up on twerking without being overtly sexual like Nicki is in many of her older videos and in her biggest one since then, which of course is "Anaconda." Now while Trainor never actually mentions Nicki's name, the imagery and the use of the Barbie doll house and Barbie's likeness, which is Nicki Minaj's nickname for her fans and herself aka "Barbs," the correlation is almost blatant. So not only do we have Nicki's version of what black women look and act like, but we also have Meghan Trainor's caricature of "what black women look and act like" in response to Nicki's version. The kicker is Trainor was fully clothed throughout the entire video singing about how thick she is and her video has been viewed 527,672,037 times compared to Minaj's song about the exact same subject matter. She's almost completely naked in "Anaconda," yet her video has only been viewed on YouTube a total of 375,938,574 times. There is definitely exploitation of the black female body at play here, but that's not the point I'm making. The double whammy is Nicki's denigration of herself and of the other black females of the culture, and how she yet STILL finishes in 2nd place.

If patriarchy is to blame in relation to white guys and black girls, the elephant in the room is that mainstream media still desires and esteems "whiteness" over blackness or over what is deemed as "black-ish". The issue is that Trainor's video is billed as being about women loving their own body image, particularly white women gaining a newfound appreciation of their thicker bodies than the typical skinny "Barbie-like" figure, which is a concept that many young girls can readily relate to. As great as that is, the  only problem is that black women have not been "congratulated" for being thick all along, but rather humiliated for being differently shaped from white women. That's no coincidence. What it is is yet another opportunity to capitalize on the black female form-- without using the black female form. In other words, they are aiming to make black women obsolete and irrelevant all over again through using this kind imagery and it's not an accident.

To be fair, there are more than a few thick black models in Trainor's video, but the focus is not on them appreciating THEIR bodies, rather it's on the white girl out front who is just "learning" to appreciate her body for what it is. So again, it keeps the conflict going between black women and white men, black women and white women, and black women and black men. Trainor actually says in her song, "my mama, she told me don't worry about your size; she says boys like a little more booty to hold at night." Oh really? And which boys are these? Certainly not white boys who have specifically said that they would never date black girls because their butts were too big. Historically speaking, this is absolutely false of white female culture until recently. On top of that, she says in the 2nd verse, "I'm bringing booty back; go ahead and tell them skinny bitches bye." Nicki literally says just about the same line in "Anaconda": "This one is for my bitches with a fat ass in the fucking club; fuck those skinny bitches in the club."

First of all, excuse my expression, but big booties never went anywhere to begin with, they just appeal more to white people now, as a substitution for the black female form so that they no longer have to fully recognize them any more because thick girls are "represented and accounted for" now; secondly, why did they say virtually the same thing throughout both of their songs, but only Nicki, not Nicki and Meghan, got labeled as a ho? I'm not saying that either one is more right than the other because both songs make a mockery of black women collectively, but I just notice that there's a considerable amount of racial disparity, that is, inconsistency and a double standard, at play here. As for the white male's view of the black woman, at least in this particular scenario, it is gradually becoming one of invisibility and neglect... AGAIN.

Here's the link to both videos, you be the judge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZX4ooRsWs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk

What Most People Think of Black Girls

So, I found this video where a guy acts and dresses like a black female and says what he thinks (or in some cases, other people think) that black girls say and do. This is a very good example to show the representation of modern black girls.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXDpfhehb6I

If Black Women Said The Stuff White Men Say

White Men's Attraction to Black Women

Here is a short clip from the documentary Dark Girls about how two particular white men feel about their marriages to black women. They also elaborate about their general attraction to black women.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkkeRFtXEBU

Representation of Black Women

I found a video on how people perceive black women today, I think the video is really good. In the video many people had a lot of things positive to say about black women but of course there was the typical negativity.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuXTM5qTb7g

Private Racism

I found a audio clip of Donald Sterling, the ex owner of the Clippers, and his ex mistress, Vanessa Stiviano. This audio clip is of an argument they are having about race and having black friends. It illustrates perfect dichotomy. She is mixed with, Black and Mexican. He shows desire towards her but still has hatred for her skin color and what is in her blood. Donald Sterling claims that she should like black people privately not publicly. Sterling was also described as treating the basketball team as if it was a slavery plantation. Start the clip at 2:00 mins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhT6d5fMhzI


