Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Bc. Patrícia Iliašová

Stereotypes and the Significance of Black Female Self-Representation Contextualizing Contemporary Portrayals of Black Women in Popular Culture and Visual Arts Master’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.

2019

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..

Author’s signature

I would like to thank my supervisor Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A., for his kind advice, patience and willingness to find time to consult my thesis. Moreover, I would like to thank my friends and family for their support and encouragement.

Table of Contents Introduction ...... 5 1 Discussing Stereotypes: An Overview of Major Controlling Images and Their Significance in Maintaining the Oppression of Black Women ...... 9 1.1 Race and Misrepresentations...... 10 1.2 Black Women and Their Stereotypes ...... 12 1.3 Racial Stereotypes Enter Popular Culture ...... 13 1.4 Other Stereotypes ...... 17 1.4.1 Hip-Hop Generation Stereotypes ...... 19 1.4.1.1 Working-Class Stereotypes ...... 20 1.4.1.2 Middle-Class Stereotypes ...... 22 1.5 Sexuality Controlled...... 23 1.6 Body Images Controlled ...... 27 1.7 Motherhood Controlled ...... 29 1.8 Work Controlled ...... 32 1.9 Chapter Conclusion ...... 35 2 Why Black Feminism, Why Black Female Images?: A Feminist Perspective on the Importance of Black Female Presence and Representation ...... 36 2.1 Finding Their Voice ...... 37 3 Modern-day Images of Black Womanhood in Popular Culture and Visual Arts and the Disruption of Stereotypes ...... 42 3.1 Sexuality ...... 43 3.2 Body Images...... 48 3.3 Motherhood ...... 52 3.4 Work ...... 56 3.5 Chapter Conclusion ...... 60 Conclusion ...... 61 Works Cited ...... 64 Appendix ...... 73 Summary ...... 80 Resumé ...... 81

Introduction

Black women are getting more recognition than ever in the history of the United

States. Indeed, the recent years have shown some remarkable achievements in terms of black female presence and visibility in popular culture and arts. In 2018, Beyoncé

Knowles-Carter became the first black female performer to headline Coachella (Alana

Abramson). In 2019, Michelle Obama’s audio book of her memoir Becoming was nominated for 2020’s Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, while the singer and rapper Lizzo received in total eight nominations for Grammy Awards, becoming the artist with the highest number of nominations in 2020’s Grammys (Mahita Gajanan).

Amy Sherald became the first black female painter to be commissioned to paint the portrait of now-former First Lady Michelle Obama, which was revealed in 2018 (Roberta

Smith). These are just a few of the examples of the increasing presence of black women in the public sphere.

Despite these recent triumphs, the long-lasting history of black female stereotyping and misrepresentation continues to impact how black women are perceived and represented in the American society. In 2013, Essence magazine conducted a study of black female images and reported that negative stereotypical images of black women are still present in media (Dawnie Walton). Six years later, the presence of stereotypes is still relevant as they continue to influence how black women portray themselves in popular culture and visual arts.

The singer Solána Imani Rowe (known as SZA), for example, alludes to the two- dimensionality of stereotypical black female depictions when in an interview with

Pitchfork she claims: “I feel like people simplify black women to just an attitude . . . But there are so many emotions, so much fear and pressure, so much pride” (Matthew

Schnipper). The contemporary painter Tschabalala Self is aware of the “fantasies and

5 attitudes surrounding the Black female body” in her work.1 Racial stereotypes continue to be on the minds of these and other contemporary artists and influential figures in popular culture. Therefore, in order to understand how their portrayals are constructed and interpret them, it is inevitable to analyze them in context with the controlling images.

To explore the relationship between the stereotypes of African American women and the portrayals of black women created by them, I choose to analyze several black artists and personalities from current popular culture and visual arts and their portrayals of black womanhood. The reasons for choosing the specific artists and their depictions are as follows. Firstly, the portrayals chosen are all performed or created either completely, or with involvement of black women. This thesis chooses these portrayals of black womanhood deliberately, in order to examine the dynamics between the self- representation of black women and controlling images imposed on them.

Secondly, each of the selected personalities and the images of black womanhood they present is chosen because of their contemporary significance. Lizzo, as was already mentioned, received eight nominations for 2020’s Grammy Awards, three of them for the song “Truth Hurts,” used in the analysis. Beyoncé is probably the most famous contemporary black female musician and with the release of her 2016 album Lemonade, she became more vocal on the topics of race and feminism. SZA and Janelle Monáe were both nominated for the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2018 (“SZA”, “JANELLE

MONAE”). In 2018, Cardi B, a rapper, appeared on TIME’s list of 100 most influential people (“TIME 100: The Most Influential People of 2018”). Michelle Obama, the former

First Lady of the United States, is featured on the same list this year (“TIME 100: The

Most Influential People of 2019”). Serena Williams is currently by some considered to be the greatest tennis player ever (“Roger Federer: Serena Williams may well be best

1 quoted on the website of ART OMI. 6 overall tennis player ever”). Shonda Rhimes owns her own production company

Shondaland, responsible for widely popular shows such as Scandal (2012-2018) or How to Get Away with Murder, both featuring black female characters in the leading roles

(2014-). Issa Rae is the creator of the series Insecure (2016), in which she portrays the main character Issa, a role for which she twice received a nomination for Golden Globe

Awards (“Issa Rae”). Mickalene Thomas is a visual artist featured in the recent exhibition

Figuring History commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum, along with Kerry James

Marhsall and Robert Colescott. Amy Sherald is the artist behind the portrait of Michelle

Obama and Tschabalala Self is a young painter from Harlem whose work focuses on depictions of black female body and sexuality. In 2017, the artist was included on Forbes’

30 Under 30 list (“Tschabalala Self,” Forbes). All personalities chosen are from the

United States, however their influence often reaches beyond the country in which they reside.

Thirdly, I choose those types of portrayals that are nowadays consumed on daily basis and can be accessed instantly. This includes musicians, because music is listened to practically non-stop nowadays and the ideas communicated in music can reach the audiences instantly and repeatedly; television series, because thanks to streaming services offered by Netflix, or HBO, it is now easier to watch TV series everywhere and at any time. TV series also provide a relatively short-length entertainment as opposed to films and are therefore more likely to be watched and re-watched more frequently2. In addition to TV shows and musician, the personalities included in this analysis are those black women that are most notoriously known in popular culture and are often spoken and written about in media. Last but not least, the thesis also includes black female painters, as with the ability to consume visual art through internet, it has now become more

2 The proof to this is the fact that Friends (1994-2004) is still amongst the most watched shows on Netflix (Eric Todisco). This shows that audiences tend to return to watching the TV shows they enjoy repeatedly. 7 accessible. Moreover, with the revelation of the portraits of Michelle and Barack Obama

– first portraits of the former President and First Lady of the United States ever to be painted by black painters – black painters gained attention of the broad public and thus entered popular culture.3

This thesis attempts to show how these contemporary African American female personas, both in popular culture and visual arts, react to the stereotypes that historically shaped and controlled black female portrayals. To do so, the thesis is organized in three parts. The first part analyzes the existing black female stereotypes and their controlling nature, and defines four aspects of the images of black women that these stereotypes control: sexuality, body images, motherhood, work. These four aspects are then applied in the analysis of modern-day images of black women in order to contrast how each of the aspects is treated by stereotypes on one hand and contemporary portrayals on the other. The second part provides a feminist perspective on the historical presence of black female portrayals and recounts the major milestones of the black feminist thought in order to explain the necessity of black female self-representation. Finally, the third part analyzes how the selected contemporary portrayals of black women deal with the four controlling aspects of black female stereotyping, analyzing each of them separately and offering examples of black female self-representation and their attempts to negate, reclaim and problematize the stereotypes of black women.

3 Roberta Smith, an art critic for The New York Times, reported that Amy Sherald’s career is “on the fast track to prominence”, when the solo exhibition of the painter at Hauser & Wirth opened. 8

1 Discussing Stereotypes: An Overview of Major Controlling Images and Their Significance in Maintaining the Oppression of Black Women

Racial stereotypes have permeated the American culture for more than 150 years4 and today they continue to influence how black women are portrayed and viewed in society. Patricia Hill Collins defines these stereotypes as “controlling images of Black womanhood” produced to maintain the oppression of black women (Black Feminist

Thought 67). However, these stereotypes not only perpetuate the oppression of black women, they also serve as a reminder of the racial oppression that helped create them in the first place. To examine the relationship between the oppression and the stereotypes, it is necessary to be aware of the intersectionality5 of class, gender and race as the three different, intertwining categories that contribute towards their oppression. Kimberlé

Crenshaw, who first introduced the term intersectionality, in her essay “Mapping the

Margins” primarily debates the intersection of race and gender, suggesting that racism and sexism, in combination, influence the experiences of black women (1244). For that reason, this paper will focus on the stereotyping of black women specifically and not deal with the stereotypes of black men and children. Nevertheless, in order to properly explain the underlying racist predispositions and to establish how the category of race contributed towards the misinterpretation of black people, it will consider the early developments of racial prejudice in general, and also briefly explain the background of stereotypical misrepresentations within the American popular culture. Lastly, the class category will also be of importance, when considering how most of the stereotypes discussed here continue to reinforce the presumption that all black women are poor, but also noting how,

4 The timeframe used refers to the period in which stereotypes have been used in popular culture. 5 Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw who first examined how different social categories contribute towards the oppression of black women. She suggests that all categories need to be considered in order to capture the specificity of black women’s position. 9 over the years, new stereotypes have evolved. These reflect the changes in society and the changing position of black people within the class structure, nevertheless, they continue to misrepresent black women and perpetuate their oppression within the particular class.

1.1 Race and Misrepresentations

For the purpose of tracing the beginning of racial stereotyping, one needs to acknowledge the historical context connected to African American women’s lives and

African Americans in general. This means having to return to the earliest period in which

Europeans first came to contact with black people and consider slavery as the key component that has left an impact on how black women were and continue to be portrayed. However, before debating how slavery impacted the later stereotypical portrayals of black women, the initial concepts of race – which enabled slavery to be constructed along the lines of ethnicity – should be examined.

To try and pinpoint when exactly the production of stereotypical images of black people began would be difficult; nonetheless, Patricia A. Turner claims that “at least since the seventeenth century. . . the images of blacks have been distorted in mainstream popular culture” (xv). The origins of these distortions go back to when Europeans first came into contact with sub-Saharan Africans and were fueled by differences in appearance and cultural practices which resulted in white Europeans’ creation of the belief of them being superior to non-white people (Yvonne D. Newsome 35). Lynn Tarte

Ramey in her work Black Legacies connects the racist discourse of Middle Ages with the modern understanding of race and argues that even though race is perceived as “a uniquely modern construct” there are certain similarities between the medieval and modern way of thinking about this concept (2). She sees the creation of racist discourse

10 in Middle Ages as the determining period which enabled slavery to exist by dehumanizing black Africans:

Allowing slavery to continue in a country founded on the idea of equality required

justifying this behavior by discounting the humanity of black Africans. Such a

decision led inexorably to the institutionalization of the belief that some people

are worth more than others—and, to take it a step further, that some people are

not even human—based upon their appearance and origins. (26)

Ramey explains that medieval concepts of “humanness” and “nonhumanness” were largely based on Christianity, with comparisons between non-Christians and

Christians being made in order to evaluate whether various groups of non-Christian people were to be considered as belonging to the human race of not (26-30): “Adhering to the Christian religion, organizing in political groups such as kingdoms, and wearing clothing were all ways to demonstrate rational thought, and thus humanness” (Ramey 30).

