Feature

Trusting Our Big Butts and Smiles

Monday Sep 21, 2009 – By Rochelle Spencer

71478198 For three years, I taught at an all-women’s, historically black college that had also been my alma mater. One semester, after students had been reading articles by bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, and also, Naked–a collection of first person essays written by black women about body image–I showed students pictures of women in bathing suits and exercise gear and asked for their instant reactions.

The pictures I cut out were from magazines that were geared towards men as well as those geared towards women. I expected that the images from men’s magazines like Maxim and King would promote lively discussion, while I assumed that the students would be more or less neutral to the images they saw every day–the images from the women’s magazines.

I was wrong.

For the most part–with the notable exception of images of celebrities like Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan–my students were indifferent to the pictures of the white women. But some of my students–too many, I felt–labeled the pictures of black and Latina women “too sexy,” regardless of whether the image had come from a men’s magazine or a women’s magazine. “Why does she have that on–she has no business having that on,” one student said of one black woman in exercise attire, “too much of her meat is hanging out.” Another student glanced at a picture of a black women in a bathing suit, a woman whose pose I didn’t feel was terribly provocative (she was standing with her hand on her hip, but the focus of the picture didn’t seem to be her body), and labeled the picture “disgusting.”

It bothered me then, and it saddens me even more so now, that these intelligent, talented black women associated the women who looked most like them with a sexuality they saw as immoral and uncontrollable. “We just can’t wear things like that,” one of my students told me in our class discussion, after I asked why she disliked so many of the pictures of black women.

“You mean, black women can’t wear swimsuits or workout gear?” I returned.

“We’re just built like that,” the student explained. “We have bigger butts, breasts, thighs–so when we wear something it looks more indecent.”

I’m afraid that the idea that black women’s bodies are somehow “indecent” isn’t going away any time soon. This year, there was all that talk about Michelle Obama’s figure; I also remember when the website Jezebel posted pictures from a black man’s magazine. The reactions were interesting: While some women thought the women in the pictures were being horribly objectified, other women were pleased simply to see a non-mainstream body type celebrated. I get it–I understand the desire to be seen as attractive–but I also know that the media alone won’t make us feel good about ourselves.

I grew up in the era of both the “Rumpshaker” video and the girl group TLC, whose members showed a woman could be crazysexycool in baggy shorts and a t-shirt if she wanted to. Yet even with these dual, competing images, I had trouble accepting my body.

Growing up, I had the kind of body you saw in fashion magazines: long legs and a slender, curvy frame. But I lived in south Georgia, where my body was far from the ideal. My best friend–who is short and voluptuous, with a fuller butt and thighs–had the kind of figure that was admired and sought after. So while we were both cute girls, we represented two different kinds of African-American beauty (we also had the skin color thing to deal with–I have dark brown skin; my friend is much lighter).

It wasn’t until after high school, when I lived in New York and spent a summer in Los Angeles, when strangers gave me compliments and encouraged me to model, that I began to take notice of my body, to see it as attractive. I also began to realize that the compliments my friend received: “Do fries go with that shake?” or “It must be jelly because jam doesn’t shake like that” were more sexual than those I received.

Was this because my body fitted more closely with a European ideal of beauty? Did that make me less black? Less sexy? And then again, what was so wrong with being sexy?

It’s hard on both black men and black women when, for so long, another culture has defined our sexuality. For our daughters and sons to be comfortable relating to each other, we have to avoid viewing ourselves solely as sexual objects while also rethinking the idea that characteristics (a round butt, large thighs) the black community views as sensual and lovely are somehow “indecent.”

thinkpink says:

September 21, 2009 at 10:41 am

I believe the reason many black women view their bodies as “indecent” is multi faceted.Hip-hop objectifies women in ways that have been unprecedented. In our culture sexy bodies are not depicted in the boardroom but in the strip clubs. In other cultures women with desirable frames are viewed as sexy, attractive, and beautiful. While in the African American culture having a sexy body is associated with being a slut/hoe/jump-off. In an age when many of our men view our bodies as a means to a very explicit sexual end and nothing more its no wonder that many black females harbor insecurities about their bodies.

