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How to cite this thesis

Surname, Initial(s). (2012). Title of the thesis or dissertation (Doctoral Thesis / Master’s Dissertation). Johannesburg: University of Johannesburg. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/102000/0002 (Accessed: 22 August 2017). Perceptions of Black Men in Katlehong about Female “Yellow Bones”: A Case Study

Tshepo Makobela

University of Johannesburg

A full dissertation submitted to the faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements of Masters in Communication Studies

Supervisor: Prof Mariekie Burger

January 2019

Declaration I, Tshepo William Makobela, hereby declare that this dissertation is my original work. It is submitted for the Master of Arts in Communication Studies at the University of Johannesburg and has not been submitted for any degree or examination in any other University

January 2019

Tshepo Makobela (201209644)

Dedication This study is dedicated to my late parents and sisters. You could not witness my success because death has defeated you.

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Acknowledgements I would like to start by acknowledging the almighty God for blessing me with the love and presenting me with the opportunity to undertake this research study, and for giving me strength to persevere and to complete it satisfactorily. Without his blessings, this achievement would not been possible.

Special thanks go to my supervisor, Professor Burger for her proficient and invaluable guidance throughout the course of my research study. To be honest, this endeavour could not have been accomplished without her constructive critiques and comments. Her guidance helped me not to deviate from my research study. Prof., I will forever be grateful for your support and guidance.

I am appreciative of the incredible support that I received while pursuing my Master’s degree from my family, friends and colleagues, and for their never-ending love, encouragement and support. I want to also thank UJSF committee members. You guys know my struggle as you have been with me all the way. Your constructive critiques and input helped me to soldier on even though it was not easy. I cannot thank you enough.

Thank you to all the research participants for allowing me to steal time out of their busy schedules. You played a core role for this research study to be accomplished. This research study would not have been possible without your participation. Your time and support are much valued.

Abstract This study was designed to gain a nuanced understanding of how selected young black men perceive female “yellow bones” in Katlehong township, South Africa. Widespread attention has been given to skin tones in black communities and quite a few studies have found that in black communities a person with a lighter skin tone seem to have a higher social status than one with a darker skin tone. Due to the idealisation of a light complexion some black women go to great lengths to achieve a light skin. This study used a qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted as a method of data collection and this approach assisted in examining the nuances and complexities of the phenomenon. The study found that participants believe “yellow boned” women are more beautiful than those with darker skin. Participants felt that their preference for light-skinned women is attributed to the history of the country, and that the media foregrounds a western ideal of beauty that affects social perceptions. Some participants alluded to a lighter skin tone operating as a form of symbolic capital. The study not only exposes a range of different views black men have about “yellow boned” women, but also presents different views on how males use female “yellow bones” to gain social status in the community. The findings of this study cannot be generalised to the broad South African population as the sample is fairly small (18 young men who live in Katlehong). This study suggests that future research could take the key findings of this study forward through focus group research in order to observe group dynamics and whether the focus group participants influence each other’s views and opinions. The study could also be replicated in other areas of the country.

Contents Declaration ...... ii

Dedication ...... iii

Acknowledgements ...... iv

Abstract ...... v

Contents ...... vi

Chapter One: Introduction ...... 1

1.1 Contextualisation ...... 1

1.2 Purpose of the study ...... 3

1.3 Methodological approach ...... 4

1.4 Outline of chapters ...... 4

1.5 Key terms ...... 5

1.5.1 Colonialism ...... 5

1.5.2 Colourism ...... 5

1.5.3 Afrocentric theory ...... 5

1.5.4 Patriarchy ...... 5

1.5.5 Hegemonic masculinity ...... 5

1.5.6 Social capital...... 6

1.6 Conclusion ...... 6

Chapter Two: The social construction of skin tone ...... 7

2.1 Introduction ...... 7

2.2 Constructionism...... 7

2.3 Negative social construction of a dark skin tone ...... 9

2.3.1 Introduction ...... 9

2.3.2 Colonisation and skin tone ...... 10

2.3.3 Colourism ...... 12

2.4 Positive social construction of a dark skin tone ...... 18

2.4.1 Introduction ...... 18

2.4.2 The Black Consciousness movement ...... 18

2.4.3 Afrocentric theory ...... 19

2.5 Skin tone and female beauty ...... 20

2.5.1 Beauty ...... 20

2.5.2 Beauty and colourism ...... 21

2.5.3 Black beauty ...... 22

2.6 Skin tone, the beauty industry and the media ...... 24

2.6.1 Introduction ...... 24

2.6.2 Representation in the media ...... 24

2.6.3 Representation of black women in the media ...... 25

2.6.4 The representation of black women by black-owned media ...... 30

2.7 Conclusion ...... 32

Chapter Three: Skin tone and gender identity ...... 34

3.1 Introduction ...... 34

3.2. Skin tone and feminism ...... 34

3.2.1 Introduction ...... 34

3.2.2 Waves of feminism ...... 34

3.2.3 African feminism ...... 36

3.2.4 Feminism, colourism and skin tone ...... 37

3.3 Skin tone and masculinity ...... 38

3.3.1 Introduction ...... 38

3.3.2 Patriarchy ...... 38

3.3.3 Hegemonic masculinity ...... 41

3.3.4 Traditional masculinity ...... 45

3.3.5 Subordinate masculinity ...... 47

3.3.6 Toxic masculinity ...... 47

3.4 Social capital and the male gaze ...... 48

3.4.1 Introduction ...... 48

3.4.2 The male gaze ...... 48

3.4.3 Social capital...... 50

3.5 Conclusion ...... 52

Chapter Four: Research methodology ...... 55

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4.1 Introduction ...... 55

4.2 Research orientation ...... 55

4.3 Data collection ...... 55

4.4 Sampling...... 56

4.5 Data analysis ...... 58

4.6 Limitations ...... 58

4.7 Ethical aspects ...... 60

4.8 Conclusion ...... 61

Chapter Five: Findings ...... 62

5.1 Introduction ...... 62

5.2 Masculine identity ...... 62

5.2.1 Social construction of masculinity ...... 62

5.2.2 Patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity ...... 64

5.2.3 Traditions and culture ...... 69

5.3 Masculinity and dating yellow bones ...... 72

5.3.1 Dating...... 72

5.3.2 Beauty ...... 75

5.3.3 Bragging rights ...... 76

5.3.4 Acceptance from friends and family ...... 79

5.3.5 Social status ...... 80

5.3.6 Yellow bones, media representations and the beauty industry ...... 84

5.4 Colourism ...... 89

5.4.1 Colonisation ...... 94

5.4.2 Lineage ...... 98

5.4.3 Fate of the “black bone” ...... 99

5.5 Conclusion ...... 100

Chapter Six: Conclusion ...... 104

6.1 Introduction ...... 104

6.2 Limitations of the findings ...... 106

6.3 Recommendations for further studies ...... 106

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6.4 Conclusion ...... 107

References ...... 107

Appendix 1: Interview schedule ...... 124

Appendix 2: Information letter ...... 126

Appendix 3: Consent form ...... 127

Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Contextualisation Thina bamnyama asina chance tu yaz’. Ezi yellow-bones ezi ziy’ phethe iSouth Africa! [Us dark ones really don’t stand a chance, hey. These yellow bones are running South Africa] (Kula, 2005).

This quotation is from the online blog of Sicelo Kula (2015). These yellow-bones rule! emphasise that a lighter skin tone (generally referred to as “yellow bones”) plays a pivotal role in the social value attributed to women. The quotation also suggests that people with a lighter skin tone define social perceptions of beauty among black people in general but are especially applicable to black women.

Widespread attention has been given to skin tone in black communities and quite a few studies have found that it seems that in black communities a person with a lighter skin tone is preferred over one with a darker skin tone (see Collins, 2004; Charles, 2003; Davis, 2015; Hunter, 2011; Thompson & Keith, 2001). A South African term often used to refer to black people, especially women, with a light skin tone, is “yellow bones”. The phenomenon of labelling light-skinned women cuts across the African continent. For instance, in Kenya the term mzungu is used for women with a light complexion, while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the terms tshoko and metises are used and in Zimbabwe the term muroora (Msonza, 2015). In South Africa, the term “blondes” is also used – in contrast with mnyamana, an isiZulu word for black women (Shamase, 2016). The media reports the assumption is that this is with the hope of appearing more attractive to the opposite sex, and by reinforcing this point of view, the media contributes to the social construction of female “yellow bones” (Khumalo, 2015). Due to the idealisation of a light complexion some black women go to great lengths to achieve a lighter complexion (Khumalo, 2015).

If a woman is not naturally light-skinned, she has the option to acquire this sought-after quality using make-up or skin lightening chemicals and, in this way participate in the construction of a particular version of female beauty (Khumalo, 2015; Bhatia, 2017). The social value of a lighter skin is intensified by local celebrities, such as Mshoza, Kelly Khumalo and Khanyi Mbau, who are affectionately known as the “queens of bleaching” (Ntlintili, 2015). Furthermore, Shamase (2016) suggests that men often put pressure on women with a darker skin to use skin-lightening products, as they prefer “prettier, lighter skinned women” (Shamase, 2016). In other words, there is considerable evidence that the media and the cosmetic industry contribute to the social construction and communication of preferring a lighter skin tone over a darker one.

The term “yellow bones” appeared in 2009 in the Urban Dictionary, and in 2014 the term has been used widely in the media (cf. Matika, 2015), and in hip-hop music positive reference is also made to lighter skinned women, such as Emtee da Hustler’s song about South African celebrity Pearl Thusi (Ramakobya, 2016; Khumalo, 2015). The issue of skin tone is associated with the tendency to

1 identify or “behave toward members of a racial category based on the lightness or darkness of their skin” (Maddox & Gray, 2002: 250). It has been noted that skin tone is used in racial stereotyping and prejudice and is distinguished by its focus on the physical characteristics of individuals within racial categories (Hunter, 2007; Keith & Herring, 1991; Jacobs, Levine, Abney & Davids, 2016; Maddox & Gray, 2002). Research has also indicated that skin tone plays a pivotal role in obtaining positive life outcomes, as it has been empirically proven that people with a lighter skin tone, around the globe, have an advantage over people with a darker skin tone in terms of employment prospects (Landor, 2012: 27). Studies in the USA have indicated that skin tone assumes a significant role in the life of an individual, as it has been found that lighter skinned African Americans achieve more years of education, have more prestigious careers, and a higher income than darker skinned African Americans (Bodenhorn, 2006; Hunter, 2011; Keith & Herring, 1991). Existing research on skin tone has identified a lighter skin as a prevailing beauty norm that is communicated through advertising, television, film, internet, and billboards as well as celebrity culture, and in the process dominant hegemonic racial power positions are confirmed (Hunter, 2011; Winders, Jones & Higgins, 2005). It has been observed that the media associates a lighter skin with beauty and with a higher status by associating lighter women with success and power (Hunter, 2011: 151). With such depictions in the media, it can be said that the media is crucial in the construction, reinforcement and dissemination of the racialisation of women’s bodies. Similarly, research on skin tone focuses on a colour hierarchy, “pointing out the relative power of light complexions over dark skin tones, specifically as it affects African-American women who are often treated and evaluated based solely on physicality”. Empirical research has confirmed the perception that women with lighter skins experience greater success in general terms (Mathews, 2013; Uzogara & Jackson, 2016; Fanon, 1986; Verna & Herring, 1991). In other words, existing research emphasises a skin colour hierarchy.

Another group of studies have been undertaken from a race perspective and investigate how black women have been systematically negatively stereotyped, in contrast to a lighter and white skin as being privileged (see Craig-Henderson, 2013; Glenn, 2009; Jewell, 2012; Keith, 1991; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000). This group of research supports the idea that the representation of black women since forever has affected ways in which black women are generally identified and valued and that white skins have a higher social capital. In South Africa the Black Consciousness Movement became known for its key drive towards the emancipation of black people, restoring black culture, freedom from white liberalism and anti-black racism, the battle against neoliberalism and capitalism, and eradicating resistance against Azania and its “darker skinned people” (Ndaba & Smith, 2017: 16- 21). One of the key tenets of the Black Consciousness Movement is thus freedom from the internalisation of white superiority, by fostering black pride in the pursuit of freedom from the institutionalisation of white privilege which has the subsequent effect of psychological oppression (Ally & Ally, 2008). The intention of Black Consciousness is thus to disentangle the white value system of society (Desai, 2015). In the 1960s and 1970s, the Black Consciousness Movement

2 focused on the fight against white racism, and in the process colourism also – that is discrimination based on skin colour (Desai, 2015).

Given the background of institutionalised racial discrimination due to colonisation in South Africa, black women have been specifically negatively stereotyped due to their double colonisation – first through colonisation by the British, and secondly by the apartheid system’s racial discrimination (see Charles, 2003; Gordon, 2016; Mathews 2013; Thompson & Keith, 2001). Subsequently, the media have a problematic relationship with black women: black women are either not represented in the media due to racial prejudice, or when they feature in the media, the media tend to stereotype them negatively (Brooks & Herbert, 2006; Baker, 2005; Hunter; 2011; Lindsey, 2011; Poran, 2006; Francois, 2014). In fact, media stereotypes often sexualise black women or frame them as the exotic “Other” (Baker, 2005; Brook & Herbert, 2006; Poran, 2006).

Coinciding with this tendency in media representations, in the beauty industry preference is given to whiteness to the detriment of blackness (see Jacobs et al., 2016; Hooks, 1992; Hunter, 2011, Lynch, 2007, Poran, 2002; Buckingham, 2005; Bhatia, 2017). The beauty industry frequently encourages the purchase and use of skin lightening products by idealising fairness as the norm of beauty (Gelles, 2011; Nadeem, 2014). In other words, existing research on skin tone tends to read skin tone research against the background of systematic racial discrimination against black people and the greater acceptance of a fairer skin. For this reason, the Black Consciousness Movement places considerable emphasis on women’s positive experiences of self, from hair texture to skin tone, through initiatives such as the Black is Beautiful campaign (Panyane, 2017: 246).

Very few studies have investigated how black men, especially young black men, feel about women’s skin tone. In fact, only a handful of studies (mostly in the USA) focus on this topic and they found that men indeed prefer women with a lighter skin tone, and if the woman’s complexion is dark, men simply don’t find her attractive (Biber & Howling, 2004; Poran, 2006; Glenn, 2008; Coard & Breland, 2011). These studies indicate that men perceive lighter skinned women or women using cosmetics (lighter basecoat make-up) as more easy-going than darker skinned women (Charles, 2003; Glenn, 2008; Poran, 2006; Coard, Breland, Raskin, 2001). For these reasons, Mathews (2013) concludes that black men prefer to be associated with black women who have a lighter complexion in the USA. There is a need to study the notion of men’s perception of female skin complexion for the reason that historically, South African black men were introduced to believe that whiteness is superior and beautiful. It is also believed that inferiority complex makes black men prefer light skinned women. Therefore, dating a light skinned women improves their self-worth and gives them social status.

1.2 Purpose of the study Against this background, this study aims to gain a nuanced understanding of selected young black men in South Africa on how they perceive women’s beauty based on their skin tone. The purpose of

3 this study is to establish the perceptions of selected young black men in Katlehong regarding female “yellow bones”.

The specific research questions this study seeks to answer are:

1. How do selected young males from Katlehong perceive female “yellow bones”?

2. Why do selected young black males from Katlehong perceive “yellow bones” the way they do?

1.3 Methodological approach This study uses a qualitative approach as it investigates “characteristics or qualities that cannot easily be reduced to numerical values” (Leedy, Ellis & Ormrod, 2005: 94). This approach assists the researcher to examine many nuances and complexities of the phenomenon. It helped the researcher to elicit the views of the respondents about how they feel about female beauty. Interviews were used to investigate the personal experience of black men in Katlehong township on how they perceive light-skinned women or “yellow bones”. Due to the qualitative approach, the findings of this study cannot be generalised. However, the intent of the study was to explore in a qualitative manner and not to generalise to all South African black men.

1.4 Outline of chapters Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter contextualises the study, it indicates the purpose and aims of this study, and outlines this dissertation.

Chapter 2: Colourism

This chapter investigates colonisation and colourism by exploring the historic global structural discrimination against black people that lead to colourism, the practices around colourism, and the implications of colourism.

Chapter 3: Skin tone and gender identity

This chapter explores how skin tone is linked to the construction of individual and group identity. It also underlines the role of the media and the cosmetics industry in normalising a lighter skin tone over a darker skin tone. The chapter concludes by indicating that the social construction of masculinity advances the social construct of women with a lighter skin tone.

Chapter 4: Methodology

This chapter explains the research design. This entails explaining the nature and intricacies and implications of using a qualitative approach, how the data was gathered from the specific sample,

4 and how it was analysed and interpreted. The limitations and recommendations of the study are also indicated.

Chapter 5: Findings

This chapter presents, analyses and interpret the findings of the study.

Chapter 6: Conclusion

This chapter reflects on and concludes this study.

1.5 Key terms This study uses several key terms:

1.5.1 Colonialism

Colonialism is a form of domination which involves the subjugation of one people by another (Bulhan, 2015; Butt, 2013). The implication of colonialism is that it establishes a developmental differential due to the control of one people by alien one (Bulhan, 2015).

1.5.2 Colourism

Colourism is discrimination based on skin colour and is thus a type of bias in which people are dealt with contrastingly dependent on the social implications appended to skin shading (Davis, 2015; Glenn, 2008; Phoenix, 2014). Colourism exists between races, but also within the same racial group (Davis, 2015).

1.5.3 Afrocentric theory

This concept aims at giving cultural stability to Africans who have been misplaced, dislocated and mentally colonised to the extent of disliking their own skin (Asante, 2006; Chawane, 2016). Afrocentricity aims to re-centre the African person and African reality from the margins of European thought, attitudes as well as doctrines which have established themselves in skin bleaching or skin whitening (Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014).

1.5.4 Patriarchy

Patriarchy emphases a particular social construction of manhood, in other words “what it means to be a man and by implication a woman” (Gennrich, 2013: 1). Patriarchy reinforces a version of masculinity, and thus how men should behave based on the belief of the supremacy of men – “the way the world is”. This view has many benefits for men (Gennrich, 2013: 1).

1.5.5 Hegemonic masculinity

Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculine practice that regulates cultural ideals linked with being aggressive, heterosexual, muscular, and the suppression of fear (Gee, 2009: 581). “Hegemonic 5 masculinity is a form of masculinity that gains its symbolic force and recognisable status from a progression of various levelled relations to what it can subordinate” (Ratele, 2014: 118).

1.5.6 Social capital

Social capital is linked to social status and is broadly defined as the value of a person’s social connections (or groups), and these assists, or “potentially assist, an individual in a wide range of positive outcomes or circumstances” (Adler & Kwon, 2002).

1.6 Conclusion The next two chapters provide the theoretical foundation of this study.

Chapter Two: The social construction of skin tone 2.1 Introduction This study focuses on male perceptions of women with a lighter skin tone – colloquially referred to as “yellow bones”. The study assumes a social construction theoretical position, namely that skin tone is a social construct.

The chapter is structured to first explain the notion that identity is socially constructed. Secondly, the development of racial prejudice during colonisation against black people is discussed as well as the subsequent negative social conceptions constructed of a darker skin tone. The third focus of this chapter is to explain resistance against colourism (discrimination based on skin colour) from the Black Consciousness Movement by drawing on Afrocentric theory. The last focus of this chapter is to discuss the social framing of female beauty based on their skin colour in the media and beauty industry.

2.2 Constructionism This section explains the notion that humans interpret the world in various ways. The social world is socially constructed, and the section discusses how a person’s identity – both their individual identity and their social identity – is likewise socially constructed.

“A person’s identity is a conception of who he or she is” (Hall, 1990: 224). “Identity is influenced by accumulated images, ideas and associations” (Clarke, 2008: 510). One’s self-concept – one’s identity – is impacted by the values that are incorporated in them when a person is young, but it keeps on changing throughout life. Individuals continuously negotiate their identities as part of the various and different social categories to which they belong (Hall, 1990). This process of one constructing an identity is about an individual taking charge of his or her life. In fact, self-identity is most often radical when changes are experienced. This process of constructing a self-identity is a modern problem that has its origins in western individualism, and it seems that in traditional societies less agency is attributed to the individual (Giddens, 1991: 74).

A mutual relationship exists between constructing individual identity and reaching a deeper understanding of the self (Dowling, 2011: 5). The self is widely considered as a central mechanism, where the individual and the social world meet (Elliott, 2001: 24). Identity is constructed through life stages; desired orientation creates personality traits, and these traits are altered and built on experiences (Dowling, 2011: 4). In fact, these experiences can influence us, or we can use these contexts to create our own identities. In the latter case, the individual displays more agency (power and control) over his/her identity. Constructing identity is a significant component of human life, and adolescence is the most critical stage of constructing identity (Charles & Hughes-Freeland, 1996; Dowling, 2011; Marco, 2012). During the process of constructing an identity (which is ongoing and never complete as identity is always in flux), “individuals enjoy an opportunity to note their strengths

7 and weaknesses, overcome uncertainty and gains more confidence in their own qualities which are unique” (Smith & Hogg, 2008: 6). “Identity is a process rather than a product”, it is a lifelong process of reflecting on the self and the society and cultures in which a person lives (Björck, 2000: 6).

“Identity is not only individually constructed but also socially constructed” (Björck, 2000: 5; Giddens, 1991: 75). George Herbert Mead, the founding father of the theoretical thinking regarding the self, symbolic interactionism, suggests that “individual identity is shaped throughout one’s life in relation to others” (Elliot, 2001: 24). Mead focuses more on the social self: how individuals construct a sense of selfhood through engagement with others (Elliott, 2001: 25). An individual construct his or her self- identity by attaching himself or herself to various social groups or reference group (Charles & Hughes-Freeland, 1996; Gubrium, 2006: 232). This means that constructing an identity influences how the individual human being sees himself or herself in relation to the surrounding world (Björck, 2000: 5). This means that we shape our self-concept in relation to others. One’s social identity refers to common identification to a collective; often, however, these become common attributes that are essentialised as characteristic of the group (Mophosho, 2013; Marco, 2012). The formation of a social identity is a social process, where the individual and the social are related (Ito, Davison, Jenkins, Lee, Eisenberg & Weiss, 2008: 6). Having relationships with other members of a social group or collective is what identity is mainly about. An individual’s identity is developed within, but it is noted and confirmed by other people (Elliot, 2001; Hall, 1990; Marco, 2012).

Social identity converges with self-categorisation, such that people acquire a social identity in part by comparing themselves to others. Identity is thus the intersection of the many facets of our everyday lives (Hall, 1990; Marco, 2012) and it is both private and social – that is in relation to others. The self is widely considered as a central mechanism where the individual and the social world meet. “It is at the level of interpersonal relationships and human interaction that the fabrication of the self- arises” (Elliott, 2001: 22). The primary focus of identity is identification with other people who we perceive as being like us in a significant manner. Identification is a continuous process, which includes seeking a unified sense of self by making use of symbolic systems and identifying with the ways in which we are seen by others (Hall, 1990).

As identity is a construct, people often oscillate between identities as they weave different elements together, and for this reason it is argued that a person’s identity is a story, it is imagined as a person’s thoughts or constructions (Hall, 2004: 6-8). People lead storied lives in that they create their identity, and this is conveyed to others through stories. This provides the opportunity for creating continuity and structure to experience (Charles & Hughes-Freeland, 1996). As identities are ascribed by society it is extremely difficult to use one’s agency to disrupt well-established and entrenched social identities (see Butler, 1990; Dowling, 2011; Fearon, 1999; Jenkins, 2014). In other words, “identity” refers to the individual identity which “is attached to a sense of inner continuity and coherence”, as well as to one’s “social identity which is about belonging to social groups, positions and interpersonal

8 relationships in the society, and one’s cultural identity” which “is the narrative level where identities are constructed through meaningful symbols and texts” (Björck, 2000: 6).

To sum up, identity is a process rather than a product; it is a lifelong process of constructing – or thinking about – who the self is. The self does not live in isolation, but is socially embedded, and that gives a feeling of having a place within a culture. In other words, even though one has free will to imagine the self in many ways, the society in which one lives affects one’s self-conception. Both one’s conception of social identity and the social identity of the groups one identifies with – or that others identity one with – are constructed.

One of the strongest ways to identify oneself with – and by which others attribute characteristics to a person – is based on one’s biological characteristics, especially race and gender. These two biological characteristics form the basis of the discussion of the rest of this chapter.

2.3 Negative social construction of a dark skin tone 2.3.1 Introduction

This section investigates the social construction of a negative understanding of a dark skin tone through the lens of colonisation. The discrimination against people with a darker skin tone can be between races, but also within a particular race. The arguments in this section are based on colonisation but do not negate the existence of conceptions about a lighter or white skin in other cultures. Throughout history the value attached to certain skin tones have fluctuated. Before “sun block” became commercially available, white women with a lighter skin tone were regarded as of a higher status than white women with a darker skin tone as the latter signals a labourer status, as it was assumed that their “sun tan” is got when working outside (Dlova, Hamed, Tsoka-Gwegweni & Grobler, 2015). The lighter skin tone was thus associated with frailty and a higher social status (Hunter, 2007). More recently but before much scientific evidence about the harmful effects of sun tanning, many white communities valued a sun-tanned (and thus darker) skin tone (Jacobs, Levine, Abney & Davids, 2016). In the 1980s a sun tan was associated with fitness and lifelines. Historically in Asia white skin was used as criterion of personal beauty, and “in Japan applying white powder to the face has been considered a women’s moral duty since the Edo period” (Eric, Li, Belk, Kimura & Bahl, 2008: 444-445). In South India women bathed with turmeric; apart from the health benefits it also has skin lightning and anti-inflammatory effects. In ancient Chinese culture, Chinese women used to swallow powdered pearls in the hope of becoming white and used white rice powder on their faces, and this tradition is still valued in cultural festivals (Eric et al., 2008: 444-445). In other words, different skin tones have been preferred in different communities, and what is fashionable has changed over time. These preferences are shaped by a range of aspects.

2.3.2 Colonisation and skin tone

After the end of political colonisation, the effects of subjugation lingered in the sense that people of colour who were colonised remained victims on a psychological level (Hill, Kim & Williams, 2010: 108). In fact, the former colonised continued to view themselves through the lens of whiteness, meaning that the colonised population tried to imitate the light skin tone of their coloniser to enhance their quality of life and improve self-image (Hill et al., 2010: 108).

Colonisation is explained in terms of a history of ideas that establishes a developmental differential due to the control of a group of people by others (Bulhan, 2015; Butt, 2013; Fanon, 1986; Julien, 2014). “It is described as a form of domination which involves the subjugation of one people by another” (Bulhan, 2015; Butt, 2013). Colonialism involves the successful “attempt to impose the colonial power’s culture and customs onto the colonised, whether as customs, or as a result of a belief in the racial or cultural superiority of the colonising power” (Butt, 2013). In Decolonising the Mind, Kenyan author and decolonialist scholar Ngũgi Wa Thiong’o (1981) examines colonisation as a “cultural bomb” that has the effect of annihilating “people’s belief in their names, languages, environment, heritage of struggle, unity, as well as their capacities, and ultimately in themselves”. Colonisation makes people “identify with that which is reactionary, all those forces that would stop their own springs of life; it even plants serious doubts about the moral rightness of struggle” (Wa Thiong’o, 1981).

Colonialism can be described as the “outcome of the colonial experience that has fostered psychological injuries to the colonised people that have led them to aspire to be like their colonisers” (Hall, 2010), regardless of their skin tone, way of thinking or cultural values (Hall, 2010). It can be said that South Africa is one of numerous nations that have been colonised and are still struggling with the stigma of colonialism and apartheid (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014; Keith & Herring, 1991). The past inheritance of colonialism tarnished the black people’s standard of beauty and imposed that of the colonisers and also tarnished the way black people define and view beauty (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014; Fanon, 1986; Robinson, 2011) .It has been argued that “the idealisation of the coloniser’s culture led to associating blackness with the coloniser’s beliefs” (Glenn, 2008: 281). This resulted in “blackness being associated with primitiveness, lack of civilisation, unrestrained sexuality, pollution and dirt” (Glenn, 2008: 283).

Colonialism cannot be discussed without mentioning the term white supremacy. It could be argued that these two terms reflect similar views. White supremacy is the upholding and maintaining of racial hierarchies that do not include force, such as slavery, and in South Africa, also apartheid (Gillborn, 2006). The term white supremacy emphasises the idea that black people are not only socialised to encapsulate the values and attitudes of white supremacy, but that “white-supremacist control” can be exercised by black people over fellow black people (Gillborn, 2006). This is important, as the term white supremacy accurately acknowledges the fact that black people can directly exert power over 10 one another by perpetuating white supremacist beliefs (Hooks, 2006). The maintenance of white supremacy rests on the idea that dark skin is representative of savagery, irrationality, ugliness or even inferiority. White skin, and thus whiteness, defines the opposite: civility, rationality, beauty and superiority (Gillborn, 2006). Skin complexion and physical features that are associated with white people, “such as light skin, long straight hair and straight noses take on the meaning that they embody beauty. Similarly, skin tone and features associated with Africans or Indians, such as dark skin, broad noses or kinky hair do not represent the “normative” standard of beauty” (Hunter, 2002).

In other words, colonisation has brought along with it the idealisation of light skin. This idealisation has manifested in a desire for light skin complexion by non-European and African women (Hall, 2010). Europeans left no section of the world untouched by their influence. Following centuries of domination, the mission to civilise non-Europeans has resulted in a universal, almost mystic, belief in the power of skin tone to evaluate, using light skin as the standard of feminine beauty. With regards to Western colonies, skin tone was used to define an intermediate class among the natives. Any person of colour who was European in appearance was treated as white and those who were darker were treated as black (Baker & Gringart, 2009). Skin tone became important during colonisation as it was used for divisions of races where the white skin tone was at the pinnacle of humans and dark skin tone at the bottom of the social hierarchy (Gabriel, 2007: 8; Robinson, 2011: 580). Colonisation was “based upon a system that consists of a dominant light-skinned western and dominant dark- skinned non-western population” (Robinson, 2011: 580). During this period of colonisation, skin tone was imperative the relative power of light complexion over dark skin tones has specifically affected women who regularly treated and assessed dependent on physicality. It could be alluded that colonisers left cultural models that have immensely influenced the standards and values of indigenous people around the world.

The system of colonisation ensured that the European standard of beauty have now become the reference point of beauty. Therefore, to be black was viewed as primitive, backward, ugly, inferior, evil and unappealing, while to be white was to be beautiful, humane, intelligent, refined and godly (Gabriel, 2007: 6; Hunter, 2007; Robinson, 2011: 580). “Colonisers strived fundamentally to let the colonised more especially those of African heritage that there was something wrong with being black, while whiteness became the paradigm and the standard of beauty” (Gabriel, 2007: 11). Colonisation affected lot of people on how they see themselves and how they view their skins therefore it developed something called the “bleaching syndrome” amongst people of darker skin. Hall (2013) describes the “Bleaching Syndrome as a conscious and systematic process of self-denigration and aspiration to assimilate on the basis of alien ideals, resulting from colonial domination” (cited in Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). The Bleaching Syndrome was created to make the colonised to understand beauty according the coloniser’s understanding and to accept it. It could be argued that the phenomenon of yellow bone and skin bleaching is an outflow of the lingering effect of colonisation. Colonialism and white supremacy give birth to colourism, which describes a 11 phenomenon of prejudicial treatment of individuals based varying degrees of skin tone (Keith & Herring, 1991). Light skin has been perceived as a social status in different races. Having explained that colonisation historically led to colourism, next we explore what colourism is.