In this context, black people were depicted as “the Other” with their blackness being

“linked with the lower classes and with those living in sunny climates, but on a spiritual or allegorical level it also indicates a pre-Christian or sinful state” (Ramey 54).

Hortense J. Spillers also observes these concepts in her essay “Mama's Baby,

Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book”. Referring to Gomes Eannes De Azurara’s descriptions of Africans, she finds connections in them between “skin color”, “paganism” and “ugliness”, explaining that these ideas promote “degradation”. She comes to the conclusion that “the politics of melanin”, employs this “degradation” and makes it a

“basis of historic violence” which influenced the historical developments in modern

Europe and black Africa (70-71).

By defining black people as nonhuman, it was possible to justify their subjugation, possession and control. This control nonetheless reached beyond the institution of

11 slavery, as it continues to be reasserted through misrepresentation, ridicule and stereotyping of black people.

1.2 Black Women and Their Stereotypes

Yvonne D. Newsome specifies that when the first contact between Europeans and sub-Saharan Africans was established, black women were seen as “lascivious women who willingly prostituted themselves to white men” (35). This is analogical with the image that Ramey describes in Black Legacies. According to her, the perception of black women during the Age of Discovery as “black but beautiful” suggests that their beauty was deemed unexpected, normally disassociated with blackness (54). Using the example of queen of Sheba6, she illustrates how black women were considered “unsuitable consorts often requiring a ‘whitening’ either metaphorically through conversion or by outright erasure” (63). In this sense, although black women were generally seen as attractive and sexually appealing to white Europeans, their intellect was unaccounted for and hence, while their beauty made them sexual objects, the allegedly missing intellect failed to make them suitable for marriage. This argument served to justify the sexual exploitation of black women and predicates the position of black women in the Western society both during and after the slavery was abolished, with oversexualized images of black womanhood continuing to be of presence.

It is impossible to dispute that slavery and black women’s position within this institution impacted the portrayals of black women in popular culture greatly. Scholars such as Patricia Hill Collins and bell hooks, among others, return to the topic of slavery and analyze black women’s treatment within this context in order to explain the positions

6 A biblical story from the Old Testament features the queen of Sheba who comes from Ethiopia to visit King Solomon after hearing about his wisdom. Ramey argues that through medieval biblical depictions of Sheba, she becomes an exception to the saying “black but beautiful”, but mainly because in these depictions, she is often whitened (Ramey 54). 12 and depictions of black women in modern American society. Collins and hooks both agree that labor exploitation played an important part in black women’s lives as slaves.

Collins brings up the comparison of black women’s experience in slavery to “mules”, stating that: “as dehumanized objects, mules are living machines and can be treated as part of the scenery” (Black Feminist Thought 43). Nonetheless, hooks acknowledges that during this particular period, black women were subject to oppression which sprang from both “racial imperialism” and “patriarchy” (Ain’t I a Woman 15). Hence, not only were black women working alongside men, carrying out the same tasks as them and therefore guaranteed no special treatment in terms of activities related to slave labor, they were also subjected to sexual exploitation from the moment they were taken captive and transported to America (Ain’t I a Woman 22-24). Both sexual and labor exploitation of black women translated and influenced how black women were viewed in the society, helping to define them as “unvirtuous, physically strong, domineering, lascivious, and more masculine than feminine” (Newsome 35). According to hooks, this “devaluation of black womanhood . .

. has not altered in the course of hundreds of years” (Ain’t I a Woman 53). Moreover, this perception served as a basis for stereotypical portrayals of black women which are still present in popular culture of the U.S.

1.3 Racial Stereotypes Enter Popular Culture

Donald Bogle and Patricia Turner both identify Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle

Tom’s Cabin, first published in 1852, as the first work of fiction which, despite its efforts to present a negative view of slavery, inadvertently produces stereotypical depictions of black people that afterwards become reproduced widely in the American culture (Bogle

3, Turner 13). The characters Topsy, Aunt Chloe and Uncle Tom from this abolitionist novel were reproduced, exaggerated and ultimately transformed into the “pickaninny”,

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“mammy” and “Uncle Tom” stereotypes respectively in order to “match the pervasive attitudes about blacks during a particular era” (Turner 13-14,45-47,70-71). This transformation reflects how deeply engrained misconceptions about black people were at that particular moment in the American society, allowing for a story that was meant to encourage compassion with the lives of slaves to eventually serve to ridicule and generalize the whole group (Turner 14). Turner describes how harmful this ridicule is on the example of contemptible collectibles7 of Topsy and the stereotype of Pickaninny, stating how its ridicule promoted the notions that black people are happy with their conditions and responsible for them, while making the difficult position of African

Americans seem “acceptable” (Turner 14-18).

This effect can also be seen in other stereotypes of black women. In her work

Black Feminist Thought, Collins concurs that the first stereotypical image of black women was that of a Mammy (71), which became more widely known in the early twentieth century (Bogle 9) but apart from this stereotype, she defines three other important controlling images which were formed later; the Matriarch (later also labelled

Sapphire), Jezebel and Welfare Mother (or Welfare Queen) (70-78). These images are all constituted around white Americans’ perception of African American women, seeking to reinforce their oppression, which Collins describes as having four different aspects that each stereotype reinforces; the Mammy stereotype represents the exploitation of black women’s labor, at the same time aiming to define their relationship with “white male power” by defining them as “the faithful, obedient domestic servant” (71). Mammy is a mother without her own children, she is completely desexualized, devoted to the white family and stripped of her own desires or needs (72).

7 Turner adopts the term “contemptible collectibles” in order to refer to racist artifacts depicting African Americans that surged after the end of the Civil War otherwise known as “black memorabilia.” These can be: “the kitchenwares, advertising memorabilia, toys, and other material objects that include any partial or complete picture of a black person” (9-10). 14

The image of a Matriarch, which only became “racialized” in 1960s, controls the depictions of black women in their homes, attacking their womanhood and their role as mothers. The Matriarch serves to stereotype both black women and black men by creating the assumption that black men are nearly always absent from the family, while single black mothers need to become more masculine and take on the role of a provider in order to compensate for this absence. Furthermore, the Matriarch stereotype tries to put the blame for the absence of black men in black families on black women, who allegedly drive men away with their masculine side (Black Feminist Thought 73-78).

The third image, the one of Jezebel, is created to preserve the sexual oppression of black women by defining them as “sexually aggressive” (Black Feminist Thought 77).

Rooted in slavery, “this image’s aim was to “relegate all Black women the category of sexually aggressive women, thus providing a powerful rationale for the widespread sexual assaults by white men typically reported by Black women” (Black Feminist Thought 77).

It follows up on the premise that black women are “lascivious” and seeks to justify the history of their sexual abuse by white men (Newsome 35).

The last image – the Welfare Mother – is designed to control black woman’s fertility (76). Collins describes Welfare Mother as “being content to sit around and collect welfare, shunning work and passing on her bad values to her offspring” (77). Welfare

Mother is one of the more recent stereotypes, as it only became prominent after World

War Two, when the existence of welfare state helped improve the position of black people in the United States by enabling them “to reject the subsistence-level, exploitative jobs held by their parents and grandparents” (76). Through this portrayal, black women collecting welfare were antagonized and depicted as unproductive, incapable of improving their own conditions and the conditions of their children (Black Feminist

Thought 77).

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This brief introduction to the four main stereotypes (as presented by Collins) helps show how misrepresentations of black women appeared and what stood behind their creation. The origins of all four of these images can be traced to slavery and are the result of both sexual and labor exploitation of black women; the oversexualization of Jezebel which follows up on the sexual exploitation black women were subjected to in slavery8 and serves to maintain the view that black women are sexually aggressive, the emphasis on the fertility of black women as seen in the Welfare Mother stereotype which sustains the image of black women producing children as a means of producing new slaves9, the subordinance of Mammy which mirrors the necessity of slaves and especially female slaves to “submit passively to the will of white master, mistress, and their children” (20)10, and lastly, the hard work of Matriarch (and thus her absence from home), which reflects the position of female slaves who were in no way spared the amount of work that male slaves performed on the plantations (hooks, Ain’t I a Woman 23). The preservation of these experiences is ensured and normalized through these stereotypes.

Although these four stereotypes do not represent the complete range of stereotypical images that black women are faced with, they can serve as a departure point to establish the key aspects that shape the misrepresentations or black women. Stemming from them, this thesis will analyze various stereotypical images of black women in terms of each of the aspects and explore how this aspect is being handled by a particular

8 Hooks, in her work Ain’t I a Woman, describes how black women were constantly in danger of being sexually harassed by slave traders, and subsequently their masters, with rape threats often being used to “demonstrate their power” over black female slaves (24-26). At the same time, it was black women who were considered “temptresses” and blamed for their own exploitation (hooks, Ain’t I a Woman 33). This image remained prominent and made its way into popular culture as the Jezebel stereotype. 9 Breeding of black slave women was a common practice. According to Angela Y. Davis, for slaveholders, “slave women . . . were simply instruments guaranteeing the growth of the slave labor force”. 10 Female slaves worked closely with their masters and their families more frequently than male slaves, because apart from working on fields, they also carried out all housekeeping tasks, including cooking, nursing, etc. For that reason, the slaveowners needed to “tame” their slaves and thus prevent them from harming the family (hooks Ain’t I a Woman 20). 16 stereotype. Unlike Collins, however, I choose to define the aspects on which the analysis will be based a bit differently; sexuality (including fertility), body images, motherhood and work. Nevertheless, it is also important to highlight that these categories are in conversation with one another, overlapping and correlating. Sexuality is closely tied with the way fertility of black women is portrayed, which is why these two topics will be grouped together and discussed under the aspect of sexuality. Body images are also very closely connected to sexuality, as there is a correlation between the sexualized and de- sexualized images of black women and the way the bodies of these portrayals are depicted. The aspects of sexuality and fertility then connect to the topic of motherhood, as can be seen in case of the stereotype of Welfare Mother, who bears the responsibility for the poverty of African Americans by a) giving birth to “too many economically unproductive children” b) failing to teach them proper work ethic (Black Feminist

Thought 77). The alleged “laziness” of Welfare Mother and her lack of work ethic then connects the topic of motherhood with the topic of work, as it is Welfare Mother’s inability to provide and be productive that that makes her a bad mother. Ultimately, these four different aspects of control are united by their common origin in slavery.

1.4 Other Stereotypes

Before analyzing each of the aspects of the stereotypical portrayals of black women, the newer stereotypes which surfaced later on need to be mentioned so that the discussion can provide a more complex and up-to-date introduction into the problematics.

Even though many of the more recent stereotypes are only recycled and slightly adjusted versions of the four already introduced stereotypes, the changes made reflect the changes of the socioeconomic conditions of African American women and cultural developments in the society of the United States.

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The first image, which is not much more modern that the four stereotypes already discussed, is Tragic Mulatta. Gaining popularity first in the Jim Crow era, this stereotype portrays a “light skinned” African American woman who is “sexually attractive” and who can “pass for white” (Kretsedemas 152). The main aim of this stereotype is to intensify the racial divide and reinforce the idea behind Jim Crow laws; that black and white people should be segregated (Bogle 9). Her destiny is tragic, because she tries to improve her social status by starting a relationship with a white man, nonetheless, this relationship does not end happily and the tragic mulatta is left to rediscover and accept her “black racial heritage” (167). Kretsedemas claims that in the end, tragic mulatta must become a

Mammy, in order to completely “redeem herself” (152).

