Objectification of Black Women’s Body (18th Century): Sara Baartman

The focus on black women’s body can be seen in the 18th century, through Sara Baartman’s experience.  She was a woman convinced by a man, by the name of William Dunlop, to display her body in Europe, in order to gain fame and money.   He profited from her, as he received some of the money she earned through promotions.  She displayed her body intentionally, but was only ridiculed and objectified.

Even when dead, she received no peace.  Her body was dissected, preserved and displayed for viewing in Paris’ National Museum of Natural History.  It was not until the 70s that her body’s display at the museum was discontinued and not until 2002 that her body was sent to her hometown for a proper burial.

Sara Baartman is more than just a body figure!

Marci Bounds Littlefield

“The crucial problem with the negative images of African American women in today’s society is not merely the overabundance of these images, but rather the absence of equal amounts of alternative, positive images.  

These images are damaging because they limit African American women’s choices by excluding other options.  Therefore, the representations of these women in the music videos depict the oversexual, deviant image of the African American woman which society crafted during slavery and has systematically perpetuated (Littlefield, 299).”

Hyper-sexualized: “Anaconda by Nicki Minaj”

Nicki Minaj’s video of the song “Anaconda”, along with the lyrics, are overtly sexual.  These kind of images and videos are repeatedly viewed and damaging for young Black women.

This video received 19.6 million views at its first day of release!  That shows that Nicki Minaj is a popular figure in American culture and that these sexual images of women were largely viewed by many.  And the number of this video’s views will only continue to increase.

Do you see anything wrong with Nicki Minaj’s video or these images that focus on specific body parts?

Representation Matters.

Marginalized people are unfortunately not highly represented in large media. As they are not largely displayed, a lot of their representations are not regarded as positive.

Reoccurring representations may create negative stereotypes and may consequently hurt groups of people. Black women are largely affected by this as they face an intersection of oppression- sexism and racism.

Representation is largely important.  It is important to have more positive representation of marginalized people to create a disbelief at negative stereotypes and negative misrepresentations. It is also important to give a large sense of empowerment to marginalized groups.