I had my second of analyzing Erykah Badu’s newest video, after which – like most issues popular culture – I used to be over it.
Till…
I simply so occurred to learn Bare & Unashamed, and catch this quote on the finish:
“Folks must be comfy in their very own pores and skin earlier than they are often comfy with another person’s.”
Since it is a web site about embracing oneself, being conscious of 1’s shortcomings and loving oneself sufficient to place within the effort to make ourselves higher, I needed to take a stab at it.
In all honesty, I’m past the video. I do sufficient analyzing all day… I’m probably not moved by a music video, regardless of how compelling it might be. I’m far more within the reactions to the video than I’m the video itself.
Amongst certainly one of my favorites, we’ve got this:
“Typical…black girls stripping nude in a video and debasing themselves. And also you surprise why you’re the least revered and wanted.”
Clearly, I don’t agree with that, however there’s a bigger subject at play, right here.
Sports activities Illustrated can have a complete journal dedicated to white girls in swimsuits – fits, thoughts you, fabricated from a lot much less cloth than what Badu was carrying earlier than the blurring started. SpikeTV can host a few of the most misogynistic rubbish I’ve ever seen (although, full disclosure, I do my justifiable share of laughing at it, too… What? They present CSI repeats.) Playboy has girls displaying their cookies, their cupcakes, their twinkies and their muffins. That’s simply what they do. They mannequin... They act – it’s a job… It’s Playboy – what do you anticipate?
A Black lady seems in a music video – saying nothing about whether or not or not she’s totally clothed – and he or she’s “only a video ho.” A Black lady poses in a bikini in {a magazine}, and it’s “She couldn’t put on extra clothes than that?” A Black lady engaged on her flexibility should be doing it for sexual causes. Don’t let her admit she takes a pole dancing health class.
Hell, Badu even tweeted the hyperlink to the video that impressed hers – a white male/feminine duo operating Buck. E. Bare via Instances Sq., NYC. They’re simply lovable, playful scamps operating ’spherical an already sinful metropolis, although. No large deal there. Erykah, nevertheless, is showcasing why nobody loves Black girls… by doing what the hell she needs to do in her music video.
There’s “debasing” occurring, alright. It’s not self-imposed, although.
“Folks must be comfy in their very own pores and skin earlier than they are often comfy with another person’s.”
Both we’re apologists for the sexuality of our non-Black counterparts, or we’ve got set requirements so excessive for Black girls that exploring ourselves is now not acceptable. We’re doomed to be one monolithic mass, no matter our individuality… as a result of somebody we don’t know – somebody who, primarily, doesn’t actually give a rattling about us – insists on making an attempt to save lots of us from ourselves. Since, y’know, we’re turning ourselves into whores. We’re all the time searching for to make a Black lady any individual’s Jezebel, in dire want of our “assist.”
Not acquainted with Jezebel?
The portrayal of Black girls as lascivious by nature is an everlasting stereotype. The descriptive phrases related to this stereotype are singular of their focus: seductive, alluring, worldly, beguiling, tempting, and lewd. Traditionally, White girls, as a class, had been portrayed as fashions of self-respect, self-control, and modesty – even sexual purity, however Black girls had been usually portrayed as innately promiscuous, even predatory. This depiction of Black girls is signified by the title Jezebel.
There’s additionally this one, that I like:
Subsequent, there may be Jezebel, the bad-black-girl, who’s depicted as alluring and seductive as she both indiscriminately mesmerizes males and lures them into her mattress, or very intentionally lures into her snares those that have one thing of worth to supply her.
I can’t assist however surprise if our have to make a Black lady right into a Jezebel comes from our failure to know ourselves: what elements of us are sexual in nature, what isn’t; what ought to be seen as sexual, what mustn’t; what ought to be thought-about hazardous, and what’s innocent exploration – the sort from which classes are realized.
Am I an advocate for sexual irresponsibility? No. Am I saying it’s alright to “be a slut?” If we share the identical definition of “slut” (see: sexual irresponsibility), then I’ma go on and say “no.” Make no mistake, I don’t give passes for conduct that isn’t my very own. Nevertheless, I’m a hippie at coronary heart, and whereas I’ve my very own requirements for a way I behave and work together with others in public, I can’t power these requirements on others. I’ve by no means turned down the chance to supply up my opinion when requested for it, however making judgments and imposing these judgments on others as tips by which they need to abide… are two various things solely.
And whereas there are numerous who may not see – nor care about – what I’m saying right here (and that’s okay), it’s price stating – after we, as Black girls, insist on decreasing even essentially the most harmless of our actions to Jezebelism, we perpetuate the notion that that’s all Black girls are. That’s all you’ll be able to anticipate of them. Being the Jezebel. Being the sirene.
Having stated that, all I’ve from listed here are questions. Are so many people so uncomfortable with the idea of sexuality – our personal sexuality – that we will’t even establish when one thing is sexual or not? Has it stifled our mental understanding of sexuality? If we’ve got “passes” to dole out, why are we not doling them out for ourselves? Do we frequently see inherently sexual messages in inherently non-sexual conditions? Collectively, are we so repressed and restricted in our self-comfort, that we will’t assist however to challenge this repression onto others? Why care a lot?
Should we make all the things a Black lady does publicly be about her “whoring?” Or, are we actually simply projecting our personal discomfort on different girls who seem like us? Like I stated: from right here, all I’ve acquired is questions. Effectively, questions… and this:
“Folks must be comfy in their very own pores and skin earlier than they are often comfy with another person’s.”