Another stereotype to be considered is the image of the Angry Black Woman, a stereotype which “is increasingly being used as a standard template for portraying all black women, regardless of social class, skin tone or body type” (150) across the media.

Angry Black Woman shares similarities with the Sapphire stereotype by also being described as “aggressive” in her attempt to advance her professional career (151-155).

This stereotype serves to control the images of black women mostly in professional sphere

(Philip Kretsedemas 154).

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1.4.1 Hip-Hop Generation Stereotypes

While the aforementioned stereotypes are mostly connected to black women’s experiences in slavery and the subsequent aftermath of its abolishment (with perhaps the exception of Angry Black Woman), new stereotypical portrayals surged in the late twentieth century and the early twenty-first century that reflect the changes in the contemporary American society. The “hip hop generation’s scholars11” (114), who recognized the potential of “urban fiction/street lit” genre which gained prominence in

1990s and “has its roots in the storytelling aesthetics of hip-hop culture”, reflect in their work the growing generation gap between young black women and older generations that this genre acknowledges (113). With the ongoing issues “such as persistent poverty, ongoing police brutality . . .” (114), the category of “class” along with the category of

“generation” became much more involved in the discussion on black female experience

(Heike-Raphael Hernandez 113). Collins explains this shift in the following passage:

Because racial desegregation in the post-civil rights era needed new images of

racial difference for a color-blind ideology, class-differentiated images of African

American culture have become more prominent. In the 1980s and 1990s,

historical images of Black people as poor and working-class Black became

supplemented by and often contrasted with representations of Black respectability

used to portray a growing Black middle class. Poor and working-class Black

culture was routinely depicted as being “authentically” Black whereas middle-

and upper-middle class Black culture was seen as less so. (Black Sexual Politics

122).

11 Patricia Hill Collins’s book Black Sexual Politics is listed by Hernandez as one of the examples of scholarly works that debate the issues raised by the writers of the urban fiction/street lit genre and the young generation of 1990s (114). 19

Noticing these changes, Collins introduces new stereotypes that better reflect the challenges of oppressive portrayals that the new generation of women are faced with, using the category of class as a dividing rule. She identifies five stereotypical portrayals, two of working-class black women – “’Bitch’” and “Bad (Black) Mother” (123) – and three of middle-class black women – “Modern Mammy”, “Black Lady” and “‘Educated

Bitch’” (Black Sexual Politics 138).

1.4.1.1 Working-Class Stereotypes

The first “controlling image” of the working-class black women is “Bitch” which

“depicts Black women as aggressive, loud, rude and pushy” and is “designed to put women in their place” (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 123). Yet, in the context of black popular culture, which is where this stereotype is mostly reinforced, its meaning becomes intensely sexualized. The sexualized version of the Bitch stereotype is also mentioned by

J. Celeste Walley-Jean, however, she replaces the label “bitch” with labels such as

“hoochies” or “chickenheads”, when referring to the modern version of the Jezebel stereotype (70). The both of these terms signify sexual promiscuity12.Regardless of the label chosen to describe the modern version of this stereotype, the outcome remains the same; the sexuality of this image is central the bitch stereotype.

Although it seems that the Bitch stereotype and the Jezebel stereotype are almost identical, the unfortunate “update” of this modern Jezebel image is the fact that its use is perpetuated by black men as well through rap music (Walley-Jean 70). This shows how specific the oppression of black women is and why the intersectionality becomes important; black women are not only oppressed because of their race, but also because

12 A definition of “hoochie” provided by Merriam-Webster Dictionary reads “a sexually promiscuous young woman” (Hoochie, noun). One of the definition of “chickenhead” in Urban Dictionary is: „a girl or woman who seeks attention from popular males with high levels of status exemplified mostly by musicians or popular/wealthy boys or men from a poorer neighborhood, by submitting to sexual favors with little or no pressure” (Chickenhead, noun, def. 2.1).

20 they are women and this oppression does not remain outside of the black community.

Oversexualized images of black women can also be found in black popular culture. The

“sexualized bitch” stereotype, for instance, is often reproduced by “Black male artists, producers, and marketing executives” (Black Sexual Politics 128).

The second working-class stereotype, Bad Black Mother, can be synonymous with the Welfare Mother image that also focuses on black motherhood and antagonizes black mothers, nonetheless, the image of Bad Black Mother takes into account the variations that this stereotype contains. Whereas the term Welfare Mother only refers to black mothers who collect welfare, using the term Bad Black Mother allows Collins to explore other ways through which black motherhood is stereotyped. An example she offers is connected to the appearance of crack cocaine in 1980s and the emergence of

“crack mothers” (131):

Crack cocaine was primarily confined to Black inner-city neighborhoods, and

women constituted approximately half of its users. In the late 1980s, news stories

began to cover the huge increase in the number of newborns testing positive for

drugs. . . . Addicted pregnant women became demonized as “crack mothers”

whose selfishness and criminality punished their children in the womb. . . .

Between 1985 and 1995, thirty states charged approximately 200 women with

maternal drug use. Charges included distributing drugs to a minor, child abuse

and neglect, reckless endangerment, manslaughter, and assault with a deadly

weapon. In virtually all of these cases, the women prosecuted were poor and

African American. (Black Sexual Politics 131)

As a result, black women were faced with yet another stereotype that served to obscure and simplify the reality of black womanhood, adding to the perception that all working- class black women are unsuitable mothers.

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In general, Collins defines “Bad Black Mothers” as “those who are abusive

(extremely bitchy) and/or those who neglect their children either in utero or afterwards”

(131). In addition, according to her description, Bad Black Mothers are usually single, young, poor and living off state support (Black Sexual Politics 131). This definition is applicable to both Welfare Mother and Bad Black Mother.

1.4.1.2 Middle-Class Stereotypes

Most of the stereotypes discussed so far are created to exercise control over the images of poor, working-class black women. Nonetheless, once the black middle class gained a more prominent presence in the United States, stereotypes that would frame the portrayals of middle-class black women needed to be created, in order to maintain control over all black women’s portrayals. This, according to Collins, is done through

“repackaging” of the original controlling images (Black Sexual Politics 139). The three middle-class stereotypes that Collins presents in Black Sexual Politics, share some similarities with the working-class stereotypes discussed in the previous section. The

Educated Bitch, for instance, is an updated version of the working-class Bitch stereotype and can therefore be understood as a repackaged version of this stereotype. However, unlike the working-class Bitch, this image depicts black women that: “have money, power, and good jobs”, but are also “beautiful” and “control their own bodies and sexuality” (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 145).

By contrast, the Black Lady stereotype, “is designed to counter claims of Black women’s promiscuity” (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 139), This image becomes a different form of repackaging because it seeks to deny what the previous stereotypes are trying to enforce. Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) from The Cosby Show (1984-1992), which Collins says: “helped shape the contours of middle-class Black lady” (Black Sexual

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Politics 139), depicts a beautiful middle-class black woman with a career, a husband and a functioning family.

Lastly, the Modern Mammy image, which is a repackaged version of the Mammy stereotype, attempts to bring this stereotype to the black middle class. This existence of this updated version of probably the most notoriously known of all black female stereotypes “requires a delicate balance between being appropriately subordinate to White and/or male authority yet maintaining a level of ambition and aggressiveness needed for achievement in middle-class occupations” (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 140).

The stereotypes introduced in this section constitute an overview of significant controlling images that continue to influence the perception of black women and their sexuality in the American popular culture. The next section will look deeper into each of the aforementioned aspects and analyze how each of them is handled by the stereotypes introduced here.

1.5 Sexuality Controlled

“Efforts to control Black women’s sexuality lie at the heart of Black women’s oppression,” says Collins (77). Indeed, the first four of the previously described images:

Mammy, Jezebel, Welfare Queen and Matriarch, tackle this aspect to a certain extent, even though they may do so indirectly. For instance, these four stereotypes can be readily divided into two groups based on their treatment of the sexuality of black women. On one hand, there is Mammy, “a desexed individual,” who although being a maternal figure, fails to have her own children and is therefore completely stripped of any indication of her sexuality (77). Furthermore, she is also “the only somewhat positive figure” of the four (Black Feminist Thought 71), which points to the fact that Mammy poses no threat to the stability of white family because she is desexualized and unlike Jezebel unable to

23 seduce the white man (Newsome 36). On the other hand, Jezebel, Matriarch and Welfare

Mother are all sexually active. This is manifested through them having children of their own (in case of Matriarch and Welfare Mother) or by being depicted as explicitly sexual

(in case of Jezebel) (78). The sexuality of the Matriarch (or Sapphire13) and Welfare

Mother is described as “aggressive” and “uncontrollable” respectively (78), the former being also described as “inherently evil” and a symbol of “sinfulness”, a woman who wants to control the man and is therefore aggressive (Ain’t I a Woman 85). The latter is portrayed as having too many children because of her inability to control her sexuality.

Jezebel is simply defined as a “whore” (Black Feminist Thought 77).

Each of these four stereotypes belongs to one of two extremes in terms of its treatment of sexuality, where on one side there is its complete absence and on the other its exaggeration: the absent sexuality of Mammy on one hand and the exaggeration of the sexuality of Jezebel, Matriarch and Welfare Mother on the other. This distinction is also congruent with Cheryl T. Gilkes’ claim that after slavery was abolished, black women were mainly perceived in two different ways; either as a “Mammy” or a “bad black woman” (quoted in Cheryl T. Gilkes 294), with Mammy being the virtuous character with no sexuality and the remaining stereotypes falling under the category of a “bad black woman”, with deviant or excessive sexuality.

The Tragic Mulatta stereotype is a curious exception to the oppositional distinction, because it travels between two stereotypes: Jezebel and Mammy. This stereotype, which served to discourage black women from entering into relationships with white men and to emphasize their unfitness for marriage with them (Kretsedemas 167), at first oversexualizes black women by highlighting their sexual attractiveness and portraying them as mistresses who never become the wives. In the end however, Tragic

13 A modern version of a Matriarch stereotype which first came to be known from the radio and television show Amos ‘n’ Andy (Ain’t I a Woman 85). 24

Mulatta is robbed off her sexuality completely as a punishment for starting a romantic relationship with a white man. Tragic Mulatta then starts as a one extreme depiction of black female sexuality – the exaggeration – and ends as the other – the absence.

Despite that, many of the newer stereotypes continue to fall under one of the two categories of exaggerated or absent sexuality. Angry Black Woman, can also be put into the group of stereotypes with exaggerated sexuality, since it is constructed along the same lines as Sapphire or Matriarch stereotype and her aggressiveness, which is manifested in her professional career, is consistent with the aggressive sexuality of Matriarch.

The working-class Bitch stereotype, labelled an “updated jezebel image” by

Collins, which, as was already demonstrated, is an image that depicts women as “sexually aggressive” (Black Sexual Politics 128, Black Feminist Thought 77) is yet another from the group of stereotypes with exaggerated sexuality. One of the meanings associated with the term “Bitch” that Collins mentions, is that of a “female dog” (130). This connects the stereotype with the idea of “unregulated sexuality” and “uncontrolled fertility” (Black

Sexual Politics 130). Just like in case of Jezebel, the depiction of sexuality in this stereotype is that of an exaggeration.

The Bad Black Mother stereotype follows up on the Bitch stereotype, with the already mentioned “unregulated sexuality” which according to “results in unplanned for, unwanted, and poorly raised children” (Black Sexual Politics 130). Yet, despite the contextualization of this stereotype within the hip-hop generation, Bad Black Mother continues to fall into the same group of images just like its predecessor; the Welfare

Mother – the image of sexuality that they both present is that of the exaggeration.

