American Slavery and Modern Black Sexuality

(This is a re-publication. The original 2/25/16 article can be found here:
https://americandreamclass.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/slavery-and-modern-black-sexuality/)

Would you say that…

Slavery has a profound impact on modern black sexuality
or
Slavery has little to no impact on modern black sexuality?

I believe that slavery certainly has had a profound impact on modern black sexuality. During the slavery era, black people were reduced to objects – cargo (“goods”), tools (physical workers and bodies for sexual satisfaction), and literal scapegoats for the source of all evils imaginable. These concepts were enforced by the law and promoted by literature. However, they were also accentuated in the primitive media of the time as racist propaganda. We can see how black men, women, and children were referred to as “brutes”, “savages”, “animals”, “picaninnies”, and “niggers” in stark contrast to their white counterparts referred to in more appropriate and respectful terms. Black sexuality in that time was also defined in negative undertones whereas the purpose of sex among black people in that society was to serve the interests of the white patriarchal system. Every aspect of black sexuality was defined by this system. Black slaves could not have sexual contact with anyone unless on the master’s terms. Sex amongst themselves would serve only to expand the labor force so that the wealth of the white master’s household would increase, even if the resulting children were sold away. Intimacy was greatly discouraged as would committed relationships. Sex between the slaves and masters or mistresses would often be forced and exploitative also disregarding feelings of intimacy. Sex was even used as a form of punishment against enslaved black women AND men – black sexuality was even used against black people in this way as their perceived sexual impurity was referenced as justification. Black people were viewed by the racist white media as not only intellectually but sexually immoral, and thus, developed a strong negative association of black sexuality.
Black men were seen as an unsuitable partner with “typical” unpleasant tendencies towards all women – an ugly lustful partner to black women and a persistent potential danger to the innocence of white women. The prominent physical features of black people were exaggerated in caricatures to emphasize their sexuality. Among these were full lips, wide noses, large male genitalia. Black men and women were humiliated on auction blocks naked with poking and prodding to examine their more prominent parts. There was a black woman named Sarah Baartman who was famously peddled for her voluminous buttocks.

White Americans would actually consummate their own love for each other by ecstatically degrading black sexuality. This practice carried all the way into the early 20th century.

"Early 1900's R.F Outcault"the stamp says 1905
(Source)

"Rust Craft, Boston" can be seen printed on the reverse side at the bottom of this card.
(Source)

 

"Darling Black Americana Valentine Card w/ Girl with Heart Shaped Lips"
(Source)

"Oversized 7" x 10" Black Americana Mechanical (moving eyes and watermelon) Valentine Greeting Card"
printed in Germany
(Source)

They would also demonstrate their affections by drawing insensitive comparisons to popular black stereotypes. I found these Valentine’s Day greeting cards from the 1920s and 1930s on ebay. You can find some other similar racist memorabilia here: (Source)

The way our modern society defines sexiness has also been magnified by the media over the latter half of the past century as prevailing sexual attitudes have evolved so that we can actually follow the culture of our society through the media. When we watch celebrity news, we can keep up-to-date with who is popular or what is the current vibe. When we watch the news, in general, we are really viewing what a particular staff of journalists, reporters, and camera crew have decided is important and merits the attention of the national or local community with phrases like “headline news”, “breaking news”, “live”, “mainstream”, “the most trusted”, and “we got the latest for you right now”. In turn, the viewers believe that what is being told and shown to them is the most immediate and complete perspective of current events.

The media has become, in effect, the final authority on what is trendy simply because they claim to be a reflection of what everyone subscribes to. For example, a popular news outlet in America – CNN, has a political poll every now and then, which survey a limited sample of volunteer individuals, yet it announces the results as if they are the absolute answer to what Americans think or feel on any particular issue. We can pick out a magazine that defines what fashion is “hot right now” or what the definition of beauty is by featuring a very narrow variety of cover models. People then internalize these perceptions as something to aspire to, even to their own detriment of health and (ironically) their overall personal satisfaction. We can see this as demonstrated by the bulimic anorexia epidemic of the past decade.

Our corporate culture created a consumer culture and then ultimately controlled both. You can look no further than your local GameStop to understand exactly what I’m talking about here. As one game is released, the game that came out just last week already depreciates in cost and return/trade-in rate and it is advertised less so that we place more value on the new game whether it actually does provide a better gameplay experience or not.