↑ Reply

tiff sharpe says:

September 21, 2009 at 2:40 pm

Black women are still dealing with issues of self-hate. These ideals are reinforced by family, friends, media, self-perception and reactoions from others. Body issues, colorism, hair-isms are some of the main themes. I am a fuller-figured woman who has struggled with body image all of my life. Slim women have commented on my hips and buttocks, small-chested women have commented on my breasts; in both occassions the comments range from compliments to hateful attempts to erode my self-esteem. Couple that with light skin and naturally curly hair and now you have hair and color issues too. We need to see ourselves as beautiful and combat any image that would tell us otherwise. Although our families and communities may have planted those seeds of self-hate that the media happily watered, as individuals we have to see ourselves as God made us- BEAUTIFUL.

lish says:

September 21, 2009 at 3:00 pm

Wow a great article that really made me think. I can see this issue in two ways…My view is that often times the media tends to show one type of black female frames and it is the one that is very curvy with a big butt chest hips and a small waist. While that is beautiful but that one type of frame is associated with black women. So when a woman is perhaps slimmer they are questioned as to why they don’t have any hips,etc ….people have low self esteem because in our culture even mothers poke fun at their daughters as to why they don’t have a butt etc. I don’t the variations as one being overly sexual…but in our society we associate curvy frames with being popular and accepted and if you were not built like the media society reminds you constantly.

leosashny says:

September 21, 2009 at 3:26 pm

I guess I would need more information about the pictures to form some kind of opinion. Were there also pictures of shapely white women or athletic shaped women of color, and if so what reaction did they get? Were the responses based on the body types of women of color, or women in general.

Sasha says:

September 21, 2009 at 6:03 pm

Interesting topic, I grew up mostly on the slim side. When I was a bit heavier, THE BLACK MEN LOVED IT! As I have gotten down to my normal weight, the attention shifts and black men don’t comment. Instead white women have something positive to say.

It is funny because I was thinking about this today in that I wonder if mainstream views slim back women as being closer to European standards than being curvy, which is stupid because there are ALOT of curvy white women.

I have been guilty of having the perception that black women do have to watch what we wear because it can easily come across as sexual. My husband and I have agreed that when white girls wear short shorts, it is often seen as ‘cute’ ‘fashionable’ and ‘innocent’. But if black girls where the same shorts, it is often seen as ‘being to sexy’ and ‘hoey’. Its sad!

Angela says:

September 21, 2009 at 10:32 pm

@ Sasha: word! I attend school at a predominantly white college and even in the outlying areas, I see teenage white girls walking with their fathers wearing cut-offs, halters and other revealing outfits with nary a comment. But I also notice that when a white girl with a tube top and a miniskirt walks by a group of black guys, they’ll stop and look, but when a black girl walks by in a similar outfit, they feel they have the right to grab at her and hoot and holler at her. I know that I myself cover up my body because of this oversexualization of black women and also the blatant lack of respect shown to my personal space and my body from black men. But then I realize that I am also projecting my own insecurities. I have the right to wear a halter dress or tight jeans without fear that a man will disrespect me. If white women and Asian women feel they have the right to dress the way they do, why not black and Latina women? My body is my own.

kendra says:

September 21, 2009 at 11:10 pm

I that as black women you have to have big breasts, dierre,and a small waist to be an ” sexual eye candy”. But my thing, is who says that’s sexy? Like I’m a very slender mid-length female with long legs also, but I try to think outside the box. And why can’t a plus size women be sexy without having to flunt her boobs everywhere and pooking out everyone’s eyes? It’s like nowadays we( black women)aren’t sexy if we don’t have some kind of skin all out and “shakin what our mama’s gave us”. But it is definitly the mainstream who makes it as if you’re not bone skinny you’re fat, so you have to flash your goods, and that corrupts little children’s minds, men’s, and eventually ours. And we see all these video vixens or celebrity “girlfriends”( Amber Rose) And most figure, hey I gotta have a body like hers and get but implants or some type of cosmetic surgery of I’m not sexy or beautiful and cause in a sense, insecurity or depression and as a result we have all of these insecure young women and they’ll do anything for praise. Therefore becoming the jumpoff, hoe, or whatever it may be.

SpenceGould says:

September 22, 2009 at 1:03 am

As an African-American male, I am often offended by the images of sistas I see in magazines. It’s not the anatomical differences that bother me as much as the presentation. I specifically remember a rack of magazines on display at a major bookstore franchise. Drew Barrymore, Angelina Jolie, Katherine Hegel, Cindy Crawford were featured on diffent covers dressed in long flowing dresses that were sexy without being sexual. In the same display, Halle Berry was featured on a cover spread eagle wearing a man’s shirt that wasn’t buttoned.

It’s not just the natural differences between Black womens’ physiques (and, yes — there is a difference) and those of women from other races. It’s how those differences are portrayed. White women tend to be styled and positioned to look like classy ladies who (maybe??) enjoy sex from time to time. However, sistas are usually shot with their legs spread or bent over something or showing an amount of skin that lends nothing to the ad.