The Educated Bitch and the two examples of this stereotype that Collins offers – the character of Jaqueline (Robin Givens) from Boomerang (1992) and Lysterine (Vivica

Fox) from Booty Call (1997) – both attractive, educated, middle-class black women, share

25 one important similarity; they are not searching for long-term relationships, rather, they enjoy sexual encounters with multiple men (Black Sexual Politics 145). Promiscuity and in general an emphasis on the sexuality of the Educated Bitch are key features of this image, which inevitably puts this controlling image of black womanhood into the group of stereotypes with exaggerated sexuality.

By contrast, the Modern Mammy image preserves the image of absent sexuality of the Mammy stereotype. Oprah Winfrey, an Academy Award winner and a famous TV presenter or her own show called The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986-2011), is referenced in

Collins’ and Walley-Jean’s writings as one of the examples that this labelling can be applied to (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 142; Walley-Jean 70). While Collins explains that Winfrey is able to transform this image and use it for her own gain14, Walley-Jean describes how powerful the presence of Mammy remains and how it affects the way black women are perceived by referring to a particular episode from Winfrey’s show where the guest calls Oprah Winfrey “mommy” and “the mother of America” but has no children of her own (qted in Walley-Jean 70). This points directly to this stereotype’s treatment of black female sexuality. The guest on Winfrey’s show also mentions that “she’s taking care of all the lost children” which is “why she didn’t have time for her own kids”

(Walley-Jean 70), a feature that is also symptomatic of Mammy, who takes care of white children, but has none of her own and is therefore stripped of any possibility of being perceived as a sexual being.

The Black Lady stereotype is another exception which does not fall within one of the two categories of stereotypes that either present a black woman with exaggerated or absent sexuality. Even though The Black Lady is not devoid of her sexuality completely

14 “A good deal of Winfrey’s success lies in her ability to market herself within the familiar realm of the mammy, not violate the tenets of being a Black lady, yet reap the benefits of her performance for herself” (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 142). 26 and is shown to be in a stable relationship, her main feature is her lack of explicit sexual expression. The character of Clair Huxtable demonstrates just that. Clair’ sexuality is

“constrained to domestic space” (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 140) and while she has children, a husband, and their sexual life is suggested by showing her with her husband

“under the covers”, they are usually interrupted by their children (Black Sexual Politics

140). In this regard, since her sexuality is only present within her marriage and shown in her and her husband’s bedroom, it can be described as tamed or limited.

Naturally, other labels and names, besides those mentioned here, exist that serve define and denounce black women and their sexual behavior, for instance, “freaks”15 or

“Gold Diggers”16, but their tendencies in depicting black female sexuality seem to be consistent with those suggested in this section; they exaggerate black female sexuality and portray black women as promiscuous, aggressive and uncontrollable).

As suggested, the images of black female sexuality contained in these stereotypes fail to portray it realistically and leave black women with a limiting palette of representations of their sexuality that needs to be broadened and challenged.

1.6 Body Images Controlled

Visual depictions of black women’s bodies are intertwined with the depictions of their sexuality. The stereotype with absent sexuality, Mammy, is visually fabricated to

“contrast with European beauty standards” with “very dark skin tone, kinky hair and

15 The term “freak” is used in Spike Lee’s Netflix series “She’s Gotta Have It” (2017-2019), which is a contemporary adaptation of his 1986 film of the same name. In the very first episode, Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise), a polyamorous artist who maintains sexual relationships with three men simultaneously, is called “a freak” by her lover Mars (Anthony Ramos), who in the same scene explains that “most dudes want freaks”, whilst making explicit movements with his body to emphasize the sexualized meaning of the word. Collins also concurs that the term “is now intertwined with ideas about sexuality, sexual identities and sexual practices” and that “‘freaky’ sex” can be defined as “sex outside the boundaries of normalcy” (Black Sexual Politics 120-121). 16 The term Gold Digger and its meaning are now notoriously known. Carolyn M. West lists this label among other “media landscape” stereotypes that still keep their presence in popular culture (139). Collins includes Gold Digger under the stereotype of working-class Bitch (Black Sexual Politics 128). 27 obesity” (West 144). West claims that this portrayal: “suggests that Black women are at the very bottom of the beauty hierarchy” (144), which shows a correlation between absent sexuality and absent standardized beauty in this stereotype. Especially when it comes to the skin color, the dark shade that Mammy is depicted as having, serves to make her unattractive to white men. By contrast, the oversexualized images of black women do the opposite. Tragic Mulatta, a sexually attractive seductress, is defined as a black woman with light skin, almost identifiable as a white woman and therefore appealing to white men. Even Jezebel is by some described as “fair-skinned” (Danice L. Brown et. al. 526).

This strengthens the correlation between sexualized images of black women and the color of their skin.

The rule that the lighter the skin, the higher the chances that a black woman will be perceived by society as beautiful, is also demonstrated by the proportion of dark- skinned black women featured on the cover of Vogue. A visual study conducted by the digital publication The Pudding looks at 262 female cover models of 228 issues of Vogue published between years 2000 and 2018 and analyzes the different shades of skin color that were featured on the cover of the magazine during this period. The results show the number of truly dark-skinned women to be very limited, with Lupita Nyongo’s cover from 2018’s issue of Vogue being the one featuring the woman with darkest skin shade.

In fact, the study shows that four of the covers featuring dark-skinned models are

Lupita’s, and apart from that, the number of dark-skinned black women that appeared on the cover is scarce, whereas the opposite side of the spectrum is much bigger. Other dark- skinned black women featured are Michelle Obama and Serena Williams, which shows that only those dark-skinned black women that gain immense popularity got to pose for the cover of Vogue. Even Lupita’s first cover is from the year 2014, which is the same year she was awarded an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Milaika Handa

28 et. al.). It seems that only those dark-skinned black women who simply could not be omitted because of their achievements – whether in sports, arts or politics – got featured on the cover of Vogue, rather than models chosen because of their beauty.

Aside from the skin color, there are other features of black female body that tend to be stereotyped or even fetishized nowadays. Body shape in general, is an important indicator of sexual attractiveness and it becomes especially significant in relation to black women. As was already mentioned, Mammy’s body, a body of a desexualized stereotype, is overweight in order to suppress her potential sexuality that would make her a threat to white family. Yet, oversexualized images, beginning with Jezebel who is defined as having “shapely body” (Brown 526), and stretching all the way to those present in contemporary black popular culture, objectify bodies of black women to the point where the naked bodies completely overshadow the individual to which the body pertains

(Collins, Black Sexual Politics 128-129). . For example, working-class Bitch is shown in music videos of black male artists “scantily clad” and on several occasions shaking her big butt (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 128-129). While this may be disguised as a form of celebration of black female body and its curves, it rather resembles a fetishization of a single body part, which is a feature not rare in popular music videos featuring black women.17

These practices do not allow for black women, their bodies and their appearance in general to be represented accurately, in a way that would not deem them either as sexual objects or as sexually unattractive because of the shade of their skin.

1.7 Motherhood Controlled

17 In her study conducted in 2002, Rana A. Emerson observes that black female artists such as Whitney Houston or Mariah Carrey have their individual body parts fetishized in their music videos (121-122). Emerson suggests that this undermines the artist: “Cutting Whitney up into individual pieces undercuts her power” (122). 29

Motherhood is a topic central to some of the controlling images of black womanhood discussed here. Although it is not necessarily an aspect that would be present in each stereotype, whenever it becomes involved it tends to offer one of the two extreme interpretations of black motherhood. Just like in case of the stereotyping portrayals of black sexuality, black motherhood images can be divided into two groups. One of the groups is formed by black women presented as bad mothers to their own children, and the other depicts black women as caring and loving mothers of white children.

Welfare Queen, Matriarch and Bad Black Mother all belong to the first of the two groups. Matriarch is a single, hard-working mother who is “spending too much time away from home” and because of her absence is unable to take proper care of her children and thus enable them to escape poverty (Collins, Black Feminist Thought 74). Welfare Queen and Bad Black Mother are described as lazy women, and even though they are not absent from home, they are a bad influence on their own children, whom they are incapable to take proper care of. In case of Bad Black Mother, it is not only her indifference to her own children, but also her intentional cause of harm to them through her drug use. None of these three images presents a sympathetic portrayal of black motherhood, rather, they all put the blame for bad parenting on black mothers. Furthermore, these three stereotypes put the blame for persisting poverty of African American families and the absence of black fathers on black women.

Mammy, and her modern version as presented by Collins in Black Sexual Politics, continue to keep the concept of a childless black woman who dedicates her life to caring for white children alive. Although these images may seem to portray black woman and her relationship to children positively, they practically remove any possibility of black woman’s suitability as a mother of her own children. Just like in case of Oprah, the image of Mammy emphasizes the ultimatum: “she didn’t have time for her own kids” because

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“she’s taking care of all the lost children” (West 143). This image is absolutely incorrect and historically inaccurate, since even the character of Aunt Chloe from Uncle Tom’s

Cabin, which preceded the creation of Mammy stereotype is shown to have children of her own with her husband and is depicted as being “completely able to met [sic] the needs of her own children as well as the Shelby offspring” (Turner 45-47).

For a long time, black women had only been depicted as either bad mothers of their own children or good Mammies who take care of white children with utmost dedication. However, with the developments that enabled the creation of black middle class, an exception to the oppositional images of black motherhood that these stereotypes portray emerged and it belongs to one of the hip-hop generation stereotypes. The Black

Lady stereotype, that serves to reject the characteristics connected to working-class black women, presents an educated, middle-class black woman as a mother to her own children who is not presented as a bad mother. This shows how the emerging black middle-class broadened the aims of stereotypical portrayals of black women. While before, the stereotypes of black women either disregarded or vilified black mothers, now a stereotype that shows a good and devoted middle-class mother became possible. Nonetheless, this idyllic portrayal fails to repair the damage done by the other stereotypes of black motherhood, on the contrary, its seeming perfection only creates another unrealistic portrayal of black womanhood and thus adds to the list of stereotypes that black women have to battle with on daily basis.

One thing that the negative portrayals of black motherhood have in common is that they all seek to antagonize working-class black mothers specifically. This is logical, since stereotypes of black women appeared long before black middle class emerged and even after that, the idea of bad black mother remained strongly tied with working-class black women, as is shown through the Bad Black Mother stereotype identified by Collins

31 in Black Sexual Politics (131). While working-class black mothers are only given one of the two options – either being bad mothers to their own children or good mothers to white children – it is only middle-class black women who are allowed a positive image of motherhood in their stereotypical depictions. Despite this shift in the portrayal of black motherhood, a more positive image of a working-class black mother continues to be absent.

1.8 Work Controlled

When it comes to the topic of work and its depictions in black female stereotypes, the opposition once again resurfaces. Those images discussed here that focus on depictions of black female labor either portray black women as hard-working or lazy. The portrayal of a hard-working black woman is typical of the earlier stereotypes that emerged from slavery and established the perception of black women as labor force; for instance,

Mammy or Matriarch.

In contrast to the images portraying black women as labor force, Welfare Queen, Bad

Mother or even the working-class Bitch stereotype depict black women as unwilling to do the hard work that Mammy and Matriarch are willing to undertake.

Sadly, even if black women are portrayed as hard-working, this portrayal does not imply anything positive. Mammy and Matriarch are both sacrificing the wellbeing of their own families in order to perform work that is often unrewarding and undervalued. In addition, the work that both perform involves either serving white families as Mammy or performing “male work” (71) whilst being “abused and humiliated” by “racist whites” like Matriarch (hooks, Ain’t I a Woman 77). The both depictions continue to reinforce the subordination of black women in the workplace and the devaluation of their labor.