Joy Farmer

Blurred Lines

I'm not sure if I fully understood the prompt correctly but the first thing that came to my mind while thinking of the dichotomy between black female and white male identity today was Robin Thicke's song Blurred Lines. I'm well aware that songs and music video's are not accurate depictions of how artist are in real life but I did find the lyrics to that song and the actual video interesting. The video contains 3 females, 2 of which are white (in skin color, I have no idea about their ethnicity) and the other 1 is black (again, no idea of her ethnicity). There are also 3 males, 2 of which are black (by appearance (T.I. and Pharrell) and Robin Thicke who we identify as a white male. I feel that it is ironic that T.I. are Pharrell are mainly interacting with the white females and Robin is paired with the black female. There is a scene when Robin Thicke interacts with the other females but what was most intriguing to me was when he sung the lines,
 "OK now he was close, tried to domesticate you
But you're an animal, baby it's in your nature
Just let me liberate you
Hey, hey, hey
You don't need no papers
Hey, hey, hey
That man is not your maker"
 he was with the black girl. The lyrics aren't vulgar yet they are troubling especially when they seem to come from the white male gaze cast down upon the black woman...an animal...her nature...papers (slave ownership papers perhaps? O.K I won't start but do you catch my drift?)There's another scene when T.I. is seen brushing the white girl's blonde hair. Frantz Fanon would refer to this as the fixation of the white woman from the black man ..Now before you say, "It's not that deep," I still think it's very telling in how the "exotic other" is viewed. Like I said, these images and songs don't necessarily speak to the character of artists and/or producers but do we subconsciously perpetuate these type of things in society? Are they poisonous or awakening? Are they completely irrelevant? Am I tripping? While it is nice to see somewhat of an interracial interaction, it still puts the White male at the forefront, and the black woman (along with the others but I'm not talking about them) is nothing more than a prop. I still like the song by the way! Just thought I'd review it through my oppositional gaze. Here's a link to the video for your viewing pleasure...

http://youtu.be/yyDUC1LUXSU

Representations today

            I read a post on facebook the other day that said, "They're killing black men in the streets and they're killing black women on tv." That really made me stop and think, especially relating to this class and the topics we've recently discussed such as the representations of black women. In the beginning of "Hearts of Darkness" we see how the dichotomy of the love/hate relationship with the white man and the black woman begun, it European man went to Africa and captured the black woman and brought her over here as his sex slave. His ignorance kept him from understanding the black woman but it didn't not keep him from lusting after her and profiting off of her. This relationship started a smear campaign of the black woman's reputation and black woman have been trying to defend their reputation ever since. Today there are stereotypes of  Sapphire, Mammy and Jezebel that are easily identified today on regular daytime and night time television. As a black woman I have to carve out my identity for others to see every where I go because of these images. Those are not the only roles we operate in in our real, day to day life.
           As far as the white man goes and how he is viewed, I really don't have any thoughts on this particular subject. Only the fact that in America the white man comes in first place and he'll do whatever he can to keep his position. The relationship between the white man and the black woman  in "Hearts of Darkness" shows how he will help the black woman and her kids get a better leg up in the world. The way this is set up though is that it alienates the black man. It doesn't give him a chance to rise up. Instead it keeps him lost, forgotten and at the bottom of the barrel. I know that my focus should strictly be upon the white man and the black woman but I think the relationship between the two definitely and directly affects the black man and the white woman. You can't talk about one without talking about the other.

The Cultural Representation of Black Women

As we think about the cultural representation of black women in American today,  we must consider all of the complexities that arise from such a discussion. Representations in media, film, literature, politics, etc. all provide certain suggestions as to who black women are. Black women have had to work extensively to redefine themselves in a more positive light, yet there is more work that needs to be done. Ultimately, liberation from years of racial and gendered oppression rests in the freedom to just "be"...to be smart, funny, happy, mad, sexy, strong, or weak...just to be human. A passage from “ A Black Feminist Statement” embodies this very thing:

"Above all else … black women are inherently valuable, our liberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody else’s but because of our need as human persons for autonomy.”

-The Combahee River Collective