In today’s world, we are at a point where the media complements, but also defines every aspect of our lives, including our relationships. Black males and females are not excluded from this. The film industry (affectionately referred to as Hollywood), is probably the greatest force in the media with a large viewer base. In movies and TV shows, we can see that there is very little representation of black people but when they do appear, the context is based on stereotypical roles. Black love is given virtually NO attention at all on the mainstream level. When shows and movies feature black people in intimate situations, black men are rarely portrayed with black women, black families are rarely portrayed, and the dynamics of a black relationship are never explored (unless we create these shows ourselves like Black-ish). What we often find, instead, are more scenarios in which black characters are involved in interracial relationships while there is a disproportionate dynamic in favor of the white patriarchal model. In other words, we have more movies and shows portraying relationships between white men and black women than between black men and white women.

A Modern Ad

It has been my personal experience when I watch movies and shows, I see it like all the time! I can name numerous movies and shows within the last few years alone which demonstrate interracial relationships with white men and black women in intimate and/or sexual situations off the top of my head at any given time – almost ALL of them are actually quite popular too. Scandal, Gotham, Flash, Daredevil (does that count?), Fantastic Four, Hand of God, 22 Jump Street, 007: Skyfall (not the only interracial James Bond film in the series either), Colombiana, Texas Rising, Transporter (the series), Strikeback (UK), Star Trek: Into Darkness, How to get away with Murder (which also has a black male – white female relationship as well as interracial gay relationships), and if we wanted to count relationships with black aliens, Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy fall right in……shall I go on? Even the movies that are “supposedly” catering to pre-dominantly black audiences are no exception – The Best Man Holiday and Think Like a Man (1&2). If you don’t believe me, there is actually an entire webpage dedicated to a growing list of movies featuring white men-black women relationships where people can contribute their own entries. The list starts with the racist film The Birth of a Nation released in 1915 and was last updated March of 2015. So far, it has a total of 395 entries – and this is just movies alone! Don’t even get me started on virtually all of the movies and series about American slavery that were produced just recently, portraying this relationship dynamic exclusively! (As if that was the entire story of slavery anyways) It’s like we’re even using the oppressive history of slavery (or rather, a partial narrative that directly favors the white male patriarchy) to actually favor the white male patriarchy all over again, and to essentially oppress ourselves even more.

Now, how about popular portrayals of relationships between black men and white women? (Before you get your panties/undies in a bunch) The only movies or shows I can name from my immediate memory are Let’s be Cops, Focus, Annie, Supergirl, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and the black guy turns into an evil beast monster with red eyes). Well, it turns out that the same website I mentioned also has a webpage for that list. It was not until 1957 that we find the first entry, Island in the Sun and the total count is 172, which is basically half of the first list! What does all this have to do with slavery, though? This is all quite familiar to the prevailing circumstances of the slavery era. During the time of American slavery, black sexuality was being defined exclusively by the dominant white-controlled media and society, black presence and sexuality was hidden from the observation of the general public unless convenient for profit, propaganda and for commercial purposes, and white men were expected to consciously have sexual relations with black women while black men were frowned upon and forbidden to have sexual relations with white women. Today, it is notable that a sizable majority of famous black male celebrities, actors, music artists, and athletes date or are in committed relationships with white women while on-screen, we see almost never see a reflection of this reality. In a hauntingly similar way, white women in the antebellum south were involved in sexual relations with enslaved black men in secret while in public, white men were flaunting their sexual relations with the enslaved black women.

If we wanted to go even deeper into this subject, we might look into the adult film industry, where racism is, believe it or not, a factor in racial and gender disparities as it relates to interracial activity (Source). It is a fact that black female pornstars get paid less for participating in the same kinds of scenes as white female pornstars, white female pornstars have the leisure of turning down offers for scenes with black men without repercussion (it is often seen as a sign of a dying career as one usually puts them off until later), and white women demand more compensation for scenes with black men over other kinds of scenes (Source) . These are all privileges afforded to white women, which inadvertently affect the careers of black males in the industry by limiting their prospective, while tarnishing their value in the industry (perhaps even in general?) at the same time. This ties directly into the theme of slavery’s impact on black sexuality.