2.3.3 Colourism

Within the hierarchical system based on skin tone, also referred to as colourism, skin lightening is a method that can be used to approach or emulate the white ideal of beauty (Blay, 2011). Preference for light skin as well as bias against dark skin are among the most common and serious social problems that exist today. “There is no solitary history of colourism, in that it has developed in various courses in various land areas” (Phoenix, 2014: 100). Colourism is the “belief that one skin tone is superior to another, in particular that lighter skin is superior to darker skin” (Davis, 2015; Gabriel, 2007), “but it can also operate in the reverse and refer to the preference of dark skin over light skin” (Davis, 2015). At first without a name then it was given the name colourism by Alice Walker in 1983 (Davis, 2015, Gabriel, 2007), “the internalised bias and favour for light-skinned European features and “good hair” has stratified the black community for generations”. “Colourism goes back to the times of colonial era, as a poisonous legacy of slavery” (Herring, 2002: 19). It was commonly known as the “light versus dark skin issue”. Skin tone as beauty, colourism or “discrimination based on skin tone within a racial group, is one of many legacies of American slavery” (Stephen & Few, 2007: 253). “Dark-skinned slaves, who were likely of pure African ancestry, were given more physically demanding tasks in the fields, while lighter slaves were given more enviable and esteemed positions” (Keith & Herring, 1991). “Dark-skinned African American children learn about the significance of skin tone when they see people treated better based upon having a light skin” (Stephen & Few, 2007).

Colourism can also be “segregation inside the same racial group from people note contrasts and after that different themselves dependent on these difference” (Davis, 2015). Historically, colourism has “meant that even within the same community, some people prefer fairer, light skin to dark skin” (Blay, 2011; Charles, 2011; Davis; 2015; Glenn, 2008). Colourism “carries with its assumptions that link behavioural characteristics and personality traits to pigmentation: intelligence, trustworthiness, and femininity are among the attributes that are sometimes thought to accompany light skin” (Davis, 2015: 9). “These beliefs associated with colourism began during the era of slavery, when light- skinned, racially mixed slaves were often treated better than their darker skinned counterparts” (Davis, 2015: 9), hence colourism turned out to be a piece of an oblivious arrangement of suppositions held not only by African Americans but all around the world. During slavery in America, colourism subjected many darker skinned Americans to mistreatment. “Slave masters who impregnated black women and thus bore lighter offspring still considered” them as part of the “negro race”. They began implementing labour division based on skin tones (Davis, 2015; Keith, 1991; Glenn, 2008; Mathews, 2013; Hunter; 2011; Stephens & Few; 2007). Through the institution of slavery, the development of colourism flourished, making people believe that light skin is superior to dark skin. This purposefully planned labour division based on skin tone ultimately led to the bias and 12 colourism in African American society and the whole world (Gabriel, 2007: 13). It is argued that colourism is related to racism, but racism differs from colourism because it discriminates based on race whereas colourism is based on skin complexion (Charles, 2003, 2011). For this reason, this study is arguing that black men discriminate against dark women by preferring the light-skinned women who are denoted as “yellow bones’’.

Looking at the South African context, colourism is often framed as one of the negative legacies of European expansionism. The belief system of racial domination that European homesteaders carried incorporated the relationship of darkness with crudeness, absence of civilisation, over the top sexuality, contamination and soil (Glenn, 2008, 2009; Nadeem, 2014; Herring, 2002). Some historians as well as anthropologists have argued that pre-colonial African conceptions of female attractiveness favoured women with light brown, yellow or reddish hues. If this argument is correct, then the racial hierarchies set up in areas colonised by Europeans cemented and generalised the pleasure associated with light skin (Glenn, 2008). It could be argued that this introduced misunderstandings that conditioned coloured “people to believe that white-skinned people are more entitled, dominant and better than any other group” (Keith & Herring, 1991, cited in Julien, 2014). During South Africa’s colonial period and subsequent apartheid era, black people were brainwashed to believe that they were inferior to whites, which also led to this idea that black skin is inferior and unworthy of being loved (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). As a result, black people, more specifically, black women, internalised this superiority/inferiority complex and believed that their dark skin is not beautiful as it is not associated with positive attributes (Julien, 2014; Keith & Herring, 1991).

Colourism is a crisis of consciousness created by colonisers during the enslavement period. “It is prudent for the black community to grasp the implications of valuing light skin over dark skin” (Gooden, 2011: 82). Colourism is the “discriminatory treatment of individuals falling within the same racial group based on skin tone” (Gooden, 2011: 82). Colourism remains a persisting frontier of intergroup and intragroup relations in the twenty-first century. “Skin tone bias, colourism and phenotypic bias are terms used in the skin-tone discrimination literature to describe stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination based on characteristics such as skin tone, hair texture and facial features” (Hall, 2010). Skin tone is an attributed status characteristic that advantages or disadvantages an individual from the moment one is born. As skin complexion moves from light to dark, negative presumptions about ability and competence increase. To illustrate this, in a study of colourism and the politics of beauty constructed on Twitter, Phoenix (2014) found that the comments made by men, about dark skin were actually depressing for dark-skinned women or girls. Comments such as the following were used to shame dark-skinned women:

“Dark skin girls make my blood boil”, “can’t trust most dark skin girls, they lie, steal and don’t practice good hygiene” (quoted by Phoenix, 2014).

This derogatory Twitter comments directed at black women were “frequently started and circulated by boys and young men, some whom have dark skin themselves” (Phoenix, 2014: 108). These Twitter comments show the prevalence of colourism, prejudice based on skin shade, and the ways in which it interconnects with sexism to diminish black women. “Heterosexual men of colour frequently disseminate colourism by demonstrating it in their choice of partners or in their descriptions of what they consider attractive in women” (Phoenix, 2014). Drawing on the work of Glenn in Yearning for Lightness (2008), one can argue that these Twitter comments concur with the statement found that “dark-skinned people are regarded as less intelligent, trustworthy and attractive than their lighter skinned counterparts” (Glenn, 2008).

Light skin tone comprises a form of social capital that may be used to gain economic or political success and social status (Glenn, 2008; Hunter, 2007). Colourism might not be a well-known term here in South Africa as in other countries such as the USA, Jamaica, Brazil, India, and Mexico, but it plays a negative role in the country due to its relation to colonisation. It can be argued that colourism leads “to the privileging of light skin and patriarchal patterns of desire, meaning that women are still judged disproportionately on their looks by those of the opposite sex” (Phoenix, 2014; Hooks, 2006). “Dark skinned women are at a disadvantage, because skin shade is central to assessments of beauty, with light skin operating as a form of symbolic capital” (Phoenix, 2014: 108). As already noted, in South Africa, light-skinned African women sometimes find themselves referred to as “yellow bones” (Khumalo, 2015). Lighter skinned black women have often testified their experiences as being double-edged, as, on one hand they are praised as being beautiful, but at the same time they are subject to stereotypes and derogatory remarks, as colourism means that light skin is desirable and dark skin is undesirable (Khumalo, 2015; Phoenix, 2014; Charles, 2011; Glenn, 2008). These women are often driven to making decisions such as bleaching their skin, because society does not give them a choice, by shaming some and praising others. For instance, dark women shame each other, and dark men shame black women in their preference for light women.

Uwujaren (2013) argues that heterosexual black men “frequently disseminate colourism by demonstrating it in their choice of partners or in their descriptions of what they consider attractive in women” (Jha & Adelman, 2009). Colourism or discrimination based on skin tone affects men and women, but the skin appearance impacts women more than men (Hunter, 1998; Thompson & Keith, 2001). It is found that in most cases, more women of colour yearn for lightness than men do. “Colourism divides black people and that those with a light skin derive some benefit from skin tone prejudice” (Phoenix, 2014: 103). “It is with these benefits that affect women of colour and leads them to want to acquire light skin and gain the privileges of being attractive” (Glenn, 2008: 282). The concept of colourism “has led to confusing identities with the extremes of the rejection of one’s biological attributes; even today, women of colour remain ashamed of their complexion and physiognomy” (Mathews, 2013: 17). Women of colour have tended to emulate all that is white or conform to the norm of what beauty is according to society or white perceptions of beauty. “A black 14 woman categorised as dark skinned confronts the unfortunate circumstance of associating herself with what is immoral, forbidden and hated” (Mathews, 2013: 35). It is this belief of colourism that plays such a negative role in the lives of black women, and makes many women attempt to conform to some elusive construct of beauty. South African men use nicknames such as mantsho, mnyamane – all essentially meaning “darkness” – in referring to dark-skinned women (Khumalo, 2015). This confirms the stereotype that all light-skinned women are beautiful and dark-skinned women are not. “The gendered nature of colourism rises from applying the link between phenotypical features and perceptions of physical attractiveness more rigidly to women” (Ryabov, 2013: 17). Women perceived as having “light skin” feel most of the positive effects of colourism, while women who are perceived as having “dark skin” feel most of the negative effects of colourism (Seltzer & Smith, 1991). Colourism further represent discrimination and preferences in societies, which means that black people that are light skinned benefit when it comes to educational and occupational opportunities and more likely to experience discrimination to a lesser degree than those who have darker skin (Seltzer & Smith, 1991; Udry, Bauman & Chase, 1971). These privileges afforded to lighter skinned blacks represent a preferential system in societies that give special treatment to light skin over dark skin.

It can be argued that the social conceptions about young black South African women are rooted in historical and present conditions. Colonialism, white supremacy and colourism are ideologies that have had a significant impact concerning justifying or supporting reasons behind why some black women have this love-hate relationship with their skin complexion (Fultz, 2013: 16). “Colourism has a huge impact on how dark-skinned women and light-skinned women view themselves, and the advantages afforded to light-skinned women have caused resentment within the black community” (Fultz, 2013: 16). In America, colourism undermines the identity of African American women with a dark skin by creating a perception that lighter skinned African Americans have higher levels of confidence. However, this view is not restricted to America only, but it is a global phenomenon where darker skinned women are always on the receiving end of bad remarks about their skin tone. Keith and Herring (1991) explored the relationship between achievement and skin tone. They found “that skin tone can significantly limit both opportunity and achievement” (Keith & Herring). It can be argued that this is also the case in South African context, where dark-skinned women feel that they are “left out” or not considered when opportunities arise. “Light skin complexions along with other Eurocentric features have been accorded high status both within and outside the African community” (Fultz, 2013: 18).

The lingering effect of historic geopolitical power hierarchies and the mind-set of colourism has been entrenched in the minds of blacks. After colonisation, black people began creating their own social divides based on skin tone, for instance “blue vein” societies, where other blacks were acknowledged only if their skin tone was light enough that their veins were visible (Davies, 2015; Gabriel, 2007; Hunter; 2007). In the South African context this norm is perpetuated through the trend of “yellow 15 bones” where in black community’s skin tone is often connected to socio-economic status, and the reality that there is prejudice against dark-skinned women. “The yellow bone’’ trend derives from colourism where light-skinned women are perceived to be more beautiful than women of a darker skin (Khumalo, 2015).

Previous studies have revealed that colourism “has a sustained presence in the black community” (Wilder, 2008: 12). It particularly affects black women with things such as perceived attractiveness and mate selection and other opportunities. Hughes and Hertel (1990) argue that colourism has “shown to impact mate selection, life chances, perceived self-worth, attractiveness and overall self- esteem” (Hughes & Hertel, 1990). Colourism influences the body image of women. Essentially women are socialised “to be interested in maintaining an attractive physical appearance for potential mates” (Stephens & Few, 2007). In modern Western societies, it seems “natural” to strive to have a thin body and light complexion (Stephen & Few, 2007). “Light skin has been extremely valued, but people whose skin tone is “too” light or “too” close to “white” have been stigmatised by some communities like the African American communities do in the United States of America” (Stephen & Few, 2007). Previous research has “proposed that successful African American men, regardless of their skin tone, can “exchange” their wealth for a lighter skin tone” by associating with a partner with a lighter skin tone (Stephen & Few, 2007: 253). It is argued that this has been found in this research, where young black men are often recorded as wanting or preferring lighter women to dark women, which might be the reason that they pursue “yellow bones” or women who yearn for lightness. On the other hand, some researchers have argued that a lighter skin tone may indicate a lack of racial purity or solidarity, whereas a dark skin tone may be viewed as more beautiful or “real” (Seltzer & Smith, 1991; Fultz, 2013). In this case, in a South African context, light skin is viewed as a form of symbolic capital that affects if not determines one’s life chances.

In this context it can be argued that colourism is the reason that South African men choose their partners due to the “yellow bone” trend where light-skinned women are perceived to be more beautiful than dark-skinned women and are more preferred. This can be supported by the statement made by Fultz in (2013), that African American women “articulated that their male counterparts preferred lighter complexion in companions” (Fultz, 2013: 22). This then demonstrates that black women suffer from negative reactions from their male counterparts not only in America but globally. Hughes and Hertel (1990) argue that dark-complexioned “black women have suffered most of the negative reactions while light-complexioned, eurytopic black women have benefited the most” (Hughes & Hertel, 1990). This shows that colourism in the black communities is pervasive and universal, and that it most severely impacts women with darker complexions. Colourism and its very present-day face within the black community are “proof that white supremacy and racist systems are operating exactly how they were intended to” (Wilder’s, 2008).

To illustrate that colourism mainly affects black women I will use one of Wilder’s (2008) respondents in her research paper, Everyday colourism in the lives of young black women, where a respondent had this to say about colourism:

“If you’re never thought about it before as a problem, now is a good time to analyse how hurtful it can be to young women of colour. It creates serious divisions among us and can create a negative self-perception for those who aren’t born with the “right” skin tone and features. We all need to recognise colourism for what it is – a superficial, divisive and destructive mind set – and if we can break that mentality within ourselves and refuse to reinforce it in our societies then we can break the cycle of passing this practice on the future generations and ... maybe one day soon colourism itself will be a legacy of the past” (Wilder, 2008: 14).

Colourism still affects many individuals today and it is evident enough that it affects both men and women, but particularly black women. Black women receive hash treatment just because of their skin complexion. The preference for light skin as well as bias against dark skin are amongst the most common and serious social problems that exist today, thus black women yearn for lightness just to conform to the white ideals of beauty that was created by colourism.

One of the many negative effects of colonialism and apartheid in South Africa is the striving to have a lighter complexion through the practice of skin bleaching. In the times of “colonialism and apartheid, black South African were oppressed and conditioned to believe that they were inferior to whites therefore the influence of colonialism and apartheid led them to practice skin bleaching” (Julien, 2014). Black people in South Africa, particularly women, just like other women around the globe, believe that being dark-skinned makes them inferior in the eyes of society, therefore, in their view they will never meet the westernised “standard of beauty that is portrayed in the media” (Julien, 2014; Robinson, 2011; Hall, 2016). Hall (2016) argues that this hierarchy remains ever so delicate today and exists among women of African descent both at home and abroad, where they have been made to trust that white or light is right, and that light-skinned people evidently occupy positions of greater power and economic advantage than the dark-skinned population (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014).

In summary, colourism implies the preference for both light skin as well as these other attendant features, where skin tone is closely associated with beauty or physical attractiveness. Yet skin tone has been the focus of most research, as it is the most visible physical feature and is also the feature that is most enduring and difficult to change. Colourism, or discrimination based on skin tone, often leads to confusing and negative social identities of women, hence the formation of the black consciousness movement that was fully behind the emancipation of women from men’s oppression and the oppression of colonisers.

2.4 Positive social construction of a dark skin tone 2.4.1 Introduction

To counter the negative social construction of Blackness in general, and in particular a black or dark skin tone, resistance formed against Western constructions of race and beauty. In this section, such resistance is explained as Afrocentric theory and the Black Consciousness movement, in order to illustrate the formation of African-centric notions of race and beauty.

2.4.2 The Black Consciousness movement

In South Africa, the Black Consciousness movement became known for its key drive towards the emancipation of black people, restoring a positive image of black culture, freedom from oppression, anti-racism, and the battle against neoliberalist or economic oppression. The Black Consciousness movement was also important in eradicating resistance against Azania and its “darker people” (Ndaba & Smith, 2017: 16-21). One of the key tents of the Black Consciousness movement is thus freedom from the internalisation of white superiority by fostering black pride, as well as freedom from the institutionalisation of white privilege, which has the subsequent effect of psychological oppression (Alley & Alley, 2008). The intention of the Black Consciousness movement is thus to disentangle the white value system of society (Desai, 2015) Hall (2010) argues that the fight against white racism is also against colourism discrimination based on skin tone. Given the background of institutionalised racial discrimination (see Charles, 2003; Gordon; 2016; Mathews; 2013; Thompson & Keith, 2001), the media have a problematic relationship with black women. They are either represented in the media due to racial prejudice or when they are featured in the media, the media tend to stereotype them negatively (Brooks & Herbert; Baker, 2005; Francois, 2014; Hunter, 2011; Lindsey, 2011; Poran, 2006). In fact, media stereotypes often sexualise black women or frame them as the exotic “other” (Baker, 2005; Brook & Herbert, 2006; Poran, 2006). For this reason, the Black Consciousness movement places considerable emphasis on women’s positive experience of self from hair texture to skin tone, through initiatives such as the “Black is Beautiful” campaign (Panyane, 2017: 246).

The Black Consciousness movement was formed in the late 1960s and its aims were to promote pride in black features and culture (Goering, cited in Chapman, 2007). This movement taught black women that they needed a sense of self and Africans needed to counter “whiteness”. The movement was also established upon the importance of truth, knowledge and beauty, and accentuation of the positive connotations of the label “Black”. The “Black Consciousness movement wanted to create a positive black identity in a deeply racist society, resisting the pejorative designation through self-help and interdependence” (Panyane, 2017). Similarly, the Black is Beautiful movement promoted the idea that black women are beautiful and should feel comfortable in their own skin. The Black Consciousness and Black is Beautiful movements emancipated black women from the psychological effect that only Eurocentric aesthetic standards of beauty are accepted. The Black Consciousness

18 movement emphasised the sentiment that one must love and value oneself. It also insists that one should not feel forced to take part in the hegemonic process of changing themselves to fit acceptable cultural norms.

2.4.3 Afrocentric theory

Afrocentric theory is a powerful critical tool to help examine body image, hair and race. It is a way to redefine and address the marginalisation and racist beauty standards experienced by most black women. Afrocentricity reaffirms the notion that there is no need to adhere to any beauty standard (Chawane, 2016).

According to various scholars, such as Asante (2006), Chawane (2016), Mazama (2002), Masaka and Chemhuru (2014), and Oyebade (1990), Afrocentricity is defined as a philosophical paradigm that deals with questions about African identity from the perspective of Africans as centred, located, oriented and grounded. Asante is the proclaimed originator of this concept as other scholars have acknowledged (Chawane, 2016; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). In the words of Chawane (2016), Afrocentricity is an exercise in knowledge and new historical perspective. “Afrocentricity aims at reconstruction and rewriting the whole landscape of human history in its explanation of the origin of mankind” (Chawane, 2016: 82). It aims at giving cultural stability to Africans who have been misplaced, dislocated and mentally colonised to the extent of disliking their own skin (Asante, 2006; Chawane, 2016; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). It is further argued that the concept of Afrocentricity aims to re-centre the African person and African reality from the margins of European thought, attitudes and doctrines that have established themselves in skin bleaching or skin whitening. The African culture was destroyed during colonisation, and Afrocentricity is intended to correct and review the process and extent of dislocation of dark skin caused by the European cultural economic and political supremacy of Africa (Chawane, 2016; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014; Gwaravanda, 2011). This concept is a “transformation of attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviour, meaning that it is a rediscovery of the African people” (Chawane, 2016: 80).

Afrocentricity is based on the harmonious co-existence of an endless variety of cultures. The essence of the argument of Afrocentricity is that the Europeans’ view must not be enforced as universal, because Africans are entitled to give their own perspective on the African experience, just as Europeans do (Chawane, 2016: 83). It could be argued that “Afrocentricity aims to relocate the African person as active agent in human history” (Asante, 2006: 646). It consequently falls within the tradition of resistance of African people to the supposed domination of Europe in world affairs (Asante; 2006; Mazama, 2002). Therefore, Afrocentricity is a pursuit for liberation of the colonised from the coloniser’s physical and mental bondage. According to Chawane (2016), Afrocentricity provides a counterforce to the prevailing intellectual colonialism that focuses discriminatorily on European influences and traditions in interpretations of African thinkers. It could also be contended that this concept allows other cultures to see history from their own perspective. “The coloniser’s 19 perspective of beauty must be regarded as only one among other perspectives of beauty” (Masaka & Chemuru, 2014: 11). The Afrocentric ideological standpoint is important in instilling confidence and self-worth among the colonised black people in the face of the questionable superiority of the people of Europe based on their skin tone and supposed high levels of civilisation (Masaka & Chemuru, 2014: 14). It is consequently essential for Afrocentricity to question the supposed supremacy of the skin over black skin.

“The perspective of Afrocentricity questions the colonisers’ perspective of beauty and must be duly rejected in the minds of African men” (Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014: 11). The Afrocentric pursue to challenge the myth that beauty can only be seen from the coloniser’s perspective and that women who bleach their skin enhance their beauty and social standing (Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). It also defies the notion that the colonisers’ understanding of beauty becomes the standard that the colonised must necessarily accept (Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). In this study it is argued that black men in Katlehong township see or understand beauty according to the perspective of the colonisers, where beauty is associated with lightness of skin.

In the study of Masaka and Chemhuru (2014) it was argued that Afrocentricity challenges the fact that skin bleaching expressly embodies the white supremacist myth that all that is white is good and that black symbolises evil, misfortunes and low-grade civilisation. The Afrocentric paradigm is necessary in questioning the supposed supremacy of the white skin over black skin. Afrocentric theory rejects the hegemonic and philosophical views of race and colour considering anything light or close to European as superior and beautiful. Afrocentricity embrace the ideology of “Black is Beautiful” which arose during the era of Black Power and Civil Rights in the 1960s. These movements were powerful because they encouraged racial consciousness and black pride (Wilder, 2008: 24). In other words, Afrocentric theory suggests countering the dominant notions of Western beauty.

2.5 Skin tone and female beauty 2.5.1 Beauty

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (Magdaraog, 2014).” This saying signifies that the very essence that beauty is defined by the beholder or the looker rather than the beheld, or the object of looking (Magdaraog, 2014). However, beauty is defined as a social construct with a universal concept with cultural relevance. In other words, beauty is different in many cultures as cultures have different perceptions of what constitutes beauty (Matiza, 2013; Robinson, 2011; Goldman, 2014; Lindsay, 2011).

“Beauty has been identical with all that is good, as good-looking people have been labelled as kind, interesting, sociable and to have a good quality life” (Shelembe, 2014: 7). The perception of beauty changes with time; what was regarded beautiful today might be unpleasant tomorrow. Therefore,

“beauty is a pleasurable feeling that rises in the perception of everyone” (Donne, 2010; 88). The classifications of beauty affect the identities of everyone and in this scenario; it is the identities of black women that are affected by perceptions of men in what they think beauty is. With this said, perceptions of what constitutes beauty have evolved throughout the generations, hence we now have the kind of beauty depicted in the media which then plays a pivotal role in how individuals view themselves, especially women. In other words, beauty is a social construct, valid in a particular time and place, and it is influenced by the powerful (Goldman & Waymer, 2014: 2).

What may be beautiful for one may not be beautiful for another; thus, beauty is always subjective, and is determined by whoever is looking (Magdaraog, 2007). However, this is not always the case, as it is seen globally that beauty is associated with skin tone, where a light skin tone is always associated with beauty and preferred more than dark skin (Mathews, 2013; Glenn; 2008; Hunter; 2011). The preference for light skin as well as the bias against dark skin are among the most common and serious social problems that exist today. One can argue that these social problems of skin tone derive from colourism and have a huge impact on how women of darker skin carry themselves and how the world views them, and most importantly on how their male counterparts feel about them.

2.5.2 Beauty and colourism

“The prevailing dominant view of beauty has been largely affected by colourism whereby people use skin tone of an individual to classify the individual as beautiful or not” (Robinson, 2011: 580). Many are left seeking a light skin tone in attempt to look beautiful in the eyes of society. Too often beauty is measured by the colour of one’s skin tone. This plays an important role to determine how beautiful a person is, the skin and holds high stakes in societies (Theodore, n.d.). It has become a phenomenon that the social construction of beauty is highly linked with skin tone and that light skin has become celebrated. Research has shown that beauty is closely associated with light skin, manifesting the discrimination of one skin shade over another (Charles, 2003; Davies, 2015; Hunter, 2011; Keith & Herring, 1991). This leads to colourism, which is explained as the belief that a person’s behaviour and beauty is determined by the colour of their skin tone. This notion has led to many women around the world believing that being beautiful means having a lighter skin tone; dark- skinned women are the ones who are mostly affected by this notion, more than women who are light- skinned.

The link between beauty and colourism is highly displayed on media platforms. The media influences society and sells the idea that light-skinned women are beautiful and look better than dark-skinned women, and this is illustrated by how media platforms always prefer to use women of a lighter skin than darker women. If women of a dark skin tone are used on magazine covers or television shows they are airbrushed to make their skin look lighter and more beautiful. Social media have also been used as a tool to manifest the notion that beauty is associated with colourism. A quick glance on social media, especially the Twitter platform, shows that beauty and colourism are closely linked. 21

For instance, the following tweets are examples to attest that media is used as tool to showcase how beauty and colourism are associated:

“We are only here for light skin girls”; “She is pretty, but she’s not light-skinned though”; and “When girls are dark, boys are few” (quoted by Theodore, n.d.).

These tweets imply that dark-skinned girls are unattractive and undesirable (Theodore, n.d.). Many media campaigns have carried the message that light skin is the beauty ideal that people of colour should aspire to, and this is also supported by the misogyny portrayed by black men against dark- skinned women (Theodore, n.d.). These tweets may lead individuals to believe that they are imperfect and unacceptable the way they are. People of colour have striven to have the Western beauty standard that is sold to them by media, therefore this has changed how individuals define themselves and this disregards how people constitutes beauty.

Black bodies in South Africa have been imbued with unsettling sexualised meaning, especially female bodies, which have been portrayed through patterns of hypervisibility that have simultaneously subjected women to heightened levels of surveillance (Marco, 2012: 16). Black women have been challenged to change identity due to the pressure they get from media and men. Black women in South Africa are negotiating their physical identities or their appearance due to the psychological impact of colonisation and apartheid. They are forced to question their identities, “being-ness”, humanity and self-worth through the pressure they get from media, men and the society at large (Marco, 2012: 16). They do this by engaging in skin bleaching as an attempt to rework their identities. More pressure seems to be put on black women to be attractive, because women are often judged more on their looks than any other personal aspects or qualities. In this case much pressure is put on the physical identity of black women to conform to white notions of beauty by bleaching their skins (Mophosho, 2013; Marco, 2012).

Since it has been argued by Magdarog (2007) that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, it is important to understand beauty from the African perspective (black beauty).

2.5.3 Black beauty

As was argued earlier in this chapter, on an abstract level beauty may be a universal concept but it has cultural relevance and is situated in a particular time and place (Foo, 2010, Goldman & Waymer, 2014; Lindsey, 2011; Matiza, 2013). “Different cultures have different conceptions of what constitutes beauty” (Shelembe, 2014: 16).

The same can be said of the notion of black beauty, where beauty is defined differently in black traditions or black societies. African social beauty is relative. In other words, “it applies differently to different cultures because people grow up in different times and cultures, with different values and perceptions” (Matiza, 2013: 63). “In the past, body parts such as buttocks, breasts, eyes and teeth 22 occur frequently as central focus in traditional African sayings about beauty” (Oloruntoba-Oju, 2007: 4). While facial attractiveness and skin tone is deemed important in western culture, the same cannot be said with traditional black beauty in African cultures. It has been argued that in African diaspora there are two ways of thinking about it: besides physical beauty, there is the inner beauty that is seen in someone’s deeds, or their non-physical characteristics, since “moral behaviour is considered an aesthetic value” (Shelembe, 2014). It is also found that in most African societies the perceived value of a woman’s physical beauty depreciates when she has an unbecoming character (Shelembe, 2014).

In the traditional African context large women with big breasts and big buttocks have been constructed as the beauty ideals – unlike the European point of view and that advanced by the media where slim, tall and light-skinned women are the ideal of beauty (Foo, 2010; Matiza, 2013; Oloruntoba-Oju, 2007; Shelembe, 2014). Another construct is that, in an African context, women with bigger bodies are appreciated, because it is believed that these women will be able to give birth to children in marriage and that is the function of beauty from the social point of view in an African context. Foo (2010) argues that usually a big-boned and curvaceous wife symbolised a happy husband. In a study conducted by Poran (2006) it was found that black men’s tendency to prefer large body types has been proposed to influence black women’s perceptions of themselves. It was discovered that “black men and boys are known to prefer significantly heavier body sizes for women and girls” (Poran, 2006: 740). However, the above view of black beauty is contested, as a case can be made that this is precisely playing in the hands of western notions of beauty stereotyping African women. On the other hand, this very point may be undermined if one argues that traditional notions of beauty are changing due to the dominance of western ideals of beauty.

Consequently, there has been a trend in South Africa for black women to adopt “Western” body shape ideals, which often eclipses their cultural conceptions (Shelembe, 2014). The traditional ideal of women having a big-boned, curvaceous body, big breasts and buttocks is no longer regarded as the most beautiful thing about black beauty, as media has changed the perceptions of beauty in black communities, especially how men define beauty today. Shelembe (2014) argues that the dominant culture in South Africa coupled with the media has been influential in promoting the desired western body shape (Shelembe, 2014). These desired western ideals of beauty also include skin tone, where light skin is valued over darker skin tones.

In other words, Afrocentric theory criticises a universal standard of beauty across the world. However, the well-established international trade in the idea of beauty – often amplified by the cosmetics or beauty industry, the media industry, and certain forms of music – tend to reinforce western notions of beauty favouring a light skin or a lighter complexion over a dark skin.

2.6 Skin tone, the beauty industry and the media 2.6.1 Introduction

The beauty industry – that is selling the idea of beauty – is well-established and is mostly advanced by the mass media. Worldwide, in contrast to being publicly owned, the biggest part of the media is privately owned with the purpose of making profit for its shareholders. In other words, the content, imagery and views that are favoured are geared to enhancing profit. One of the many ways of enhancing profit is to sell the idea of (female) beauty. However, how groups of people are portrayed in the media impacts their self-identity, group identity and how others perceive them. For this reason, it is important for this study to note dominant representations of race and gender in the media.

2.6.2 Representation in the media

It is beyond dispute that we live in media saturated culture. Radio, television, film and the internet constitute cultural materials out of which we forge identities (Kellner, 2003, Cushion, Moore & Jewell, 2011). This presents the audiences with the chance to create new and liberating meanings for themselves and to see how the world operates in other people’s lives, besides theirs (Gauntlet, 2008: 2).

The media play an imperative part in the socialisation process, especially socialisation into gender roles (Baker, 2005). “The media is known to replicate and strengthen traditional gender roles” (Baker, 2005: 13). “It is argued that the media illustrates diverse relationships and situations from other people’s perceptions” (Gauntlet, 2008: 2). The media grants its audience opportunity to create new and emancipating meanings for themselves (Kellner, 2003), while also positioning itself as an efficient means of socialisation and diffusion of popular culture. It is argued in the media effect theory that the media has clear effects on people, society and culture in general via the contents delivered in mass communication. Media contents disseminated through advertisements have a huge impact on large audiences. According to studies, advertisements frequently represent how a type of desired or perfect woman should look and behave. It has been criticised however for its portrayal and fostering of the perception that a “woman is an object that exists to satisfy men’s sexual fantasies” (Baker, 2005: 13). This perhaps explains the general perception of light-skinned bodies being more attractive and more celebrated (as portrayed in the media).

“Media images provide a diffuse confirmation of one’s worldview, promote acceptance of current social arrangements and reassure people that things are the way they ought to be” (Coltrane & Messineo, 2008: 364). The media has created its own criteria of what is beauty (Goldman & Waymer 2014: 2). Media images seem to portray western beauty as the ideal beauty. The western ideal of beauty constitutes slenderness, a small figure, long hair, straight nose and light skin (Foo, 2010; Alcala & Najar, 2013; Lindsey, 2011; Hunter, 2007). The western view of beauty requires women to create beauty through make up, hairstyles, skin bleaching or plastic surgery (Alcala & Najar, 2013:

4). Western beauty that is presented in the media requires women to resort to dieting and cosmetic surgery to try to attain the culturally defined ideal body (Alcala & Najar, 2013, Foo, 2010, Hunter, 2007, Lindsey, 2011). “The media depicts white ideals of beauty as the beauty commodity that black women must possess to be successful” (Gooden, 2011: 87).