My wife graduated from an all-women’s, all Black college in Georgia. She is the first one who made me notice how long the camera will linger on a woman’s butt, breast, or thighs in a movie, t.v. show, or commercial. There’s nothing wrong with Black women being “sexy”. I think there is something fundamentally wrong when that’s the only way Black women are portrayed.

kboug22 says:

September 23, 2009 at 7:37 am

Black women are victims of self-hate. Most of this stemmed from the fact that we have been told what is beautiful for so long. But what is even more apparent is the fact that the hip hop industry constantly uses our bodies as a form of sexual entertainment. So not only do we have the other races not feeling us.. we have our own men not respecting us. No wonder Black women today cannot come to find self love..and even more..body love. We are at the bottom of the chain…the Concubine of the American Kingdom. And it is so sad. I believe that artists like Beyonce and Alicia Keys show that we can enjoy our voluptuous bodies and not look like raging sluts. But even these ladies are ridiculed. We are all just so ignorant and so confused about who we really are. its sad. and its time to change.

Melissa says:

September 23, 2009 at 10:09 am

It doesn’t matter how you are built as a black girl trying to be taken seriously you just don’t want to be associated with the over the top sexy video vixen. Sadly that is one of the few roles that society views us in. I think that may have alot to do with why the students reacted the way they did to the images of the women from the magazines. I sometimes find myself trying to dress modestly on purpose with the long skirts, high neck shirts especially when I am around THEM. I feel I have to show that hey I am a black women but there is more to me then sexuality and we don’t all walk around in pum pum shorts. I would say I am pretty comfortable with my sexuality but its hard to ignore the fact that the world views me solely as a sexual object and that this image is continiously perpetuated on BET and the like. I feel it is extremely damaging to black women in their relationships with men and it shows in the statistics, we are least likely to get married than any other racial group. How pathetic is that?

September 23, 2009 at 6:08 pm

But lets not be too easy on ‘others’.But what about ALOT of Playboy magazines that display white women as sexual objects. I think that society goes easy on them as far as sexuality is concerned. There are plenty of white women who dress ‘easy’ and they don’t get the harsh treatment as black women. Its like it is wrong for black women to express themselves in sexual ways. Now I am not for clash, disrespecting dressing, but the presumption of each group is unfair.

It is like you are darned if you do and darned if you don’t. No amount of dressing can really clear what society thinks about us because media has programmed this, not to mention, the ‘roles’ we decide to play.

Rochelle Spencer says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:07 pm

Leosashny and SpenceGould bring up two good points, and I should have given more information about the classroom activity. The first time I did the activity, I simply wanted to have a broad discussion about women and sexualized images, and so I cut out pictures of women–of all colors–from women’s magazines and men’s magazines without really thinking about it. But, because of the discussion that came up about black women’s bodies, I did this activity again with two other classes, and I purposefully cut out an equal number of pictures of black women from black men’s magazines (e.g., King), white women from mainstream men’s magazines (e.g., Maxim), black women from black women’s magazines (e.g., Heart and Soul, Essence), and white women from magazines with a predominately white audience (e.g., Glamour, Redbook)… What broke my heart is some (not all, but a large group) students rated the pictures of black women’s bodies as far more distasteful, regardless of what magazines they came from.

b. whitaker says:

September 27, 2009 at 6:57 am

what’s really sad is that this issue affects our girls at increasingly earlier ages. as a 7th grader with a pretty athletic build (and always a modest dresser), i rarely got the attention of fresh boys, but i always felt sorry for my girlfriends who did. now, as an adult, it breaks my heart to know that young innocent black girls are forced to be so body conscious at 10, 11, and 12 – even earlier – because our society finds a way to sexualize them.

toi says:

September 29, 2009 at 12:56 am

I find this article both fascinating and probing. I am one of these young ladies you speak of. I’ve read Bell Hooks, i become giddy upon recieving information Michael Eric Dyson is coming into town to speak, openly praise the likes of Cornell West,Tavis Simely, and Nikki Giovanni. I am quite aware of the powers that have made an active effort to affect my self image. But I too fall victim of self doubt. I’m 5′6 130 lbs and a mother of a 14month old. But i struggle with accepting my figure as that a wonderful vechile that brought forth life, and one that is 10 pounds heavier than it was pre-baby. As a lover of fashion I am constantly bombarded with images I KNOW are not a direct reflection of my self worth or the worth of all Black women. But why then do these thoughts enter your mind. With all the knowledge and wisdom you have actively outfitted yourself with you too fall. This just goes to show that when we live our lives with the hopes of validating ourselves through vain persuits we fall short everytime regardless of who holds the measuring device. Once again Clutch I love you for your provocative conversation.

Keep up the good work.