Black women portrayed as overly sexual eroticized creatures is nothing new for American art or it’s mass media. We lovingly reflect on the career of the beautiful JOSEPHINE BAKER without fully embracing the polarizing effect that she made on Black women in American society.
With no other images of successful Black women in early 19th century media JO BAKER defines everything from beauty to sexuality to artistic talent. Truth be told is that she would be the paradigm even today because of her overall talent, but at least she would be buffered by the ascendency of so many African American women, especially in mass media. Which begs the question… With so many influential Black women inside the mainstream media machine why are we having these discussions about imagery?
As the arguments currently revolve around cRap music videos and their portrayal of the women inside of them as vixenish, to be polite, the real argument that OPRAH and others WILL NOT approach is who makes the money. The cRap music artists are certainly paid an amount as are the women in the videos, but who underwrites these productions in order to turn the profit? When you look at OPRAH, and SYLVIA RHONE and DEBRA LEE you see the gatekeepers, or nannies if you will, to the plantation.
It’s disingenuous and simple minded to treat cRap music as though it invented the wheel. There is a corporate system that is so embedded into our arts culture that we foolishly think that artists determine content and context. That system uses cRap stars as their pawns to continue the legacy of supremacy through imagery. These cRappers didn’t invent the word ‘ho’, and they certainly won’t be the last ones to use it.