Advertisements of beauty products often frame beauty as a light skin that can be achieved through skin bleaching using bleaching creams. Therefore, the media presents “beauty standards that are difficult to achieve, despite their continuous efforts, as female media images are often one- dimensional and idealistic” (Goldman & Waymer, 2014). It could be argued that the media depicts “a limited range of physical and facial attractiveness among leading characters; thus, strict beauty standards are created and communicated” (Goldman & Waymer 2014: 3). It is further argued that the media prefers white complexions, and this exhibits the idea that possessing white skin is beautiful, with the idea of media is depicting a stereotyped kind of beauty, or what constitutes beauty (Alcala & Najar, 2013: 20). The media often supports the globally dominant white western culture. It could also be argued that “the media appears to drive the beauty ideal to sell products” (Shelembe, 2014: 9).

According to research, “cosmetics is an imperative part of how colour is used to adorn the body” (Davis, 2013: 13). The history of cosmetics goes back as far as 4,000 BC, when green powder was made and “applied to both the upper and lower eyelids” (Davis, 2013). Cosmetics are used globally to improve or enhance women’s beauty (Davis, 2013). It is argued that during the period of the 1920s and 1930s adverts were created in chain stores to improve perceptions of race and promote self- image to encourage increases social mobility (Blay, 2016; Charles, 2003). It could be argued that today the beauty industry uses media to disseminate their products and to influence more women to purchase beauty products in the hope of beautifying or enhancing themselves (Kozee, 2016). The cosmetics industry has collaborated with celebrities to change or modify consumers’ attitudes towards brands (Blay, 2016; Davis, 2013; Kozee, 2016). It is argued that celebrities are encouraged to launch their own lines of make-up or cosmetics. Celebrities like Jessica Alba, Beyoncé, Victoria Beckham and many more are used as the faces of many cosmetics brands to try and sell the idea of beauty to consumers. It is argued that using celebrities in advertisements of cosmetics or beauty products is the idea of media using cultural ideals to socialise “young women by showing them limited types of feminine beauty schemas presented as ideal beauty” (Lynch, 2007). Lynch (2007) suggested that the media increasingly manipulates the ideals for women’s appearance: “when women compare themselves with idealised images it can have positive or negative impact on women’s perception of their own female beauty” (Lynch, 2007).

2.6.3 Representation of black women in the media

Black women are regarded as on the margins, which excluded them “from much mainstream media, and when included at all they are mainly depicted according to racially specific gender stereotypes” 25

(Baker, 2005:15). Several current-day studies have criticised mainstream media for their pessimistic displays of black women (Brooks & Herbert, 2006:293). “Black women depiction in the media determines how blackness and people are seen and how other groups will respond to them based on their relation to those constructed images” (Brooks & Herbert, 2006:299). Media images of black women result from prevailing racial, gender and class ideologies. These stereotypes together reproduce and disfigure both the way in which black women view themselves and the ways in which others view them (Brooks & Herbert, 2006; Coltrane & Messineo, 2008). The images of black the woman as an oversexed desire object, or a desexualised and non-threatening mummy figure or matriarch, remain the most persistent in the media. Generally, female beauty relates to “light skin, straight hair, thinness, relative youthfulness and middle-class status” (Brooks & Herbert, 2006; Baker, 2005; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000).

The underrepresentation of black women on media platforms might be one of the reasons why men prefer the white ideal of beauty, because white individuals are shown with flawless faces and what seem to be perfect bodies (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000: 365). The underrepresentation of black women on media platforms has become a social issue in the service of dominant ideologies and economic interests (Coltrane & Messineo 2000). Black representation in the mainstream media emphasises that most importance is “placed on the physical attractiveness of white woman” (Baker, 2005: 25). “This proposes that it is only white women who are thought of as desirable” (Baker, 2005: 25). Contemporary women of several races have a tendency to struggle “for the independence for which black women have often been criticised; this means that images of black women are still at least to some extent inhibited by stereotypes” (Baker, 2005: 25).

In the entertainment media, black women are truly underrepresented. In most depictions in hip-hop music videos, for instance, black women are depicted in a negative light. They are considered “ratchet” in the words of the society, but furthermore, they are considered angry, promiscuous and dependent (Baker, 2005; Claudius, 2005). These negative connotations and underrepresentation of black women have made black women continuously try to become the ideal woman, which mostly does not reflect black women and especially not dark-skinned black women (Bess, 2015: 11). It can be argued that with this ideology, black women will always have low self-esteem, and this then might make men always choose women that are light-skinned over dark-skinned women. Media representations of black women often make people want to be what they and others deem “good” and that often means imitating what is deemed “good” (Bess, 2015: 11).

Baker (2005) found that black women in media were mostly exposed as unimportant and “that, regardless of race or ethnicity, women continue to be much more likely than men to be exposed as sex objects” (Baker, 2005). “While white women are singled out as icons of beauty” (Baker, 2005: 15), “black women are classified instead as aggressive and divergent from the submissive image of female sexuality that is most prominent in society” (Baker, 2005: 15).

These gender stereotypes of black females in the media are linked to their sexuality and as the exotic “other” (Brooks & Herbert, 2006; Baker; 2005; Hunter, 2011). This phenomenon extends to all women of colour (this includes Latinos, Indian and Asian women). “Asian women in film are either passive figures who exist to serve men as love interest for white men or as a partner in crime for men of their own kind” (Tajima, 1989). Hence, it may be argued that the issue of objectification and sexualisation of female bodies cuts across all women of colour. Much of the academic writing on Asian, black and Latina women’s representation in the media is steeped in postcolonial theory and orientalist discourse, both of which are concerned with the “other” (Brooks & Herbert, 2006). While black women endure to be underrepresented in the mainstream media, “when portrayed they are often shown as sufferers” (Baker, 2005: 15). Many times, they are often substituted with white and biracial female counterparts in key roles in films and advertisement. The black body is thus systematically excluded from the good narrative in the popular (Lindsey, 2011: 13). White feminine beauty is regularly associated with whiteness and middle-class status, but black women are presented in three depictions, namely jezebel, matriarch and sapphire (Baker, 2005; Brooks & Herbert, 2006). “The jezebel image presents the sexuality of black women as hostile and has persisted through many generations while the features depicted by the matriarch and sapphire images are highly correlated with those of jezebel” (Baker, 2015: 15). The matriarch image depicts black women as mothers, who are the head of the house with equal or more authority than men. The black matriarch is depicted as unexpected, “for the reason that she challenges the postulation of the patriarchal family” (Baker, 2005: 15). The last image that black women are shown as is sapphire, which, like the image of matriarch, is displayed as overwhelming “her male counterpart and threatening his sense of masculinity” (Baker, 2005: 15).

One way that people make sense of change is through media, especially through advertisements. Advertisements disseminate and reinforce traditional roles and gender inequality by depicting how ideal men and women perform and present themselves. In our society, perfect men are dominant, strong, and successful as well as sexually appealing. “Perfect women are physically beautiful, submissive sexual objects” (Hazell & Clarke, 2008: 6). Early studies have analysed how the images of women are often stereotyped in their media depictions. One of the stimulating arguments that arises from the previous studies is that women have been depicted as sex objects (Baker, 2005; Hazell & Clarke, 2008; Byerly & Ross, 2006). More especially their male counterpart sees female body as a mere sexual object. Baker (2005) debates that women were frequently depicted in every “stereotypical way such as in submissive roles or family roles and in lower physical and social positions than men” (Baker, 2005) Goffman (1979) also attest that women in media depictions or advertisements are being restricted to one identity or stereotyped as sex objects (Goffman, 1979). These statements mentioned above are not a thing of the past, as it is still found today that “women are still depicted in obedient positions and as sex slaves even today” (Baker, 2005: 14), which then makes an interesting argument in analysing the role of women in media. Baker (2005) argues that

27 women are frequently “used in advertisements for men to entail a sexual relationship between the men who uses the product and the women in the advertisements promote message that women’s decisive goal is to attract men” (Baker, 2005: 14). Thus, it is imperative to note that media advertisements portray how we think men and women behave and it can be argued that the way media associate’s beauty with the white ideal of beauty it has affected how people perceive and understand beauty. It has also “reinforced the idea of men stereotyping women or restricted women to one identity” (Baker, 2005: 14). It could be argued that most advertisements’ depictions of black women and other women of colour show them indulging in conspicuous consumption. Manufacturers and sellers place advertisements in publications widely, and in most advertisements black women are convinced to strive to white ideal of beauty (Walker, 2000). According to Baker (2005), the depicting of ideal women in a stereotyped manner shows that men are superior, and most media advertisements are about satisfying men and demoralising women about how they see and think about themselves. For instance, they make distinctions that a sign of prominence “for a man is to have a physically eye-catching woman who brings him prestige” (Baker, 2005: 14).

The abovementioned images of black women presented in the media are contradictory to the mainstream image of women as submissive, and because they challenge the patriarchal hierarchy, they are exaggerated in order to appear deviant (Jewell, 1993, cited in Baker (2005). The image of black women as being sexually immoral is still present through images that are more contemporary. The depiction “of black women’s sexuality has been described as predatory and animal like” (Baker, 2005). In contrast, this might be the reason why black women want to affirm to white ideal of beauty, because they want to deviate from these negative connotations. These images of black women being labelled as sexual aggressive have become part of the culture of what people think about black women. “Representations of black bodies in the media are both implicitly and explicitly where black African women have accepted white constructions of feminine beauty” (Lindsey, 2011: 11). To flaunt the skin lightening products, advertisements are frequently expensively produced, featuring ultra- light celebrities or supermodels and presenting both traditional and westernised visual signifiers to evoke an atmosphere of purity, cleanliness and sophistication (Jacobs et al, 2016: 69). These depictions suggest that black women are “not happy, ignored by men and suffer from low self- esteem” (Jacobs et al., 2016: 69). These connotations that black women or women of colour are represented in a pessimistic role provoke anxiety and insecurities, which then results in them engaging in harmful forms of body beautification such as skin lightening.

The representation of women in media shows that women are being stereotyped and being represented sex objects. Objectification of women is another message used in media at the expense of women irrespective of their skin tone. “Objectification theory is that women are sexually objectified when their bodies are treated as objects for the use and satisfaction of others” (Nxumalo, 2010: 18). “Objectification theory provides a framework for understanding the experience of being a female in a socio-cultural context that sexually objectifies the female body” (Szymanski, Moffitt, & Carr, 2011). 28

This idea puts the presumption that women in general have been socialised to perceive themselves as objects to be evaluated by other people. “The objectification of women in media leads to social problems such as violence, sexual abuse and skin stratification” (Nxumalo, 2010: 18). In this context, the preference of young black men for lighter complexioned women is intensified by media objectification. Objectification of women in media makes other attributes of women to be passive, but just intensifies the physical sexual being of women, which leads to women being stereotyped or being reduced to one identity.

Historically, constructions of black females have been around the idea of hyper sexuality, or the jezebel image, which became a racialised gendered symbol of deviant female sexuality – and hip- hop music advances this by using the mass media (Claudius, 2015; Poran, 2006; Aubrey, Hopper & Mbure, 2011). In mainstream hip-hop music videos, black women are shown as constantly available sexual objects of the male artists. It has been contended by these scholars (Claudius, 2015; Larsen, 2006; Grönevik, 2013) that hip-hop music videos have long been understood by their critics as unashamedly sexist. It is contended that scantily clad black women in rapper’s music videos are nothing, but contemporary representations of the enslaved black female. The black female body is still essentialised through racist and misogynist constructions of black womanhood, and mainstream hip-hop provides a platform for oppressive representations of black women (Claudius, 2015; Larsen, 2006). The black female is seen as the subject of commodification and objectification in hip-hop music videos (Claudius, 2005; Grönevik, 2013). The lyrics in most of these hip-hop music videos pronounce them as hoes, skeezers or bitches (Grönevik, 2013; Larsen, 2006; Poran, 2006). Hip-hop music videos display women as tools of sexual accommodation for enjoyment and pleasure to be shared amongst friends (Claudius, 2005). Women are depicted as commodities to be bought by male artists who throw money at them (Claudius, 2005). This is implying when a “female’s posterior begins to shake provocatively by being stimulated after a credit is swiped through her gluteal cleft” (Claudius, 2005). These depictions degrade “the value of the woman, implying she is only valued as an object of sexual desire” (Aubrey, Hopper & Mbure, 2011: 360). Hip hop music videos present “scantily clad women primarily posing seductively and being groped and fondled” (Larsen, 2006), and “women are more likely to be outfitted in provocative clothing particularly in music videos of sexual consent” (Larsen, 2006).

The sexualisation of women in the media has the consequence that men get advantage from the media images of women’s sexuality and beauty, and this then promotes the idea that women are included in the images for the wrong reasons and leads to gender inequality. It is noted that people who are not white or male tend to be portrayed in a stereotypical and unfavourable light (Hazell & Clarke, 2008: 6). Images of women portray the norm of a perfect woman that is a physically beautiful, obedient sexual object, and these ideal images are used in selling products to both men and women (Hazell & Clarke, 2008: 6). In the same way as the sexualisation of women objectifies women, the racial subjugation of black women is reinforced by the media (Hunter & Soto, 2009). In other words, 29 the media plays a large role in reinforcing white supremacy and legitimates the power of males over females and other races (Hazell & Clarke, 2008). With this being said about the depiction of black women in media advertisements, it can be distinguished that black women are mostly shown as sex objects in the media. It is important to highlight how sexual objectification leads to social problems and how the media objectifies black women.

2.6.4 The representation of black women by black-owned media

Mainstream media depicts black women as sexual objects or tools that are used to please men’s sexual desire. In contrast, Black oriented media represent black women in roles that diverge from those in white oriented media.

In black oriented media, black women are portrayed as dominant and have high self-esteem (Baker, 2005: 16), and this gives women in the black community the chance to resist the white ideals of beauty that have been depicted in the mainstream media (Baker, 2005; Boyce-Davies, 2002; Poran, 2006). Black oriented media purposely tends to have a positive effect for black women with strong ethnic identity. Black oriented media encourages and embraces black women and more specifically, it looks to portray black women as role models rather than as sex objects like the way black women are portrayed in the mainstream media. The black oriented media serves as the voice of the voiceless by representing black women in a positive way and by reintroducing the idea of black beauty (Baker, 2005; Boyce-Davies, 2002; Poran, 2006), which disputes what the mainstream has depicted about black women. The black oriented media fights against the negative depictions that are associated with black women, specifically the cultural images of black women being stereotyped and internalised. Pictures of black women in black oriented media depict women as financially strong and holding occupational status (Hazell & Clarke, 2008: 9). One could argue that the black oriented media is beneficial for the under representation of black women in the mainstream media, because it has a protective effect on the body esteem of black women (Poran, 2006: 740). This is in contradiction to what the mainstream media depicts about black women, Poran (2006) argues that black women do not identify with the white women on screen or in fashion shows, but “actively dis- identify with them and so are protected from the effects of negative self-comparisons” (Poran, 2006: 740). This assertion is clearly in contrast to what the mainstream media portrays about black women, where women who have dark skin tend to have lower self-esteem, due to the depictions of them being too black, sex objects and submissive.

The under-representation of black women presents a space of contest, struggle and negotiation of identities for black women and this is aided by black oriented media. The black oriented media gave rise to the Blaxploitation films which was a way of eradicating the under-representation of black people. Francois (2014) argues, “The interests of Blaxploitation films was about representations of black women which is actually opposite of slavery times” (Francois, 2014: 7). It is further argued that black women in Blaxploitation films have taken full control of their sexuality (Francois, 2014: 9). Black 30 women also enjoy a more implicit sense of control over themselves, including their sexuality (Francois, 2014: 8), whereas in the mainstream media black women are often portrayed as sex objects who don’t have control over themselves as they are only included in the media to be products and serve as sexual desire for men. The Blaxploitation films represent “women as having a high sense of self awareness, almost mocking male sexual fantasy and using sexuality to their advantage” (Francois, 2014: 9). These depictions in Blaxploitation films about black women give black women a chance to resort to their own beauty and replacing what the norm that has been made by the mainstream media that beauty is associated to the white ideals of beauty (Francois, 2014; Poran, 2006). This seems to resonate what Afrocentricity reaffirms to the notion that there is no need to adhere to any beauty standard (Chawane, 2016). Blaxploitation films have created a freer sense of values, identities and ideologies regarding black women. These portrayals fight against the negative stereotypes associated with black women or dark-skinned women in general (Francois, 2014; Poran, 2006). The black oriented media and Blaxploitation films have a similar priority, which is to protect and fight against negative connotations that are attached to black women (Francois, 2014; Poran, 2006). With these explanations, this leads us to black culture.

Black culture protects black women from the negative body related images in the media and dominated white biased culture (Poran, 2006: 740). “Black culture is presented as a guardian or buffer which shields young black women from danger and aids them to maintain positive esteem” (Poran, 2006: 740). This is something that is very rare in media advertisements because black women are always compared to their white counterparts and are always driven to accept or to imitate to what the media thinks of them as well as to conform to what society thinks of them and this has a negative impact on how they perceive themselves. Black culture shares the same sentiments as the argument that was made by Richardson-Stovall (2012) that African American women receive support for their body types and their beauty images from their families and the African American community (Richardson-Stovall, 2012). Here the argument is that the black culture protects black women not to be “undermined or put down by whites’ ideas and meanings of magnificence, as result of network acknowledgement and support of their body and excellence pictures” (Richardson-Stovall 2012:59). “Mainstream media show black women as worthless or reduced to one identity, and black women characters are typically shown as exotic and sexually accessible for men” (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000: 368), whereas black culture is fighting and protecting black women against these stereotypes. Black culture is protecting black women images in media because it is with media that black men or men in general have found to value lighter skin for black women and that makes black women feel rather targeted by media standards, men’s standards and comparisons with other women (Poran, 2006: 752). It is argued that African American women have bolster for their body types and their excellence pictures from their families and their community (Chapman, 2007; Hunter, 2007; Mathews, 2013)

This section discussed how media play an important role in the socialisation process, especially socialisation into gender roles. It was discussed how in the media, women have been depicted in numerous ways which objectifies them as sexual objects. The section discusses how images of black women (especially the darker-skinned ones) have been represented in the media. The argument that was brought forward is that the depiction of black women is being stereotyped or being made sex objects. It was further argued that advertisements reinforce traditional roles and gender inequality by depicting how ideal men and women perform and present themselves. Therefore, in most advertisements black women are convinced to strive to white ideals of beauty. This section also presented a contrasting argument where it was explained that black oriented media depicts women in roles that diverge from those in white oriented media. This was illustrated by the discussion of Blaxploitation films which was a way of eradicating the under-representation of black people. The interests of Blaxploitation films were about representations of black women, which is opposite of slavery times. Lastly, this section argued that black culture is protecting black women images in media because it is through the media that men have been found to value lighter skin for black women and that makes black women feel targeted by media benchmarks, men's guidelines and correlations with other women.

2.7 Conclusion In this chapter, it has been argued that the psychological effect of political colonisation is lingering in many societies and that is evident in how people view skin tone.

It has been argued that during colonisation skin tone was an important feature of subjugation and that lingers in post-colonial societies. During colonisation people were classified according to their race. This has transformed into current-day society as colourism –the conviction that one skin tone is better than another. Colourism is evident between races, but also inside the equivalent gathering where people note contrasts afterward separate themselves hierarchical based on these differences. It has been argued that this phenomenon is worried about genuine skin tone instead of racial and ethnic identity.

A counter-narrative is created by the Black Consciousness Movement and Afrocentricity – both played a positive role in South Africa towards the emancipation of black people, restoring a feeling of worth in Africans.

However, the beauty industry as advanced by the mass media tends to reinforce racial and gender stereotypes. Black women are subjected to negative media portrayal based on both their gender and race. In terms of gender women are often objectified by the media in service of men – and mostly so in terms of being portrayed as objects of sexual desire. Men benefit from such stereotypical media portrayals. The beauty industry – in terms of cosmetic advertisements – advances the double negative stereotypical portrayal of women. Constant media representations favouring black women with a lighter complexion over women with darker complexions has a social impact about how 32 women are seen and frames their social worth in heterosexual romantic relations as is explained in the next chapter.

Chapter Three: Skin tone and gender identity 3.1 Introduction This study seeks to investigate the perceptions of young men in Katlehong about women with a lighter skin tone. In the previous chapter it was argued that perceptions about skin tone are socially constructed based on prevailing social norms. Consequently, in formerly colonised places such as South Africa, the history of the colonisation of black people would negatively impact social perceptions about skin tone. Black women are doubly subjected to negative social perceptions due to their race and gender. On the other hand, the greater social consciousness ushered in by the Black Consciousness movement and Afrocentrists foregrounds black pride. The resultant duality of colourism versus the celebration of blackness is also evident in the beauty industry and the media. This chapter investigates the interpretations of the framing of black women in society through the lenses of femininity and masculinity in order to investigate the social capital attributed to “yellow bones”.

3.2. Skin tone and feminism 3.2.1 Introduction

Feminism originated in opposition to the oppression of women in the USA and sought to redress oppression and the subsequent social framing of women. In Africa, feminism tends not only to address gender inequality, but the double oppression of black women due to their gender and race.

3.2.2 Waves of feminism

Feminism emerged with regards to modern culture and liberal governmental issues, from about 1860 to 1920 in the USA, aiming to liberate women from oppression on a legal and cultural level (Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005; Watkins, 2001). The liberal branch was for a Women’s Rights Movement and it was more concerned about growing women’s political rights. The women’s movements in America were aimed at gaining voting rights and having a voice in public life and advocated equal rights for women (Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005; Eagly & Wood, 2011). The first wave is referred to as “the equal rights movement, when women were active in struggles in social justice and human welfare campaigns” (Baxandall & Gordon, 2002: 415).

The second wave of feminists was concerned about the sexualisation of women in the media on a cultural level. This cultural branch of feminism is known as the Cult of Domesticity, and it was more interested in fighting for child labour laws, prohibition, the rights of female prisoners, and policies of peace (Eagly & Wood, 2011). This feminist view contends that women are victims of patriarchal, commercialised and oppressive beauty standards (Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005; Freeman, 1975). In the history of America, “the women’s movement during the 1960s and the 1970s was the largest social movement of all the women’s movements in the world” (Baxandall & Gordon, 2002: 415).

The aim of the second wave feminism movement was to insist that women had the right to their bodies and sexuality. This movement was made up of younger white, heterosexual, college educated, women, mostly in their twenties (Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005; Baxandall & Gordon, 2002; Epstein, 2002). Women’s liberation arose from a rebellion against New Left Women and they established a kind of style, politics and constituency which were different from those of the National Organisation for Women (NOW). The main aim of women’s freedom was to achieve the right to have control and to have a say over their bodies (Fisher, 2000) by having access to birth control and legalised abortion. The women challenged the private, public, psychological, economic, cultural and legal sources of male dominance (Baxandall & Gordon, 2002:416), putting an end, for instance, to marital rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment (Swackhamer, 2011). It has been argued that sexism, racism and class work together by means of the heterosexual imperative. Thus, “the radical second wave of feminists were characterised by a claim for sisterhood and solidarity" (Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005: 10). It has also been argued that women’s struggle is class struggle and that “the personal is political”, directing the feminist plan “to attempt to combine social, sexual and personal struggles and to see them as inextricably linked” (Krolokke & Sorensen 2005).

The second wave feminism movement argued that women’s emancipation would emerge just with devastation of private enterprise and the ascent of communism when might be liberated from reliance on men and the family and engaged with “gainful” work. This movement was also critical of traditional “sex roles and the beauty myth” (Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005). Second wave feminist made sexualised images of women an explicit target of their political activism. This wave of feminism does not esteem a standard of excellence for ladies contained outrageous slimness, normal Caucasian highlights, and smooth hair, youthful looking skin without wrinkles or flaws and absence of noticeable body hair (Eagly & Wood, 2011; Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005). They demonstrated their rejection of the view of women as sex objects, by marching and organising campaigns. One of the famous campaigns organised was the protests at the Miss America pageant in 1968 and 1969 (Eagly & Wood, 2011; Krolekke & Sorensen, 2005). Another noteworthy feminist group joined the 1969 protest to show how women in pageant competitions were paraded like cattle, highlighting the assumption that the way women look is more important than what they do, what they think or even whether they think at all dissent to demonstrate how women in pageant competitions were marched like cows, featuring the presumption that the manner in which women look could really compare to what they do, what they think or much whether they by any means (Krolokke & Sorensen, 2005).

Second wave feminism has evolved over time and has positively changed the lives of many women all around the world (Epstein, 2002). The impact this social movement made is present in all aspects of personal and public life, which includes every household, business, school, every form of sport and entertainment (Baxandall & Gordon, 2002: 415). It figured out how to make positive pictures of women (Fisher, 2000). Then again, the movement is criticised because it claimed to be less judgmental and rigid in comparison to other feminist theories. Naomi Wolf, for instance, said, 35

“Second wave feminists are judgmental of other women’s sexuality and appearance, and self- righteous” (Snyder, 2008).

The first and second wave feminism paved the way for the third wave feminism. Third wave feminists see women “as capable, strong and assertive social agents – they are buoyed by the confidence of having more opportunities and less sexism” (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005; Lotz, 2003). This movement started in the mid-1990s in the USA, introducing the idea that women should be able to define beauty for themselves instead of men deciding for women what constitutes beauty. This statement contrasts with what men and media do today. Third wave feminism is mainly concerned about breaking boundaries by celebrating issues such as class, sexuality, ethnicity, identity, sexual orientation and the like (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005, Lotz, 2003). “The third wave feminism condemns the stereotypes that are made of women, that women are sexual objects to men, or that the only place for women is in the kitchen” (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005: 16). It is argued that the third wave feminism is about deconstructing conditioned thinking (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005: 16). In other words, third wave feminist believe in their own strengths and look forward to having the luxury of choice – something earlier feminists’ thought was only reserved for men (Hatton & Trautner, 2013: 65).

Third wave feminism mirrors enhancement of women interests and points of view and the breakdown of ace accounts of mistreatment and freedom (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005: 19). Third wave feminism is different from the first and second wave of feminism, because it is more inclusive and radically diverse. It identifies a generational group which is diverse in perspectives but shares relevant views (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005; Lotz, 2003). Third wavers have committed themselves to constructing positive connections with men as their fathers, brothers, romantic partners, friends and colleagues (Eagly & Wood, 2011). Finally, third wave feminist believe that individuals should be given the freedom to construct their own gender identities and that neither the medical establishment nor cultural institutions at large should intervene. “They also resist essentialist notions of identity” (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005:19). Furthermore, third wave feminism values the diversity of women around the world.

3.2.3 African feminism

African feminism owes its source to various dynamic than those created from western women’s right (Aniekwu, 2006: 148). African feminism is not the same as western feminism and didn’t arise in the same way as in the west, because white feminism was about occupying a “space in the public sphere in terms of working outside the home, while black women had already done so” (Shelembe, 2014). “White women were in a different social position than black women” (Shelembe, 2014: 14).

African feminism is not essentially characteristic of the feminist debates in western countries about the female body, sexuality, autonomies and sexual rights (Aniekwu, 2006: 148). Instead, its African

36 model is distinctly heterosexual, pro-natal and concerned with economic, social and political empowerment and is advocating against the struggle “with culturally accepted forms of female subordination, gender inequity and inequality” (Aniekwu, 2006: 148). It has been argued that “African feminism has also been a result of women’s responses to political leaders who have attempted to limit political participation by women” (Aniekwu, 2006: 148).

African feminism has been advocating to making women’s experiences visible and relevant in today’s world. Due to the apartheid regime, the black population in South Africa has been the object of persecution, with black women taking a greater strain due to the triple oppression, first through apartheid, secondly through gender issues and thirdly by class oppression (Charles, 2013; Gordon, 2016; Mathews, 2013; Shelembe, 2014; Thompson & Keith, 2001). In other words, black women do not enjoy the same privileges as white women. White women have been able to move to the upper professional levels of society and claim their power outside their homes to a greater extent than black women. The reason for black women not to move to upper professional levels is the triple oppression they faced.

African feminism aims to give voice to the experience of black women in reflecting on the varying forms of subjugation they experience (Collins, 2002). Black feminism emphasises the exploration and expression of black women’s experiences in the creation of knowledge. This view holds that the needs of black women are distinct because of their racial and gender oppression. This body of thought aims to emancipate and empower black women and in so doing challenge their oppression (Collins, 2002). In contemporary South Africa Black women seem to be struggling to have political and personal potency. Even though there have been enormous political changes, “black women are still under the oppression of patriarchal views” (Shelembe, 2014: 9).

3.2.4 Feminism, colourism and skin tone

Discussions on skin tone tend to favour light-skinned women and men and denigrate darker skin tones – especially of women. Colourism is a feminist issue because black men can be dark skinned, but not women. Black men often reject women in a romantic sense who do not have many of the same features as them (Lawton, 2016). It is against these beliefs that feminism argues that all women should be able to define their own beauty and who they are, rather than being defined media, society and men.

African feminists believe that women should not conform to any given standard of beauty. They challenge the beauty norm that has been set by the media that women are only beautiful when they are light-skinned, have a slim body and long silky hair (Matiza, 2013; Shelembe, 2014). Women are encouraged to believe in their own beauty, embrace their skin tone and believe in their femininity (Synder, 2008). It is argued that women can define who they are, and they can view beauty according to their perception whether they are light-skinned or dark-skinned (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005,

Synder, 2008). Therefore, it could be argued that women can subvert negative social constructions. However, in reality such an agentic notion often does not exist, and women seek to change negative social identities by bleaching their skin (Khumalo, 2015; Masaka & Chemuru, 2014). However, African feminists believe that women should be given the freedom to construct their own gender identities and that neither the medical establishment nor cultural institutions at large should intervene. “They also resist essentialist notions of identity” (Kralokke & Sorensen, 2005:19).

In conclusion, feminism generally seeks social equality between genders and sexual orientation. African feminism has a heterosexual undertone that seeks to advance the social position of Black women through social framing and social equality. Both western and African feminism seek to subvert the objectification of women and the social norm that women are subjected to masculine worth.

3.3 Skin tone and masculinity 3.3.1 Introduction

This section investigates male identity, or masculinity, in relation to normalised views about skin tone. This is important to this study as this study essentially seeks the views of young men in Katlehong about women with a lighter complexion.

South Africa has been characterised as primarily a patriarchal society – with many pockets of deviation between different communities. Due to its prevalence, the next section discusses patriarchy and conceptions of masculinity in a patriarchal society.

3.3.2 Patriarchy

Masculinity, just like patriarchy, is socially constructed, meaning that to be a man is an integral part of the social identity of a person (Courtenay, 2000; Hamber, 2010; Ratele, 2014; Sheyholislami, 2011). “Masculinity is not a trait that male children come into the world with”, but it is a trait that is constructed by society or through social interaction” (Ratele, 2014: 166). “People are encouraged to conform to stereotypic beliefs and behaviours to ‘fit in’, and commonly do conform and adopt dominant norms of masculinity” (Courtenay, 2000: 1387). Masculinity is in fact neither a uniform, nor an infinite set of objects; it is rather “always ready made, always social first and personal second” (Wetherell & Edley, 1999: 342). These became normalised over time, and in traditional societies over a rather long time (Ratele, 2013: 145). Masculine identities are time-bound and situated concepts (see Connell, 1995; Cornwall & Lindisfarne, 1994, Richards, 2016). Connell & Messerschmidt (2005) note that “masculinity, to the extent that the term can be briefly defined at all, is simultaneously a place in gender relations, the practices through which men and women engage that place in bodily experience, personality, and culture” (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005).

Patriarchy originally described a sort of male commanded family system but is nowadays generally defined as the rule of the father (Asiyanbola, 2005; Mokoena, 2012; Connell; 2012; Hooks; 2010; Gennrich, 2013; Becker; 1999). “The large household of a traditional patriarch included women, junior men, children, slaves and domestic servants all under the rule of this dominant male” (Asiyanbola, 2005: 3). Now it is used more generally to refer “to male domination, to power relationships by which men dominate women, and to characterise a system whereby women are kept subordinate in several ways” (Asiyanbola, 2005). Practically all people right now live in a system of patriarchal power that privileges men and subsequently stigmatises, penalises and oppresses women (Connell, 2012).