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At the same time, Welfare Queen, who is given the option to not do the same

“exploitative jobs” as her ancestors (Collins, Black Feminist Thought 76), which is meant to be a positive development for black people, is portrayed negatively, as someone who exploits the state for her own benefit. The same can be said about Bad Black Mother, which is a stereotype that is also created on the premise of black women receiving welfare support.

Lastly, Bitch, which is a stereotype that does not address black female work specifically, alludes to the alleged laziness of black women by presenting an oversexualized image of a woman who exchanges “sexual favors for jobs, money, drugs, and other material items”, an image that is also nicknamed “gold digger” (Collins, Black

Sexual Politics 128). Instead of working hard to earn her place, she acquires it by exploiting her sexuality.

Collins’ stereotypes of middle-class black women introduced in Black Sexual

Politics somehow manage to present black women who have careers at the same time as having sexual life and/or families. Although this signifies a positive shift in black female portrayals, it is mostly a result of an acknowledgement of the socioeconomic development that gave rise to black middle class rather than an interest in depicting black women as capable professionals in their work environment. Also, it shows an important distinction between middle-class black women and middle-class white women, which is, that

“middle-class Black women typically need to work in order to remain middle class”, whereas white women do not (139). Yet, the emphasis always remains on other aspects of the stereotype and their professional career is never properly explored. Educated Bitch is primarily sexualized, Black Lady is primarily a mother and a wife, with her career happening on the background (Collins, Black Sexual Politics 140), and Modern

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Mammy’s success is undermined and her role as a Mammy highlighted (e.g. the case of

Oprah Winfrey).

The last stereotype that specifically targets black women in their workplace is the

Angry Black Woman. Kretsedemas connects this stereotype with the Sapphire stereotype

(150), emphasizing the similarity between Sapphire’s “attempts to imitate the culture of the white middle class” and her general “dominance” with the Angry Black Woman’s characteristics (152). The Angry Black Woman is usually an “isolated” black woman in her workplace and her depictions in popular culture show her as “abrasive” and a person

“who cannot be trusted by whites or black males” (Kretsedemas 154). Even though this is the stereotype that specifically presents black woman as a professional, it by no means creates a positive or realistic portrayal. Instead, it takes the aggressiveness of Sapphire stereotype and applies it to black women and their work experiences.

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1.9 Chapter Conclusion

This chapter provided an overview of major controlling images of black women that continue to be of relevance nowadays and can still be found in contemporary popular culture. However, more important that the individual images are the specific aspects of black women’s lives that they continue to misrepresent. Sexuality and body images, motherhood and work all operate with two opposites and it seems that through stereotypes, black women are only given one, or the other option of extreme representation. In some cases, a third alternative that does not fit one or the other opposite becomes available, however, the resulting image portrays black woman mostly negatively and fails to offer a real, multi-faceted image of a black woman.

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2 Why Black Feminism, Why Black Female Images?: A Feminist

Perspective on the Importance of Black Female Presence and

Representation

The lack of racial awareness in white feminist movements of the twentieth century, especially of second-wave feminism, resulted in the creation of an independent movement of black feminism, proposed to address the difference between white and non- white female experiences (Collins, Black Feminist Thought 7, hooks, Feminism is for

Everybody 55-58). As hooks describes, many white feminists were “in denial” (55) about the difference between their own status and the status of black women in society and even felt betrayed when in late 1970s black feminists brought the topic of race into the discussion on women’s rights and equality (Feminism is for Everybody 57). However, the acknowledgement of the difference between the position and the requirements of white and black women is inevitable, as black women enter the feminist debate with different historical background and experiences from those of white women (Norma J. Burgess

392).

For instance, Burgess claims that: “the incorporation of an Afrocentric perspective on gender role development regarding the experiences of African American women would provide consistently more insight into understanding their life experiences and motivations” (192). By introducing this perspective into the debate, it is possible to acknowledge the history of oppression of black women that undeniably continues to affect black women’s position in society until today. Burgess is not the only one arguing this, as other feminist scholars have also explored how early experiences of black women in the United States influenced and continue to influence black women’s lives. Patricia

Hill Collins and bell hooks, as was already argued in this thesis, both incorporate black female experiences from slavery into their work (chapter 1, subchapter 2). The need for

36 the inclusion of these experiences articulated by these scholars is one of the reasons for the creation of black feminist movement separate from the mainstream feminist movement.

However, not only do these experiences need to be acknowledged as they happened in the past, but their continuing effects on the meanings attached to race, gender and class must be considered too. In the recent years, Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theoretical framework “intersectionality” gained more attention as it has been adopted by other prominent black feminist thinkers (Collins and Sirma Bilge, Intersectionality 1). Collins and hooks both employ this framework in their works in order to describe the approaches to examining the position of black women nowadays.18 Intersectionality allows them to acknowledge the different kinds of oppressive forces that African American women come in contact with, and subsequently, better understand the needs of black women in their struggle for equality and better representation.

2.1 Finding Their Voice

The specificity of black female experience calls for the need for black female voices to be heard and represented not only in the feminist debate, but also in arts, culture and everyday life. Although the theoretical framework or a specific movement might not have been established until late 1970s, black feminist voices had in fact been appearing regularly for a long time, reiterating the importance of a black female perspective.

Nagueyalti Warren, distinguishes between first-wave and second-wave black feminism and argues that “feminism for black women in the United States most likely began during

18 In 2016, Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge co-authored the book Intersectionality, where they debate the numerous ways in which this concept can be applied in humanities studies worldwide. Hooks, in the third edition of her work Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, published in 2015, refers to intersectional approach to feminist theory, when she claims: “Feminist thought and practice were fundamentally altered when radical women of color and white women allies began to rigorously challenge the notion that ‘gender’ was the primary factor determining a woman’s fate” (xiii). 37 their enslavement” (29). Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth, both born in slavery, belonged, according to Warren, among “first-wave black feminists” (29). She uses the term “second-wave black feminism” to refer to the movement that surged as a reaction to mainstream second-wave feminist movement (Warren 31-32). These terms are applied here correspondingly.

Surprisingly, while the second-wave black feminists had to argue about the relevance of race in the debate on female rights and split themselves from the mainstream movement, first-wave black feminists entered the feminist debate through the topic of race (Warren 30, 29). For instance, slave narratives, such as the one written by Harriet

Jacobs, helped fill the void and bring black female slavery experiences forward, while unleashing the oppression and abuse that took place under this institution19. Sojourner

Truth, with her speech “Ain’t I a Woman”, expressed the urge for black women to be involved and included in the fight for women’s rights.20 Because of the harsh conditions of slavery to which they were subjected, first-wave black feminists were aware of the difference between their circumstances and the circumstances of non-slave women. The specificity of black female experience conditioned mainly by the color of their skin was the primary focus of first-wave black feminists.

The second-wave black feminists rediscovered these efforts and, in their work, return to their ancestors in search of better understanding of the contemporary circumstances of African American women. Apart from hooks and Collins, who both acknowledge the connections between slavery and the modern-day perceptions of black woman’s role in society21, other second-wave black feminists apply this approach as well.

19 See Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). 20 While there are at least two different transcripts of the speech Sojourner Truth delivered at Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, on 29th May 2019, they are mostly different in their wording and language choices, however, this message is conveyed in both (the speech versions consulted are available at www.thesojournertruthproject.com/compare-the-speeches/). 21 See Chapter 1, pages 12-13 of this work. 38

Spillers also undergoes this return in “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe”, where she, “with the use of psychoanalysis, articulates the theory of construction of African American female gender” (Karla Kovalová 196)22. Barbara Christian sets out to produce an overview of black female novelists in her work Black Women Novelists: The Development of a Tradition, 1892 -1976 (Kovalová 313). Alice Walker in her essay “In Search of Our

Mothers’ Gardens”, first published in 1974, argues that even while enslaved, black women were able to find ways of expressing their creativity (51). She explains that quilting, gardening and storytelling are forms of artistic expression of their ancestors which need to be considered as such (Kovalová 46). However, she also claims that black women were driven to insanity by the suppression of their creative selves (Walker 51).

By searching for and re-discovering the history of black women and the works of their predecessors, black feminist critics manage to point towards the scarce attention given to black female artistic representation.

These instances of return are also consistent with the principle, laid out by Barbara

Smith in her essay “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”, that black feminist criticism should search for “precedents and insights in interpretation within the works of other black women” (Hazel V. Carby 8). Indeed, the same principle is applicable in feminist theory in general (Carby 16) and it is therefore logical that black feminist critics would resort to using it as well. However, Smith bases her theory on “common experiences” of black women that condition the practice of black feminist criticism and argues that black feminist criticism should only be conducted by black female critics on black female works about black females (Carby 9). This limiting scope of black feminist criticism is dismissed by Carby as “ahistorical” and “essentialist” (16).

22 Quote translated from its original version published in Czech language: “V eseji „Matka jistá, otec nejistý: Americká mluvnice“ artikuluje Spillersová za pomoci psychoanalýzy teorii konstrukce genderu afroamerických žen” (Kovalová 196). 39

Even though Smith’s essay “acted as a manifesto for black feminist critics” when it was published in 1978 (Carby 8), its approach was later challenged by Valerie Smith, who broadened the scope and revolutionized the principles behind practicing black feminist theory (Kovalová 283). While Valerie Smith does not dismiss Barbara Smith’s work completely, she argues, in her essay “Black Feminist Theory and the Representation of the “Other” written in 1989, that by making black feminist theory exclusive to black women, it becomes too constrained:

It is not my intention to reclaim the black feminist project from those who are not

black women; to do so would be to define the field too narrowly . . . Indeed, as

the following remarks indicate, I understand the phrase black feminist theory to

refer not only to theory written (or practiced) by black feminists, but also to a way

of reading inscriptions of race (particularly but not exclusively blackness), gender

(particularly but not exclusively womanhood), and class in modes of cultural

expression. Rather, I examine black feminism in the context of these related

theoretical positions in order to raise questions about the way the “other” is

represented in oppositional discourse. (311-312)

Valerie Smith’s essay was published approximately eleven years later than

Barbara Smith’s manifesto and signifies a shift of focus from the individual who practices the theory to how this theory is practiced. Adopting Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, she emphasizes the importance of categories of race, class and gender, which according to her are crucial in black feminist theorizing (Kovalová 282).

Apart from challenging the principles of black feminist theory, Valerie Smith also broadens the subject of black feminist theory from literary, to cultural and interdisciplinary (Kovalová 283). Together, she transforms black feminist theory from its aim to establish a tradition of black female writing and artistic creativity by searching for

40 authors and artists who had been overlooked and unrecognized during their time, to theory of principles that is not restricted to a specific discipline or period of time.

Ultimately, the creation of appropriate theoretical approach that would enable a complex analysis of black female artwork is fundamental for maintaining the awareness of black female images and their presence. The formation of black feminist movement and, consequently, black feminist critical theory separate from mainstream feminist theory, allows for black female portrayals to be analyzed within the context of not only other black female portrayals, but also the context of black female circumstances and development of their role in the society. While initially, the ability to accurately critique works of black women was restricted to black female critics only, due to an alleged shared experience between the author and the critic, Valerie Smith’s approach disturbed this paradigm and broadened the boundaries of black feminist theory. At the same time, she brought forward the importance of intersectionality as a theoretical basis for approaching the subjects of black feminist critique.

