This lead to the formation of "savage freak shows." These savage freak shows grew publicity, and Abraham notes, they often depicted the black abnormals as being more "sexually victimized with nudity and identifying the women as"savages and the men as beasts," opposed to white abnormals, as just "freak shows". All of this became more enticed through the false representations of Sara Bartman. An example, the author points out in the text is illustrators, making her images as if she looked nude, camouflaging the drapery in the utmost darkest of black, to blend into her skin color (Abraham 227).
Personally, I think this is where the theme of "racism and sexism" blended into one" is represented. By illustrating Sara Bartman as black, is racist. Secondly, by illustrating her as if she were "nude, by blending the color of her dress into her dark skin tone" conveys she is savage. Additionally, by illustrating her as more exposed (open ankles), and wearing a tight form fitting dress, than the superior colonial white women show's that she is a total disgrace to the colonial culture, even to the majority of black men who weren't even nearly as ashamed as the average black women
(Abrahams 227, 229).
Through, my analysis of the context, I agree with the author in that "black women" are not at fault for their physical makeup, it's the "single story of Sara Bartman," misrepresented by countless writers that are to blame for the constant body shaming and sexualization of black women, that even plays in effect today.
This idea of whites as being superior to blacks still plays a role in society today. Especially, the view of black women over white women. To exemplify, many black rappers use obscure language to describe black women, such as "single stories" of Sara Bartman have mentioned. One such word is "thot-" (Hottentot). Additionally, such music and media sexualize them often, through their "booties/buttocks, just as Sara Bartman was."
Overall, based on the theme of racism and sexism in shaping African women identity, do you feel that it is still predominant in society today, in which black women are far far more victimized to sexualiation over other women?
I really liked your post! You brought up many good points. I agree with your comment that racism and sexism is still shaping the identity of African women today. And to answer your question, I do think that black women are far more targeted sexually over other women. I don't really hear songs that don't rap about how pure and not sexual a woman is, but rather the opposite. Additionally, the filming industry also depicts women as hypersexual, as is evident in music videos and movies. No one really sees a fully covered black woman anywhere in the media. This is similar to what you observed on Sara Bartman's photo; she is very exposed and practically nude. Black women in the media and in songs are misrepresented since they are victimized like Sara Bartman was. Maybe the songs you mention can be compared to as the freak shows of Sara Bartman's time; they created images of the modern woman and what is socially acceptable versus what is not.
ReplyDeleteThis was my response (Giulia Oros)
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