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.
Either over-sexualized or playing some damn version of the “mammy character” that still manages to creep up in new forms or (even worse) some angry, bitter broad role that Angela Basset has to turn down first . . . The depictions are usually stereotypical and you’ve got a point: There are always the same few corporations down the line who use this as their profit model.
I heard the editor of Essence say (in reference to the Imus incident) “Woman are loathe to address black men using the word ho, etc.”
I call Shenanigans. I was just being told yesterday how all of us lie and cheat. When I read those magazines they reflect the same messages. What’s starting to piss me off is how everyone is riding this thing (yes it was messed up) but no one wants to address how it’s cool to disparage black men. Think of the last relationship movies you watched. How many good black men were in them? I asked someone who was the good black man in The Color Purple and someone said Harpo…the weak one. Woman stand up all the time and speak out. Grassroots organizations are most powerful when they involve women and children…serious business. I told a sista the number one thing that makes a man change is being shunned by women. When women get together men won’t call them hoes…at least not to their faces or out in public. I wonder how long it will be cool to say that men are all dogs for? No one really complains now…and when I do I’m usually a lonely voice.
it’s the reason that socially, men are handicapped in light of familial matters. how many men do you know received custody of their children in a divorce? guys paying child support or money to raise a child that’s not theirs?
i think it’s a matter of zero sum theory as there is only so much credibility to balance the bullshit. one group isn’t feeling strong enough, someone near them is decimated or admonished. trade the hatred back and forth.
early morning fun.
dallas……you’re in the zone. going so deep that it moves my core. i couldn’t even address the african babies post because it hurt so bad. keep up the great work. with drops like these you’ll be up for a nobel prize.
**i’m redirecting everyone i’ve ever known to your site immediately. god bless us all.
The title of this post and the images explains it all.
Supremacy through images, yup!! And image is everything. From the ideal aesthetic of beauty to the image of violence.
African American women head BET, MTV and VH1. I wonder if Essence, Oprah will ever question their leadership, their message and legacy? They also act as agents in pushing the gangsta-gangsta, misogynistic, anti-education cRap music.
MISANDRY IS FREAKING HARBODY in the U.S.
It is rarely explored or discussed in popular media, because men are supposed to be not sensitive and able to take it.
I think that at the end of the day…it still comes down to the Dollar Bills. Especially with Lee and Rhone. Debra’s head of a network that is not highly regarded as it once was. Doesn’t she have the power to change the programming on the network? If so, why won’t she?
Although it may seem at first glance that these women have the means to make change, I believe they don’t. Yeah they are allowed to spend their money giving away cars, and donating to third world countries, etc. But at the end of the day they are still the ‘Nappy Headed Hoes’ in the supremacy’s country club.
They may given extra room to flex their muscles but at the end of the day, they can’t compete, lest they booted out on the ghetto rear ends. It comes down to being rich and being wealthy. Rich means you have money to spend and donate at will, wealthy means you get the power and control that comes along with it.
I think when a women is in control of her sexuality it is very impowering. There’s nothing wrong with a females naked body. a womens body is a work of art. Allowing some dude to slide a credit card down your ass crack not so much. The oversaturation of sex in america in general serves as a neuro-stimulant that diverts our attention away from critical issues that effect our present and future.
Lion XL . . . what?!?
I believe they absolutely have the means to make change.
Brother, Reginald Hudlin got rid of that late night porn-styled video program. It got shutdown. Those Spellman sisters shutdown a Nelly performance a while back. That’s the power to affect change.
They have a strong position to bring about some kind of change in the programming. I do not know exactly what and how they can do it. Their organizational structure might make them ineffective in some ways, but they still have position and power. Positive images can be profitable in music, movies and television. Hey, the Cosby show changed NBC, renewed the television sitcom, and produced money for NBC and Cosby. Those 3 women have power to follow and continue or lead and direct.
Are those 3 women not rich and wealthy?
They are definitely accountable. History alone says they have the power to bring change. Our American history screams they have the power to change those images for the better. And if not them, who?
Oh btw, I believe I do, we do. I believe the small actions I take and plan on taking will do something to help a young black girl appreciate her hair texture, stop burning/destroying her scalp and use her mind to get her paper. Oh yeah, Beyonce’s Hair yields power just the same, if not more but judging from her recent videos the tradtion of the black woman as an overly sexualized eroticed creature will continue.
———————-
Entertainers like Pryor, Cosby* and Dave Chapelle made huge statements and brought some kind of consciousness to the forefront letting every one know that the status quo ain’t all good. Dave Chapelle understands supremacy through images. 50 million, how many people will have the courage to stand up like that and recognize their power?
*Cosby did not do it at the height of his career like Chapelle and Pryor.
Vee….are talking concessions or are we talking change? Changes are permanent, concessions only bide time and give people a false sense of accomplishment. Don’t get wrong, stopping a Nelly concert is great, but in the grand scheme of things what did it accomplish? He still has enough paper to fund Applebottoms.