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3 Modern-day Images of Black Womanhood in Popular Culture and

Visual Arts and the Disruption of Stereotypes

Spillers envisions the stereotypes of black women as “markers so loaded with mythical prepossession that there is no easy way for the agents buried beneath them to come clean” (65). She argues that “to speak a truer word concerning myself, I must strip down through layers of attenuated meanings, made an excess in time, over time, assigned by a particular historical order and there await whatever marvels of my own inventiveness” (65). Her argument suggests that black women need to look inwards and rid themselves of the labels that produce misconceptions in order to present themselves accurately. Spillers also suggests that there is a relationship between the stereotypes that control black women and complex self-representations produced by black women. If stereotypical images of black women maintain their oppression and control how black women are portrayed and perceived in society, then images of black womanhood created by black women could potentially aim to suppress these images that are imposed on them and create multi-faceted portrayals that better reflect the complex reality of black womanhood.

Indeed, many black women musicians, artist and famous personalities are nowadays praised and acknowledged for their ability to bring complex black female portrayals to the public awareness through their work. Therefore, this analysis will provide an overview of several of these achievements to explore how selected contemporary depictions of black women in popular culture and visual arts, created or portrayed by black women, refute and problematize the reductive images produced in black female stereotypes. To do so, the four aspects of misrepresentation of black women defined in the first chapter – sexuality, body images, motherhood and work – will be used to divide the analysis. Each of these aspects will be explored in terms of how it is treated

42 by modern-day black female portrayals and related to how it is treated in stereotypical portrayals in order to observe the differences between stereotypical and self-produced images of black womanhood.

3.1 Sexuality

As was already foreshadowed in the first chapter, the black female stereotypes mostly portray black women as either de-sexualized or oversexualized individuals. Being subjected to oversexualization ever since, African American have often been pressured to adopt the “middle-class respectability politics”23 (Misti Nicole Harper 37) in order to be accepted in society as middle-class and to negate the stereotypical images linked to their sexuality. Nonetheless, this transition helped produce yet another stereotypical depiction; the one of Black Lady, whose sexuality is presented as tamed. Despite that, there have been numerous attempts to reclaim the sexuality and the freedom of sexual expression of black women that react to these constraining images of sexuality.

The Bitch label, for instance, is a typical example of a stereotype attacking black female sexuality reclaimed by black female artists. The term is now being used in black popular culture by men and women alike and its initial meaning, which was degrading towards black women, is slowly being pushed aside. Collins claims that this term became ambivalent when positive images of Bitch became more common in film and music. She points out that black female rappers use this term in order to challenge its initial meaning, however, she remains skeptical as to whether they are successful in contesting the controlling aspect of this stereotype related to the sexualized meaning attached to it (Black

Sexual Politics 126-130).

23 Politics of respectability appeared at the turn of the twentieth century and was created by “black elites, with the backing of the state and support of ordinary blacks who believe in their efficacy . . . to ‘uplift the race’ by correcting the ‘bad’ traits of the black poor” (Fredrick C. Harris 33). 43

Indeed, contemporary black female rappers, such as Cardi B and Lizzo use this term in their lyrics in connection with the topic of sexuality. However, when they do, they use the phrase “Bad Bitch,” to refer to a woman in control of her own sexual relationships who sets up her own rules and is not controlled or owned by a man. Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” associates “bad bitch” with being “non-committal,” as the song presents a story of a woman who gets over her relationship and articulates her independence:

You tried to break my heart?

Oh, that breaks my heart

That you thought you ever had it

No, you ain’t from the start (Lizzo)

The Bad Bitch in Lizzo’s song is one that cannot be possessed. A similar image is presented by Cardi B in “I do”, a song featuring SZA, which introduces “bad bitches” who “do what they want.” This image is juxtaposed with “broke hoes” and “good girls” who do not have the freedom and power of the “bad bitches.” In this song, the sexual independence of Bad Bitch is tied to her financial independence, however – unlike in case of the controlling image of Gold Digger – it does not imply that acquiring money through sex guarantees this independence, instead it maintains that: “broke hoes need to get a job”

(Cardi B).

Despite the efforts to challenge the existing meaning of this label through lyrics, visual depictions of the performer can further problematize their objective. Cardi B combines revealing outfits with enhanced body parts about which she talks openly on her social media24. While this may be considered a body positive approach or yet another aspect of reclaiming her sexuality by choosing to present her sexuality more explicitly, it might also be interpreted as subjecting oneself to being “structured as object of male

24 In an Instagram post, Cardi joked about the reason behind having her breasts augmented, posting a picture with comment: “I can’t swim so I bought these titties so I can float” (iamcardib). 44 desire,” which according to Emerson’s study of portrayals of black womanhood in music videos conducted in 2002, used to be mostly the case (Emerson 122).

The fact that these attempts at assigning new meaning to the Bitch label and challenging its controlling function sometimes preserve the oversexualized image of black women, makes them somewhat conflicting. However, even though they do not manage to change the meaning associated with the Bitch label completely, they manage to change the agency behind the oversexualization of black women. Given the history connected to black female sexuality and its portrayals, where oversexualized images were imposed on black women who were often viewed as nothing more than sexual objects, being sexual while having control over one’s own sexuality is a notable change in depicting black female sexuality.

Nevertheless, shifting the agency of sexual expression does not need to be done only by reclaiming a stereotype; there are black female musicians expressing the sexual freedom and sexual agency while avoiding the use of the Bitch label. For example, in the song “Doves in the Wind” from SZA’s album CTRL, released in 2017, the singer illustrates the dynamics of sexual relationships through a rather explicit synecdoche – using “pussy” to emphasize the oversexualization of black women. The song is a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar and the lyrics shift between the two perspectives;

SZA’s arguing that there is more than just “pussy” to a woman: “meaning it's more, you see right through walls / Ain’t talkin’ about pussy / Meaning you deserve the whole box of chocolates,” Lamar’s asserting that men “lose their mind for it [pussy].” At the end of the song, it is SZA who controls her sexuality and has the agency: “Give you all of me and I won't stop, not a little bit / . . . / Make you beg for it, I wanted to do it all.” In this song, SZA talks about sexuality openly and explicitly, but she does so while not fetishizing or reducing the complexity of the subject in order to press the “sex sells”

45 agenda. As the lyrics explain: “you can never trivialize pussy,” and through this song,

SZA strives to not trivialize female sexuality (SZA). This is also reflected in the music video of this song, which mirrors the power dynamics depicted in the lyrics instead of fetishizing SZA’s body and depicting her as sexual object. In the video, SZA is portrayed as a fighter, first attacked by Lamar and fleeing him, until eventually defending Lamar in a duel and thus gaining control.

Another example of shifting the agency of sexual expression and producing a non- fetishizing portrayal of black female sexuality is present in Janelle Monáe’s song “Make

Me Feel” featured on her 2018 album Dirty Computer. The song is an expression of sexual desire, where Monáe, assuming the “I” persona, confesses her feelings to the object of her interest:

Baby, don't make me spell it out for you

All of the feelings that I've got for you

Can't be explained, but I can try for you

Yeah, baby, don't make me spell it out for you

. . .

You know I love it, so please don't stop it

You got me right here in your jean pocket (right now)

Laying your body on a shag carpet (oh)

You know I love it so please don't stop it (Monáe)

What this portrayal of black female sexuality has in common with SZA’s, is the agency and control of the woman who picks her object of interest, rather than remaining passive or objectified, but, unlike SZA, Monáe is not explicit in her portrayal of female sexuality, instead she leaves hints, replacing the word sex with the word “it.” Yet, she is not omitting the subject completely in the song, referring to herself as “powerful with a little bit of

46 tender / An emotional, sexual bender” which shows her finding empowerment through the expression of her sexual feelings. At the same time, she combines “emotional” with

“sexual” and “tender” with “powerful,” introducing the topic of love into the song and so complicating the subject of sexuality as such. The video released to the song then adds another layer to this portrayal of sexuality, by showing Monáe flirting and dancing with both a man and a woman and so challenging the heteronormativity of stereotypical black female portrayals. This portrayal thus empowers not only the ability to express oneself sexually, but also extends this empowerment to sexual minorities.

A different kind of complex portrayal of black female sexuality can be found in

Issa Rae’s TV show Insecure. Instead of focusing on self-expression of sexual desires and reclaiming the control over one’s sexuality by pushing the topic to the forefront, the show attempts to present different realities of black female sexuality. For instance, the character of Molly (Yvonne Orji) portrays a middle-class young black woman with a successful career, who is attractive and seems flawless at first, when she is introduced through the eyes of her friend Issa (Issa Rae), who states: “white people love Molly, black people also love Molly” (“Insecure as F**k” 00:03:50-00:04:10). From the outset, Molly might seem to be sharing similarities with the Educated Bitch stereotype, but as the story evolves, Rae further explores the character and breaks the stereotype. Unlike the Educated

Bitch who is promiscuous, has meaningless one-night stands and is rid of potential emotional attachment to her lovers, during the introductory scenes, Molly is shown wanting to find a relationship but struggling to do so. Her struggle is further explored in the series as she navigates through different relationships. Through her character and her struggle with sexual relationships, the show introduces its standing on sexuality in the very first episode, which Molly summarizes as: “Sex right away. Lose interest. Wait to have sex. Lose interest. If I don’t have sex at all, motherfucker, no!” (“Insecure as F**k”

47

00:06:30-00:07:00). This statement suggests that the show abandons the rules often imposed on women and the way they express their sexuality, and, more importantly, dismisses the controlling portrayals of black female sexuality by refusing to let the characters act in a certain way in order to not be judged as sexually aggressive or passive.

In other words, the show refuses to oversexualize or desexualize black women, but lets them control their sexualities.

The last example of the portrayal of black female sexuality that needs to be mentioned is the character of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) from Shonda Rhimes’ TV show Scandal (2012-2018). While some praise Rhimes for creating a “complex” black female character (West 139), Cassandra Chaney and Ray Robertson argue that in terms of Pope’s sexuality, the portrayal copies the features of Jezebel stereotype by portraying a black mistress to a white man in possession of power (143). One of their arguments is that Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) never leaves his wife for Olivia (143). However, this stereotype is broken, as in the fifth season of the show, Olivia and Fitz become an official couple. It is also her who breaks off their mutual relationship in the same season and is thus given agency, which enables her to free herself from the controlling image. While the portrayal starts off as a stereotype, it manages to free itself from being constrained by it.

3.2 Body Images

Body images are frequently used as a signifier of beauty and sexual attractiveness and oftentimes, sexuality is depicted through them. The stereotypical portrayals of black female bodies offer either oversexualized or desexualized images of their bodies, with the former approximating themselves to mainstream (white) standards of beauty with the thinness and lighter skin, and the latter depicting the opposite image resembling closely the image of Mammy. This section looks at contemporary portrayals of black female

48 bodies and how they challenge the notions of beauty and attractiveness reinforced through stereotypes of black women.

As Emerson points out, there is a “conventional wisdom that the Black community possesses alternative beauty standards that allow for larger body types” (122). Body size variability should therefore be more present and celebrated through the portrayals of black female bodies but at the same time, the association of bigger bodies with Mammy stereotype should be contested. Indeed, images that embrace the body-size variability and shift the representation of black female bodies are present both in popular culture and visual arts. For instance, Lizzo’s cover of her 2019 album Cuz I Love You depicts her sitting sideways on the floor, naked, crouching with her arm covering her breasts.25 The photo reveals her body shape in its entirety, while not viewing her as an object of desire, nor fetishizing the individual parts of her body. On the cover, Lizzo does not pose to be lusted after, but her nakedness serves to present her and her body as whole, complex being. At the same time, it proposes an acceptance of a body shape that, according to mainstream standards of beauty, is not considered thin or attractive.