The system of patriarchy is one that declares women’s inferiority to men. In this system, men utilize mental and physical savagery to command everything thought about frail (Charleston, 2014; Hooks, 2010). Patriarchal culture puts significance in dominance and overshadowing women as well as other men that are not regarded as men. Patriarchal ideology emphasises the social construction of what it means to be a man or a woman, and how they should behave. It has for ages been believed that the supremacy of men was “the way the world is”. This order has many benefits for men, of course (Gennrich, 2013: 1). It is also argued by Gennrich (2013) that men who do not conform or “fit the social standard for men also suffer under this system of patriarchy” (Gennrich, 2013: 1). This ideology is entrenched to the point that men are generally ready to anchor the clear assent of the specific same women they mistreat. They do this through organisations, for example, schools, the congregation and the family, each legitimizes and strengthens women’s subordination to men (Asiyanbola, 2015; Hooks; 2010). Instances of patriarchy include that it is the responsibility of women to obey and always assume an inferior role in relation to a powerful man. Women are denied the right to voice their opinions or the right to lead men (Connell, 2012).

According to Hooks (2010), patriarchy shapes male identity. Elaborating further on patriarchy, she explains it as a “political system that maintains that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence” (Hooks, 2010: 1). Hooks use herself as an example to illustrate how patriarchy works. She explains that she was taught that it is not good for a girl to engage in physical activities such as fighting, while on the other hand her brother could fight and taught not to express feelings like girls. “Patriarchy encourages men to yearn for security, status, and rewards through control” (Becker, 1999: 24). Patriarchy is well known for the repression of women and the idea that what the man says is unquestionable (Becker, 1999; Connell, 2012; Gennrich, 2013).

Under patriarchy, men’s relationships with other men are also shaped and patterned by patriarchal norms. They locate themselves within categories of masculinity and making pecking orders and rankings among themselves as indicated by masculinity. This means that these men allocate

39 themselves within predetermined contours that define masculinity. Patriarchy allows men differential payoffs that various societies stratify men according to age, physical strength, and recently with the ability to make money therefore accessing women. Men social identity is shaped by their domination of women (Mokoena, 2012; Hooks, 2010). Hooks as cited by Mokoena (2012) argues that black men had to learn to equate their status as men with the right to repress women; they had to be taught patriarchal masculinity. Thus, it could be asserted patriarchy is a social construct which then led to the social identity construction of black men to be known as perpetrators of violence and domination of women. “Patriarchy exists not simply as a system of men’s power over women, but also hierarchies of power among different groups of men and between different masculinities” (Kaufman, 1987: 61). Kaufman (1994) explains that the “dominant ideals differ sharply from society to society, from era to era and almost from moment to moment” (Kaufman, 1987: 61).

In South Africa, male domination over women within the society shows all the manifestations of patriarchy. In our society, “male personal continues to hold authority over women regardless of the steps taken by government towards gender equality” (Mtshiselwa, 2015: 2). The male figure holds high positions in South African society, and the male violence against women indicates how patriarchy is still dominant in the lives of South Africans. Male dominance persists in the society, and the doctrines and practices of many churches reinforce the patriarchal traditional (Gennrich, 2013: 3). Patriarchy is practised in South African communities, and the voices of women are largely marginalised. Some churches continue to assert that women cannot take up ordained, leadership positions, and many still preach women’s obedience to men (Gennrich, 2013; Mtshiselwa, 2015). It is argued that women are still not allowed to take leadership positions, “considering that since South Africa obtained its freedom there has been no female president to lead the country” (Mtshiselwa, 2015: 2). This denotes that South African societies are trapped in the patriarchal paradigm (Gennrich, 2013; Mtshiselwa, 2015; Lynch, 2008). Patriarchy in South Africa is still relevant as is shown by how the notions of polygamy are supported by different cultural groups in the country.

Polygamy is one of the issues that shows that patriarchy is still rife in the country as this notion often considers what men want and relegates women’s feelings to the side (Gennrich, 2013: 12). “Some men prefer a traditional wife who would give him respect and dignity, and this marks the effectiveness of patriarchy in South Africa” (Gennrich, 2013: 12).

The issue of performing rituals is another instance that indicates the dominance of patriarchy which suppresses women, where cultural practices define who has the power between men and women (Gennrich, 2013: 12). “Women’s minds can also be entrenched in a patriarchal mind-set, to the extent that women can be as wedded to patriarchal thinking as men” (Hooks, 2010: 2). Hooks elaborates that numerous females headed family units support and advance patriarchal reasoning with far more prominent enthusiasm than two parents’ families (Hooks, 2010). This assertion

40 provokes an interesting argument when one views the role women play in propagating and supporting patriarchal culture.

There are men pained by patriarchy, the men that do not gain any social privileges by just being men. “Patriarchy is a system that causes men to remain emotional cripples as it denies them full access to their freedom of will” (Hooks, 2010: 4). In strong patriarchal societies, a singular norm of masculinity, a hegemonic masculinity, is normally found.

3.3.3 Hegemonic masculinity

Drawing from the work of Gramsci (1971) on hegemony, it is explained that a “dominant (economic) class controls society, emphasising its ideas of the situation” (Mokoena, 2012: 28). Connell (1987; 1995) also draws on Gramsci’s works on the concept of hegemony when she theorises gender as a form of power. It is believed that hegemony involves the active consent of dominated groups although backed by occasional force (Mokoena, 2012:28; Lynch, 2008: 8). Mokoena (2012) explains that the concept of hegemony comes from Marx’s second theory of ideology (Mokoena, 2012: 28). According to the summary of Connell (1995), it is argued that Gramsci’s analysis of hegemony is “the cultural dynamic by which a group claims and sustains a leading position in social life” (Connell, 1995: 77). Hegemony envelops the arrangement of social groupings – not just their operation but also their collective action. It is a structural concept, or at least invokes assumptions of structure, but it is not structuralised (Mokoena, 2012; Lynch, 2008).

Mokoena (2012) argues that hegemony is about the way in which the ruling class produces and reproduces its dominance through imposing the classification of social economical political-cultural affairs, by setting and dictating the terms in which events are viewed, analysed and comprehended (Mokoena, 2012: 29). It even determines or rather has enormous influence on the issues discussed, the ideals formulated and the definition of morality as part of the process. It can further be argued that hegemony is about the influence of the real piece of the general public through media and the organisation of social institutions in ways that appear as the norm, the ordinary and natural, offering a model to which the population is to conform (Adrian, 2009 cited in Mokoena, 2012).

Power is a key term when referring to hegemony (Kaufman, 1987: 69). The term hegemonic masculinity originates from cultural hegemony, giving particular “questions of relations between television and gender, to analyse the expression of patriarchal ideology and gender on its terms” (Hanke, 1992: 86). “Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculinity that gains its symbolic force and familiar status from a series of hierarchical relations to what it can subordinate” (Ratele, 2014: 118). Hegemony is about men being able to show their power by dominating women and other men; it is also about how man can persuade members of society (Gee, 2009: 580; Ratele, 2014: 118). Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculine practice that regulates cultural ideals linked with being aggressive, heterosexual, and muscular and the suppression of fear (Gee, 2009: 581).

In other words, hegemonic men are thought to be the “perfect men” who measure themselves against others and are measured by others in terms of their masculinity (Connell, 2005). The ideology of “hegemonic masculinity explains how men are in a powerful position in relation to women in global society” (Connell, 2005). However, as stated earlier, not all men practice control over women by alluring nature of their special positions in the public eye, in the economy, the job market and the political association of society (Van der Walt, 2007). “Hegemonic masculinity also wields power over marginalised and subordinated men who do not fit the criteria of hegemonic masculinity” (Van der Walt, 2007). “These men that become subordinated are the objects of hostility and disdain, as they cannot or do not conform to the idealised construction of masculinity” (Van der Walt, 2007). It is further argued that hegemonic masculinity is a cultural ideal that partners hazardous sexual practices, the utilization of savagery and other controlling practices against women, especially women with partners (Buiten & Naidoo, 2013; Van der Walt, 2007; Mutunda, 2009).

Hegemonic masculinity should be understood as a form “of masculinity which subordinates women and young effeminate or homosexual men” (Hanke, 1992: 189). It is an influential force that is responsible for constructing other masculinities as deviant either by silencing them or subordinating them. Hegemonic masculinity means that there must be some correspondence between cultural ideal and institutional power, collective if not individual. Hegemonic masculinity embodies dominant widespread beliefs and accepted strategies (Mokoena, 2012: 29). This elicits that those with power maintain it through some level of consent possessed by those without the kind of power characterising the hegemonic group. Previously white hegemonic masculinity was “responsible for subordinating black masculinity and relegating it to the terrain of others” (Ellapen, 2006: 56). White masculinity has always enjoyed the undisguised position of “hegemonic masculinity” and it has always dictated other alternate masculinities, in a sense that previously it has often been given the privilege and honour to rule other alternate masculinities (Ellapen, 2006: 56).

Hegemonic masculinity is not only the western stereotyped ideal of white, heterosexual, aggressive male, but can include black, gay or other masculinities (Lynch, 2008; Connell, 2005). Hegemonic masculinity illustrates that it is not being male that is associated with dominance and power, but rather certain ways of behaving (Lynch, 2008). Demetriou (2001) states that “the conceptualisation of hegemonic masculinity is a hybrid, flexible structure that can appropriate diverse aspects of being male sustain itself as a dominant form of power in historically changing contexts”. Hegemonic masculinity is the form of masculinity that has socially ascended and acknowledged. It also gives the definition of what is to be a “real man”. In addition to hegemonic masculinity, a man of power is expected to be self-reliant, hardworking and successful. He must be able to provide for his family’s needs and to help his next of kin.

This macho man must not show pain, nor may he complain when facing difficulties (Mutunda, 2009: 36). For instance, in a study Masculinity and Nigerian youths (2007) Uchendu observed that in

42 general young black Nigerian men associated hegemonic masculinity with several physical and moral attributes, strength and firmness. It is argued that a “man must learn how to hide emotions and refrain from smiling” (Mutunda, 2009: 36). Hegemonic masculinity is contradictory when it comes to black men. For instance, Ellapen argues that the end of apartheid ignited the task of incorporating black masculinity within the images and the representations of hegemonic masculinity (cf. Mokoena, 2012: 31). It is further argued by Mokoena (2012) that “before black men were represented and depicted through racist colonial discourse”. It is therefore, understood that blackness stands for the marginal while hegemony means uncontested, the creator, the dominating especially for women and other alternate masculinities. It can be further noted that blackness is inferior to whiteness and it cannot overcome whiteness according to hegemonic ideology.

In South African society, white men enjoyed the privilege of being hegemonic by exerting power or oppressing other masculinities and “dominated the landscape of South African society until the country obtained freedom” (Ellapen, 2006: 58). “Hegemonic masculinity was the culprit of oppressing other alternate masculinities such as gay and black masculinities” (Ellapen, 2006: 58). After the apartheid era black men had to adopt the hegemonic masculinity from whites as their own. Today the dominant men in South Africa believe they must have characteristics that determine the “correct” masculine behaviour. For instance, having multiple sexual partners is seen as one of the attributes in determining authority or belonging to hegemonic masculinity especially in townships (Richards, 2016). Richards notes that the more men can convince or persuade more women to become their sexual partners, they establish themselves as being dominant, and increase their chances of being respected amongst other men and in the community (Richards, 2016:19).

Since hegemonic masculinity embodies dominant widespread beliefs and accepted strategies, it means that those with power maintain it through some level of consent possessed by those without the kind of power characterising the hegemonic group (Mokoena, 2012: 29). In South Africa, violence is closely linked with hegemonic masculinity. Research has shown that there are high rates of violence against women and children in South Africa (Morrell, 2007; Lynch; 2008; Gennrich, 2013). Domestic violence against women and children is high, and men are often found beating their women in attempts to perpetuate their dominance over women. They do this to acquire a position of status that is central to the men’s experience of being a man and in this way, it is “tied to societal expectations of manly behaviour” (Morrell, 2007: 18). Many scholars (see for instance Ratele, 2013; Morrell, 2007; Connell, 1995) have argued that sexual violence against women is associated with being dominant in South African context. It is argued that rape is used at times as a way of disciplining and controlling the men’s territory (Ratele, 2013; Morrell, 2007; Connell, 1995). It is argued that when looking at sex-based savagery it winds up apparent that men in typical patriarchal societies are often of the view that they own women, and that sexual intimacy with their partners is owed to them (Lynch, 2008; Gennrich, 2013; Morrell, 2007). In numerous instances this could lead to violence, and even rape, as men may want to show their dominance over women. 43

Masculinities are configurations of practice that are accomplished in social action and can thus differ according to social setting and conceptions about gender relations (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005: 836). Hegemonic masculinity marginalises the female body. Mokoena (2012) argues that the concept of hegemonic black men has multiple meanings; first it can be read as apolitical mechanism referring to cultural leadership, but secondly it also refers to dominance, that is the most powerful version of manhood (Mokoena, 2012: 31).

Another point argued is that “dominant forms of masculinity do not always legitimate men’s power and those forms may not always be socially celebrated” (Mokoena, 2012: 32). It is argued by Connell (2005) that not all men benefit from hegemonic masculinity equally and not all men are exploitative. It can therefore be argued that “hegemonic or dominant masculine identity in one area may change significantly as one moves into another area of proximity” (Connell, 2005).

Demetriou cited by Lynch (2008) argues that in a strategic sense this heterogeneity of hegemonic masculinity serves to keep the patriarchal nature of its power hidden and gives an impression of being egalitarian. Nevertheless, this does not mean that it is less oppressive to women (Lynch, 2008: 10). It can be argued that masculinity is neither fixed nor static, meaning that an idealised hegemonic masculinity mingles with local ideas of masculinity and produces new expressions of what it means to be a man in a certain culture or society (Cornwall & Lindesfarne, 1994; Lynch, 2008). Van der Walt (2007) echoes the sentiments of Demetriou and Lynch when he argues that the “hegemonic masculinity which dominates over other forms of masculinity in any given society, is not necessarily the most representative form of masculinity in a particular society” (Van der Walt 2007). In addition, “neither do the men find it easy nor natural to adapt to the values and roles espoused by the ideology of hegemonic masculinity” (Van der Walt, 2007: 10). It is said that “many men experience a state of tension and anxiety when negotiating their own sense of masculinity against the dominant form of masculinity” (Van der Walt, 2007: 10).

It has been discussed that men use patriarchal culture to assert women’s inferiority. Men utilize mental and physical viciousness to dominate what is considered weak. Patriarchy shapes male identity and denies women the right to voice their opinions or the right to lead. In South Africa, male domination over women within the society shows the manifestation of patriarchy. The male figure holds high positions in South Africa societies. It is also argued that masculinity can be individually constructed and not socially constructed only. It is further argued that in South Africa today the dominant men must have characteristics that determine the correct masculine behaviour, for instance multiple sexual partners is seen as one of the imperatives in determining authority or belonging to hegemonic masculine culture especially in townships. With this being elicited the most integral part of being a man is to be respected in society. A man must have power and dominance over other men, and this dominance can be shown in various ways. A man can be wealthy with

44 successful businesses, have livestock in his kraal, be a chief in his community or date the most beautiful woman, which gives him respect and social status.

3.3.4 Traditional masculinity

Traditional masculinity is explained as follows: a man is the head of the house, a man does not cook, and he does not wash clothes and does not even do groceries. A traditional man is known to carry children around, and he may even discipline or beat his wife (Burchardt, 2017). Looking at the above explanation of traditional masculinity, it could be argued that it does not differ totally from some of the sentiments of patriarchy ideology. Traditional masculinity is about heterosexist, patriarchal, and implicitly violent ideas that glorify male sexual entitlement and conspicuous sexual access to women (Burchardt, 2017). Traditional masculinity is understood that it does not believe in same-sex marriage and that men always take the upper hand (Ratele, 2013). A traditional man does not listen to anyone and wants to be the one with the final say or the one who takes big decisions. Traditional men always remind people of their culture and why they won’t conform into doing other things all in the name of not betraying their culture.

Traditional masculinity is tied up with heterosexuality (Ngubane, 2012: 16). Men are supposed to be the hunter or initiator of sexual activity, while the women should be the ones following everything a man says (Ngubane, 2012: 16). Moreover, “a man is regarded as the powerful figure in an intimate relationship” (Ngubane, 2012: 16). According to Ngubane (2012), male children who are less rigid in their aim toward sexual desire, or who do not have conversations about their sexual experiences, risk derogatory labels that reflect unwelcome attributes such as unattractiveness or having homosexual leanings (Ngubane, 2012: 16). Ngubane (2012) argues that traditional “masculinity is closely related to engaging in sex; thus, boys may unwillingly engage in sex rather than taking the risk of being labelled as not man enough” (Ngubane, 2012).

Traditional masculinity is not exclusive to Africa but is in many societies closely associated with what it means to be a man (Barker & Ricardo, 2005). Young men see various and now and again clashing thoughts regarding being a man. “It is important to understand that Africa is a diverse continent in terms of religion, language, and culture” (Ngubane, 2012: 18). African traditional masculinity manifests in some cases as being associated with multiple female sexual partners, and power over women (Ngubane, 2012: 18). A traditional man in Africa, for instance, is thought to be a “real man” when he has gone through the process of initiation school and circumcision. “Many cultural groups in South Africa and other countries on the African continent practice initiation rituals where young boys are guided through the transition between childhood and adult” (Lynch, 2008: 11). These rituals serve as a supportive function by elders to guide and instil knowledge in young men about cultural beliefs, knowledge about male-female relationships, appropriate adult roles and conflict resolution (Lynch, 2008: 11). It is also understood that in many cases these practices may perpetuate harmful traditional gender hierarchies where the dominant position of men over women is reinforced (Lynch, 45

2008). Traditional views of manhood exist all over the world, but in many societies, “men are measured by the number of girlfriends he has” (Mutunda, 2008: 34). It is believed in some communities that having just one partner is associated with poverty and weak manhood (Mutanda, 2009). Therefore, it can be argued that this supports the notion of the “the player of women”, which is significant and “prevalent in the teenage and young adulthood of boys to prove their masculinity” (Harper, 2004: 93). This concept is explained as having multiple girlfriends and sexual partners typifies the “player”; men who are not successful at these aims are generally made fun of, have their heterosexuality questioned, or “are considered less masculine than their peers” (Harper, 2004: 94). It could further be contended that women help shape the general terrain of masculinity at some level, so dating a woman is one of the things that determines the notion of masculinity. Hence, “at the level of performativity, masculinity has as much to do with seeking the approval of men, as it has to do with obtaining the approval of women” (Lewis, 2007: 7). Men who hold traditional attitudes toward masculinity indicate dating and having more sexual partners affirms their manhood. Dating is explained as learned behaviour that is encouraged by certain interests in immoral sexual behaviour; as such, men often want to initiate sexual encounters. Research into reasons why men date suggests subjective experiences such as the girl’s appearance rather than their personalities (Smiler, 2009: 19).The issue of status is one of the imperative issues why boys date as boys often date girls to improve their status among their peers – “especially if the girl is perceived to be beautiful” (Smiler, 2009: 19). This does not mean that all boys date for this reason, some simply date as they found someone with whom they want to have a caring, intimate and supportive relation (Smiler, 2009: 19). It is also argued that men of all ages often date for companionship (Smiler, 2009; Lewis, 2007). Smiler (2009) argues that when men are sexually active and when they show signs of affection and kissing around people, they do this to validate their masculinity.

Circumcision proves to be an integral part for a traditional man in Africa. For instance, in a study of Barker and Ricardo (2005) conducted in Uganda one of the participants stated that after initiation they need to have sexual intercourse with a girl to rid of themselves of “evil and boyish” spirits (Lynch, 2008: 12). This is not a totally unfamiliar behaviour, because it is known that in South Africa such beliefs exist. For instance, in some tradition initiation rituals, “the initiates are encouraged to have sexual intercourse with someone other than their own girlfriend” (Lynch, 2008: 12). This may be linked to the notion that when young men return from initiation, they carry dirt, so they need to deposit their dirt somewhere else (Lynch, 2008). However, this view cannot be generalised. To sum up, the traditional view emphasises that men have power and dominate women and if a man has not gone through this transition from boyhood to manhood, he is not man enough. “Rites of passage such as circumcision play a large role in defining traditional masculinity” (Lynch, 2008).

3.3.5 Subordinate masculinity

Another form of masculinity different to hegemonic and traditional masculinity is subordinate masculinity. Men who display characteristics that are inverse to those that are esteemed in hegemonic masculinity (for example, physical shortcoming and show of feelings like misery) and delicate gay men, for example, are regularly men who show a subordinate masculinity. This contrasts with hegemonic masculinity that assumes that men should suppress their emotions and act superior towards women (Groes-Green, 2009; Schippers, 2007; Sculos, 2017).

Men who do not have a high social status, men who are not employed, and men who do not show sexual prowess to their peers often display a subordinate masculinity as they do not fit in the classification of hegemonic masculinity in a society that endorses hegemonic masculinity (Groes- Green, 2009; Schippers, 2007; Sculos, 2017). Subordinate men do not express themselves through dominance, or dominance in sexual relationships to female partners (Groes- Green, 2009: 288).

Men who are not working or not dating women are labelled as subordinate masculinity and have no patriarchal dividends. Groes-Green (2009) argues, “subordinate masculinity has missed out on the economic gain over women that accrues to men in employment” hence they are labelled subordinate masculinity because they are unmanly and do not possesses manly characteristics (Groes-Green, 2009; Schippers, 2007; Sculos, 2017).

3.3.6 Toxic masculinity

A variation of hegemonic traditional masculinity is when hegemonic traditional masculinity identity becomes toxic – it has to do with everything that is promiscuous, bullying, and the emotional isolation of others (Sculos, 2017). There is a perception that black masculinity is fragile and is centred around men who feel they don’t have power and they then overcompensate their power by abusing their women (Sculos, 2017). Toxic masculinity is harmful to women, to men who are weak, and often to children (Anderson, 2005; Schippers, 2007). It is argued that toxic masculinity is a rejection of the perceived opposite of femininity that is so pervasive as to become unhealthy for both men and those around them (Schippers, 2007).

In summary, this section has discussed various forms of masculinity. These are not the only forms that exist but are the forms that are most pertinent to this study. Other forms of masculinity are metrosexual men, men who enjoy shopping, and taking good care of their bodies. These men often have interests traditionally associated with women and homosexual men. There is also retrosexual masculinity who are men who are not interested in plucking their eyebrows, trips to the hairdressers or men’s cosmetics products; they are average men that represent most of the male population. Masculinity today can be defined differently from the traditional or the normalised masculinity. Today there is the peacemaker masculinity who are men who are frequently considered to be more sensitive and empathetic than “typical men” and tend to believe that we should work collectively to 47 improve the lives of the “have nots”. These other forms of masculinity show that masculinity is constantly evolving and changing; therefore, it could be said that masculinity is socially constructed.

3.4 Social capital and the male gaze 3.4.1 Introduction

So far in this chapter it has been argued that feminism criticises unequal legal, political and social power between genders. African feminism is particularly concerned with the position of black women, especially in heterosexual relationships.

Hegemonic traditional masculinity fosters a specific perspective on men’s heterosexual relationships with women in the sense that the superiority of men and the subsequent the subjugation of women is foregrounded.

3.4.2 The male gaze

The male gaze is a term that is commonly used in feminist writing referring to the sexual objectification of women in favour of a male spectator (Berger, 1972; Izharuddin, 2015; Miller, n.d.). The concept of the male gaze was theorised by Laura Mulvey (1975) in relation to film, where she suggests that heterosexual men objectify women whilst viewing them. It can be elicited that the concept of women being watched and men being the viewers still exist today. The male gaze is still evident today as women are still objectified by men and women rely on the views of men about how they should look, behaviour and carry themselves. The male gaze supports patriarchal views. All the many forms of masculinity discussed above may be linked to the male gaze – and not only hegemonic, traditional or toxic masculinity.

The male gaze refers to the sexual pleasure men gain from watching women; it considers different aspects of viewing ranging from theatre, film, music videos and dance (Miller, n.d.; Izharuddin, 2015). The male gaze affects men and women in societies today. It could be argued that the male gaze promotes the underlying ideas of patriarchy that men are higher to women and that women should listen to the perceptions of men. Mulvey (1975) argues that the male gaze can be active and passive roles that satisfy the spectator. The spectator is believed to be a man in line with the prevailing form of masculinity – often with undertones of patriarchy – of the society (Miller, n.d.). The gaze presents power to men when they view the images of women from any media platform they might be using (Izharuddin, 2015). However, in contrast it could be argued that male gaze is not exercised exclusively by men. Patriarchal systems ensure that male gaze is often internalised by women and women enjoy being watched (Berger, 1972). The male gaze in general implies that the male viewers may be engaging in more than “just looking” at an individual they might be also satisfying their desires (Mulvey 1975). Berger (1972) argues that “men look at women as women watch themselves being looked at” (Berger1972:47). The argument further elicits that when men watch women “this determines not only relations between men and women, but also the relation of women to 48 themselves” (Izharuddin, 2015). Lacanian psychoanalyst, Laura Mulvey (1975), contends that “in a world ordered by sexual inequity, pleasure in looking has been split between active male and passive female” (see also Izharuddin, 2015).

It has also been argued that women have a self-perception that they are constantly being monitored, which may cause stress (Berger, 1975; Miller, n.d.). It could be further argued that women who are engaging in skin beaching are affected by how people perceive them – that they are not as desirable as people with a lighter skin complexion. It is due to the male gaze that these women monitor how they present themselves. Some women start viewing themselves as objects (self-objectification) and start to dissect their appearance to cultural standards (Miller, n.d.). However, it must be taken into consideration that men in this scenario seem to view women with light skin as beautiful. In such a situation man who associate with women with a lighter skin to obtain a higher social status amongst their peers. In other words, they might not necessarily view women as sex objects, but they conform nevertheless to the social construct of women as being subordinate in a particular way.

The media – often print media and television advertising – portray women in such a way that it assumes the male gaze. In such a case the media could be a producer of voyeuristic pleasure. The depiction of women as decorative elements and as objects of desire, such as in some forms of advertising, show men as spectators for “voyeuristic pleasure” (Izharuddin, 2015). Therefore, in such instance’s women are constructed in the media to suit the male gaze and are produced in a way to provide erotic pleasure to the male. This may cultivate the notion that dark-skinned women should yearn for light skin because it is constructed in the media that a beautiful woman should be light in complexion. With the upsurge of colonialism, western culture began to impact the ways of living in South Africa and this meant that lifestyles changed, and womanhood was constructed around the aesthetics of white women – and it seems that the media is still perpetuating this idealised western notion of beauty today (Shelembe, 2014). It is argued that the move towards western beauty ideals has had a negative impact on black beauty and has affected how black men see black beauty.

The male gaze plays an important role in how women feel about their body appearance and the state of their beauty, with the media being the catalyst for how men view women. In many African countries, men traditionally may have preferred women with a curvaceous body, but this might be changing due to western and other influences (Foo, 2010; Poran, 2006). It can be said that patriarchal ideologies are of great significance and are linked to ideals of how women should look or how to define beauty. Skin tone seems now to be preferred as the marker of beauty and this affects the perceptions of black men on how they see women. Today in contemporary societies in South Africa, women of a light skin tone are considered superior to those with darker skin tones (Shelembe, 2014). In a study conducted by Poran (2006) it was discovered that darker skinned black women are not as desirable as lighter skinned women men because “black men have been found to value lighter skin for black women than black women for black men” (Poran, 2006). Therefore, it appears that

49 black men prefer women of a lighter skin tone than those with a darker skin tone. With this said it could be argued that this has changed how black culture views beauty; gone are the days were men would prefer curvaceous, big-boned women with big breasts. In contemporary South Africa the male gaze of female “yellow bone” has highlighted the idealisation of lighter skinned black girls as the most beautiful (Shelembe, 2014).

Mulvey (1975) argued that heterosexual men objectify women whilst viewing them. It is understood that the male gaze is still dominant even today as women are still being judged according to their looks. The male gaze supports the patriarchal view that men are superior to women. It is argued that the male gaze presents power to men when they view images of women from any media platform they might be using. It was also discussed that male viewers may be engaging in more than just looking at an individual, they might be also be satisfying their desires. As Berger (1972) argued that “men look at women as women watch themselves being looked at” (Berger,1972:47). The depiction of women as decorative elements and as objects of desire, such as in advertising, show men as spectators for “voyeuristic pleasure”. This means that female images are constructed in the media to suit the male gaze and are produced in a way to provide erotic pleasure to the male.

In conclusion, even though it is generally accepted in feminist literature that all men enjoy the male gaze, this section is wary of universalising this notion. In general, masculinity is socially constructed, but it does not mean that all men in a particular society conform to that particular form or version of masculinity. Diversity in views should be considered. Nevertheless, the fact remains that one form of masculinity may dominate in a particular society. This is often linked to perceived social status.

3.4.3 Social capital

Social capital is the estimation of one’s associations, including those found through social gatherings, in helping or possibly helping, a person in a wide scope of conditions, yet “there is little agreement on what such capital envelops” (Adler & Kwon, 2002).

“Individuals often must subject themselves to the social norms and sanctions pertaining to obligations and trustworthiness that facilitate developing social capital” (Coleman, 1988). It is argued that social capital is productive, making conceivable accomplishment of specific finishes that its nonappearance would not be conceivable. It is not entirely tangible but may be specific to certain activities. According to Putnam (1993), the concept of social capital expresses the sociological essence of communal vitality. A social problem of common action and opportunism presupposes the development of voluntary collective action and it is connected to inherited social capital in the community. Putnam highlights that social capital is about social networks of citizen’s activity, especially voluntary.

Social capital is described as having two components: the first one is a resource that relates to group membership and social networks. “The volume of social capital possessed by a given agent depends 50 on the size of the network of connections that it can effectively assemble” (Bourdieu, 1986: 249). “It is a quality produced by the totality of the relationships between actors rather than merely a common “quality” of the group” (Bourdieu, 1980: 2). This concept is almost self-explanatory; people easily grasp its meaning and often they interpret it with a positive sentiment. It is closely linked to other social processes, and some scholars consider “it a subset of the theory of social cohesion” (Berkman & Glass, 2000). Social capital is about the idea of people and groups forming alliances, coalitions and inherent value such as action is universal “social capital inheres in the structure of relations between persons and among persons” (Coleman, 1988). It is less unmistakable yet exist in relations among people. The capacity recognised by the idea of social capital is the estimation of social structure to on-screen characters as assets that they can use to accomplish interests.

In a study conducted by Mathews (2013), it was found that many black men incline toward their female accomplices to be “light, bright and sometimes white” (see especially Mathews, 2013: 23). Researchers explain that the reason for this preference in males is likely due to the overrepresented images in the media and the general approval of light complexions. It is argued that skin tone of a woman is socially advantageous for her male partner. Mathews (2013) argues that in America many African-America wed women with lighter shades for them to expand their very own social standing, as “being tied to a woman that has been deemed attractive and pleasing to society elevates their own status” (Mathews, 2013).

Could this be the argument of men in Katlehong about the perception of female “yellow bones”?

An African American film director, Spike Lee (Mathews, 2013), also argued that “whether black men admit it or not they feel light-skinned women are more attractive than dark-skinned women” (Mathews, 2013). In America it is believed that “African-American men believe that their involvement with white women improves their own feelings of inferiority” (Mathews, 2013; Hunter, 2007). This might be an argument for men in Katlehong who are heard in daily conversation praising the beauty of a light-skinned woman over a dark-skinned woman. Therefore, it can be argued that being in a relationship with a white or light-skinned woman; is an opportunity to be recognised, respected and improves one’s social status amongst one’s peers and in the community.

This view is often perpetuated in the media, as the media tends to include black women with a lighter complexion. It is undisputable that musicians in music videos, especially rappers or hip-hop musicians, use a lot of light-skinned women in their videos. For instance, here in South Africa rappers such as aka, Cassper Nyovest, Ricky Rick and Emtee, just to name a few are seen using light- skinned women in their videos, and even go further to sing and brag about them. For instance, there is a song of Emtee, title of the song is named Pearl Thusi – in the song he is heard praising the beauty of a well-known TV actress and media personality. Pearl Thusi is light in complexion and men view her as beautiful and they yearn to be in a relationship with her or a woman who looks like her

(Ramakobya, 2016; Khumalo; 2015). Another song that shows how black men yearn to be in a relationship or how men use women as their social capital, is a song by Kwesta featuring Cassper Nyovest “Ngud” Cassper Nyovest is heard rapping and bragging in the song saying ketswere stock salegowa [he is rolling with a white woman] – something that some black men wish they could do.