I don’t want diminish your statements or their accomplishments, but I was talking more globally/nationally and long term. Also, I love what they do. My point was that alot of these ‘wins’ don’t cut deep enough to the bone to actually CHANGE things. Cosby show reveolutioned TV and the sitcom, biut now we get ‘the road to hollyhood’ or what ever it’s called, ‘I love NY’ and the list continues. So what was actually gained? very little.
I am just being the devils advocate here and riding the line. The entertainers you mention have made accomplishments, but they are marginal at best. If there was true change we wouldn’t have to deal with the IMUS incident or the Michael Richards incident etc.
We can’t rely on entertainers and other groups who rely on the supremacy for their cheese. It’s me, you, DP, Sangano, IFUX, 40, Eloheem, and every one here who has a thought and is conscious to step up and make the change. Revolution is the domain of the masses, and that’s what it is gonna take to make long standing, effective change in this country.
I ride with LION XL on this one…
OPRAH, DEBRA LEE, SYLVIA RHONE form a rich sorority, but the REAL power… Not so much. These women are the gatekeepers to a supremacist infrastructure. One that constantly disparages and negates Black males while simultaneously leaves Black females incomplete and reduces them to simple consumers.
OPRAH pitches a bitch that center city children only want material items and then uses her platform to advertise for designers that would keep working people in perpetual debt. OPRAH is the devil’s bride when she talks about her Hermes handbags and Prada shoes. Black women (and white) are frustrated at not being able to secure these items easily and project that frustration outward.
Turn off Channel Zero. Turn off the OPRAH WINFREY Show.
^ bingo
These women can’t sustain the change, but they can draw some attention. It represents the hipocrisy of this whole argument. Rappers are to blame, Imus is wrong, but no one (in full public view) points the fingers at these women. That would be a catalyst. Sponsers are what killed Imus. Sponsers can bring anyone down. But it’s easier to blame people outside of your immediate zone/gender/race. If black women (as a whole) had to point at other black women then it’d be “why are they trying to bring a sister down”
out of lf: I am going to see Raekwon tonight let ya’ll know how long it takes for him to diss Jay………I dont really give a fuck, Rae and Ghost can do no wrong in my eyes just on GP, because of OB4CL……..I am like a 16-year old Lil Wayne Stayne when it comes to Ghost and Rae ………I am supposed to meet up with a nice tall sister with an immpeccable ass her grill is decent but her ass is a special not in a Buffy the Body special more like a Slendor girl with great ass and legs(like Runs older daughter) not dumpy, Ya Dig
QUESTION: Why is it that Blacks are highly underrepresented in almost anything dealing with the media but in every advertisement I’ve recently seen dealing with HIV+ and AIDS related issues, the faces are now ALWAYS Black?
I gues it’s a Black thing.
Combat Jack Says:
April 19th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
QUESTION: Why is it that Blacks are highly underrepresented in almost anything dealing with the media but in every advertisement I’ve recently seen dealing with HIV+ and AIDS related issues, the faces are now ALWAYS Black?
I gues it’s a Black thing.
^^^ They should have alot of those Quasi-types MOFO’s doing those adds, but truthfully AIDS is a epidemic and unfortunately in poor Black Communities its at an all-time high……….I just say add more Fags into that cuz those fags practice un-safe methods, No Quasi for the fag talk
Permanent change requires small incremental steps. Some of those point accomplishments are steps in the right direction albeit small. I don’t agree with the term a false sense of accomplishment because I believe those accomplishments or statements influenced or impacted some one in a constructive way. It doesn’t necessarily have to cut deep enough with the immediacy we would like to be effective.
Ok, they do not yield the power of say the BMG group, etc. but they still yield some power. So, in fact they can affect change to a degree. Minute, small, marginal, they can still do something. A small step towards a goal, in the face of all this crap like “Flavor of Love, I love NY, etc.” is a good thing.
OK, I usually like to challenge people who talk about a Revolution, the Revolution. So I’m just curious, what’s your definition of the oft cited Revolution? I’m specifically talking about something concrete, not abstract.
Because pharmaceutical companies get kick backs/tax abatements/paid off to make drugs available to the minorities and other ‘AT RISK’ demographic groups.
The supremacy believes in keeping us drugged up and on medication, even when is it is supposedly helping to extend our lives. Alot of these medicines are used as another way to turn us into sheep and keep us at bay. Why would I support senator X, he’s against Phizer, phizer makes the drugs that keeps me alive.
We get advertisements for AZT, they get em for Viagra. go Figure.
VEE,
Stay away from ‘Revolution’. To revolve is to end up in the same place at a later moment in time.
The Evolution will come when white accepts their complicit role in supremacy and seeks to negate White for creating the system.
Yeah, I stay away from the word Revolution and definitely the semantics.
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” – Frederick Douglass, 1857 (yeah, I had to Google it)
Not when white accepts their complicit role in supremacy.
I’m sorry to the female audience of Dallas Penn.Com but I got to bag on Oprah one mo gain.
Oprah talks about how negative HipHop is but I seen her with about 10 women(mostly white) on her show teaching them to lean wit it rock wit it.