Lizzo does not only articulate her body positivity and acceptance through visual portrayals, but she also does so verbally. In a short video interview for Glamour, she talks about feeling beautiful when she is empowered, and her empowerment is achieved through her work. In another interview, however, she admits to having struggled due to the negative images connected to plus-size bodies (Priya Elan). Her openness about these struggles adds an element of authenticity and complexity to her character and the image she creates. In addition, by being featured on the cover of 2019’s December’s issue of

British Vogue (Elan), Lizzo manages to merge the image of a plus-sized black woman with the world of beauty and high fashion, and gain a mainstream acceptance of body

25 See Appendix - Fig. 1. 49 diversity for black women. Because of her, plus-sized black women are presented as attractive.

The topic of body-shape variability and the complexity of black female bodies is also visible in the work of painter Tschabalala Self. The artist admits that in her work:

“the fantasies and attitudes surrounding the black female body are both accepted and rejected.”26 Her portraits of black female bodies depict black women of different shapes, with the bodies often naked, or dressed moderately, and their bottoms and breasts accentuated to emphasize their sexuality.27 While this may seem to create an oversexualizing portrayal of black female body, the agency and control is given to the subjects “through assertive gazes and confident postures” (Sabrina E. Greig). The complexity to Self’s portraits is expressed through the multiple layers of fabrics and colors of which the bodies are composed on the canvas; the different layers and parts representing not only the multi-faceted black bodies but also black womanhood as such.

When it comes to the issue of skin color as an indicator of beauty and sexual attractiveness, the marginalization is still very frequent nowadays. The fairly recent experiment on the number of dark-skinned black women on the cover of Vogue discussed in the first chapter shows that women with dark skin continue to be overlooked. This is however not left without reaction from black women in art and music. The most significant example in terms of its ability to reach the widest audiences is Beyoncé’s song

“Brown Skin Girl” recorded with Saint Jhn and Wizkid, featuring Blue Ivy. The song is a celebration of dark-skinned women. The lyrics mention famous dark-skinned women, such as Lupita Nyong and Naomi (alluding presumably to Campbell) as they connect black skin with the idea of beauty and attractiveness:

26 Quoted on the website of ART OMI. 27 See visual works Carma (2016), Sapphire (2015), and Milk Chocolate (2017) –– Fig. 2, 3 and 4 in the appendix. 50

The men dem gon’ fall in love

With you and all of your glory

Your skin is not only dark, it shines and it tells your story

Keep dancin’, they can't control you

They watchin’, they all adore you

If ever you are in doubt, remember what mama told you (Beyoncé)

These lines seek to empower black women and enable them to see the beauty in the color of their skin. The success of this song can be seen in its ability to make the hashtag

#BrownSkinGirlChallenge go viral, prompting other black women to celebrate the beauty of the color of their skin (Kimberley Richards).

Less viral, but not a less significant celebration of dark skin in black women can be found in Mickalene Thomas’ painting Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe: Les trois femmes noires (2010)28. The painting is a recreation of Monet’s painting Luncheon in the Grass

(Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe), however, it replaces both the figures and the background, and maintains only the same positioning of the figures of Monet’s original. The three figures in the painting are three black women, the color of the skin of each of them is of different shade. The woman that is closest to the front has the darkest skin color of the three.

Thomas’ explanation for the creation of the painting suggests her intention:

I was looking at Western figures like Manet and Courbet, to find a connection

with the body in relationship to history. Because I was not seeing the Black body

written about art historically in relation to the white body and the discourse—it

wasn't there in art history. And so I questioned that. I was really concerned about

that particular space and how it was void. I wanted to find a way of claiming the

28 See appendix – Fig. 5. 51

space, of aligning my voice and art history and entering this discourse. (qted. on

Figuring History exhibition website)

The “void” represents the presence of the dark skin, which is absent not only in history, but continues to be underrepresented even today. Thomas reclaims this void and places the dark-skinned black woman right into the forefront, thus removing it from the marginalized position and placing it at the center.

3.3 Motherhood

When it comes to black motherhood portrayals in popular culture, the focus these days seems to be on upper- and middle-class black mothers who are supposed to bring empowerment to all black mothers. Influential black women such as Beyoncé, Cardi B and Serena Williams use their platforms to showcase and talk about their motherhood, which can be seen as a reaction against the history of stereotypes producing antagonizing portrayals of black mothers, allowing only the two possibilities – a good black mother to white children or a bad mother to her own – and failing to explore the topic of black motherhood deeply. A positive portrayal of black motherhood that explores and celebrates black mothers is what Beyoncé tries to achieve. She includes her daughter in her songs and videos, with her song “Blue” recorded in 2013, being a tribute to Blue Ivy

Carter, who is also present in the music video. Blue – the name of her daughter – is mentioned in the song directly, although otherwise the lyrics remain ambiguous and the song could be interpreted as a love song not only from mother to daughter, but also an expression of love in general:

Make it last forever

Come on, baby, won't you hold on to me, hold on to me?

You and I together

52

Come on, baby, won't you hold on to me, hold on to me?

Blue (Beyoncé)

The video is intertwined with images of Beyoncé and Blue Ivy together, hugging and walking on the beach. The song ends with a recording of Blue Ivy’s voice, saying:

Mommy, mommy, mommy

Can we see daddy?

Can we see daddy?

Missus Carter!

Missus Carter! (Beyoncé)

Together, the song and the video celebrate the mother-daughter relationship. Six years later, Blue Ivy continues to be included in Beyoncé’s work, being featured in the “Brown

Skin Girl” for which Blue Ivy Carter was recently awarded Ashford & Simpson

Songwriter’s Award (Mesfin Fekadu).

However, Beyoncé is not only successful in promoting black motherhood by collaborating with her daughter on her records. When she announced her second pregnancy in 201729 by posting a photo of herself posing sideways in front of a large wreath of flowers and touching her belly with her head covered with a veil, the post became Instagram’s most liked photo of that year (Nerisha Penrose). Clearly, Beyoncé has the ability to make the world notice and accept black motherhood as beautiful.

Similarly, Cardi B often opens up about her motherhood in interviews. In a video interview for Vogue, she sits with her daughter in her arms while answering questions about the challenges of being a mother, admitting that being a mother is “hard.” Given her previous employment as a stripper, Cardi B represents currently one of the most well- known former working-class black mother portrayals in popular culture, even though

29 See appendix – Fig. 6. 53 when she became a mother, she was no longer working-class. Nevertheless, her experience gives her relatability and enables her to broaden the range of positive black motherhood depictions by including her own in it. She manages this by continuing to talk openly about her past experiences and returning to them in her motherhood, admitting in another interview with Vogue: “I am gonna talk to my daughter about everything that I did in my life, because it’s just not a secret” (“Cardi B on Bernie Sanders, Raising Her

Daughter, and Coordinating Outfits with Offset”). Although now an upper-class woman,

Cardi B brings the working-class aspect into the debate on black motherhood by not rejecting her working-class experience. Despite Cardi B’s working-class proximity, the lack of ability to self-present themselves leaves working-class black mothers sidelined in

American popular culture and visual arts. The reason might be that working-class black mothers do not possess the platform nor the resources of influential and rich black women to enter in the discussion on the topic of black motherhood.

However, the consequences of the stereotyping of black motherhood reach beyond the frame of representations and perceptions. A devastating proof of the persisting presence of stereotyping of black mothers are the actual numbers underlining their continuing neglect and marginalization – black mothers in the United States are “three to four times more likely to die during or after delivery than are white women” (Amy

Roeder). This number suggests that black mothers are approached and treated differently than white mothers even when it comes to health care.

Given the alarming statistics, opening up about the health issues related to pregnancy is undoubtedly an important aspect of portrayals that seek to present a complex, realistic image of black motherhood. While it may seem that this issue primarily concerns black mothers of lower income, these complications are not necessarily class- restricted. Serena Williams and Beyoncé both speak publicly about the complications that

54 occurred during their pregnancies. Williams talks about the whole experience in the documentary series called Being Serena (2018-), which traces her journey through the pregnancy. Williams gave birth by emergency C-section and because of the complications that appeared afterwards, had to remain in her bed for six weeks after giving birth

(Roeder). Beyoncé shares the complications related to her second pregnancy also through the documentary Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019), where she talks about having pre-eclampsia during pregnancy and eventually having to have an emergency C-section as well, and struggling to get back in form for her performance at Coachella after giving birth. Their openness and willingness to share their stories helps bring the issue to the attention.

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3.4 Work

The stereotypes that depict black female work refuse the possibility of a positive or complex portrayal of a black woman with a career. Instead, when they portray a black woman with a career, they either exaggerate the character of the black woman in the professional sphere (Angry Black Woman) or fail to explore the professional side of the character completely (Black Lady). Contemporary portrayals of black womanhood present in popular culture and visual arts that seek to challenge the conventions reinforced through these stereotypes focus on exploring the professional side of the character, while not diminishing their other aspects. An example of this is the TV show Insecure, which manages to balance out portrayals of its characters, and explore both their professional and personal lives. The show navigates through the issues that black women often face at work in the present, while also debunking the myth of an Angry Black Woman.

For instance, the character of Molly starts off as an isolated black woman in her workspace, which is symptomatic of the Angry Black Woman stereotype. In the beginning of the first season, Molly works as an attorney in a company where she is the only black woman. However, as the first shot of Molly shows, she is respected and admired by her colleagues in the company – in her first appearance, Molly is shown giving presentation in the meeting room full of white people, with everyone smiling at her jokes, just as Issa’s voiceover proclaims “white people love Molly” (“Insecure as

F**k” 00:03:50-00:04:10). Nevertheless, later in the show, it is discovered that Molly is paid less than her white male colleague. Afterwards, she strives to handle the issue professionally, asking for pay rise based on her skills and professional achievements, until eventually she decides to change her employer. This shows how the story works with uncovering the labels and myths surrounding black women – in the beginning, it might seem that Molly might embody the Angry Black Woman stereotype, reveal her anger and

56 aggressiveness, however, as the show evolves, it dives deeper into the character and her professional career is problematized – her ability to contain her anger and thus escape the expected reactions of the Angry Black Woman, enables her to become a complex portrayal of black female professional that debunks the myths of the stereotypical portrayals of black female work.

At the same time, what Molly’s experience at work hints on the stereotypes’ oppression of black women through work. Molly, a qualified professional is awarded less for her work than her colleague who is nor black, nor female. This shows her suffering from both racial and gender discrimination. The issue of women being paid less than men is common even nowadays, however, historically, the work of black women has been devalued through exploitative and low-income jobs and the image of black women occupying a subordinate position in the workplace is reinforced through stereotypes, depicting them as “mules” (Collins, Black Feminist Thought 43), as was already explained in the first chapter. On one hand, Molly may be paid less than her male colleague because she is a woman, but the reason might be her gender and her race combined.

However, contemporary portrayals of black women at work that seek to provide a positive image of black female professionals do not only problematize the existing stereotypes, but, in reaction to the constraining nature of stereotypical portrayals, some strive to empower black women in professional sphere. Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal and also the show How to Get Away with Murder, which she produces, portray a black female professional who seems to be the best in what she does. Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating

(Viola Davis) are both almost superheroines, able to solve any issue that befalls them.