Furthering this notion, Mathews (2013) argues that males objectify and exploit women in hip-hop music as it is a “subliminal mediator of colourism”. She uses American rappers to illustrate this. For instance, she quotes the lyrics of famous American rapper Lil Wayne “I don’t touch dark – Dark got fleas”. Kanye West, in his song of take one for the team, says “I tell a dark skin chick I’m allergic to chocolate”. In another song of Lil Wayne, he is heard reciting these words: “Beautiful black women – I bet you that – look better red” (Mathews, 2013). These are a few examples of how black men are appreciating women of lighter skin and how these women improve their social status amongst their peers.

It is argued that “Light skin women are more likely to be admired and that men appear to have adopted and therefore become a casualty of the beauty of the white ideals” (Mathews, 2013: 26). Research on social media of how men favour light-skinned women over dark-skinned women indicates that men talk daily about their preferences (Espinoza, 2017; Gelles, 2011; Khumalo, 2015; Mathews, 2013). Famous American model Amber Rose indicates this during her social media rant, Amber reflects on message sent to black women: “Society was telling girls that they weren’t beautiful as me because of their complexion” and explains that it was okay for men to have sex with them behind closed doors, but not okay to have them on their arm (Espinoza, 2017), As though light skinned young ladies were some sort of trophy for a man, it was societal position insinuating that he had money, or he just had a “bad bitch” (Espinoza, 2017). This social media rant of Amber Rose indicates that light-skinned women are liked by men whereas dark-skinned women are trash, and light-skinned women give men social status that black women cannot give (Espinoza, 2017).

3.5 Conclusion In conclusion, our identities are our understandings of who we are, and our identities are impacted by our skin tones. This chapter argued that colourism is a form of discrimination based on the colour of the skin tone. In this chapter, it was explained that the phenomenon of colourism is when light- skinned people are believed to be more beautiful or even better than dark-skinned people of the same race. It was noted that colourism is one of the psychological injuries entrenched by colonisation and apartheid and it has been passed on from generation to generation. Black women have been impacted by colourism regarding their skin tone and have suffered by being overlooked by men who prefer light-skinned women. It was also argued that colourism plays out in the romantic realm, and that fair skin is related with excellence and status, light skinned black women are bound to be hitched than dark skinned black women

The chapter argued that Afrocentrism seeks to reject the supposed superiority of the coloniser’s paradigm of beauty over the colonised people. Afrocentrism is a powerful tool that is used to redefine and question the white norms of beauty experienced by most black women. It was noted that Afrocentrism questions the supposed superiority of white skin over black skin. Afrocentrism challenges the beauty standard that has been set by the media, colonisation and white supremacy, by rejecting the coloniser’s paradigm of beauty and by accepting that women are beautiful irrespective of their skin colour.

This chapter further pointed out that the mainstream media tends to reinforce negative stereotypes of black women; black women are negatively depicted in the media more often as hypersexual by nature. The chapter discussed that the media plays a crucial role in reinforcing ideas that epitomise whiteness as the ideal beauty standard through advertisements, movies and music videos. These depictions, together with prevailing social conceptions, may have a negative impact on the self- image of darker-skinned women, making them yearn for lightness. This strengthens the superiority of the white race as beautiful. However, the black-owned media tends to purposely depict black women in a positive way by encouraging and embracing back women as role models. Although black-owned media depicts black women in a positive way, the beauty of black women still represents the white beauty ideals.

This chapter also discussed the role black feminism played to instil pride in black women. It was argued that African feminism is not the same as the white feminism as African feminism is advocating against the struggle of women with socially acknowledged types of female subordination, gender inequity and inequality. African feminism values the diversity of women and understands that women do not look the same and every woman is beautiful and unique. Furthermore, African feminism aims to empower black women by challenging the negative depictions and racial oppression of black women.

In this chapter, patriarchy was described as a system that affords domination for males over females and children. Patriarchy is a system in which groups of men hold power and prevail in roles of political administration, moral expert and social benefit. It was further argued that the system of patriarchy asserts women’s inferiority to men and gives privilege to men and subsequently stigmatises, penalises and oppresses women and men who are weak. This chapter argued that hegemonic masculinity is a system of dominance over subordinate masculinity and the overall logic of the subordination of women allows hegemonic masculinity to perpetuate the system of patriarchy. Although patriarchy is a social construction, power is key when it comes to hegemony. It was further discussed that hegemonic masculinity employs power over marginalised and subordinated men who do not fit the criteria of hegemonic masculinity. Moreover, it was explained that from this vantage point, a man must be respected in the society and have dominance over other men and women. Thus, traditionally the man is the head of the house, and traditional masculinity is to be heterosexist

53 and patriarchal. In the same way, men are supposed to have many female sexual partners to confirm their manhood traditionally. From this perspective, ultimately to be a man, a man must have been circumcised and attended initiation school. The chapter also presented two forms of manhood. If a man is not dominating and showing powerful force over other men and women, then that man is viewed as subordinate. Subordinate masculinity was discussed as men who display characteristics that are inverse to those that esteemed hegemonic masculinity. Subordinate men are men that express physical weakness, such as emotions of sadness, crying and not being strong – something that is not tolerated in hegemonic masculinity. Furthermore, it was also discussed that hegemonic traditional masculinity identity can become toxic. Toxic masculinity has to do with actions such as promiscuity, bullying and emotional isolation. Therefore, it could be argued that toxic masculinity is harmful to women and subordinate masculinity and that effeminate gay men also suffer from toxic masculinity. It is also believed that black masculinity is fragile and is centred around men who feel they don’t have power and they end up being abusive.

This chapter also argued that the term the male gaze is used to describe that men view women and objectify them, in a sense that men get sexual pleasure by watching women. It was argued that the male gaze generally implies that male viewers may be engaging in more than just looking at an individual, they might be also satisfying their desires. In addition, it was argued that it is through the male gaze that women monitor their self-perception and how they present themselves.

Lastly it was argued that social capital is about the thought of individuals and gatherings frothing unions and alliances. It was further argued that social capital includes ties with friends and neighbours, which are related to indices of psychological wellbeing, such as self-esteem and satisfaction with life. It can be asserted that black men choose to date or get married to women with lighter shades for them to increase their own social standing. Being attached to woman that has been esteemed appealing and satisfying to the society elevates his social status in the society.

Chapter Four: Research methodology 4.1 Introduction This chapter provides an overview of the research design, in terms of the methodological orientation, method of data collection, sampling, method of data analysis, limitations to the findings and ethical aspects of this study.

4.2 Research orientation A qualitative approach is appropriate for the current study because it provides the researcher with the opportunity to understand the phenomena at hand in detail. The qualitative approach permits the study to have an inductive quality, which will pay special attention on individual meaning.

Qualitative research is frequently used to investigate a topic where little prior research exists (Bell, 2014). “It is designed to reveal a target audience’s range of behaviour and the perceptions that drive it with reference to specific topics or issues” (Bell, 2014:15). Qualitative research helps to investigate characteristics or qualities that can only with significant effort be diminished to numeral qualities (Strauss, Anselm, & Corbin, 1990; Leedy, Ellis & Ormrod, 2005). This approach aided the researcher to engage deeply with the study’s participants and to uncover their views on the topic. The primary objectives of a qualitative study are to describe, understand and explain human behaviour (Greenstein, Roberts & Sitas, 2003, Shelembe, 2014). Since qualitative research is exploratory in nature, it is useful for producing in-depth and descriptive data (Shelembe, 2014; Huberman & Miles, 2002; Northcutt & McCoy, 2004). Qualitative researchers are interested in exploring why certain events occur in ways they do and how this affects individuals and their behaviour (Shelembe, 2014, Huberman & Miles, 2002; Northcutt & McCoy, 2004).

4.3 Data collection Using a qualitative research design, the researcher may choose from different methods to collect data, such as structured interviews, “semi-structured interviews and unstructured interviews, focus groups, participant observation and ethnography” (Neuman, 2000).

This study used interviews as the method of data collection. In interviews, the role of the qualitative researcher is to encourage the participant to open and share experiences, ideas and feelings (Shelembe, 2014). The researcher’s interest is important to encourage the participant to share their experiences and views (Dickson-Swift, Kippen, & Liamputtong, 2007).

Interviews allow the researcher to know the participants quite intimately, so that there can be better understanding of the real thoughts and feelings of people (Jooste, 2009:41). Using interviews, the researcher investigates important personal issues, which is what this research is investigating.

The research investigated the personal experience of black men on how they perceive light- skinned women or “yellow bones”. The interviews helped in providing concurring and conflicting ideas and 55 perceptions of the topic at hand (Neuman, 2000; Packer, 2010). In this study, the researcher looked to elicit a range of ideas and perceptions on the notion of “yellow bones”. Interviews do not provide ready-made conclusions. However, the interviews helped the researcher to make the participants understand and respond to questions in a similar enough way so that responses could be collected in irrefutable approach.

In-depth interviews were used in this study as this approach allowed the researcher to ask open- ended questions, because open-ended questions give the participants the opportunity to explain the answers in detail (Neuman, 2000; Packer, 2010). The researcher used an interview schedule that could be adapted during the interview should the need arise to ask to follow-up questions. In this study, the interviews were conducted at locations convenient for the participants such as their homes, their “chilling spots” or almost anywhere where they felt comfortable to be interviewed in Katlehong township. This created a comfortable environment for the participants. The average time for the interviews was 30 to 40 minutes; this helped participants to answer questions in detail without rushing their responses.

The interview schedule was based on the information presented in Chapters Two and Three of this study (see Appendix 1). It dealt with the topics of masculine identity, patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity, traditional masculinity, dating “yellow bones”, female beauty, social status, media representations and the beauty industry, and issues related to colourism.

Interviews can help researchers to unpack and explore hidden meanings and help researchers to gently guide a conversation partner in an extended discussion. This comes with disadvantages, as the demands placed on the interviewer are that they need to have good listening skills while at the same time observing the participants’ non-verbal responses, which at times can be difficult to perform simultaneously (Shelembe, 2014). Interviews were audio recorded – with the consent of the participants of this study – on a mobile phone.

4.4 Sampling Sampling is the process of “selecting units from a population of interest so that by studying the sample we may fairly generalise our results back to the population from which they were chosen” (Daniel, 2012:1) – in other words, "sampling is the selection of a subset of a population included in the study” (Daniel, 2012:1).

According to Maree (2007), “qualitative research is generally based on non-probability and purposive sampling rather than probability or random sampling approaches” (Maree, 2007). A purposive sampling technique was used in this study to identify young black men who have had dating experiences with naturally light-skinned women or bleached light-skinned women. Even though the sample was selected from dark-skinned and light-skinned young black men in Katlehong, a criterion for inclusion was that participants were or had been dating “yellow bones” in the past. The researcher 56 chose to include men with dating experiences with “yellow bones” because it was thought that such participants would provide detailed information based on their experiences.

Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling procedure in which elements are selected from the target population based on their fit with the purposes of the study and inclusion and exclusion criteria (Daniel, 2012: Maree, 2007). Participants were “carefully chosen because of their defining characteristic that makes them holders of the data needed for the study” (Maree, 2007:79). Participant inclusion was determined by way of screening questions. Participants were able to suggest other potential interviewees to the researcher, which then made the study use snowball sampling. Snowball sampling is the process of selecting a sample using networks (Kumar, 2005:179). To start with, a few individuals who are selected then later on they suggest possible participants of the study (Kumar, 2005:179). The participants were asked to identify other young black men who are dating or who have experience of dating yellow bone women.

The number of participants included in the research study was 18, all from Katlehong township. Young black men between the ages of 18 and 26 were interviewed as the researcher who is familiar with Katlehong had overheard young men in this age category on numerous occasions talking about “yellow bones”. The participants they themselves declared that they like “yellow bone” women. This did not cripple with the validity of the study simply because there were enough participants to interview. The researcher did not encounter any problems in recruiting research participants.

Table 1: Participant Profile

Pseudonym Gender Age Occupation Relationship status

Tobiah Male 23 Working In a relationship Tebza Male 20 Soccer player In a relationship Sash Male 18 College student In a relationship Neo Male 21 Filmmaker Single Hlogi Male 23 Street vendor In a relationship Katleho Male 25 Bantu activist In a relationship Thando Male 20 University student Single Gift Male 24 Soccer coach Single Bongani Male 21 Painting artist In a relationship Kingsley Male 26 Working In a relationship Hope Male 24 Radio DJ In a relationship Phemelo Male 18 High school learner In a relationship Tiego Male 22 University student Single Magubani Male 24 Taxi driver In a relationship Trevor Male 25 Shopkeeper In a relationship 57

Pseudonym Gender Age Occupation Relationship status

Thato Male 19 Music artist In a relationship Brian Male 19 Soccer player In a relationship Anonymous Male 18 College student Single

4.5 Data analysis Qualitative data includes words and observations, and just like all other data, analysis and interpretation are needed to create order and understanding of the data set (Taylor-Powell & Renner, 2003: 1). There are several techniques for analysing qualitative data, but there is no uniform or universal way to deal with the process.

The method of data analysis utilised in this research is thematic analysis. Thematic analysis is “useful for analysing qualitative data because it is descriptive and allows for identifying, analysing and reporting on the patterns emerging from the data” (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The thematic analysis took a deductive approach, this approach begins with the general and ends with the specific arguments based on experience (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This approach was useful to the researcher to test if the data collected supports the hypothesis. The procedure for analysing involves organising the research data into themes as well as noting differences and similarities. Braun and Clarke (2006) argue that themes must stand on their own as they capture something important in relation to the research. The researcher’s task is to find recurring themes from the data obtained. Due to flexibility, this analytic tool “provides a research tool that can potentially provide a rich and detailed, yet complex account of data” (Braun & Clarke, 2006: 78). This method of data analysis permitted the researcher “to examine how events, realities, meanings and experience attributed to social action are the product of discourses existing in society” (Braun & Clarke, 2006: 78). This method of data analysis thus worked to “reflect reality and unpack or untie surface of reality on the research” (Braun & Clarke, 2006: 9), and to report on “the experiences and the realities of participants” (Braun & Clarke, 2006: 9). This method includes being familiar with data collected, generating an initial list of items from the data set that have been reoccurring. This is a systematic way of organising and gaining meaningful part of data as it relates to the research question. This method also helped the researcher to categories themes emerging from the data, and thematic analysis helped in searching for data that supports or refutes what is discussed in the literature review and helped in determining which themes in the data were going to be captured. Lastly, the method helped in writing the final report of the study, determining themes that were meaningful and contributing in answering the research questions.

4.6 Limitations Qualitative researchers need to assure others of the quality of their interpretations rather than ask whether the data and interpretations can be valid as true, correct and dependable (Lindlof & Taylor,

2002). It is imperative to note, however, that repeating qualitative research is not possible as repeating the same research will not yield the same results because “human nature is never static”. In order to be taken seriously by the rest of scientific community you need to make sure your work is congruent with or matches reality, i.e. establishes the validity of the study (Maree,2007: 37).

Credibility is vital to qualitative research findings because the process of qualitative research results in multiple interpretations (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002). The researcher designed the project to analyse and interpret the data to create plausible, insightful and useful interpretations. The researcher had alternative plans about the research method chosen for reasons such as if the research method chosen does not answer the research questions. The researcher made sure that the collection of data was accurate and complete to prevent the threat of the credibility of the study, hence a mobile phone ensured digital recording to enhance the credibility of the study (Keyton, 2010: 75).

Validity is foremost on the mind of these “developing measures and genuine scientific measurement is foremost in the minds of those who seek valid outcomes from assessment” (Struwig & Stead, 2001). Validity in qualitative research is considered unnecessary by some, but failure to validate findings can result in anecdotal reports that are not adequately analysed and interpreted (Struwig & Stead, 2001:18). The validity for this study included the degree to which the interpretations and concepts used have mutual meaning for both the participant and the researcher (Maree, 2007). It is important to clear researcher bias by clarifying the researcher’s assumptions, views, and theoretical orientation before starting the research (Maree, 2007:38). In qualitative research, “validity concerns the degree to which a finding is judged to have been interpreted in a correct way” (Maree, 2007). Qualitative research seeks to explore situations in greater depth in order to draw conclusions and then make generalisations.

Trustworthiness is imperative in research (Maree, 2007: 113), especially in qualitative research. “Checking the trustworthiness is the acid test of the data analysis, findings and conclusions” (Maree, 2007: 113). The researcher kept the procedures that can be used to assess trustworthiness of the data constantly in mind. The researcher checked for trustworthiness by verifying the data. For instance, following interviews the researcher may ask participants to verify the data gathered in earlier interviews, or during conversations with participants the researcher may sound out initial understandings with them to verify whether the interpretation of what they have shared was correct or not (Maree, 2007: 113). This was done so that the researcher could correct any mistakes that occurred while capturing the data. The researcher tested the trustworthiness of the study by avoiding generalisation. This was done by always seeking insight into participant’s perspectives, experiences, attitudes and behaviours (Maree, 2007:115). The researcher tried to answer questions such as “what” is unique about this individual, group, situation or issue and not just generalise findings across the population (Maree, 2007:115).

The role of the researcher is integral to the research process, especially since the researcher deduces the findings to generate meaning from the participants’ subjective experiences (Maree, 2007). Due to the fact that the researcher is “involved in a rigorous experience with the participants, it is necessary to continually recognise participant bias, values and personal interests with regard to the research topic and process” (Maree, 2007:298). Reflexivity is an imperative part of the research process. This means that the researcher must reflect on his/her in relation to the research process and interpreting his/her data. Being a black male researcher gave the researcher some advantages. First, the participants were young black men, so the racial background is a familiar aspect between the researcher and the participants, and this made it easier for the researcher to develop rapport with some of the participants of the research project (Shelembe, 2014). Secondly the participants were male figures, so this allowed the researcher to engage at a deeper level with the participants since the researcher is also male himself. Another issue is that the researcher and the participants come from similar backgrounds, which helped in making participants feel less inhibited due to cultural similarities. However, the researcher was mindful not to project his own understanding and objectives into the interviews or data analysis (Maree, 2007; Shelembe, 2014).

4.7 Ethical aspects The social sciences work with humans, and it is important to consider ethical aspects (Boyd & Crawford, 2012: 15). The researcher obtained informed consent from the research participants, because informed consent is a required protocol as the researcher has the responsibility to explain to participants as fully as possible what the research is about, why they are being interviewed and what will be involved (Bell, 2014: 160).

The researcher respected the participant’s privacy and did not invade the privacy of the research participants. This means that if the participants wished to, they could remain anonymous in the research report. Only one participant chose to whilst the others asked that only their first names are used. During the interview process, participants were made aware that they could withdraw from the interview at any moment. The researcher respected the ethic of voluntary involvement where participants were not coerced to be involved in the research study. “Protection from harm should always be considered as one of the most important ethical issues in research” (Bell, 2014: 49), therefore the research participants were not exposed to any harm (Bell, 2014: 49). The researcher briefed participants on the purpose of the research as this gave research participants the opportunity to decide whether to continue with the research or withdraw (Bell, 2014: 50). “Participation as a proposition of ethics seeks to ensure that no one is reduced to a mere tool or slave, no matter the stated intent of the user or enslaver” (Fanon, 1986: 231). The researcher also did not promise research participants incentives that are not available as this form’s deception of the participants and it is against the ethical issues in research that involves human beings.

4.8 Conclusion The next chapter presents and interprets the findings of this research project.

Chapter Five: Findings 5.1 Introduction This study investigates how young black men in Katlehong view women with a lighter skin tone. This chapter presents the findings of the interviews with 18 men and interprets their views by drawing on the literature and theoretical positions discussed earlier in this dissertation.

From the interviews three broad themes emerged, namely, participants’ views of masculinity; their perceptions about dating female yellow bones; and finally, how they relate their views to colourism.

5.2 Masculine identity The purpose of this section is to present the views of the participants about masculinity. The section is divided into three themes, namely that participants felt that their masculine identity is socially constructed, how they make sense of patriarchal hegemonic masculinity in their lives, and how they think about masculinity as related to traditions and culture.

5.2.1 Social construction of masculinity

In Chapter Two, it was argued that masculinity is socially constructed, meaning that to be a man is an integral part of the social identity of a person (Hamber, 2010; Ratele, 2014). This means that masculinity is not a characteristic that male children appear on the scene with but is a trait that is constructed by society through social interaction. Therefore, it could be said that people regulate and police masculinity contexts to ensure upholding identities (Langa, 2008).

Most participants of this study believe that to their views of masculine identity is socially constructed as they are acutely aware of their gender identity, social position and what others think about them. In this vein, Tobiah believes:

So uhm, again, in general, uhm, who says you are a man? I would say [it] is the society, I mean [it] is the norms, ey, it’s a social construction of the whole entire notion of manhood. I think it’s a socially constructed view, because all those characteristics, you know, are based on what the society says. So, the society, for an example, when you are a man I mean, I’ve seen this you know in most cases a man, is a man, uhm, that for an example takes care of their family. A man is a person who would not run away from their responsibility of home – a man is a person who would not beat up his wife, you get what I mean? So all those things are things that we see on media, these are the things that are perceived in society, even if you go home from a private point of view, like home you know there is certain things that, uh, you need to go through, and hence I said from a traditional point of view, you know like Xhosa people, your manhood once you go through circumcision, then you are defined as a man, so you know in general you are looking at society, you know it’s different from one aspect from home, from outside point, from the world itself, and just socially amongst young people, you know what I

mean? I would say that the society, just to round off, you know, the society will put standards in terms of who is a man or what’s manhood, so the society does that in a nutshell, ja (Tobiah, 23).

In other words, for Tobiah, his masculine identity is socially situated, as he alludes to society setting the norms that regulate how a man should be and behave. Tobiah further says that he feels that society, reinforced by the media, suggests acceptable characteristics of a man. He feels that to be a “real man” one needs to be responsible, as this is an important character for a man. Tobiah’s remarks resonate with what was argued in Section 3.3.2 of the study, that societies create norms of how a real man should look and behave and that masculinity is regulated by peoples’ contexts to ensure upholding of dominant identities (Langa, 2008; Ratele, 2013).

In general, who says I am a real man? Uhm, it must be the people that I am associated with, for example my family members. Those people, they are the ones who know that I am a real man, like they look at how I behave around them and, they know, uhm, how I behave and these are people that I live with on a daily basis, so they are the ones who can judge me best if I am a real man or not, and technically by birth I am a man, but how I behave myself makes me a real man, you know? My friends, you know, the ones that I grew up with, uhm, around the community, they can tell that this guy is a real man, because of his actions, you know. The elders in the community, they can tell everyone in the community, those who know me they can tell me, maybe if I am a real man by my actions or do, I practice what I preach as a man, you know, that kind of a thing. (Tebza, 20)

Tebza attests that on the one hand his biology determines his identity, but on the other hand, his masculine identity is socially constructed and socially prescribed as he is conscious about social expectations by his family, friends and the community.

Who say I am a real man? No one says I am a real man, but then my actions say that I am a real man. Ey, as I have said that like, ey, the actions are the ones that speaks. There is this saying that says actions speak louder than words, ja, like it won’t make sense to say that I am a man, but then like I do play the role of a man, so like, ah, it doesn’t need for someone to tell you that you are a real man, we can only see by actions that this one is the real man (Sash, 18).

Tebza’s and Sash’s remarks resonate with what was argued in Section 3.3.2 of the study, namely that people are urged to adapt to stereotypic beliefs and behaviour to fit in (see also Courtenay, 2000). However, masculinity is not only socially constructed, it is also individually constructed (Courtenay, 2000).

The society is the one that, ah says that you are a man, but there comes a time where for me it’s for myself, I tell myself that I am a man, because I look at the responsibilities that come. I am at a point where I can buy a house, I am at a point where I can get employed, so you now I know that I am a man, I am an adult I have responsibilities, uhm, but now one thing we need to realise is that just because you are 21 or just because you are 30, does not necessarily mean that you are a man yet, that is why I said it is a state of maturity, even a 30-year-old can still behave what they call like a boy and not like a man, but it is all created by a society, society has been a basis of where uhm our ideologies for what we think we knew man is (Neo, 21).

Neo echoes similar sentiments as Tobiah and Tezba, that society defines manhood, but he also acknowledges that manhood is individually constructed. To illustrate, Neo mentions that there is a time where he must be responsible and mature; those two characteristics are for him associated with masculinity.

Many participants seem to believe that manhood is socially constructed as they feel that society regulates how a man should be (identity) and behave. It is argued that the media and society foreground a particular version of masculinity. However, participants seem to understand that manhood is not only socially constructed but is also individually constructed. In this vein Wetherell and Edley (1999: 342) argue that “masculinity is in fact neither a uniform, nor an infinite set of objects, it is rather always social first and personal second” (Wetherell & Edley, 1999: 342). This resonates with the remarks of many participants, because firstly they believe that manhood is socially constructed and secondly individually constructed. Participants also mention that responsibility and maturity are significant in masculinity.

5.2.2 Patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity

When discussing masculinity, many participants alluded to patriarchal power relations between men and women. In this vein, Hooks (2010) argues that patriarchy is a system that asserts women’s inferiority to men and shapes male identity. Tobiah seems to be in accord with this view:

Okay, so the general perceptions around manhood is that firstly, when you look into it in a traditional view, is that when you are a man, for example, of course, that a woman should be submissive to a man, secondly is that when you are a man you need to be a provider. So, anything that is strong masculine, ey, uh, how can I put it? A leader in general, or the characteristics that are kind of superior and stuff like that, there are associated with manhood you know. A man is perceived, or manhood is perceived as an individual, of course a man that take care of their family, a person that has power, a person that is masculine or strong, a leader, and ja, that’s my view on manhood (Tobiah, 23).

Tobiah believes that the general perception of manhood assumes a strong man and a submissive woman. This resonates with views presented in Section 3.3.2 of the study where it was argued that 64 patriarchy includes the responsibility of women to obey and assume an inferior role in relation to a powerful man (Hooks, 2010).

The general perception about manhood, I would say it is taking, ey, patriarchal eh way of uhm, a man being, you know, being this person who is vocal who sets rules, ey, norms, who says what is right and what’s wrong and, uhm, in many ways. I would say is taking again account of evolutionary psychology, he is a protector, uhm, a provider. I would say, talking about a man being a man, it talks mostly about those things (Hlogi, 23).

According to Hlogi, there is a general perception that governs manhood and that is linked to patriarchy as it is believed a man must be vocal, set rules and norms. By so doing, a patriarchal way governs masculine identity and behaviour.

Okay, so the general perceptions with manhood, ey, well there is this notion that let me just say with gender, right ey? there is this notion that ey, your gender whether male or female it is defined by certain roles that you perform, right? So I can say in western culture, classical western culture, is that you have to be the guy who provides, who works and so on, right? and you find that the opposite, the female, just like I said, in the classical western culture, before the rise of feminism in fact there was this thing that there should be stay at home mom, take care of kids, do pretty much domestic, ey work, so [clears throat], what I can say is that a bulk of those perceptions still exist even today, ey, even though there is this fight for feminism. You know, but a bulk of this perceptions still exist, still survives, so yes with perceptions of being a man, and it still a lot has to do with, you know, not crying for example in front of people, ey, yeah such things, you know, ey, providing for your family and so on, you are still judged or the strength of a man still judged by those things. In simple terms, my man, the perceptions of being a man you don’t have to show weakness, you have to be aggressive, you have to be a straight man, I guess, and not show signs of being a gay or being attracted by people who are of the same gender as you, my man, and lastly being a leader who doesn’t show weakness (Katleho, 25).

Katleho elaborates on a patriarchal male identity by suggesting that being a man means not showing perceived weak emotions such as crying in front of people, not showing weaknesses; that a man must assume power all the time, and that a man should not be attracted to people of the same gender. These are characteristics of men that were discussed in Section 3.2.2 of the study, where it was argued that “patriarchy is a system that demands men to remain emotional cripples; this is shown when men are forced not to be weak, but to be always strong” (Hooks, 2010: 4).

Uhm, the general perception for me is that, uhm, people view being a man as someone, as uhm, like being a leader someone who is strong, who is not sensitive, someone who doesn’t, uhm, voice their feelings a lot. It is not accepted for a man to state their feelings, or to show 65

their emotions; the man out there needs to be someone that is hard, someone that is assertive. Someone that knows what they want, someone who is going to be a leader, whether in the family, or at work, lead people and, ja, that is the general perception for me (Neo, 21).

Neo also alludes to a perception of manhood that is closely linked to patriarchy, because he describes a man as someone who does not voice his feelings a lot and argues that it is not accepted for men to show their feelings or emotions as they must always be assertive. Therefore, it could be argued that the emotions of men are handicapped as they are not allowed to show emotions that are “feminine” such as crying and being weak. This confirms views that were brought forward in the Section 3.3.3, where it was argued that masculinity has commandments and one of the important ones is “Thou shall not feel”, meaning that men should not show emotions of weakness by crying or being fragile. Men or boys who show fear, pain or emotions of crying are considered as sissies or weak (Connell, 2012; Sculos, 2017; Schippers, 2007).

Many participants felt that the general perception of manhood is linked to patriarchy, as they argued that a man should not show weakness, be sensitive or show perceived feminine feelings or emotions, and they argued that a man should be assertive and superior to women. However, many participants also highlighted that this perception of manhood leaves men emotionally crippled as they are not given space or time to express how they really feel. It can be argued that patriarchy encourages men to yearn for security, status, and rewards through control, and patriarchy is known for repression of women and that what a man says is unquestionable (Connell, 2012; Gennrich, 2013). On the other hand, some participants believed that manhood is about dominance and not being weak; they argued that a man must be dominant and those who are not dominant are weak. This resonates with what was argued in Section 3.3.3 of the study, that patriarchy put significance on dominance and overshadowing women as well as men that are not regarded men or seen as weak (Connell, 2012; Gennrich, 2013; Hooks, 2010). The following views illustrate the perceptions of participants on the issue of dominance and how it links to patriarchy:

Eh, ja, I would not say to dominate, because they never really spoke about it, because most of the time the guys around me, the dudes around me, they are okay, like they were impressed she was nice, but on a social level, yes, to say it does stems up some boosting, you know that recognition from other dudes who will be actually, like, ey yellow skin is, almost the majority of men out here they like yellow bones. So, a general level of respect might arise from that, but ja, that is just the perception out of it (Thando, 20).

Yeah, uhm, I can agree, uhm, that, uhm, I felt at some point, I feel that, yes, I am dominating other men, for example, like I’ve seen this happening quite a lot. I am walking with my girlfriend into the mall, lot of guys are giving me the looks, they are looking at my girlfriend, and some are nodding, you know, and that on its own it boost my self-esteem, that okay I’ve got a real

thing going on here coz everyone is looking at my woman, you know, so that I feel like I have an advantage over them, because we all know that, uhm, according to the society, uhm, according to the media, you know, according to, uhm, to the notions that light skin is classified as better than dark skin. So even if you are not dating the hottest chick, but if she is light, I mean like people are looking at you, oh, he is with a yellow bone, so I feel at some point that, ja, I do dominate other men, but it is not something that I consciously think about. Sometimes it happens subconsciously, it’s not something that I pay attention to, to me it is just a normal being, you know, I didn’t go to her because of her skin colour, I went to her for companionship. You know, so I didn’t go there because I saw her skin, then I thought that okay this will be an advantage to me, but because of what other people, uh, think, and the reaction of other people does makes me think that, okay, at some point I have an advantage over them, so ja, that is what I think (Tebza, 20).

Hmmm, I can’t particularly really answer that one, because I really didn’t pay attention. I think I didn’t need affirmation from them, right? Uh, perhaps I needed it more from people of my own sex, right? People, uh, who I hang around with ko di khoneng [at corners of the hood] and stuff, right? So that I can get that kind of respect, so that when I talk people listen, you understand? [laughs] (hehehe) So I didn’t really pay attention to how girls viewed me, because ke tsamaya le yellow bone [that I’m walking with a yellow bone] or so, ja, I can’t really give a proper answer on that one (Katleho, 25).

