Melisa Villarreal on "Images of Sara Bartman"
Yvette Abrahams makes known that black women are presented in a revealing, savage manner to exhibit their sexuality as abnormal in contrast with positive presentation of white women. Sara Bartman is an example of black women being hypersexualized through media portrayal.
White women at the time were denied sexual expression during the time human zoos were popular. This often made people perceive white women as innocent and pure, creating the "fair country women" persona. I believe this persona was an essential tool to actualizing the distinction between white women and black women as fair versus animal-like. Black women, such as Sara Bartman, had their bodies put on the display in freak shows, creating explicit images of savage women because of their nudity and different body types.
The depiction of savagery and exposure of large sex organs during the exhibitions lead to the hypersexualization of black women. I think that people who put black women on display in such manner were acting upon their own capitalist agendas. While this alarmed me, I could understand why this could be justified by the people of that time. Black women were not seen as worthy of protection and admiration like the white women.
Today black women are often portrayed as being inferior to white women as well. One example of this negative depiction is that of Michelle Obama and Melania Trump. Michelle is a lawyer, writer, and was also the first African American First Lady while Melania was a model in which she often posed nude. While Michelle can be considered a more respectable woman, Melania is already seen as a better first lady because of her fairness. Michelle is often attacked as being ape-like like how Sara Bartman was. Many also criticize her as being too masculine despite her accomplishments and education.
The way society perceives differences between black and women is changing to be more on aspects of decency and intelligence, but there is a deep-rooted idea that black women are not equal to white women innocence and purity that impedes the prosperity of black women.
White women at the time were denied sexual expression during the time human zoos were popular. This often made people perceive white women as innocent and pure, creating the "fair country women" persona. I believe this persona was an essential tool to actualizing the distinction between white women and black women as fair versus animal-like. Black women, such as Sara Bartman, had their bodies put on the display in freak shows, creating explicit images of savage women because of their nudity and different body types.
The depiction of savagery and exposure of large sex organs during the exhibitions lead to the hypersexualization of black women. I think that people who put black women on display in such manner were acting upon their own capitalist agendas. While this alarmed me, I could understand why this could be justified by the people of that time. Black women were not seen as worthy of protection and admiration like the white women.
Today black women are often portrayed as being inferior to white women as well. One example of this negative depiction is that of Michelle Obama and Melania Trump. Michelle is a lawyer, writer, and was also the first African American First Lady while Melania was a model in which she often posed nude. While Michelle can be considered a more respectable woman, Melania is already seen as a better first lady because of her fairness. Michelle is often attacked as being ape-like like how Sara Bartman was. Many also criticize her as being too masculine despite her accomplishments and education.
The way society perceives differences between black and women is changing to be more on aspects of decency and intelligence, but there is a deep-rooted idea that black women are not equal to white women innocence and purity that impedes the prosperity of black women.
I think that the example that you brought up in your blog post is very interesting. I have heard some comments on the differences of these two First Ladies, but I have never gotten the chance to explore the subject. Honestly, I disagree with the way that these two women are depicted. Although Michelle Obama is more educated and has done many things to better the country, Melania Trump is seen as "better" because she's white. Therefore, like you pointed out, Michelle Obama is seen as more "savage" like the black women were viewed in the time of Sara Bartman and ever since then. I think you did a very good job in breaking that down. Also, I really like how the picture you included in your blog post depicts and relates to your argument.
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