From African Queens To Hip Hop Honeys?
From Nubian queens to video vixens, black women have been subjected to sexual exploitation, degrade and prejudice throughout history. There are many forms of exploitation black women face from the slave masters to the oversexualized mass media of black women in the new generation exploitation has evolved. Malcolm X once said, “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman,” (Who Taught You to Hate Yourself,1962) and he was correct. From significant figures like Saartjie Baartman to Nicki Minaj, society, the media, and hip hop destroys the image of black women in America by demonizing …show more content…
The women is to be broken as if she was a horse until she is weak enough to submit to her master. Once she is in submission, she becomes “good economics” (Willie Lynch) and will be used to make profit for the slave master. When physically broken, the African woman would become psychologically independent due to the absence and lack of protection of the African man. Once she conceive her children, she taught the daughters how to be independent and taught her young boys to be mentally weak and dependent fearing for his life. This breaking process lead to the broken black families and lack of respect towards black women.
During slavery, African women were criticized because of their sexuality and “abnormal body features” by European slave traders who made profits off of their bodies. Saartjie Baartman’s story is significant to the image of a black woman and the African Diaspora because her curvy shape and exotic skin color was used as a freak show to entertain the white society during the early 19th century. Saartjie Baartman was an African woman who was subjected to …show more content…
There are some artists who have tried to uplift our women by writing influential music. For example, the late hip hop artist Tupac Shakur was a gangsta but he made it obvious that he loves women. He was one of the most influential rappers from the 90’s era who used music to uplift women who go through struggles to keep up with life and body image. He created a song called “Keep Ya Head Up” by Tupac Shakur which became a feminist anthem used to uplift women from all backgrounds. Tupac rapped “And since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman and our game from a woman. I wonder why we take from our women? Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?” (Shakur) In the song “Keep Ya head up”, Tupac imposes the question why do black men mistreat the same women that gave birth to them, when they should be protecting black women. Black men exploiting black women stemmed from the broken relationships during slavery, when the slave masters would separate the man from his family. That action caused black men to lack respect and love for their women because they didn 't know how to. Women were left with a lot of hate in them and also was left to raise their children
From Nubian queens to video vixens, black women have been subjected to sexual exploitation, degrade and prejudice throughout history. There are many forms of exploitation black women face from the slave masters to the oversexualized mass media of black women in the new generation exploitation has evolved. Malcolm X once said, “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman,” (Who Taught You to Hate Yourself,1962) and he was correct. From significant figures like Saartjie Baartman to Nicki Minaj, society, the media, and hip hop destroys the image of black women in America by demonizing …show more content…
The women is to be broken as if she was a horse until she is weak enough to submit to her master. Once she is in submission, she becomes “good economics” (Willie Lynch) and will be used to make profit for the slave master. When physically broken, the African woman would become psychologically independent due to the absence and lack of protection of the African man. Once she conceive her children, she taught the daughters how to be independent and taught her young boys to be mentally weak and dependent fearing for his life. This breaking process lead to the broken black families and lack of respect towards black women.
During slavery, African women were criticized because of their sexuality and “abnormal body features” by European slave traders who made profits off of their bodies. Saartjie Baartman’s story is significant to the image of a black woman and the African Diaspora because her curvy shape and exotic skin color was used as a freak show to entertain the white society during the early 19th century. Saartjie Baartman was an African woman who was subjected to …show more content…
There are some artists who have tried to uplift our women by writing influential music. For example, the late hip hop artist Tupac Shakur was a gangsta but he made it obvious that he loves women. He was one of the most influential rappers from the 90’s era who used music to uplift women who go through struggles to keep up with life and body image. He created a song called “Keep Ya Head Up” by Tupac Shakur which became a feminist anthem used to uplift women from all backgrounds. Tupac rapped “And since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman and our game from a woman. I wonder why we take from our women? Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?” (Shakur) In the song “Keep Ya head up”, Tupac imposes the question why do black men mistreat the same women that gave birth to them, when they should be protecting black women. Black men exploiting black women stemmed from the broken relationships during slavery, when the slave masters would separate the man from his family. That action caused black men to lack respect and love for their women because they didn 't know how to. Women were left with a lot of hate in them and also was left to raise their children