Ja, since now you know on the simple space, yellow bones are there, you know, it is win or lose with no take, you know, and I think this answer contradicts the first answer that I said, but you know, ey, being victories sometimes you know makes you feel like uhi skhokho [you are the boss] you know because nowadays you know even Mtee, is it Mtee? Or this song of Sjava, ey vura athi ngiphethe intwana e yellow [Sjava in his song of vura he says he is with a yellow bone chick] you know, which is again media, you know, but ja, it shows that everyone is going for a yellow bone, you know, and you don’t know maybe there were lot of men looking for her and you managed to charm her and ja, uyi skhokho [you are the boss] (Hlogi, 23).

Patriarchy is not only about men dominating women, but it is also about men competing against and dominating each other (Gennrich, 2013). This dominance against each other occurs when they date yellow bones. Participants believe that they are dominating other men when they are dating yellow bones, although they argue that it is not something, they always think about but subconsciously they know that they are dominating those who are not dating yellow bones. Many participants feel that dating a yellow bone affirms their manhood not only to the society at large, but to their peers as well. Katleho says he gets affirmation from other men, and when he talks other men listen to him and give him respect. With this it could be argued that dominance plays an integral part for men by confirming their manhood in the society. Katleho is also of the view that dominating other men confirms that

67 participants are not mistakenly thought to be homosexual. Also, if men are not dominating women or feel threatened by women, they react badly in a way that they develop toxic masculinity behaviour as alluded to by Hlogi.

Toxic masculinity is explained as “one of the ways in which patriarchy is harmful to men” (Sculos, 2017). It is argued that toxic masculinity alludes to socially built demeanours that portrays the masculine gender role as brutal, apathetic and explicitly forceful. In Section 3.3.6 of this study it was further discussed that toxic masculinity is centred around men who feel that they don’t have power, so they overcompensate their power by abusing their women and men who are weak (Sculos, 2017; Connell; 2012).

Uhm, I think feminism came because of lack of lot of real men, according to, you know what, I think a real man is, but, uhm, do I think there are not enough real men because of feminism? I would say nowadays you have something called toxic masculinity you know and it being men reacting to feminism, you know, since feminism was in many ways, ey, challenging, you know, patriarchy, challenging manhood, you know so a lot of men ey, you know are taking a sit back and it has even come to a point where, you know, during the times of my father, and the times of my grandfather, you know, a man was the one who was supposed to go out there and work, you know, and provide, but now due to feminism, due to women assuming that position which was placed there by patriarchy, you know of men being the heads of everything, you know, men are now deciding, choosing to say, ah no I am taking a sit back. A woman will provide, a woman will lead you know choosing matriarchy, and I think ja, real man now, you know are a few, I just say that it might be one in three, hehehe [laughs]. You know we are backed against the wall (Hlogi, 23).

Hlogi believes that there is no threat to real men because of feminism but instead there is a notion known as toxic masculinity where men are reacting to feminism and taking a back seat. He alludes that men are taking a back seat by refusing to provide for their families and believing that women will lead and provide. Toxic masculinity is understood to refer to men who are violent and reluctant to be led by women (Sculos, 2017; Connell; 2012). It could also be argued that if a man is not aggressive, dominant or a leader then that man is seen as a weak man in his society (Schippers, 2017). This thought is presented by Gift explaining that weak men are known as subordinate masculinity. Gift remarks that there are men who are referred to as subordinate men – the ones who do not appear as aggressive and dominant.

It is the, I think, the new term, which describes, uhm, homosexual people like your gay people, ja, those are the people who are not considered real men in my culture from a traditional context (Gift, 24).

According to Gift, there is a new term which describes a different kind of masculinity; he alludes to men who are not aggressive and who do not have dominant characteristics and are not taken seriously as men. It could be argued that according to Gift’s remarks men who show emotions like sadness, being too fragile and showing emotions that could be associated with feminine behaviour, such as crying or who do not appear to be aggressive are subordinate masculinity, he alludes that homosexual men such as gay are men who are subordinate masculinity. This type of man can be characterised as one who “lacks many of the qualities of hegemonic masculinity and expresses qualities opposite to hegemonic masculinity (Sculos, 2017; Schippers, 2007; Groes-Green, 2009). This includes things like being overly emotional or acting in a feminine way, or not being heterosexual (Groes-Green, 2009). In Section 3.3.5 of the study it was discussed that subordinate masculinity are “men who exhibit qualities that are opposite to those that are valued in hegemonic masculinity such as physical weakness and exhibition of emotions like sadness; effeminate and gay men are examples of men who exhibit subordinate masculinity” (Groes-Green, 2009; Schippers, 2007; Sculos, 2017). In other words, men who are not working or not dating women are labelled as subordinate masculinity and they have no patriarchal dividends. “These men that become subordinated are the objects of hostility and disdain as they cannot conform to the idealised construction of masculinity” (Van der Walt, 2007).

5.2.3 Traditions and culture

Many participants seem to believe that manhood is impacted in one way or the other, by traditions and culture; perspectives. In the previous chapters, it has been argued that traditional masculinity is when a man shows heterosexual attributes and is understood that it does not believe in same sex marriage and that men always take the upper hand (Ratele, 2013). It is emphasised that traditional masculinity glorifies ideas of male sexual entitlement and conspicuous sexual access with women (Burchardt, 2017). In this vein, Thando said:

Alright, in the society that will live in I would like to believe that people have different opinions, for example when one is regarded as Xhosa, people uhm, people tend to accept you as man after you have done your initiation, and the society we grew in which is Katlehong, uhm, people regard you as man when you start providing for the family, when you start working and all that. If you don’t work and you are not providing for the family then you are still regarded as a boy to people eyes (Thando, 20).

Thando alludes to the idea that manhood is defined when a man has gone through the process of initiation school for circumcision and mentions that according to Xhosa tradition a man is regarded as a man in the society when he has gone to the initiation school.

Ja, that’s a bit of a complex question, like manhood for me has really negative connotations, firstly from a more traditional perspective having to undergo, for instance circumcision and so

forth, but I’m not really so knowledgeable about that, but I think the concept of manhood really draws into that kind of comes from traditional talks, but I really don’t have much knowledge, but I think the connotation is really negative, ey maybe is, because I am short sided from a traditional perspective. You know what I mean, but I think the perceptions that I have of the term itself is quite firstly unclear but also a very negative one, ja, that’s my view (Bongani, 21).

Just like Thando, Bongani discusses manhood from a traditional perspective; he suggests that a man must go through the process of circumcision and he thinks manhood really draws on traditional ideas. Although he mentions that he is not knowledgeable about traditional aspects, he thinks the perspective of manhood stems from traditions.

In a similar vein, as already noted, Tobiah believes that manhood is defined according to a traditional view; he illustrates his point by mentioning Xhosa culture and argues that in Xhosa culture a man is a man once he has gone through initiation school for circumcision.

Participants believe that manhood is defined in a traditional way, meaning that a man needs to undergo a certain cultural ritual for him to be considered a real man. Participants mention circumcision as one of the integral things that affirms manhood traditionally. Therefore, it could be understood that the traditional perspective the participants talk about has to do with masculine identity in rural areas, foregrounding traditional values and the cultural identity of going for initiation school in the mountains for affirmation of manhood. Lynch (2008) argues that “to be considered a real man in Africa sometimes it must be proved through the process of initiation” (Lynch, 2008: 11). The remarks of the participants echo the argument that was brought forward in Section 3.3.4 of the study that in some traditional communities it is assumed that manhood is attained only once the young men has been circumcised and has completed initiation rituals (Lynch, 2008; Mutunda, 2009). This process “provides male children with a passage from boyhood to manhood”, when boys formally attain manhood status (Lynch, 2008: 11). Although participants still believe that manhood can be affirmed by other things, they are strongly of the opinion that circumcision is at the pinnacle of affirming manhood in a traditional perspective.

Myself, I think I reached a stage where I told myself that I am a man, because, ah, there are things that, ah, I’ve discovered that I am a real man, no one [can] tell me I’m not a man. When I talk about, uhm, the things I discovered, I mean like I see now that my way of thinking is different from when I was young, ey. I can take responsibility of my actions and, ey, I can stand for my believes, ah, I don’t let people to define my manhood, and of course having gone to the mountain you know the initiation school, that I also make me a man, but according to the society, but I tell myself that I am a real man (Kingsley, 26).

Kingsley argues that he does not let the society confirm or validate his manhood as he has discovered that he is a real man by being responsible for his actions and standing up for what he 70 believes in. However, he asserts that manhood is impacted by traditional or cultural views – including that going through the process of initiation school is deemed important for being a man from the traditional perspective. From this point of view, men are only taken seriously when they have been circumcised in a traditional or cultural perspective. In Section 3.3.4 of the study, it was argued that if a man has not gone through the transition of circumcision, they are not man enough. “Rites of passage such as circumcision play a large role in defining masculinity in a traditional view” (Kometsi, 2004; Lynch, 2008).

My view of manhood, or the general perception of manhood, is uh I think it is a stage whereby or a process whereby a young boy turns into a man, and along the process there are challenges that we face as man, but then remember in our African belief they say a man does not cry, a man cries from the inside, he is a sheep, so that is why we find out that a lot of men go through some stuff, but they don’t spread them out, they just pretend that everything is going alright even though we know they are hurting, like, for instance myself when I’m hurting I go through therapy and all that, but some men especially the ones that went through the mountains and all that, they don’t believe in such things, you get me, but for me, I said, okay, if I am going through this kind of a thing that is hurting me let me go through therapy. In a way I think it has built me to become a better man unlike to pretended like I’ve got it all figured out (Hope, 24).

Hope expressed that manhood or masculinity is defined in a traditional sense implying that African beliefs assume “a man does not cry; a man cries from the inside like a sheep”. This is an African proverb that means a man is strong and can endure pain without showing signs of weakness. Hope’s remarks resonate what was discussed in Section 3.3.2 of the study that from a patriarchal perspective, men are supposed to remain emotional cripples as they are not allowed to express their emotions of sadness or weakness (Hooks, 2010:4). It can thus be argued that a traditional view of manhood resonates with patriarchy, because it is argued that patriarchy believes in a strong man who do not show signs of weakness.

Against this background, it can be argued that the participants in this study felt that their masculine identity is socially situated. This does not mean that they do not have individual identity choices, but they were acutely aware of socially normalised views. They tend to link masculinity to traditional cultural values but are also aware that they are living in the city and that some of the traditional cultural values might be more prevalent in some of the rural areas of the country. Therefore, participants allude to the cultural ritual known as initiation as important for an African man to be considered a man, as through the initiation ritual men are circumcised as a sign of progressing from being boys to being men. For men holding this view, circumcision is imperative in that it affirms manhood traditionally. It is believed by some participants that in some traditional communities it is assumed that manhood is attained only once young men have been circumcised and have

71 completed initiation rituals. However, some participants argued that they do not need to affirm their masculinity as they believe that manhood or masculinity can be individually affirmed.

In one way or the other, and linked to patriarchal narratives around masculine identity, the interviews with the participants steered in the direction of dating, as “real men” are heterosexual and thus have relationships with women. In many ways, participants of this study suggested that a real man is strong and powerful, and they seem to feel to be in competition with men and women for social status. This is discussed in the next section, in relation to dating. It should be remembered that these views of masculinity are not representative of all men in the country but are restricted to the sample of this study. Nevertheless, a patriarchal male identity seems to affect their view of women and dating.

5.3 Masculinity and dating yellow bones The participants in this study have repeatedly linked masculine identity to relationships with women. In this Section, their views on masculinity is thus discussed in relation to dating women, and as they all claim that they have had relationships or is currently in a relationship with a woman with a lighter skin tone, this Section discusses masculinity in relation to dating female yellow bones.

5.3.1 Dating

Most participants seem to believe that manhood is tested when a man is in a romantic relationship with a woman. Participants suggest that there is a perception that a man is a real man when he is dating a woman:

Ey, as you know we come from different cultures, when [you] grow up you grow up seeing your mom you father, so when you are still under your parent’s supervision ey. It comes to our senses that you have to have a woman, so we just grew up, ey, following under same footsteps and you take a bow as well [is] like it’s a must you can’t even just tell, ey, reasons why do we date, we just find ourselves just dating, and I can’t even tell you the good or main reasons as to why are we dating, but yes we are dating, because if you don’t have a woman you are not a man, remember, even if you are not working we don’t consider you as a man. So, you have to date and have your own home and get married to that woman so that we can say you are a man, so those are some of the reasons why we are dating, you need to be responsible. I mean what I can say, a woman is [an] image of a man according to my understanding, yes (Kingsley, 26).

Kingsley’s view infers that in different cultures dating is perceived differently, but he states that dating is one of the things that qualifies one to be a man. Although he cannot clearly explain why dating is considered important for one to be deemed a real man, he states it is a learned behaviour that young men adopt from their parents and this becomes a norm in the society. His remarks support what was brought forward about dating in Section 3.3.4 of the study where it was discussed that dating is 72 explained as learned behaviour that is encouraged by an interest in sexual behaviour, as often men want to initiate sexual encounters. Although Kingsley mentioned that he is not sure why they are dating, it could be argued that boys or men date because they have certain interests such as sexual behaviour, improving their status amongst their peers (Smiler, 2009: 19). He remarks that “a woman is [an] image of a man in that sense this automatically makes a man who is dating qualify to be a real man”. This is confirmed in Section 3.3.4 of the study where it was argued that “women help shape the general terrain of masculinity at some level”, so that dating a woman is one of the things that determines the notion of masculinity (Harper, 2004: 94). Furthermore Kingsley alludes that a man that is not working or not having a job is not considered to be a real man, because he does not show traits of being responsible of taking care of a woman, this echoes what was argued in Section 3.3.5, it was argued that men who are not working or not dating women are labelled as subordinate masculinity and have no patriarchal dividends

Ja, no hum, I would say yes, my view, ey, look my view is not of course factual, but it is just the general perception around the people that are around me, because manhood is tested by you having a female of course on your side, of course, then other people, of course, other gender or sexual orientation it might disagree with that, but now the reality is that, I mean like as 23 year-old I feel like most of the time your manhood, uhm, in a social scene, right, remember I don’t have kids and all those other responsibilities, where my manhood can be tested, but like dating, from a dating point of view then, I would say like that’s how you kind like know that, ey, I am a real man because now you going to have a girl that’s kind going to regulate, ey, they going to regulate, let me see, regulate your individualism in a sense, that now there is certain things that you actually responsible for. You know, taking a girl out you are opening a door for them and stuff like that. I know [it] is a very blunt, uhm, view, but I feel like it considered amongst my age group. I mean, if you are a man and young, if you are dating and you are in relationship, I feel like your manhood, you know, things like you being a gentleman there are tested in a relationship, if I’m single then most of the time is very difficult, like I said, manhood, leadership and stuff like you can’t really kind like tested when you are single, because you are not bound to something, so that is why when you found when you are single most of the time you would not care so much [laughs] hahahaha, about that view, because you are living a flexible lifestyle to a point that you are not bound to a certain responsibility or individual where you need to exercise your leadership or your manhood, ey, characteristics (Tobiah, 23).

Tobiah thus suggests that he feels there is a general perception that manhood is tested when a man is dating – especially in a township context – when a man has a woman on his side. He believes that this view stems from the social norm that a man would know if he is a real man when he has a female that bestows his status. This resonates what was discussed in Section 3.3.4 of the study, that boys date to improve their status among their peers especially if the girl is perceived to be beautiful 73

(Smiler, 2009: 19). Tobiah feels that manhood is associated with a man dating a woman as that suggests he is taking care of a woman and that dating a woman validates a positive masculine identity. He also acknowledges that a man must be a leader and be responsible for his actions:

… not necessarily I would, I mean uhm, I’m less traditional like I said, but I think from a realistic point of view, we don’t judge one, you know, by not engaging in a more stereotypical society that is linked to certain norms. I mean someone would judge a person, or that kind of boy, then you are already boxing a person into so-called, uhm, societal norms. If a person is not really doing those kind of things and decide that, ja, well I don’t want to date or whatever, you cannot judge them or label them, as per you know that kind of its sort of kind of short sighted, to really judge a person in that way and argue that they are not a man, you know. So, ja, but I think it will also be a bit vague, because then it will be like I said it’s sort of, ah, putting a person to societal norms, that a person has to behave in a certain way, because they are part of the society, but that’s not necessarily the case, you know, uhm I think people are active beings and they can really make decisions, they want to do, uhm, and the suggestion, or rather, if a person argues that one, if a person does not date then they are not male enough, what you assume that they are passive beings, you know. I think we all have different decisions, choices, whatever to make and, ja, in general we should not box people into like these norms of how to live in a society (Bongani, 21).

For Bongani the idea of saying dating makes one a man or a real man sounds blunt, because he feels that individuals cannot be judged that they are not real man because they are not dating. Bongani argues that this social norm boxes an individual into living in a way and that people should not be boxed in.

Hhmmm, okay there is certainly that perception, uh, I think that perception goes hand in hand with the perception that, ey, your being as a man is affirmed by how many times you have sex with how many women. For example, I think there is a relation in between those two, so I think certainly there is that perception that you know you are a real guy if you date and if you are not you know your status sort of suffers, so ja. It suffers in a sense that when you show up alone for example at a social event people start doubting, ey your sexuality, you know, they wonder kuthi hao [if] is this person gay or what? It comes from that, I think. I think that’s how it suffers you know as oppose if you come with a woman people know that, okay, mojita ke mojita [this guy is a real guy] and that’s how it is. So, if you come alone there is a doubt you know, there is a certain doubt that, okay, and then this one is alone and then, so I think, ja, I think that’s how it suffers (Katleho, 25).

Katleho believes there is a perception that a man is a real man when he is dating a woman, and he suggests that this perception goes hand in hand with the view that a man is affirmed by how many

74 times he has had sex with how many women. Katleho’s remarks resonate with the argument that was made in in Section 3.3.4 of the study where it was argued that the concept of a “player of women” is a man who has many women that he dates at the same time. Harper (2004) explains that this concept of “having multiple girlfriends and sexual partners typifies the “player”; those who are unsuccessful at these aims are generally made fun of, have their heterosexuality questioned, or are considered less masculine than their peers” (Harper, 2004: 93). It was also argued in Section 3.3.4 of the study that “African traditional masculinity is manifested in society’s classification of heterosexuality as being associated with multiple partners, sexual partners and power over women” (Ngubane, 2012:18).

In other words, in various ways, participants of this study suggest that dating a woman affirms a masculine identity in their social environment. It is argued that those who are not dating or who are unsuccessful at this aim are normally made fun of and have their heterosexuality questioned. This could turn out to be a negative image in the society. The next section explores participants’ views of which “kind of woman” would affirm masculine identity.

5.3.2 Beauty

Several participants felt that beauty is one of the attributes that makes them desire to date. As all of them claim to be dating, or have dated, women with a lighter skin tone, the conversations tended to focus on their perceptions of the beauty of female “yellow bones”. Participants claim to have chosen lighter-skinned women over darker-skinned dates because of their beauty:

Hmmm, she brings light, ja, and obviously yellow bones are always associated with beauty, ja, obviously when they see someone with lighter skin, they just feel like, oh you are walking with a beautiful girl and everyone wants to see beautiful girls, ja (Gift, 24).

If I see this yellow bone is beautiful, you know, then my feelings might be affected, you know, in a sense that I might want the woman, sometimes it is just lust, man, you just lust the woman and not the feelings of love or being in a serious relationship, man, ja that’s what I can say, you know (Hlogi, 23).

Hlogi’s view is that a female “yellow bone” is beautiful – he thinks his feelings might get affected as he is simply acting on lust, and not due to him having intentions of being in a serious relationship with a lighter-skinned woman. His remarks also suggest that female “yellow bones” appear to be sexually appealing when compared to darker-skinned women.

There are many strategies, but there is this one which is common in the taxi rank, just snap you finger and calling a yellow bone woman a yellow bone, you know saying ey bathi veties and lemonies ao [they say lemon cream] yellow bone umntana ugeze ngu ubisi u cubisa nge botoro [a yellow bone a girl who baths with milk and use butter as lotion] and it is just you 75

charming her you tell her that umuhle [you are beautiful you are yellow, you know that is what I like, you are my type] then that is how you get noticed by a yellow bone, you just recite this thing like it’s a poem, ah, my man, she will give you attention, I’m telling you, hehehe [laughs] (Hlogi, 23).

Hlogi further suggests that “yellow bones” are beautiful as he mentions that whenever he sees one, he recites something like a poem to praise the beauty of “the yellow bone” woman. Hlogi’s views suggest that light skin is associated with beauty as this is a common ideology amongst most men in taxi ranks and townships, as they go to the lengths of praising light-skinned women whenever they see them. This is not different with what was discussed in Section 2.3.2 of the study where it was argued that whiteness has become the paradigm and the standard of beauty.

Whenever, I see a light-skinned woman I think that she is pretty without looking at other features you know, but that’s what has been, ah, customised in my mind, that’s what has been drilled, you know, according to the society, according to what I see in media (Tebza, 20).

Uhm, no, not actually, like for me as I said, women can be beautiful, like any women can be beautiful. I’ve seen dark girls who are beautiful, there are light skin girls who are beautiful, but yeah, eish, the fact is that light skin women are like more beautiful though (Phemelo, 18).

Phemelo does not concur with the idea that skin tone determines beauty; instead he argues that any women can be beautiful regardless of skin tone. His view supports what was discussed in Section 2.5.1 of the study that beauty is a pleasurable feeling that rises in the perception of everyone (Donne, 2010: 8). This means that beauty is subjective, and people view beauty differently.

Nevertheless, most participants seem to point out that beauty is one of the things that makes them date lighter-skinned women. In fact, the conversations tended to come back to the view that “yellow bones” are always associated with beauty, and, to use Gift’s phrase, they bring light in someone’s life. His view resonates with what was argued in Section 2.5.1 of the study that “beauty has been identical with all that is good as good-looking people have been described as kind, interesting, sociable and to have a good quality life” (Shelembe, 2014: 7). The participants see “yellow bone” women as people who bring light in their lives and if they bring light, it means that they will be happy. Participants are of the idea that dating a beautiful woman makes them feel better and hence they brag about their girlfriends. The next section discusses bragging rights that participants allude that they have because of their “yellow bone” women.

5.3.3 Bragging rights

Still asking participants about their general perceptions of being in a relationship with a “yellow bone”, many participants linked female “yellow bones” with bragging. Several participants felt that they “must brag” about their “yellow bone” women, because they felt that they are pretty – if not beautiful. 76

Ja, eish, she is my home you know, ja, eish, she is where I lay my head you know? So, I must brag you know, I must brag, you know, but I brag about her for her being [herself] you know being the person I can depend and count on, you know, but sometimes you just have to throw that thing in people faces that she is yellow bone, just to make it out there, ja ( Hlogi, 23).

Hlogi’s response seems to indicate that he does brag about his “yellow bone” girlfriend, but that his bragging is not merely based on her skin tone. He said he feels he should brag about her because of her personality. However, he goes on to make a remark that contradicts what he said about bragging for her personality, when he says that sometimes he feels he must just throw “that thing" in people faces that she is “yellow bone”. The remark seems to indicate that he brags about her because of her skin tone.

Oh ja, like ja, I do especially like when we go around to places like malls, cinemas and stadiums, like I hold her hand, having my arm around her, like ah, I do that a lot coz then obviously you know, uhm, like there are certain girls you will try and get, neh? but then obviously like you would fail coz like you know you did something wrong. So, you know usually when I see girls like that and I am walking with my yellow bone girlfriend like, I would usually do something like, you know, cover her or something that they can actually see ukuthi [that] I am capable of doing what is right and dating the hottest chick ekasi [in the neighbourhood] (Phemelo, 18).

Phemelo says that he does brag about his “yellow bone” woman when he goes out with her. His bragging seems to be advantageous to him because it appears that other girls who he wanted before now can notice him because of his “yellow bone” woman. Therefore, it could be argued that his bragging gives him confidence and serves to increase his social status in his community.

Uhm, not always, but when like I said, when I am being invited to these parties and then they tell me that, hey man come along with her. I go there I brag, because I know like everyone is looking at me, and I do say sometimes that, hey, I’m dating the hottest chick, because of what the society has made me believe. To me it’s not really a thing, but you know you’ve got to brag at some time, you know, like you’ve got to feel yourself, that okay I am the main man now and because of what the society believes. You feed them what they want, so I feed them with the ideology that I am dating the most beautiful woman, because you guys say that when you invite me you say I must come with her, you know, because at some point they call her Beyoncé and I’ve been called Jay Zee, uhm, I mean like that’s an achievement on its own. I do sometimes brag, but not always because of my personality, you know. I am not that person who likes to show off, but at some point, I did show off, because already people thought I was bragging, so ja, at some point I did, brag but it is not something that I like showing off, but because of the society says, ja (Tebza, 20).

Like Hlogi, Tebza’s response is that he does brag about his “yellow bone” woman even though he argues that he does not brag about her often. He suggests that he brags about his “yellow bone” woman because the society has made him believe that he is dating a beautiful woman. This resonates with what was argued in Section 2.3.2 of the study where it was argued that whiteness is considered as the paradigm and the standard of beauty (Shelembe, 2014:7). Tebza says that when he brags about his “yellow bone” woman, he feels like he achieves a celebrity status as he refers to the people calling him with the name of a well-known hip-hop artist and business man (such as the rapper, Jay Zee). In other words, dating his girlfriend increases his social status. The last sentences of his response could be a contradiction to what he is alluding to, that it is not his personality to brag, but his woman makes him brag sometimes.

Heheheheheheheehehe [laughs for a long time] yes, I won’t deny it, but not necessarily because she is a yellow bone, no, but because she is beautiful and nice, that is why if I have a nice girlfriend whether she is dark or yellow and I have a picture of her I am going to show my friend or two and I will be like bona [look], so ja (Tiego, 22).

Interestingly, it appears that Tiego doesn’t deny bragging about his “yellow bone” woman, but he also suggests that it is not necessarily about her skin tone. He argues that he brags because she is beautiful and goes on to argue that he brags about his woman irrespective of her skin tone, but because of her beauty.

Based on the above remarks it can be argued that many of the participants agree to be bragging about their “yellow bone” women. Essentially it was believed that they only brag about their yellow bone women because of their skin tone; however, they mentioned different reasons why they brag, and that they brag because of the personality of their women. Although participants stated that they don’t brag often about their “yellow bone” women because of their skin tone, but that when they brag, they achieve celebrity status and it becomes beneficial for them to brag, because other women start noticing and having an interest in them. Therefore, it could be argued that when the participants brag about their “yellow bone” women, they feel that they have reached a high social status as some claim they feel like celebrities when they date “yellow bone” women. In Section 3.4.3 of the study social status was explained as a productive thing “making possible the achievement of certain ends that in its absence would not be possible” (Berkman & Glass, 2000) It can be assumed that light-skinned women are socially advantageous to participants. In Section 3.4.3 of the study it was argued that the skin tone of a woman is socially advantageous for her male. It was also argued that light-skinned women increase the social standing of men, because light-skinned women have been deemed attractive and pleasing to the society. Nevertheless, participants are not dating “yellow bone” women to brag amongst their peers in the society, but they are also after family acceptance. The following section explains the good reception and treatment they receive from their families.

5.3.4 Acceptance from friends and family

The purpose of this theme was to find out, based on the participants’ general perception, if they get any good reception from the community and how it made them feel.

I don’t know for some awkward reason, there is just, you can see the attitude, man, when you are walking in the store, when you are at the mall, for an example, even just the shopping centre around the hood, when you are walking with the like a yellow bone pretty girl [clears his throat] women will give you the look. So, that also makes you feel like, ey, I’ve won here, like I have someone pretty and I don’t know even the reception that you get from the society in general, you know, they will say, ey, this girl is hot! I don’t know if you get what I mean, so it adds as a contributing factor to also your confidence man, yeah man, yellow bone girls are looking at you and the gents are saying here you have a catch, confidence up, happiness kicks in (Tobiah, 23).

Okay ja, it’s a very important one, ey wow, I mean the reactions I’ve had especially if the girl is viewed to be particularly nice, so I mean, you know how we do as guys we will walk with our girlfriends to show off or whatever and you get those reactions, like, yoh, dude, who was that? you understand. So, there is a reaction that comes from, uh, the people that we know in the streets that gives you an affirmation that, ja, you know I was with a real person here, you know. I was with a person of value and it could be linked with the fact that this person was also a yellow bone, you know, it adds to that, so ja, definitely there was a reaction from people out there (Katleho, 25).

Other men certainly do, uh, like make it seem like it is a status symbol, uhm, they do look at you as if you are lucky or all that, like they treat you like you are the man, but is something that I have never understood because a woman is a woman for me (Neo, 21).

Most participants give the impression that they get a good reception when they are with their “yellow bone” women. They point out that the good reception they receive from members of the community comes in different forms, as some reception they receive plays a significant role in enhancing their individual confidence or their self-esteem. Another argument is that the good reception they receive gives them affirmation that they are in a relationship with a beautiful person indeed, owing to the praises and good reception from the members of the community. Participants argue that this good reception they get is linked to the fact that the person they are with is a “yellow bone”. Lastly, the participants bring to the fore the argument of status symbol, mentioning that other men make it seem like a status symbol when one is in a romantic relationship with a “yellow bone” woman. The following section discusses the social status participants get by dating light-skinned women.

5.3.5 Social status

Social status is believed to be the “value of one’s connections including those found through social groups in assisting an individual in a wide range of circumstances” (Adler & Kwon, 2002:18). In other words, the phenomenon of “social status or social capital refers to the honour or status attached to one’s position in the society, which may also refer to a rank or position that one holds in group” (Alder & Kwon, 2002:18). The participants claim that the social status they get comes in the form of popularity and having authority over other people like their peers in the society. Participants also claimed to be cool amongst other things when people realise, they are dating light-skinned women who are perceived to be beautiful.

Most participants said that one of the reasons why they date “yellow bone” women is to attain social status. Social status it is important because it gives power and respect to young men who are dating “yellow bone” women in Katlehong:

Yes, it does, like I said in the society you are treated differently, ey, and the people tend to respect you and give you names, like, ja, I wanna be that guy. Like you tend to be an inspiration somehow to them (Magubane, 24).

Magubane believes that the social status that one gets when dating a “yellow bone” woman is attached to respect and mentions that people gives the guy who is dating a “yellow bone” names, and the guy becomes an inspiration to other guys as they look up to him or even envy him.

Ah, man, surely it comes with the social status, even [if] sometimes you don’t think about it subconsciously, it just happens, like you know, like the respect that I talk about. People give you respect, for me that on its own it has made, uh, it has changed me in the community, coz now people know me in the streets. People [are] asking me questions, hey man I would like to date, ey, a yellow bone chick, how do I go on about it, you know, what are the things I should do? You know, girls now respect, me girls now give me attention, uhm, you know, guys like me now, respect me, some guys want to be my friends, because of my girlfriend. You know, the other day I was invited to a party and the people told me that, ah, when you come to this party, please come with your light skin women, because she will make this party to be a real thing, you know, so it comes with a social status, because now in the society I’m being respected, you know. I feel at some point thinking when I go through pictures and just look at my phone that actually I’ve hit the jackpot here, you know, it’s like I’ve acquired that something that, uhm, everyone is been looking for, uhm, for example, you know a lighter skin [person] ah, back in the day, going back to, you know, back in the day, in your apartheid times, if you were a lighter skin [person], you were ah perceived as a better person you know, I don’t know, I was not there during racism and stuff like that, but what I’ve known from the movies and what I’ve heard is that, ah, lighter skin women were given preference more than, ah, dark skin

women. If I may put it that way, so on its own you have that thing that, okay, now I am walking with a lighter skin woman, you are given preferences, you know, you are even going to clubs, man. I went to this other club just because of my lighter skin woman, you know, I got there, I got in for free, so it comes with a social status, you know, it comes with the social status, you know, like uhm, people now invite you to their events and before this was not happening. When they invite you, they say come with your yellow bone, don’t come alone, but come with your yellow bone, so that on its own it’s a social status so, ja, it comes with a social status (Tebza, 20).

