Talysa Taylor
GSWS 391
12 November 2015
Media Analysis #2
From Baartman to Ford: Black Female Bodies as Commodities
The portrayal of black female bodies in media is often linked to their oppression based on the intersectionally between race and gender. Specifically, in Hip Hop black female bodies are often controlled under white patriarchal power. Images of black women as sexual savages and sexual commodities have historically been justified through mass media’s consistent representation of the jezebel stereotype through institutions like the government, education, and media. These oversexualized, stereotypical images are commodified so much that it minimizes Black women’s subversive performances. The emphasis on physical attributes of …show more content…
bell hooks states in her article, The Oppositional Gaze, the importance of the power in looking. (hooks pg 15-31 Oppositional Gaze). hooks states that this is a strategy of dominance, or control of power over the less dominant individual. When Rihanna stares at the camera during her video she displays her power by looking maintaining her humanity. Rihanna’s dancers also maintain their womanhood because they are not reduced to their body parts, like in the Nelly video. Rihanna showcases the dancer’s abilities and sexually that displays their talent. Throughout the video Rihanna is empowered by her provocative performance, unsanctioned sexual behavior, and promiscuous appeal to which she controls. There are also no men in the video which deconstructs the stereotypical notion that places black women sexuality to be for heterosexual male …show more content…
Music videos are possible sites for this subversion. Rihanna does not reduce the dancers in her video to their body parts, but showcases their talent in a way that glorifies their physical abilities. Black women should not be reduced to their assets, but are personified through their personality, morals, values, and beauty. In 2 Chainz “Birthday Song” video we see how colonization and western epistemology on black female bodies are still prominent components in media, especially Hip Hop. Black women can use their sexually as a tool of resistance to white male patriarchal dominance by claiming sexual
GSWS 391
12 November 2015
Media Analysis #2
From Baartman to Ford: Black Female Bodies as Commodities
The portrayal of black female bodies in media is often linked to their oppression based on the intersectionally between race and gender. Specifically, in Hip Hop black female bodies are often controlled under white patriarchal power. Images of black women as sexual savages and sexual commodities have historically been justified through mass media’s consistent representation of the jezebel stereotype through institutions like the government, education, and media. These oversexualized, stereotypical images are commodified so much that it minimizes Black women’s subversive performances. The emphasis on physical attributes of …show more content…
bell hooks states in her article, The Oppositional Gaze, the importance of the power in looking. (hooks pg 15-31 Oppositional Gaze). hooks states that this is a strategy of dominance, or control of power over the less dominant individual. When Rihanna stares at the camera during her video she displays her power by looking maintaining her humanity. Rihanna’s dancers also maintain their womanhood because they are not reduced to their body parts, like in the Nelly video. Rihanna showcases the dancer’s abilities and sexually that displays their talent. Throughout the video Rihanna is empowered by her provocative performance, unsanctioned sexual behavior, and promiscuous appeal to which she controls. There are also no men in the video which deconstructs the stereotypical notion that places black women sexuality to be for heterosexual male …show more content…
Music videos are possible sites for this subversion. Rihanna does not reduce the dancers in her video to their body parts, but showcases their talent in a way that glorifies their physical abilities. Black women should not be reduced to their assets, but are personified through their personality, morals, values, and beauty. In 2 Chainz “Birthday Song” video we see how colonization and western epistemology on black female bodies are still prominent components in media, especially Hip Hop. Black women can use their sexually as a tool of resistance to white male patriarchal dominance by claiming sexual