Olivia’s business is built on covering up scandals in high politics, whereas Annalise teaches Introduction to Criminal law in law school, a course that is also nicknamed “How

57 to Get Away with Murder,” and is a well-known and searched-for lawyer. Both heroines are the bosses of themselves, however, Olivia and Annalise undergo series of complications that transform their careers. Yet, their superpowers reside in their ability to come back from them. Pope is faced with revelation of her affair with the President and her involvement in a fraud scheme, but despite that, in the end she overcomes these obstacles and returns to the White House. Keating’s license to practice law is suspended after she hits her client and the video of the incident is leaked, she is battling alcoholism and is even imprisoned as a suspect in the murder of one of her students. But despite that, she manages to get out of the prison, have her license reinstated and her reputation restored when she wins her class-action lawsuit in the Supreme Court. While these portrayals are not realistic, they manage to present black women with successful careers, capable of being the best in their field.

The need for empowerment of black female work and to showcase the possibility to achieve success is also stressed by Michelle Obama. When her portrait was revealed in 2018, Obama emphasized its importance for future generations of black women:

I’m also thinking about all of the young people, particularly girls, and girls of

color, who in years ahead will come to this place, and they will look up, and they

will see an image of someone who looks like them, hanging on the wall of this

great American institution. And I know the kind of impact that will have on their

lives, because I was one of those girls . . . (CNN 03:00-05:00)

Obama is aware of the significance of her role as the first African American First

Lady and wants her legacy to be that of “hope”, which she has for the future of colored girls. Moreover, she is able to add an element of humility to her position, stating she is

“truly grateful” for being able to “play a very small part in that history and in that future”

(CNN 05:30-06:00).

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The image of a successful, empowered black woman professional she creates is more realistic than the portrayals created by Rhimes, which she manages to do by her openness and her ability to reflect and project her own experiences into her role. For instance, during the speech she gave when her portrait was unveiled, she mentions her family and remembers the struggle of her grandparents for having their professional skills recognized and put to use. Although being hopeful about the future of black women,

Obama emphasizes the need for the awareness of the discrimination and oppression which impacts not only them, but all black people in the United States (CNN 03:35-04:40).

The portrait of Michelle Obama painted by Amy Sherald30 seeks to underline the empowering and at the same time authentic image of black womanhood that Obama strives to portray. Sherald depicts Obama on a light blue background, sitting down with one hand touching her chin and the other folded on her knee. She is not smiling but is looking directly at the observer of the painting. Besides Michelle Obama, there is no other object in the painting, not even the chair upon which she is sitting can be seen. This absence serves to not distract from her persona and its significance but empowers it by letting the painting focus fully on the subject itself.

The image of Michelle Obama produced by Sherald serves to capture her essence as the First Lady – a public figure, rather than just an ordinary person – which also works for the artist’s aim with her paintings: “once my paintings are complete, the model no longer lives in that painting as themselves. I see something bigger, more symbolic. An archetype” (CNN). This she achieves not only by eliminating other objects from the painting, but also by her choice of Obama’s attire. She is dressed in a bold dress by the brand Milly, of which the author says “Milly’s design also resembles the inspired quilt masterpieces made by the women of Gee’s Bend, a small, remote black community in

30 See appendix – Fig. 7. 59

Alabama, where they compose quilts and geometries that transform clothes and fabric remnants into masterpieces” (CNN, 11:00-13:50).31 This allusion to African American tradition in the painting seeks to reflect on Obama’s ability to talk about the issues of race and be self-conscious of her heritage, and bring these topics to her professional role.

3.5 Chapter Conclusion

This chapter looked at several contemporary depictions of black women in contemporary popular culture and visual arts. Looking at the four aspects of black womanhood that racial stereotypes of black women control, it presents examples of contemporary self-representations and debates how they problematize these four aspects.

The oppositional images of sexuality, body images, motherhood and work reinforced through stereotypes are challenged in in these images. Self-representations of Black female sexuality aim at reclaiming the sexual self-expression as opposed to oversexualized images present in stereotypes. The images of body in contemporary popular culture and visual arts challenge the Western standards of beauty and celebrate variability and body-positivity. When it comes to portrayals of black motherhood, the focus is on presenting a positive image of it, in contrast to the stereotypical portrayals of black motherhood that portray black women as bad or lazy mothers. Moreover, the contemporary images of black motherhood analyzed here call attention to the issue of increased risk of death during, or after pregnancy in black women, as opposed to non- black women. Lastly, the images depicting black women in professional sphere focus on empowering black women as professionals and raising awareness to the issues specific to both gender and racial oppression black women experience at work.

31 Quilting is a traditional craft of African American slave women that Alice Walker identified as one of the early forms of artistic expression of black women while they were subjected to slavery (see chapter 2, page 39 of this work). 60

Conclusion

This thesis explores how selected black female portrayals in popular culture and visual arts reclaim and negotiate the stereotypical portrayals of black women. The first chapter introduces the controlling portrayals of black womanhood and traces the roots of black female stereotyping in order to explain the connections between stereotypes and the reality of black female experience in what is now the United States. Subsequently, it identifies four aspects of black female portrayals that the stereotypes control – sexuality, body images, motherhood and work. These aspects are then explored further in order to determine how stereotypical portrayals reinforce the control through each of them by constructing the portrayals of these aspects along the lines of extreme oppositions. When it comes to sexuality, this analysis shows that it is either diminished completely or exaggerated in stereotypes of black women. Body images present in stereotypes also reinforce these oppositions, presenting light-skinned black women as attractive temptresses and dark-skinned black women as desexualized and unattractive. The stereotypical portrayals of motherhood depict black mothers as either bad mothers to their own children or good mothers to the children of white families and the portrayals of work either present black women as lazy or performing exploitative jobs. Ultimately, the analysis shows that even when the stereotypes present a third alternative to these oppositions, the image of black motherhood they produce is two-dimensional and unrealistic.

The second chapter introduces the black feminist context to black female portrayals and provides an overview of black female presence and self-representation in arts and culture. It explains the ongoing need for black female perspective in black female portrayals and the formation of theoretical approaches that allow for black female

61 portrayals to be critiqued with the knowledge of the specificity of the complex oppressive forces that shape black women, their portrayals and their experience as such.

The third chapter looks at the selected contemporary portrayals of the four aspects of control reinforced through stereotypes: sexuality, body images, motherhood and work, exploring how the stereotypical depictions of each of the four are reclaimed and disputed in these portrayals. The analysis discovers that black women negotiate the stereotypical portrayals in numerous ways. Firstly, by shifting the control and the agency over their portrayals just like in case of the portrayals of black female sexuality, where the control over their sexual expression is given to black women. This is visible in works of SZA,

Janelle Monáe, Cardi B and Lizzo. In addition, the agency can also be shifted by reclaiming the labels connected to black female sexuality, as can be seen with the usage of the Bitch label in popular songs.

Secondly, by breaking the stereotypes, as can be seen in the portrayal of Olivia

Pope, who first embodies the Jezebel stereotype, but eventually frees herself from it by breaking off her relationship with her lover. A similar approach can also be seen in the character of Molly on the show Insecure, who touches upon the stereotypes of Angry

Black Woman and Bad Bitch before dismantling them completely.

Thirdly, by reclaiming those aspects of black womanhood that are antagonized by stereotypes, such as dark skin or plus-size body shapes, which is done by both visual artists – Mickalene Thomas – and musicians – Beyoncé. The same approach is also taken in case of black motherhood, where Cardi B and Beyoncé often bring their motherhood to the public eye, either through their music or interviews, in order to challenge the negative meanings attached to black motherhood.

Fourthly, through empowerment, which is important in reference to black female work, with positive images of black women as professionals being featured on TV shows

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Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and Insecure. Moreover, this image of empowerment is also perpetuated by Michelle Obama and captured in her painting.

Lastly, by calling attention to the persisting issues related to black female stereotyping. This is done by Serena Williams and Beyoncé, who both open up about the issues related to their early motherhood experiences in reaction to the continuing issue of high mortality in black mothers during or after giving birth.

63

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Appendix

Fig. 1 – Lizzo’s album cover to Cuz I Love You (2019).

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Fig. 2 – Carma (2016) by Tschabalala Self.

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Fig. 3 – Sapphire (2015) by Tschabalala Self.

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Fig. 4 – Milk Chocolate (2017) by Tschabalala Self.

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Fig. 5 – Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe: Les trois femmes noires (2010) by Mickalene Thomas.

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Fig. 6 – Beyoncé’s second pregnancy announcement published on her Instagram account.

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Fig. 7 – First Lady Michelle Obama (2018) by Amy Sherald.

79

Summary

This thesis aims to explore the relationship between the stereotypical portrayals of black women in the United States and contemporary portrayals of black womanhood created by black women. It first provides the historical context to racial stereotyping of black people and black women specifically, and continues by introducing the individual stereotypes present in American culture and establishing four aspects of black female stereotyping: sexuality, body images, motherhood and work. Each of the aspects helps discover that stereotypes mostly produce oppositional portrayals of black womanhood.

For instance, producing either oversexualized or desexualized images of black female sexuality, or depicting black women as hardworking “mules” or lazy Welfare Queens.

The findings of the analysis of these stereotypes are then applied in the analysis of the contemporary portrayals of black womanhood from popular culture and visual arts produced by black women, in order to identify how black female self-representation challenges the oppositional portrayals of black female sexuality, body, motherhood and work. The portrayals chosen for this analysis include award-winning musicians, influential figures and artists of contemporary significance.

In addition, the thesis also explains the necessity for the presence of black female voices and self-representation in arts and culture by looking at the black feminist theory and its important scholars and thinkers.

The thesis finds that the stereotypes are refuted in the contemporary portrayals in different ways; by shifting the agency and thus reclaiming the oversexualization of black women, by problematizing the oppositional portrayals reinforced through stereotypes or by challenging the negative meanings attached to black female bodies, black motherhood and work through empowering and positive portrayals.

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Resumé

Tato práce má za cíl prozkoumat vztah mezi stereotypními zobrazeními černošek ve Spojených státech a současnými zobrazeními černošského ženství tvořenými

černoškami. Práce prvně poskytuje historický kontext k rasové stereotypizaci černochů a

černošek specificky. Poté pokračuje představením jednotlivých stereotypů přítomných v americké kultuře a determinováním čtyřech aspektů černošské stereotypizace: sexualita, zobrazování těla, mateřství a práce. Každý z těchto aspektů napomáhá zjistit,

že stereotypy ve většině produkují opoziční zobrazení černošského ženství. Například: produkováním přesexualizovaných anebo desexualizovaných zobrazení černošské

ženské sexuality, prezentováním černošek jako těžce pracujících “oslů” anebo líných

Královen sociální podpory. Výsledky této analýzy stereotypů jsou poté aplikovány v analýze současných vyobrazení černošského ženství z populární kultury a vizuálního umění tvořených černoškami za účelem určení, jak černošská ženská sebereprezentace zpochybňuje opoziční vyobrazení černošské ženské sexuality, těla, mateřství a práce.

Vyobrazení zvolená k analýze zahrnují oceňované muzikantky, vlivné osobnosti a umělkyně současného významu.

Kromě toho tato práce taktéž vysvětluje nevyhnutelnost přítomnosti černošských

ženských hlasů a sebereprezentace v umění a kultuře nahlížením na černošskou feministickou teorii a její důležité myslitele a akademiky.

Práce zjišťuje, že tyto stereotypy jsou vyvráceny v současných zobrazeních různými způsoby: přesouváním kontroly a způsobilosti a tím získáním kontroly nad přesexualizací černošek, problematizováním opozičních vyobrazení posílených stereotypy, anebo vyzýváním negativních významů spojených s černošskými ženskými těly, mateřstvím a prací skrz posilňující a pozitivní zobrazování.

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