Then we have the aspect of stereotyping, which holds black men in some kind of special regard (whether genuinely for higher or for actual not) for the size of their genitalia. Early European and white American auctioneers would display black men and women on auction blocks completely naked, and it was here that they would be advertised to buyers with poking and prodding to examine the physique and especially the allure of the sexual organs. White masters (and other spectators, no doubt) would gawk at these humiliating shows which had clear erotic undertones AND overtones. Black men and boys were analyzed for the size of their penises during this time. It is interesting, though…when we think about the sexual “norms” of plantation life. During the height of slavery in America, an obvious male patriarchal structure existed. White women were actually monitored in their travels as they had to have a man with them at all times, rather than go alone [1]. White men were free to have sexual intercourse with both their white wife and their black female slaves. However, there were repercussions for white women who would dare to entertain sexual relations with enslaved black males. Their place in society was degraded [1]. In defense of this white male patriarchal system, prejudices developed to define black male sexuality as a threat to the purity of white women. Black men who engaged in sexual relations were often brutally punished by way of torture and death.

This attitude was rooted in the system which existed during the time of slavery but it did not remain there. As we study American history after slavery, we find thousands of cases in which black men were lynched for accusations of sexual relations with white women. There were dozens of massacres that occurred across the nation (such as the most famous 1923 massacre in Rosewood, Florida which killed 150 residents and the bombing and destruction of “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa, Oklahoma 1921 which killed about 3000) as white mobs erupted through communities that were predominantly black, burning and assaulting innocent people in the name of vigilante justice against black male sexuality. This also brings to mind the cases of Franck Embree’s castration and lynching in 1899, Jesse Washington’s lynching over a fire and his subsequent dismembering in 1916, Will Brown’s lynching, burning, and mutilation during the 1919 Omaha Race Riot, 14-year-old George Stinney’s federal execution in 1944, and 14-year-old Emmett Till’s lynching in 1955. This trend has even carried on to today! Just last year, a man walked into a historically black church and killed almost a dozen innocent people on account of “protecting our white women”.

Black sexuality is clearly still seen as threatening to some people in today’s world. I read an article posted by a page I follow on Facebook some time ago while claimed that there exists an entire genre of role-play porn in which a white man watches a white woman have intercourse with a black man. I have heard people confirm this in discussions on this subject. It may be popular as a way of coming to terms with something or it might just be another one of those regular irregularities that just happens to be a thing. It seems that over time, these attitudes have become both commonplace and acceptable in an industry that allegedly represents the interests of all members of the general public at large, or just the viewers. Whatever influence all of that might have on regular everyday America, who’s to say for sure?

Of course, since there exists a demand for everything under the sun as far as sexual fantasies are concerned, the existence of blatant racism in role play porn scenes should not necessarily be considered an absolute reflection of all society, subject to psychological penalization (If you know what I mean). However, we have to acknowledge the irony, anyways, that racist sexual ideologies have carried over from the era of slavery and found their way into the world of pornography in “post-racial” America at just the surface level.

In conclusion, we see many similarities between what exists today in the popularized sexual trends of our society and what was commonplace in the era of American Slavery. These can be seen in the popular visual media of today. Just as we have covert racism, systemic inequality, and literal relics from the time of slavery around today, we can see the legacy of slavery in the way that we view black sexuality manifest in our society both publicly and privately. We have alarming statistics as far as family dysfunction in the Black American community – high rates of single-parent homes, high rates of childbirth to unwed parents, etc. We have black sexuality on display in a very negative fashion by the corporate pop culture with degrading language that is consciously ascribed to black men and women, oversexualization, and glamorized promiscuity. We have he highest rates of incarceration among any other group of people in the nation. Some may claim that correlation even here does not equal causation – that just because there is a similarity between today’s trends and those of the past, doesn’t mean there is an actual association that can be definitively made. But I believe that it is only appropriate that as we progress from that dark period of history, we recognize these correlations for what they are and we also examine whether or not we have truly progressed in our attitudes towards black sexuality as well.

– Omri C.

[1 Sexual Relations between Elite White Women and Enslaved Men in the Antebellum South: A Socio-Historical Analysis]

[Ethiopian’s head and female head, with a kalos inscription. Attic janiform red-figure aryballos, ca. 520–510 BC. From Greece. (Source)

If the ancients didn’t see a particular problem with black sexuality, why should we? ]