Fear and loathing of black sexuality

For those interested, I have a new essay published on the Black Commentator today called “Straight Hair, Flat Culture: Fear and Loathing of Black Sexuality.” A subscription is required to read the entire piece, but free 10 day trials are available.

“The girls from Rutgers…they got (sic) tattoos and…them some (sic) nappy headed hos, and the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute,” Don Imus, much to his pain more than anyone else’s, said in a now infamous rant that got him suspended from radio and expelled from MSNBC. By now, the Imus “controversy” has been dissected, debated, and deconstructed to the point of nausea. However, there still remains a peculiar absence of any acknowledgement that Imus spoke for millions when he reinforced, albeit crudely and hatefully, the white beauty standards that still largely dominate American culture, and produce a myriad of less obvious, but equally cruel and hateful consequences. Almost all critics and commentators, even Al Sharpton, focused primarily on the word “ho” and its degrading, dehumanizing implications when condemning the radio shock jock.

The persistence and permeation of white beauty standards runs so long and wide that even those most incensed by Imus could not comprehend what he was talking about. The “ho” label, despite being the most loaded and offensive term of the sentence, is a distraction. What he really means when he identifies tattoos and, most importantly, “nappy” hair is rough, ragged; ugly. Many of the female players on Tennessee’s team were also black, yet according to Imus’ racially colored lens, which is shared by many who express it in milder language; they were “cute” because they had straight hair, and lighter, inkless skin. In a word, they were much “whiter.” The fact that this part of the scandal was not discussed on mainstream television demonstrates that the dominant culture largely agrees with the distinction that Imus made between the opposing college basketball teams, so much so that it never occurs to anyone to even question it. Notable exceptions like social critic Michael Eric Dyson, analyzed the white beauty standard aspect with clarity and brilliance, but the crux of his analysis and those that were similar were relegated to small internet publications, moderately popular radio broadcasts, or Dyson’s collection of interviews, Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop.

The clearest signal of white beauty standards was the word “nappy,” which for decades has meant “black” and “unattractive.” Cultural resistance to nappy hair has a long and harmful history. From painful procedures in beauty shops to the $45.6 million (excluding Wal-Mart) yearly sales of home relaxers, the painful pressure of conformity to white cultural norms is visible in the black community. Many black women wage their own personal protest by going natural, and pegging their sisters who straighten as “sell outs.” Ingrid Banks, professor of black studies at University of California Santa Barbara, summarized the hair dilemma succinctly, “For black women, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

Lose-lose situations where the costs always equal damnation are common for women who have progressed to a point where their talents, intelligence, and character rightfully earn them slots of leadership in politics, business, academia, etc., but must walk a tightrope where gender roles are confused and misogyny operates as an undertow, rather than a tsunami. Women pursue professional excellence, but must also appease the sensibilities of men who are falling behind in education and achievement. They still must carry themselves with sex appeal, but want to be recognized as more than mere sex objects. Many of these externally enforced, internally fought conflicts are in their elderly years, but they take on new drama and stakes for contemporary women who, for the first time, are surpassing men in many professional and educational fields. The dualistic urges to succeed and conform, which often are complementary in the boardroom and nightclub, manifest in expensive medical bills for irreversible procedures. Black women are paying for nosejobs to make their noses thinner, and Asian women are having their eyes widened. This may seem extreme, but it is increasingly common. It is also a sad indication of how limited progress can be, if not in monetary terms, then at least psychological terms. One of the most repulsive and repeatedly discussed consequences of unrelenting social pressure on women is the skeletal shape that many actresses, pop stars, and twenty-somethings starve themselves to have. Formerly sexy women like Teri Hatcher, Nicole Kidman, and Angelina Jolie have transformed themselves from pinups to cautionary posters against eating disorders.

Read the rest.