Tebza certainly believes that dating a “yellow bone” comes with social status. He argues that one gets respect in the community as people start respecting him and that he gets attention from the members of the community. He says that girls also give him attention, and this could mean that this social status is advantageous to him. Privilege is one of the things that one gets when dating a “yellow bone”, according to Tebza.

Ja, look, to be honest, it does, like I said I mean, uhm, look man, another thing like I said, I mean you are dealing with the youth, you are interviewing me as a youth, so you need to understand that most of the time you spend around with the large group of people, like you go to the mall and then people look at you and be like, yoh [wow], this guy has a nice girl. So, already you [are] always given credit, most of the time, you get what I mean, ey, whereas, when you are older when you have a family and live with this person, for an example, the credit you will get at home that is where it’s going to be tested, but when you are young you always want the most attractive girl and in most cases you will find that, because of society, you see yellow bones as this attractive thing, the weave and stuff like that. You know, is just that unfortunate part, so it does come with a certain social status that you are the top notch, you have a nice girl and stuff. So, going back to does it come with a social status, certainly at this age it really does, no one can fight that, man, no one can fight that, it just happens (Tobiah, 23).

For Tobiah, dating a “yellow bone” woman does come with social status. He argues that most of the time one gets credit from a large group of people, meaning that one gets prestige attached to them (Alder & Kwon, 2002). He says that most of the time people will be talking of how attractive the “yellow bone” woman is and that the society believes that “yellow bones” are attractive. He mentions that in the age of young adulthood no one can dispute that dating a “yellow bone” comes with a social status, whereas for older people who already have families it is not considered serious.

Absolutely, yeah, I mean from that moment, let me say, if before they just saw me walking alone. I changed from being that weird boy who walks alone to being, you know [laughs hard] hahahahahaha, to be this guy was with this lovely girl, right, this nice yellow bone. I changed.

It changes the perceptions surely and it changes, I can attest that it did change how they viewed me ko kasi [in the neighbourhood], you understand, it did, absolutely it did (Katleho, 25).

Katleho believes that certainly dating a “yellow bone” woman comes with a social status, arguing that being with a “yellow bone” woman changed the perception of people that saw him as a weird boy to a guy who now walks with a lovely lady. This could mean that he gets attention and respect from the members of the community. It was argued in Section 3.4.3 of the study that social capital is “the value of one’s connections including those found through social groups, in assisting or potentially assisting an individual in a wide range of circumstances” (Alder & Kwon, 2002). In Katlego’s case, it could be argued that dating a “yellow bone” woman assisted him by changing people’s perception from seeing him as a weird boy to a respectable guy in the community.

To everybody who is still brainwashed and colonised and everything, yeah, of course it does, so it [is] going to elevate you to a higher social status and everything. Yes, dating a yellow bone is nice coz she is beautiful, she is a girl, but I don’t think about that too much unless, maybe, okay, for people who are brainwashed, who think yellow bones are prettier because they are yellow bones, well that is very stupid, it’s very stupid, but then on my case I have never dated a yellow bone who is not pretty so it was not really about being yellow bone, you check, yeah (Trevor, 25).

Trevor believes that to date a “yellow bone” or a light-skinned woman does not come with social status, but that it comes with a social status for people who are still brainwashed by the past, and that for them it does elevate them to a higher social status in the society, because they think that “yellow bones” are pretty. Thus, this means dating a “yellow bone” does not come with a social status.

Hmm it depends, it depends where the yellow bones come from, hehehehe [laughs a bit], but then living in Johannesburg it comes with a certain status, ja. if you are a broke nigga then you are in trouble, ja, if you look broke or like you don’t have swag you in trouble, like you might be rejected, chances are you might get rejected based on your status, coz like you don’t have, like you don’t wear good stuff like swag fashion, those things. Ja, you might get rejected, coz they also think high of themselves as people. We should not ignore that part, ja, yellow bones they know like they are superior than other grouping in a society, which is dark skin girls, then that’s why now they think higher of themselves. Ja, at the moment they are higher, coz we gave them this notion that they are higher and the moment you give someone a higher position obviously they will think high of themselves as well, that’s how apartheid came about, ja (Gift, 24).

Ja, I think it does give you a social status, because ah everyone knows ukhuti [that] not everyone can get any girl. So, you see, the fact that one has a yellow bone like one is dating a yellow bone that means ukuthi [that] he is doing something that they can’t do, basically, uhm, okay, so like as guys we all have our capabilities, you see like, hence I said not every guy can get every girl and like usually girls who are yellow bones they have this, I don’t know, ego, I don’t know what to call it, but like they are full of themselves, like they have this whole playing hard to get thing, and it is not always easy to get a girl who is a yellow bone. So, many guys they understand if a guy gets a yellow bone, we know ukuthi [that] okay this guy didn’t just get her overnight, but he worked to get her and therefore he deserves that respect (Phemelo, 18).

Phemelo also believes that dating a “yellow bone” woman gives one a social status he alludes that this shows people one’s capabilities of getting good girls. He alludes that being with a “yellow bone” woman makes an individual gain respect from the community members.

Most participants feel that being in a relationship with a yellow bone or light-skinned women does give them social status. Just like it was argued in Section 3.4.3 of the study that “social capital is productive, making possible achievement of certain ends that in its absence would not be possible” (Alder & Kwon, 2002). The same thing can be said with social status that “yellow bones” women bring into the lives of the participants, for instance, Tebza mentions the point that being in a relationship with a “yellow bone” or light-skinned woman has made him popular in the community. He now gets attention from people and that he gets preferences over his peers which then serve as a social status. Most participants allude they are now respected in the community something that was not happening prior to them dating “yellow bone” women. They argue that they were taken for granted as Katleho mentions he was a weird boy before, he dated his “yellow bone” girlfriend, but this perception has changed as he is now respected. Therefore, it could be argued that participants seem to make more social interactions in the community than before and the main reason for this to happen is because of dating “yellow bones”. Therefore, it could be argued that participants prefer to date light-skinned women, because lighter-skinned women are socially advantageous for their male partner (Mathew, 2013). In Section 3.4.3 of this study it was argued that men choose to marry or date women with a lighter shade for them to increase their own social standing; being tied to a woman that has been deemed attractive and pleasing to the society to elevates their own status. Therefore, participants receive social status by being respected, getting attention and improving their state of inferiority (Mathews, 2013; Hunter, 2007). It can be concluded that participants want to be in relationships with light-skinned women, because it gives them the opportunity to be recognised, respected and improves their social status amongst their peers in the community, as it was argued in Section 3.4.3 of this study.

5.3.6 Yellow bones, media representations and the beauty industry

Several participants suggest that the media depicts light-skinned women as more beautiful than women with a darker skin tone. Subsequently, many participants seem to be under the impression that the media has a powerful influence on their perceptions of “yellow bone” women.

Yeah, it does, it does look the reality like when you see a lot of marketing, uhm, even if you see Miss SA, I’ve always questioned that why the Miss SA in the past, I think past 2 or 3 years has been a coloured woman, like always, do you understand? Why can’t you find a Miss SA [with] black, short hair or tough hair? So, media firstly does play a role, secondly when you look at TV, I mean adverts, do you get what I mean? You always see yellow bones, man, you understand is rare to find dark, ey, dark tone skinned females, right? You go to the shelves, I mean when you are buying something at the grocery store like a Pick’n’Pay, whatever, when you there, just when you about to pay the cover girls, you will see that they [are] light skin and stuff like that, and that is why I have always questioned like the makeup, because makeup makes you a bit lighter, man, even if they are taking pictures, the camera guy always want to put lights around you. So, I mean yes so media it does certainly play a role man, ja (Tobiah, 23).

Tobiah believes that the media plays a role on how he views lighter-skinned women and that is why he likes “yellow bones”. He questions why beauty pageants in South Africa always pick coloured women and argues that it is difficult to find a Miss SA with black skin and short hair. He further states that on TV advertisements, “yellow bones” are dominating and it is rare to find darker-skinned females in television advertisements. His remarks resonate with what was argued in Section 3.5.1 of the study that black women are regarded as the minority and “are excluded from much mainstream media and when included at all they are mainly depicted according to racially specific gender stereotypes” (Baker, 2005:15). Another question he asks is on the issue of makeup. He argues that makeup, especially foundation, tend to emphasise a lighter skin tone. In Section 2.6.2 of the study it was argued that the western notions of beauty require women to create beauty through makeup, hairstyles, skin bleaching or plastic surgery in order to be considered beautiful (Alcala & Najar, 2013: 4).

Ja, I would like to believe so, uhm, especially with some of the peers that I have, you know, because they would see those music video girls and be like, but those girls are nice, and sometimes when we debate, uhm, they would say that is why they would rather go for yellow bones, because even on music videos you never see much of dark skin girls, you know. You would normally see, uhm, your yellow bones more often and all that. So, I think to them it really does play a huge role, it has changed their mind set, you know, so, ja, with me media with regards to yellow bones, not really (Thando, 20).

Thando shares that he does believe that the media plays a role in his perceptions about “yellow bones”, but not really in how he views them; instead he feels that the media also influences his peers who often debate with him telling him why they would rather go for “yellow bones”. He mentions that music videos also tend to use lighter-skinned women, and this influences his peers to prefer “yellow bones” over dark-skinned women. His remarks highlight the point that dark-skinned women are under-represented on media platforms, especially in music videos. It was noted in Section 2.6.3 of this study that “black women continue to be under-represented in the mainstream media, and when portrayed they are often shown as suffers” (Baker, 2005: 15).

Absolutely, it did back then and now it still does. Back then I was a person of music a lot, right? I mean, I was into dance and so on and all other things, as young people we used to do and obviously we were consumers of music videos and so on, so a typical, uh, hip-hop video is full of these, I mean is full of, uh, yellow bones, and so on, right? I mean you look at the figures that are dominating that side and still dominating today, Beyoncé and Rihanna. I mean a few years back, Rihanna was not this light, I mean she was light, but not this light, you understand, the fact that she also went through this process of being more lighter, you understand, we’ve always favoured, uh, sisters who are of a lighter shade so definitely [it] played a role back then, media did in that way for me as a young man, uh, now I think it still goes on, man, I mean even in South African TV, uh, its maybe it’s just until recently, but I know that general TV programmes, I mean even in government, uh, government TV stations you know. You look at people like I can just give an example ko [at] [Muvhango] Matshidiso, she is light, we loved her, and there is this one who came before, whose boyfriend passed away, I forget her name, you know, yes, it’s Thuli, yes, you know, and there was this thing that [Muvhango] was doing, always bring in yellow bones. I don’t know [laughs a bit] (hehehe) right, they did it so much that we became suspicious at some point, you understand, but we realised after a long time to show that for us it was normal, you understand. So, ja, man, I think media plays a huge role in promoting how we view, uh, people. I think in this study it assists us, you know? (Katleho, 25).

Katleho shares how media influenced his perception back then and how media continues to influence him now about “yellow bones”. He alludes that he was specifically influenced by hip-hop music videos, because he was once a hip-hop dancer, so he would normally consume a lot of hip-hop music video content, and that is where his love for “yellow bone” women started. He goes on to mention two powerful female figures in the music industry, Beyoncé and Rihanna, arguing that Rihanna when she first rose to prominence, was not that light, but with time she ended up going through the process of being lighter. Katleho argues that because of media most men have always favoured sisters who are of a lighter shade like Beyoncé and Rihanna.

Ah yes, I think, ey, it plays, ah, when you can look at, ey, I think Instagram and Facebook as well, because even movies soapies, you can see that yellow bones are the face of the cover,

even magazines, most, yes, it plays a role in making us believe that yellow bones are beautiful and better than dark skin, yes, I think media plays a big role (Kingsley, 26).

It appears that all media platforms such as social media, print media, movies and soap operas play a significant role in influencing people about “yellow bones”, according to Kingsley. He argues that the media makes people believe that “yellow bones” are more beautiful than dark-skinned people. Referring to Section 2.6.2 of the study, his remarks resonate that media prefers white complexions over dark complexions and this exhibits the idea that possessing white skin is beautiful with the idea of media depicting a stereotype kind of beauty (Alca & Najar, 2013:20).

Just as it is known that media reflects and reinforces traditional gender roles (Baker, 2005), participants believe that media influences them to prefer light-skinned women over dark-skinned women. They argue that media platforms promote light-skinned women as better than dark-skinned women in the sense that dark-skinned women are underrepresented on media at the expense of light-skinned women or “yellow bones”. These remarks resonate with what was argued in Section 2.6.3 of this study that black women are under-represented in media platforms and that black women are regarded as the minority. Therefore, when they are included at all they are mainly depicted “according to racially specific gender stereotypes” (Baker, 2005). These gender stereotypes of black women in the media are associated with their sexuality and as the exotic other (Brooks & Herbert, 2006; Baker, 2005; Hunter, 2011), whereas white women are mostly singled out as icons of beauty.

It is also argued in Section 2.6.3 of the study that white feminine beauty is regularly associated with whiteness and middle-class status (Baker, 2005; Brooks & Herbert, 2006). Participants seem to argue that the fact that lighter skinned black women are perceived to be more attractive strengthen the notion that light skin is beautiful. Generally, it was argued in Section 2.6.3 of the study that women beauty is to be connected to light skin, straight hair, and thinness relative youthfulness and middle- class status (Brooks & Herbert, 2006; Baker, 2005; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000). Most participants believe that media influence them to like or choose light-skinned women to dark-skinned women. Participants make the argument based on the broadcasting of beauty pageants, that beauty pageants are always going for coloured women and that it is rare to find a black woman with short hair winning these pageants. These remarks resonate with what was discussed in Section 2.6.2 of this study that advertisements of beauty products and beauty pageants are selling women an unattainable dream; these shows depict how the perfect woman should be and look like. Often beauty pageants require women to have a light skin tone, which is a perfect skin, with ideal height, waistline and breast size (Crawford, Kerwin, Gurung, Khati, Jha & Regmi, 2008; Banet-Weiser & Portwood-Stacer, 2006). In Section 2.6.3 of this study, it was discussed that advertisements frequently use women as sex objects to attract men (Baker, 2005: 14). Therefore, it could be argued that the depiction of more light-skinned women in media advertisements is used to attract men. This can be supported by the sentiments of participants, because they are of the idea that the more, they

86 see light-skinned women in advertisements, the more they are influenced to like them. It was further discussed in Section 2.6.2 of this study that media advertisements associate beauty with the white ideal of beauty and this has affected how people perceive and understand beauty. Therefore, it could be argued that in most advertisements black women are convinced to strive for white ideals of beauty (Walker, 2000).

Participants also noted that the depiction of light-skinned women in music videos plays an important role in influencing them to prefer "yellow bones”. They also mention that the use of celebrities in beauty product advertisements also plays an important role in influencing them to prefer “yellow bones” to dark-skinned women. These remarks resonate with what was discussed in Section 2.6.2 of the study, that using celebrities in advertisements for beauty products or cosmetics is the media using cultural ideals to socialise “young women by showing them limited types of feminine beauty presented as ideal beauty” (Lynch, 2007). It was also argued in Section 2.6.2 that the media increasingly manipulates the ideals for women’s appearance, and when women compare themselves with idealised “images it can have a positive or negative impact on their perception of their own female beauty” (Lynch, 2007).

The representation of women in media has been a thing of concern and it has been debated about culturally and politically. Feminists rejected the idea of sexualised images of women. This notion became a topic of concern amongst feminists. Feminist movements are against and do not concur with male defined femininity and the notion that women are objects to be consumed (Genz, 2009: 54). Feminists showed their displeasure at how women are represented in media as sex objects by taking the initiative of campaigning for their voices to be heard. One notable example of these campaigns was the protest at the Miss America Pageant in 1968 and 1969 (Eagly & Wood, 2011). The women planned a response to the pageant and some members suggested burning bras, but this suggestion was abandoned. A journalist heard about the idea and reported it as a fact, when in fact it never occurred. What the women did was to throw false eyelashes, cosmetics, constructive underwear, etc. (Eagly & Wood, 2011). The feminist movements do not value the standard of beauty “of extreme thinness, regular Caucasian features and smooth hair, young looking skin without wrinkles or blemishes” (Winter, 2004). Feminism values the diversity of women and understands that all women are different, and they cannot be conformed to one beauty standard (Winter, 2014).

Black feminists have the belief that the media plays a decisive role in the creation and broadcasting of gender ideologies. It is therefore argued that black feminist researchers have recognized the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of black women in media platforms (Brooks & Hébert, 2006; Collins, 2004; Hooks, 2006; Poran, 2006). The media and beauty industries have been criticised for their negative depiction of black women. Collins (2004) argues that “black women depiction in the media determines how blackness and people are seen and how other groups will respond to black women based on the relation to these constructed images” (Collins, 2004: 5). Black

87 women’s roles have tended to be confined to white models (Brooks & Hébert, 2006: 300), and it is argued that the positive representation of women of colour focuses and gives much attention to feminine beauty that relates “to light skin, straight, long hair, thinness, relative youthfulness and middle-class status” (Brooks & Hébert, 2006: 300). It could be argued that the beauty ideal for black women presented in the media and beauty industries is impossible to achieve, as these beauty ideals are meant for white women. In addition, most black women that are featured on media platforms portray white beauty of lighter skin, long hair and thinness. Therefore, black feminist scholars (Collins, 2004; Hooks, 1992) contend that “light skin and long, straight hair continue to be the traits that define in the racist white imagination and the colonised black mind-set” (Collins, 2004; Hooks, 1992). Hence some of the participants said that most black men define beauty according to white beauty ideals, because they are still colonised when they think that being in a relationship with a light-skinned woman gives one social status.

Historically constructions of black female have been around the idea of hyper sexuality, which then constructed the jezebel image which became a racialized, gendered symbol of deviant female sexuality (Claudius, 2015; Poran, 2006; Aubrey, Hopper & Mbure, 2011). The black female body is still essentialised through racist and misogynist constructions of black womanhood, for instance mainstream hip-hop provides a platform for oppressive representations of black women. The black female is seen as the subject of commodification and objectification in hip-hop music videos (Claudius, 2005; Gronevik, n.d.; Berns & Sehlobinski, 2000). It is contended that most of the hip-hop lyrics in these music videos pronounce them as hoes, skeezers or bitches. It is argued that “black feminists believe that media and beauty industries help women in shaping an appearance that fits norms of attractiveness” (Davis, 2013:16). It is believed that the beauty industry presents the idea of beauty to women to “wear makeup to increase other people’s perception of their likeability, competence and honesty” (Davis, 2013:16). Black feminists critique the underrepresentation and negative representation of black women, because they believe “Black women can empower themselves by self-definitions and self-valuations which allow Black women to confront and dispel negative images of black women and replace the images with positive identities” (Davis, 2013:19). Black feminism values the diversity of women and understands that not all women will look the same and that all women are beautiful regardless of their skin colour.

In this section it has been argued that for the participants in this study, dating women seems to affirm a positive masculine identity. For them, this identity is linked to a patriarchal notion of manhood. In addition, they feel that they have individual choices about identity construction, but their identity is also strongly tied to social norms. In this vein, when dating they tend to prefer dating women with a lighter skin tone, as for them this seems to be linked to affirming a great positive masculinity and social status. This is linked to social acceptance and respect amongst their friends, family and community. This is the view of a select number of participants in this study, but as this is a qualitative study, it does open new ways of understanding the phenomenon under study. Participants in this 88 study reflected critically on socially constructed views, by saying they feel that that the media industry, the beauty industry and the music industry confirm this normalised view of masculinity and favour western or western-like notions of female beauty. They argue that media platforms promote light-skinned women as better than dark-skinned women in the sense that dark-skinned women are underrepresented in the media at the expense of light-skinned women or “yellow bones”. Upon further critical reflection, many participants linked their positive regard for women with a lighter skin to global hegemonic power relations based on colourism.

5.4 Colourism Colourism is the “belief that a lighter skin tone is better than darker skin tone, but it can also operate in the reverse direction to refer to the preference of dark skin tone over light skin tone” (Davies, 2015). Most participants of the study agree that skin tone is linked to the historical process whereby the light skin tone is valued more than dark skin tone – something that leads to skin stratification or colourism. In this theme, participants discussed how everything white is more valuable than black.

Ah, my take is, ah yes, I think the society value light skin, because when you look at our history, ey, whites were dominating, ey, like uh, I didn’t want to say this, but I have to because I am trying to be me, because, uh, back then the whole world, uh, I mean South Africa let me just say it, South Africa was under whites, so we grew up with that mentality that everything that is white is more valuable than black, because even if you can see you’ve never saw a white tour road you’ve never. So, even the white bread is worth than the brown bread. I mean it’s something that, ey, I can even say that white colour is just something that is used as a useful resource and that is discrimination, and we can no longer reverse that, remember also black colour, I do value black colour as I am black, because which means we blacks, we didn’t value ourselves in such a point that the whole world can recognise that black colour is more important, because according to my understanding whites stood up for themselves. So, they said yes, we are here, and we are here to stay, so then we blacks stood low perhaps maybe we got reasons I don’t know, but you can bear in mind also I do value both colours and remember black colour represents professionalism (Kinglsey, 26).

Kingsley believes that the society values light skin tone over dark skin tone, and attributes this to the history of South Africa where he mentions that due to apartheid people grew up with the mentality that everything that is white is more valuable than black. According to him, black people did not value themselves enough as they did not stand up for themselves against whites. This serves as an interesting point, because it is widely known that whites oppressed blacks, but Kingsley seems to believe that blacks could be blamed as they did not fight or believed in themselves.

Ah, I mean okay, that is true, especially, uhm, you know towards like black on black, you know, this happens amongst African against another African. So, my view on this is that, uh, there is

a notion that, for an example the darker you are, neh, the less, you know, beautiful or the less intelligent or the less appealing or the less attractive you look. So, the darker you are is just it has always, you know, been a thing in society. Like I’ve even seen, uhm, you know lets just [say you] had a good time with your girlfriend like when you glow, for an example when you are lighter [laughs] (hehehe) people tend to say that means you are happy, you get what I mean. Now, also my view, but this is something that I really don’t understand and stuff, if you look at, for an example the pharmaceutical and you just look at people in general, like there is so many products that you can buy over a shelf where you actually have to engage your skin lighter where you know that okay this soap, for an example, is going to make my skin more lighter and stuff. So, for me it’s more of and you know it’s more of an African and African thing. I think during the xenophobic attacks we could witness that, because sometimes you would assume that this guy, because they dark, they are not South African therefore, ey lets attack him. So, you attack based on how dark you are, like it would not be kind like convincing, you understand, yes so, when you are dark then someone thinks that, oh, you from, you look like you from Congo. So, they have associated the colour of your skin from, like, where you come from, like the darker you are it’s like you are more African, the lighter you are, do you get what I mean? It’s tough for you to say you are African like when you are actually like a yellow bone so, ja, that’s my view on that (Tobiah, 23).

Tobiah also believes that there is a perception that the society values light skin tone over dark skin tone. He expressed that this is more visible in black people, because he believes that there is a notion that the darker the person the less beautiful or less intelligent the person is. Tobiah further argues that this is an African thing, referring to the xenophobic attacks that took place in the country in 2008 and 2015, where people of the same race or skin tone were discriminating against each other and in this case, it was black South Africans discriminating against other black Africans from outside South Africa. Tobiah’s expressions resonate with what was discussed in Section 2.3.3 of this study, that colourism is “discrimination within the same racial group” (Davis, 2015). “People note differences and then separate based on these differences” (Davis, 2015). It was further discussed that colourism has meant that even within the same community some people prefer fairer light skin tone to dark skin tone (Blay, 2011; Charles, 2011; Davis; 2015; Glenn, 2008). Tobiah also refers to the cosmetics industry, stating that at the pharmaceutical counter people get a variety of products that can change the complexion of their skin, and argues that people get more products that can change their skin colour from dark skin tone to a lighter skin tone. His remarks resonate with what was argued in Section 2.6.2 of the study that cosmetics are used globally to improve or enhance women’s beauty (Davis, 2013). However, it could be argued that cosmetics products are not only used by women as some men are also found using these products to enhance their skin colour.

Yeah, I agree with this notion that, ey ah, the society at large values light skin over dark skin, like we spoke about how generally the media and we as guys favour light skin mamas than 90

dark skin mamas. So, that on its own shows that the society values light skin. I have even made examples about our soapies in South African broadcaster that they would go for light skin women over dark skin women, like what has been happening [in Muvhango, a television series]. So yeah, I agree with the notion, man, like there is some sort of value in light skin that dark skin does not have. That’s how the society behaves when it comes to such issues, man (Katleho, 25).

Katleho, just like Kingsley and Tobiah, agrees that there is a perception that the society values light skin over dark skin. He believes that the media and men favour lighter-skinned women over dark- skinned women. This makes a light skin tone to have value over a dark skin tone.

Uh, where I come from, I think is not really a factor. Like, people are really treated equally by the society. The skin colour issue, I think it only comes in the dating part, but in the society as a general it is not like really a factor, but here ekasi [hood] it is a huge thing, my man, like you see that those who are light skin are more respected than the darker ones. So, I think here it is a fact, but in my original home in Eastern Cape it’s not a fact, but here it is a serious thing like when you are too dark you get to be called by funny names. The lighter ladies are praised and spoilt a lot here, so here I can agree that this society values light skin people especial abo [the] girls (Magubane, 24).

This perspective is interesting in that the society values light skin tone over dark skin tone. Magubane mentions that originally where he comes from in Eastern Cape that is not the case, as people are treated equally irrespective of their skin tone. However, he agrees that in Katlehong township people who have a light skin tone are treated with more respect than dark skin toned people. He alluded that lighter-skinned women are praised and spoilt a lot in Katlehong township, more than dark skin toned women. His remarks resonate what was discussed in Section 2.3.3 of the study that “women with dark skin are at disadvantage, because skin shade is a central assessment of beauty with light skin operating as a form of symbolic capital” (Phoenix, 2014: 108). It was also argued that in South Africa women with light skin occasionally find themselves referred to as “yellow bones” and these women have often reported their experience as being double-edged, by being told that they are attractive and being spoilt by men, which is similar to what some of the participants of the study are doing.

Ja, it is there, it does exist, it does exist, you know, and in my opinion, this goes very deep beyond, in my opinion. When a black man prefers a woman based on the colour or the tone yellow bone or dark bone, I think first of all, we are degrading our African women. First of all, an African women is beautiful whether they are yellow or dark – that is what I believe, and it should be wronged, but again on a higher level a lot of men prefer yellow bones, because of, I don’t know, they think that light is nice, but you can also prefer you can see how this sisters

out here, the way they portray themselves in a political stunts you can say its Eurocentric. They want to look white, you get my point, and since we understand that the previous status quo was what is white is better what is light is good what is dark is evil. So, there is still that, ey, psychological fact that is still on, that is still there on the men and the women themselves. I mean, why don’t you want to look naturally, it goes across that stem, you get my point, and since white has been held in the high status, black men are just forced to recognise that fact, because they are also having a psychological problem, but again there is a high percentage of men who feel that yellow bone women are nice, but there is also a quite sizeable amount of men who feel that women are just beautiful whether dark or black, you get my point, so that is how I would put it (Tiego, 22).

Tiego is of the opinion that society values a light skin tone over a dark skin tone. He argues that when black men prefer women based on their skin tone, they are degrading African women. He is also of the view that African women are beautiful whether “yellow boned” or “dark boned”. This is consistent with what has been discussed earlier in this study, in Section 2.4.3, that facial attractiveness and skin colour is not deemed important in the African diaspora, while body parts such as buttocks, breasts, eyes and teeth occur frequently as a central focus in the African diaspora. It was also discussed that the Afrocentric way of living rejects the hegemonic and ideological views of race and colour that deem anything light or close to European as superior and beautiful. The Afrocentric view embraces the ideology of “Black is Beautiful” which came during the era of Black Power and the American Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. These movements were powerful because they encouraged racial consciousness and black pride (Wilder, 2013: 24). However, Tiego opines that most men prefer “yellow bones”, because they think light skin is nice. This has been extensively discussed in Section 2.3.3 of this study where it was noted that heterosexual men “frequently disseminate colourism by demonstrating it in their choice of partners or in their descriptions of what they consider attractive in women” (Uwujaren, 2013). It was also noted that South African men use nicknames such as mantsho or mnyamane [darkness] referring to dark- skinned women and to discriminate against dark women (Khumalo, 2015).

Yep it is like that in the public, it is like that, uhm, and it is influenced by our past basically, because we were colonised by white people so that is like the standard, so beauty is standardised basically, so we have been colonised and we have been brainwashed, yeah, that is what everybody believes (Trevor, 25).

Ey, I move with it to some degree that society value light skin over dark skin, you know? I move with it, because in every way you go, you know, or anywhere, I have been, you know? Most of the people I have spoken to them hold “yellow bones” of very high you know, because I remember I even once met this, ey, Venda woman, you know who says she is saving herself for a “yellow bone” guy you know, meaning that there is some value. Why out of all these men

around you are waiting specifically for this “yellow bone” guy, you know? So, to some degree there is some level, some value, you know, on “yellow bones” (Hlogi, 23).

Trevor and Hlogi passionately expressed that the society values light skin tone over dark skin tone. They believe that colonisation influenced people and set the standard of beauty. Trevor believes that people are brainwashed by colonisation and apartheid, and his remarks are like what was discussed in Section 2.3.2 of the study that during South Africa’s colonial period and subsequent apartheid era black people were convinced to believe that they were inferior to whites, which led to the idea that black skin is inferior and unworthy of being loved (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). As a result, black people, specifically women, internalised this superiority/inferiority complex and believed that their dark skin is not beautiful as it is not associated with anything positive (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). Hlogi feels that most people he has engaged with hold “yellow bones” of high value to the point that they reserve themselves for “yellow bones”, so there is a certain value associated with light skin tone. On the other hand, Hlogi presents an interesting point when he mentions that women also want to date men that are “yellow bone”. Therefore, it is not only men who want to be in a relationship with light-skinned women, as it is argued that women also have an interest to be in relationships with light-skinned men.

As I am saying, I feel like this thing it is for me, I feel like we are becoming racists amongst ourselves. I am going back to that especially, like I have always raised this, even with my cousins or my peers, that as much as I prefer a light skin girl, but then I will never say it especially with people I am not used to. I will only say it around my cousins and stuff. I don’t usually say it, coz I feel like it is discriminative, like we are bringing back apartheid. For me, it’s apartheid, coz apartheid it is about, uhm, discriminating people, discriminating a certain group of people. Now I feel like us blacks we are discriminating amongst ourselves, which for me it is apartheid, ja (Gift, 24).

Gift argues that black people are becoming racist amongst themselves with their preference of “yellow bones” over dark-skinned women. In Section 2.3.3 of this study colourism was explained as “discrimination within the same racial group, where people note differences and then separate themselves based on these differences” (Davis, 2015), which is what Gift is alluding to here, that what they are doing is discriminative as they tend to be valuing “yellow” bones over dark skin tone women. This means, what they are doing could be a way of bringing back apartheid, which he explains as a way of discriminating against certain people and in this case, they are discriminating against dark-skinned women, because of their skin tone and that they believe dark women are not attractive.

Definitely it does, uhm, even black on black, uhm, I know that there are some people in South Africa who when you are very dark, they do necessarily think you come from other African

countries, like they will think that he is from Zimbabwe, he is from Congo or whatever. So, it certainly does happen, uhm, it has happened all over the world, but what we usually see is people saying racism being white people against black, but we forget there is black on black racism and it’s prevalent, you can see, uhm, we already know, like I said, when someone is dark we think they are from other African countries, so, ja, it is there (Neo, 21).

Neo believes black people discriminate against each other, although it is usually known that racism or discrimination of skin colour is perpetuated by whites only. He argues that if a person is too dark in South Africa then that person is accused of being a person from other African countries outside South Africa such as Zimbabwe or Democratic Republic of Congo. Neo believes black on black racism is prevalent, alluding to the point that when a person is too dark there is a perception that they come from other African countries. His remarks resonate what was discussed in Section 2.3.3 of this study, that colourism is “discrimination within the same racial group when individuals note differences and then separate themselves based on these differences” (Davis, 2015). The difference that is noted amongst people of the same race is skin pigmentation, that some are light-skinned, and others are dark-skinned. It was further asserted that colourism is a belief that light skin tone is superior to a darker skin tone, but it can also operate in the reverse direction and refer to the preference of dark over light skin (Davis, 2015). However, in this case it is the preference of light skin over dark skin that is taking place.

Many participants believe that the society values light skin tone over dark skin tone, they allude that this preference is attributed to the history of the country. They mention that because of colonisation and apartheid people grew up with the mentality that everything that is white is more valuable than black. Thus, it could be argued that colonialism left psychological injuries in the colonised people that have led them to aspire to be like their colonisers. The participants argue that this left psychological injuries in blacks where African people discriminate against each other. Participants stated that black-on-black discrimination is prevalent in their communities. Some participants argued that preferring light-skinned women to dark-skinned women is discriminative and that what they are doing could be linked to apartheid. However, it appears that preference for light skin as well as discrimination against dark women are among the most common serious social problems that participants have. Upon further critical reflection, most participants think that colonisation had a big impact on colourism and that it psychologically influenced them to prefer light-skinned women. The next section discusses colonisation.

5.4.1 Colonisation

Several participants communicated that they think that one of the reasons why they prefer “yellow bones” or light-skinned women is through the psychological influence of colonisation. The following quotes represent what the participants think.

I can say I agree, as I said it before that apartheid had a lot of impact on blacks. Today if you see like a white guy, you see that guy as a smart guy. Before you [can] even go deeper like you need to compete, like eh, academically or in sports, but then as that guy comes you see that, you say, okay eh, I cannot stand a chance, because of what, because of apartheid, because apartheid like it was putting the whites guys in front and then the black guys like even their educational system it was not that much. So, ja that’s what I can say that the white skin like has value (Sash, 18).

Sash is of the opinion that “yellow bone” women are the most valued women, because he thinks that apartheid played an impact on black people, on how women are perceived. He argues that during apartheid times it was known that white skin is “the best” skin tone and that the whites were promoting the white race even in the education system. It could be argued that apartheid is a continuation of colonisation that tarnished the way black people view beauty. In Section 2.2.1 of the study it was discussed that in times of “colonialism and apartheid black South Africans were oppressed and conditioned to believe that they were inferior to white people” (Julien, 2014).

Yeah, it does it does exist, but I mean, like I just mentioned now that sometimes even this discrimination is not conscious, right, and it is because of, uh, the continuing legacies of colonialism you know, uh, and we mentioned earlier that how this legacy has expressed itself, it has done so even in recent times through TV. I mentioned Muvhango [a television series] as one example, but we all know that is just one example and as a matter of fact, uh, it’s something that was complained about on Muvhango until they started changing, and, uh, looking at women who are, you know, I think you remember [Mangwasho] or something that was her name and, ja, things started changing after that, right? So, but legacies are still continuing, but is because of colonialism. So, I think what I’m saying is that is also important when you look at the fact that, discrimination or not, you look at why is there this discrimination and you must always, you know, sort of blame, uh, what happened in the past, and I think it still affects us a lot because these things were never rectified, you know, so, ja, these things they still continuing, there is still discrimination, there is (Katleho, 25).

Katleho communicates that one of the reasons why there is discrimination against dark-skinned women or why they prefer light-skinned women or “yellow bone” women is because of the continuing legacy of colonialism, and this is manifested on media platforms. He argues that because of the continuation of colonialism, light-skinned women are glorified and there is discrimination against dark-skinned women. Interestingly he communicates that the blame should be put on the history of the country. Therefore, it was argued in Section 2.3.2 of the study that South Africa is one of the countries that have been colonised and is still struggling with the stigma of colonisation and apartheid (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014), and this resonates with the sentiments of Katleho. It could be contended that Katleho believes that the past inheritance of colonialism tarnished the black

95 people’s standard of beauty and imposed that of the colonisers. His remarks echo with what was brought forward in Section 2.3.2 of the study that colonisers did not only tarnish the way black people view beauty, but in also the way they thought what beauty is and what it means (Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014; Robinson, 2011).

Uh I think in the society it does exist, coz like as we said earlier some social media they use that as a factor like to sell their products, songs, brands and all that, portraying light-skinned people as better people, especially light-skinned women as more beautiful and dark-skinned people as people of lower value and not that attractive. So, the society still discriminates a lot, because we still think that “yellow bones” are better people than other people of dark shades (Magubane, 24).

Magubane holds the same sentiments as Katleho as he believes that the society discriminates against dark-skinned women because of the influence from media, where “yellow bones” are viewed as better people and more beautiful, whereas dark-skinned people are viewed as people of lower value. It could be argued that through media the legacy of colonialism still exists as people are still brainwashed with the ideologies of the colonisers and view beauty through the lens of the colonisers (Julien, 2014; Robinson, 2011; Hall; 2016). Again, Magubane’s remarks resonates with what was brought forward in Section 2.3.2 of the study that colonialism resulted in blackness being associated “with primitiveness, lack of civilisation, unrestrained sexuality, pollution and dirt” (Glenn, 2008: 283). Magubane went on to argue that colonialism is manifested through the media. He argues that the media depicts light-skinned people as better people than dark people, especially women.

Yes, I think it has to do with this thing, what’s it? uh colonisation, ey, because I know that from, ey, look man, my history is not that sharp, but like I know when the lighter you are, neh, you could be accepted from the white community. You could be [more] easily accepted from the white community than a darker person, you get what I mean? So that across times people will always of course [want to] be lighter so that they can fit in within this segregated system, the apartheid system, colonisation and stuff like that. So ja, man, look, like I said, man, the darker you are it always represents something that is negative, bad and everything. I mean you look at, ey, what do they call this thing? The things, man, dolls that kids play with, ja man, most dolls you know like your Barbie girl we grew up knowing that kids you look at all those things are white. You look at, ey, the things that I used to watch, dragon ballzie, you look at, , Pokémon’s, you look at all those things, man. You know, everything was just white man, it was rare for you to find like a black character of these things, growing up, so, yes this means that the ideology from just growing up, neh, you see this thing from of course it dates back [in] history, but I was not alive at that time, this is something that I am reading about and even me growing up from my youth, I’ve always, Jesus, again the pictures that our grannies have in the dining room, there you will see a white guy on a cross like that, so it I don’t know, man, it just

always has to, you know what I mean, is something that is entrenched from your upbringing to say anything that’s right, good and accepted it always must be light and, because of the holy scriptures that we read black is always associated with darkness and evil and you see that is another thing about the skin and the skin tone, the colour of your skin (Tobiah, 23).

Tobiah thinks the reason why most men prefer yellow bones or light skin has to do with colonisation. He says that in the past the lighter a person was the more easily they could be accepted in the white community, more than a darker person would. Tobiah’s remarks resonate with what was discussed in Section 2.3.2 of the study, that skin tone became important during colonisation as skin tone was used for divisions of races where the white skin tone was at the pinnacle and dark skin tone at the very bottom (Bulhan, 2015; Julien, 2014; Masaka & Chemhuru, 2014). Thus, the dark skin tone was viewed as primitive, backward, ugly and unappealing (Glenn, 2008). Tobiah also argues that colonisation is something that was entrenched in people’s mind from their upbringing, that whatever is right, beautiful and good should be associated with lightness. Tobiah’s remarks echo what was discussed in Section 2.3.2 of the study that during the times of colonisation and apartheid black South African were oppressed and accustomed to believe that they were lower to whites and that everything that is associated with whites is good and beautiful. Therefore, it could be argued that this could be the reason why some of the South African women yearn to bleach their skin and why some men would prefer them to dark-skinned women.

Yep, it is like that in the public, it is like that, uhm, and it is influenced by our past basically, because we were colonised by white people. So, that is like the standard, so beauty is standardised, basically, so we have been colonised and we have been brainwashed, yeah, that is what everybody believes (Trevor, 25).

Trevor believes that people are still brainwashed and are influenced by the past. He argues that because of colonisation of whites, beauty is standardised according to their ideals, therefore, light skin tone is the standard of feminine beauty. Trevor’s remarks can be closely linked to what was argued in Section 2.3.2 of the study that because of colonisation people of colour internalised the values and attitudes of white supremacy and exerted power over one another by perpetuating white supremacist beliefs (Gillborn, 2006; Hooks, 1992). Therefore, people of colour were brainwashed to believe that beauty is that of their former oppressors and that black people must assimilate everything that has to do with white beauty ideals.

In this section, it has been argued that the participants in this study believe that the society values light skin tone over dark skin tone. Although participants acknowledge that times have changed, they believe their preference for light-skinned women has to do with the influence of history. Participants attribute this preference to the history of the country. They argue that colonialism left psychological injuries in the colonised people that have led them to aspire to be like their colonisers. Just as it was

97 argued in Chapter 2, some participants believe that the colonised population continues to view themselves through the lens of whiteness, meaning that the colonised population tries to imitate the light skin tone of their colonisers to enhance their quality of life and improve their self-image. However, it should be noted that this does not reflect on all men, but only the selected men of the study and that not all of them have the same sentiments. In this vein, some participants are of the belief that colonisation gave birth to colourism, which they explain it as the extended leg of colonialism and apartheid. Colourism is the belief that one’s skin tone is better to another, the belief that light skin tone is superior to dark skin tone, but it can also operate in the reverse direction and refer to the preference of dark skin tone over light skin tone. However, in this study, several participants stated that their preference of light skin over dark skin is due to the notion that the society values light skin over dark skin, and as such, women of a lighter skin tone are preferred. Therefore, some participants felt that what they are doing is discriminative, and this is something that resonates with colourism. It was argued that colourism is discrimination within the same racial group, when individuals note differences and then separate based on these differences. Participants note that black-on-black discrimination is prevalent in their communities. Some participants felt that the issue of skin discrimination is something that is highly regarded in city life, while in the rural areas the issue of skin tone is not considered that much. It could be argued that dark-skinned women are at disadvantage for the reason that skin shade is fundamental to assessments of beauty, with light skin operating as a form of symbolic capital. Some participants argued that because of colonisation some people are still brainwashed as they still standardise beauty according to the white beauty ideals. Some participants prefer light-skinned women because it is an attempt to “convert” their future generation to being light-skinned. The next section discusses lineage.

5.4.2 Lineage

A participant made an interesting point about how his ancestry factors significantly in his preferences in women. He says his preference for “yellow bone” women is an attempt to “convert” his future generation and offspring to a light skin tone. He says he has personally suffered enough because of his dark skin tone and would thus prefer that his children do not go through the same psychological discrimination that he has gone through.

Hmmm ja, I feel confident. I feel confident when I am dating a lighter skin, uhm skin girl, coz for me dating someone, like I am thinking of the future. Like, I don’t need black kids to be honest, like black in complexion not like in a racial context, but then just complexion-wise, ja. I will be happy to have lighter kids, that is why I date yellow bone girls, coz I know anything can happen. When you are dating someone, anything can happen when you sleep with them, you can have a child, ja, without saying you need a child, ja, that is why I always go for yellow bones, that’s me (Gift, 24).

… like I said to you, bro, I choose yellow bones, because I am, ey, thinking for the future, you see, ey uhm. If you at, ey man, I used to hate my skin tone, because people used to mock me a lot and this affected me a lot, ja, mentally, because I was not happy growing up as a child because of my skin tone. Uh, so ja, I don’t want my kids to suffer like me and not enjoy their childhood. So, maybe me having kids with a yellow bone woman will change the family history of being full of dark skin people, you see, uh, so I prefer yellow bone, because I know there are high chances of having light skin kids and beautiful kids, that’s my reason bro (Gift, 24).

Gift remarks that he feels confident when he is dating light-skinned women and argues that he dates light-skinned women with a vision for the future because he believes that one day, he will marry a light-skinned woman. He argues that his main reason to date light-skinned women is because he wants to attempt to convert his future generation and offspring to a lighter skin tone. He explains that he personally suffered enough because of his darkened skin tone and thus would like his children not go through the psychological discrimination that he has gone through.

5.4.3 Fate of the “black bone”

This theme presents the discussions of the participants about the fate of “black bone” women. The theme presents a different view from what the participants were alluding to. Discussions about what happens to dark-skinned women since most men prefer “yellow bone” women are represented by the following quotes.

I think we have that mentality that, uh, ey, light-skinned people or girls, like they are attractive, they are clean and, ja, like that is the thing. We prefer light skin, coz they are clean and the darker ones sometimes we think that they are not looking after themselves, like, something like that. So, I think that’s the only thing that makes us think that the yellow bones are better than the darkies, ja (Magubani, 24).

Yes, they really do and obviously that will make them like yeah some will get jealous and will also have dark-skinned girls saying, uhm, you never noticed us. You are always about these girls whatsoever and that is why you don’t last with them. You know they will throw remarks, that is why you don’t last with them, because you are chasing these yellow bones and the faithful ones, us are here, you are just looking at us, you know man, I’ve been in that situation, so ja (Thando, 20).

Yep they do they do, uhm, especially, if they are not yellow bones themselves, because they would look at you and be like hao [really] so, is that how you roll now? In fact, like they think a yellow bone, you would swear that you are dating a white girl, because this [is] how black girls will look at you. Okay not black girls, but black girls that are not yellow bones, they would look at you in a way and be like, really, you know have you seen a black girl looking at a black guy

who is walking with a white girlfriend, they look at them like hao [really]. You sold us out, like what is this? That is, how they look at me (Trevor, 25).

Ey, other women sometimes you know, ey, light-skinned not light-skinned, but dark-skinned women, when I am going with my yellow bone girlfriend. They will be like, she might be yellow, but she is not beautiful, you know, ey, yellow bone does not define beauty, you know, ey bathi [they say] things like what is it, we are unnoticed others even to some degree, because of they are noticing that I am having this, you know, light-skinned woman, yellow bone, you know, to some degree. They start to notice and start to, you know, ey, desire me, you know, because again, you know, the society [and] media has proven or has made light-skinned people to be beautiful, you know. So, them saying or seeing me with this woman saying, no there must be something about this guy which is out of the norm, you know, then there is this desire (Hlogi, 23).

Yes, they do. I remember, I once, uhm, dated, uhm, a dark skin girl, hmm, back in the days, ja, then the moment she realised that I was dating a light skin girl, she felt so low of herself. She was like, probably you went for a lighter skin, because maybe you didn’t like me anyway at first place, you were just using me, all those stuffs. It tells you that, like ja, they feel pressure, even ladies when you are dating a lighter skin girl then, ja compared to someone who is dark they feel very low of themselves. I remember, with that case me dating a darker skin girl, but then later on dating a yellow bone she told me, she confessed, she told me that, like ja, like this thing destroyed her self-esteem, self-confidence and everything. They do notice, then they feel bad about it, coz now they know they don’t fall in that league, ja (Gift, 24).

Some participants felt that dark-skinned women appear to be dirty as they appear as if they don’t look after themselves. This was also highlighted in Section 2.3.3 of the study that “most dark-skinned girls appear not to practice good hygiene” (Phoenix, 2014). Participants argue that dark-skinned women show signs of having a low self-esteem when they discover that most black guys date “yellow bones”. According to Gift, dark-skinned women feel pressure and feel very bad about themselves. Participants argued that when dark-skinned women realise that they are dating “yellow bones” they become jealous as there has always been a conflict between light-skinned women and dark-skinned women, which is believed to be caused by black men who prefer light-skinned women to dark- skinned women. Participants shared experiences of them being confronted by dark-skinned women who were complaining to them about their preferences for light-skinned women. Participants argued that dark-skinned women complain to them if they are dating white women and not dating black women who happen to be light in skin complexion.

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5.5 Conclusion This chapter argued that many of the participants in this study felt that their masculine identity is socially situated. Although some of the participants are not yet working or have not ascended to the position of taking responsibilities for their families, most were also of the notion that the man is the provider, that the man is to be a breadwinner, and this is socially constructed. Many participants are of the view that traditions and culture play an integral role in validating one’s manhood. It was argued that the cultural ritual known as initiation is important for an African man to be considered a man. Through the initiation ritual know as circumcision, men are circumcised as a sign that they have entered manhood and that they are no longer to be referred to as boys. Although, this does not mean that they do not have individual choices, but there were acutely aware of socially normalised views and that some participants do not need to affirm their masculinity to societal norms, as they believe that manhood can be individually affirmed. Nonetheless, many of the participants are of the view that dating is essential, for “real men” are heterosexual and thus have relationships with women. Most participants point out that beauty makes them prefer and date light-skinned women and felt that “yellow bones” are always associated with beauty. Many participants appear to use the beauty of light-skinned women to brag amongst their peers and in the society. They argue that when they date light-skinned women, they receive good reception from members of the community; they argue that the good reception they receive plays a significant role in enhancing their individual confidence. The issue of dominance seems to be of importance to participants as they highlight that their masculinity is proven when they are dominating one another. They believe they are dominating other men when they are dating “yellow bones”. It is believed that dating “yellow bones” affirms their manhood in the society. In many ways, participants of this study suggested that a real man is strong and powerful, and they seem to feel to be in competition with men and women for social status. It was argued that social status is productive, making possible achievement of certain ends that in its absence would not be possible. It is felt that being in a relationship with light-skinned women gives participants social status. Many participants brought forward the reasons that they are now respected in the community as they now get attention, they are treated like celebrities and that they have more social interactions in the community paying homage to the light-skinned women they are dating.

This means that the media reflects and reinforces traditional gender roles. Subsequently, many participants seem to be under the impression that the media has a powerful influence on their perceptions of “yellow bone” women. It was argued that the media acts as a catalyst that influences most participants to choose light-skinned women over dark-skinned women. Participants felt that the over-representation of light-skinned women in media platforms influences them to prefer light- skinned women, because it is what they see almost all the time. They argued that the media sets the standard of what a beautiful woman looks like and, in most cases, that woman is associated with a light skin complexion. It was argued that the depiction of more light-skinned women in media advertisements is used to attract men. This can be supported by the sentiments of participants,

101 because they are of the idea that the more, they see light-skinned women in advertisements the more they are influenced to like them. It was further argued that media advertisements associate beauty with the white ideal of beauty and this has affected how people perceive and understand beauty. However, the depiction of women in media has always been an issue of concern as feminists argue that women most often have been objectified by men. It is argued by feminist movements that women have been sexually objectified by men to satisfy their needs. This objectification of women has been largely seen in the media, the beauty industry and music videos. Black feminist researchers have recognised the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of black women on media platforms. It was argued that black women’s representation in the media determines how blackness is seen and how other groups will respond to black women based on the relation to these images. It was further argued that historical constructions of black females have been constructed around the idea of hyper-sexuality, which then constructed the jezebel image, a racialised gendered symbol of deviant female sexuality.

It could be contended that the underrepresentation of black women in media perpetuates colourism; several participants linked their positive regard for women with a lighter skin to global hegemonic power relations based on colourism. Many participants believe skin tone discrimination is linked to the historical process whereby the light skin tone is valued whereas dark skin tone is not valued. Although it is explained that colourism can operate in a reverse direction where dark skin can be valued over light skin, participants hold the idea that light skin has value. Participants seem to think that all these things have been distorted and perpetuated by both history and colonisation and argue that because of colonisation most people value light skin over dark skin because they are still brainwashed. It was argued that colonialism left psychological injuries in the colonised people that have led them to aspire to be like their colonisers. Some participants believe that the colonised population continues to view themselves through the lens of whiteness. Therefore, it could be argued that one of the psychological injuries left by colonisation is colourism, which is the belief that one skin tone is superior to another, and that light skin tone is superior to dark skin tone. However, in this study colourism is perpetuated by some of the participants when they choose light-skinned women over dark-skinned women. Although some participants argued and acknowledged that what they are doing could be discriminative and promote colourism in their community, they cannot deny the fact that skin shade is central to assessments of beauty, with light skin operating as a form of symbolic capital and this is something that some of the participants are looking for. Some participants further argued that being in a relationship with light-skinned women increases their chances to convert their future offspring to light skin and this would help them to have children that are light-skinned, and the children would not experience psychological discrimination that they went through. However, many participants appear to be disturbed about what happens to dark-skinned women, as they mention that dark-skinned women appear to be dirty and that most dark women have low self-esteem, and

102 that it could be argued that they develop jealous behaviour when they discover that most black men prefer dating “yellow bones”.

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Chapter Six: Conclusion 6.1 Introduction This research project sought to explore the perceptions of Black men in Katlehong Township about female “yellow bones”. A total of 18 black men participants in Katlehong township took part in the research project. As it is a qualitative study, the findings of this study are rich, providing fruitful data that gave answers to the research questions.

The term “yellow bone’’ is often used to refer to black people, especially women, with a fairly light skin tone in South Africa. The term “yellow bone” appeared in 2009 in the Urban Dictionary, and in 2014 the term has been used widespread in the media (cf. Matika, 2015; Shelembe, 2014). The term was first used in kwaito music and hip-hop music, for example, Emtee da Hustler’s song about South African celebrity Pearl Thusi (Ramakobya, 2016; Khumalo, 2015). “The term highlights the idealisation of lighter-skinned blacks as the most beautiful” (Shelembe, 2014). The phenomenon of labelling light-skinned women cuts across the African continent. For instance, in Kenya the term mzungu is used, while in DRC the term tshoko or metises and Zimbabwe the term muroora (Msonza, 2015). Due to the idealisation of a light complexion, some black women go to great lengths to achieve a lighter complexion (Khumalo, 2015). The media reports that the assumption is that this is in the hope of appearing more attractive to the opposite sex. In this way the media contributes to the social construction of female “yellow bones” (Khumalo, 2015). If a woman is not naturally light-skinned, she has the option to acquire this sought-after quality using skin lightening chemicals and, in this way, participate in the construction of female beauty (Khumalo, 2015; Bhatia, 2017).

The purpose of this study was to establish the perceptions of selected young black men in Katlehong regarding female “yellow bones”. The findings of the research project were able to answer two main research questions, namely 1) how selected black males from Katlehong perceive female “yellow bones” and 2) why do selected black males from Katlehong perceive “yellow bones” the way they do.

1. How do selected black males from Katlehong perceive female “yellow bones”?

Participants seem to believe that “yellow bone” women are more beautiful than women with a darker complexion, as they feel that skin tone is central to assessments of beauty. Some participants even alluded to a lighter skin tone operating as a form of symbolic capital. All the participants thus seem to believe that lighter skin tone has more value than dark skin tone.

This finding is supported by Chapters Two and Three, where it was argued that light-skinned people are believed to be more beautiful or even better than dark-skinned people of the same race. Therefore, colourism plays out in the romantic realm because fairer skin tone is associated to beauty and status. It was argued that Afrocentrism rejects the paradigm over colonised people, and it

104 challenges the beauty standard set by media and colonisation that light-skinned women are more beautiful than dark-skinned women. It was argued that media is known to replicate and strengthen traditional gender roles and that advertisements frequently represent a type of desire or how an ideal woman should look and behave. Lighter-skinned women are depicted as more beautiful than darker- skinned women, who are often depicted as sex objects. It was further argued that dating light-skinned women gives a man social status. Social status was explained as ties with friends and neighbours that are related to indices of psychological wellbeing. It was asserted that black men choose to date women are light-skinned for them to increase their own social status in the community.

2. Why do selected black males from Katlehong perceive “yellow bones” the way they do?

Participants gave three main reasons for preferring dating women with a lighter complexion to women with a darker complexion.

The first is that many participants felt that this preference is attributed to the history of the country, and that because of colonisation and apartheid people grew up with the mentality that everything that is white is more valuable than black. Participants felt that because of psychological injuries left by colonisation and apartheid most people in the country are still brainwashed to believe that lighter skin tone is superior to darker skin tone. Therefore, it could be argued that one of the psychological injuries left by colonisation is colourism, the belief that one skin tone is superior to another.

The second reason is that many participants seem to be under the impression that the media (with its programming, advertisements foregrounding a western notion of beauty, and the music industry especially hip-hop music) has a powerful influence on their perceptions of “yellow bone” women. Many participants felt that that media acts as a catalyst that influences them to prefer light-skinned women over dark-skinned women. Many participants stated that the overrepresentation of light- skinned women in media platforms influence them to prefer light-skinned women, because it is what they see almost all the time. They argued that the media has set the standard of what a beautiful woman looks like, and, in most cases, that woman is associated with light skin complexion. It was argued that the depiction of lighter-skinned women than darker-skinned women in media advertisements is used to attract men. In fact, many participants of this study are of the opinion that the more they see lighter skin women in advertisements, they more they are influenced to like them. They seem to believe that when dating a female “yellow bone” they are dominating other men, and in the process that affirms their manhood and masculine social status. It can thus be argued that participants prefer to date lighter-skinned women, because they are socially advantageous for them. This gives them the opportunity to be recognised, respected and improves their social status amongst their peers in the community.

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6.2 Limitations of the findings The findings of this study cannot be generalised to the general population as the sample is fairly small (18 young men), and they all live in Katlehong. The reason why this sample was chosen is that the researcher had access to this community, and that the researcher often overhead young men of the area discussing female “yellow bones” – often in relation to hip-hop songs.

However, despite the sample being small, the findings of this study have been triangulated with theoretical arguments drawing on a range of theoretical positions. The study is thus valid and credible.

6.3 Recommendations for further studies This research used semi-structured interviews for gathering data. While this was useful for this research study allowing the researcher to explore the relevant issues in depth, a different method of data gathering can be used in future research. Focus groups, for example, could be used in order to observe group dynamics and whether the focus group participants influence each other’s views and opinions. This would help a future researcher to understand the role of group dynamics and peer pressure.

This research study had participants that were relatively young Black men from the age of 18 to 26. A recommendation for further research is to target men who are older in the township of Katlehong in order to see if whether their perceptions of “yellow bones” differ.

Another option for further research is to explore how men in other urban areas – the leafy suburbs for instance – perceive black women with a lighter complexion. This suggestion follows one participant’s view, thinking that the phenomenon of “yellow bones” is taken seriously in township communities. In this vein, Hlongi said: “I don’t know, ey, if people in towns or those in nice places like, eish, uhm, urban areas care about “yellow bones”, but here [in] ekasi [in the neighbourhood] “yellow bones” are the thing here, my man, trust me on this one”.

Future research could also investigate how women feel about the phenomenon of “yellow bones”, especially dark-skinned women, because according to the research participants of this study there seems to be competition amongst women and that dark-skinned women have self-esteem issues. Here are two quotes from the research participants to support this viewpoint:

Uh, I think girls, even if it’s not really like about the skin, maybe, let’s say with friends they always competing so they will always, like, if maybe they see you are happy with this girl of yours and all that, they tend to also treat you differently, like they also want to taste what she is getting there or they become curious and say, oh why is she so happy? Why is she treating him like this? (Magabani).

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Ja, they do. I remember I once, uhm, dated, uhm, a dark skin girl hmm back in the days ja then the moment she realised that I was dating a light skin girl she felt so low of herself she was like probably you went for a lighter skin because maybe you didn’t like me anyway at first place you were just using me all those stuff it tells you that like ja they feel pressure even ladies when you are dating a lighter skin girl than ja compared to someone who is dark they feel very low of themselves, ja. I remember with that case me dating a darker skin girl but then later on dating a yellow bone. Ja, she told me, she confessed, she told me that like, ja, like this thing destroyed her self-esteem, self-confidence and everything, ja. They do notice then they feel bad about it, coz now they know they don’t fall in that league, ja (Gift).

6.4 Conclusion This study investigated the perceptions of young black men in Katlehong regarding female “yellow bones”. The study firstly found that the men indeed prefer dating women with a lighter complexion to dating women with a darker complexion. The reasons seem to be socially embedded in the history and traditional practices of women, but these seem to have been normalised by the media and in general the beauty industry. This perception and practice can be criticised by many theorists, but the fact remains that in this community, dating female “yellow bones” is experienced by the young men interviewed as affording them a social status they desire.

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Appendix 1: Interview schedule Theme 1: Practices around dating a “yellow bone” woman/ light skin tone women.

The purpose for this section is to try to get the information from the respondents.

I will try the following questions to draw information from the respondents.

• What is your perception about “yellow bones”? • Does the media play a role in your perception about yellow bones? • Where did you meet your ex-girlfriend or your current girlfriend? • What do you do to be noticed by “yellow bones”? • What are the strategies that you use to get noticed by a yellow bone woman? • Do you play music when you are with the “yellow bones”, if yes which kind of music do you play? • How do other men treat you when you are with the “yellow bone” girlfriend? • Why do you think the other men notice you when you are with your “yellow bone” girlfriend? • Do other women notice you when you are with your “yellow bone” girlfriend? If yes what do they say or do? • How do you define a “yellow bone”? • Do you like the “yellow bone” female woman naturally or skin bleached? • Do you see a “yellow bone” as a trophy wife or token girlfriend? • When you go to public places such a shopping mall, cinemas, stadiums etc., do you go there to show off? If these questions do not give me the information I need, I will ask specific questions to get the information.

• Does being with a “yellow bone” comes with a certain social status? • Do you at some point when you go out brag about your girlfriend or show off? • Do the perceptions of beauty by “yellow bones” female affect your feelings as a man? • How do you define beauty?

Theme 2 manhood

The purpose of this theme is to ask questions about manhood in South Africa and draw information from the respondents

I will try to ask the following questions to draw information from the respondents

• What is the general perception about out there about manhood? 124

• What makes a real man? • What are the things you do to show that you are a real man? • Is it important for you to be a real man? • How do you dress to be a real man? • Which are the places you go to, so that you can be classified as a real man? If these questions do not give me the information I’m looking for, I will ask the following questions

• Who say you are a real man? • Does dating a “yellow bone” woman make you a real man? • Do you feel you are dominating other men because you are dating a “yellow bone”? • Do you think feminist movements affect manhood in your community? • Do you think there are not enough real man, because of feminism? Theme 3 Colourism

Purpose of this section is to find information about colourism.

Colourism: Discrimination based on skin colour, also known as colourism is a form of prejudice or discrimination in which people are treated differently based on the social meanings attached to skin colour.

• There is a perception that the society value light skin over dark skin, what do you think of this notion? • How do you feel about your skin tone? • Is skin colour important to you? • Do you think skin discrimination exist? • Do you discuss about female skin tone with your peers? • What are the remarks you have heard about skin tone?

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Appendix 2: Information letter

Information Sheet /Letter

Title of Project:

Perceptions of young black men in Katlehong of female “yellow bones’’

Principal Researcher:

Tshepo Makobela

University of Johannesburg, Department of Communication Studies

079 5784 201/ 0812075057

You are invited to participate in a study that concerns (How young black men discuss black women’s skin tone). As a participant in this study you will be asked to be involved in an interview where questions will be asked, and you will give your perspective based on the issue asked.

Participation in this study is voluntary and will take only about 30 minutes to one hour of your time. There are no personal benefits to participation. You may decline to answer any questions presented during the study if you feel uncomfortable with the questions asked. Further you may decide to withdraw from this study at any time by advising the researcher and may do so without any penalty. All information you provide is considered completely confidential; your name will not be included or in any other way associated, with the data collected in the study. Furthermore, you will not be identified individually in any way in written reports of this research. There are no known or anticipated risks associated to participation of this study. The interview will be audio-recorded, and you can choose not to be recorded if you wish.

I would like to assure you that this study has been reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Review Board at University of Johannesburg. However, the final decision about participation is yours.

Thank you for your assistance in this project.

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Appendix 3: Consent form Title of Project: The perceptions of young black men in Katlehong of female “yellow bones”

Name of Researcher: Tshepo Makobela

Student Number: 201209644

Email address: [email protected]

Contact Number: 079 578 4201/081 207 5057

Supervisor’s Name: Dr Burger

Email Address of Supervisor: [email protected]

I agree to be interviewed by the researcher Yes No

I agree to use my real name or remain anonymous in this research Yes No

I agree to be audio-recorded by the researcher Yes No

I understand that my participation is voluntary, that I can choose not to participate in part or at all in the project, and that I can withdraw at any stage of the project without being penalised or disadvantaged in any way.

I understand that any data that the student extracts from the interview for use in reports will not, under any circumstances, contain names or identifying characteristics, should I prefer to remain anonymous.

Participant’s name:

Signature:

Date:

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