Intersectionality And Self Idenity: African-American Women And Their Various Identies

African-American women are often left in a section of their own. They are not masculine enough biologically to earn fair treatment in their own black community. They are not fair skinned enough to earn equal treatment in a predominantly white society. Two discriminations are held in every African-American women's identity. In a world were the hand you were dealt was so slim it is hard to see true agency in the essence if choice. These identities are influenced by economic factors, class, and of course gender role factors. I urge the viewer to ask is there a correct identity or is there none.I will examine the various identities that black women have chosen or been forced to take in search of what identity does the African-American women wants herself.

1. Identites in Hip-Hop: Obectivity or Feminism.

Via uwec.edu

In the Ayanna Byrd’s article “Claiming Jezebel: Black Female Subjectivity and Sexual Expression in Hip-Hop” she focuses on the subjectivity of black women and their identity in the hip-hop music industry. In this piece Byrd forces the reader to ask is it objectivity or agency. From the sexual identities the women portray to the derogatory names the rappers call them, the music videos do not paint black women in a good light. Byrd begins by admitting her own denial by simply saying the derogatory names black females are called in hip-hop are not said towards her. Knowing her own self she knows she is above the commonly used name "ho". Like others she realized she was accepting it and allowing who ever the "ho" is to be oppressed. Women are exempting themselves in order to cope with what is becoming the social norm. With tons of video black video girls dressed in bikinis every where in the media it was being accepted as a norm. Byrd then takes a turn in the other direction by highlighting female rappers like Queen Latifah who took after their only male role models and referred to women as derogatory names. Foxy Brown admitted that her youth, riches, and happiness to finally make it in the male dominated hip-hop world sometimes fogged her views of whether or not her image was the correct representation of women. Then there are female rappers like Little Kim who choose to express feminism and power over male dominance by extreme expressions of sexual behavior. Byrd questions if this was true feminism or just an oblivious act of female black objectivity. The few women empowering or respectful songs made Byrd think that the good counter balance the bad. She concludes by saying this is not true. The media had made tramplike black women the norm and then covered with few good representations. A good example of this is found in hip-hops current trending artists', Kendrick Lamar featuring Drake, song and video for Poetic Justice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyr2gEouEMM ).The song is on the romantic side of songs in the desire for a beautiful women. It is definitely a lady pleaser. While the song is about appreciating a women for her beauty and personality the beginning of the song refers to women as the curse word bitch by calling her a bad bitch. The phrase is considered to be uplifting to women in the black community. Also the video only has one half naked women and is not sexually driven. There is a confusion of whether if this is degrading with the new definition of demeaning terms and non sexual approach. Is this still present disrespect acceptable as long as something respectful is given sometimes? Byrd does not think so. Kendrick's song reinforces Byrd's point of normalizing degradation and objectivity that it is excused and blanketed with the rare positive expressions of women in hip-hop. Identities should be chosen in thought of what you want people to know of you. Some of the video models may have lost sight of this.Whether or not the video model wants to be known for sex or not, the problem is that, that is being chosen by men. Men are not in inside perception of women.

2. Identies in a Place Where One Thinks Identity Has No Preference

youtube.com / Via Trautner, M. N. "Doing Gender, Doing Class: The Performance of Sexuality in Exotic Dance Clubs." Gender & Society http://19.6 (2005): 771-88. Web.

Mary Neil Traunter's piece "Doing Gender, Doing Class: The Performance of Sexuality in Exotic Dance Clubs" was a study done by Traunter herself on strip clubs. Traunter went to four different strip clubs divided into two classes: middle class and working class. Traunter mostly focused on embodying the customer experience, however, the dancers were still studied as well. In the piece one of Traunter's focuses was the differences between the two clubs when it came to the dancers. The middle class clubs were known for their blonde, big breasted, young, Caucasian women; while the working class clubs consisted of minorities of African-American and Latino. The different performances and standards of the women were studied. In the middle class clubs the strippers went on to say how they keep up with their beauty because they cared for their body image. These dancers were also very small in weight. The women described how they focus their makeup on the eyes because they seduce when performing. At the middle class clubs their customers were mostly rich business men, had nice relaxing couches, and even a business wear dress code. The dancers were known to mostly perform in snotty ways. They pranced around on stage and look deep into customers' eyes while on stage. On the other hand in the working class clubs it was noted that their make up was focused on their mouth insinuating more of a sexual experience. Also the dancers varied in shape, size, and even age. The working class women performed very sexually and hands on with the customers. Traunter classified the middle class performances as "voyeuristic sexuality" and the working class' performances as "cheap thrills". It was noted that the strip clubs are separated by social class. The reader is lead to think about how race and class played a factor in this. Focusing on African-American women , who found their place in working class clubs, they were pictured inferior to the middle class in design of the clubs, the clientele, and Traunter's description of "cheap thrill". The label in itself is not very pleasing. Is it okay that this separation was created. Social class was putting black women (along with Latinos) in negative stigmatisms. Social class is commonly not controlled. Birth, economic, and even race can automatically determine your class. Black women were being labeled with "cheap thrill" while doing the same job as a white women. Traunter reported that the prices in the clubs had very little difference. Admission was only a dollar difference between the clubs. Traunter concludes by saying that when women and men perform sexuality and gender they also are constructing social class. We all know that race can play a part in class. This raises the question of why was the black women given the negative identity. In a Youtube web series Power of the Pussy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdauyFhjaz0), the women in the series do not see themselves of cheap thrills. the women make a differentiation between a stripper and a performer. They define a performer as knowing pole tricks and giving a show to the customers. Contrary to Traunter's piece, the middle class dancers would not even be considered performers by these women standards but just strippers. Some dancers in the video are even business owners. It can be assumed that the description "cheap thrill" would not be liked by the Magic City Club dancers. The identity of being the cheap dancer was not chosen, however, based on the Youtube video the identity of a performer was chosen by African-American dancers. The choice of an identity is very important. When an identity is not chosen it is often unclear of what that specific, in this case, race and gender really is. The clarity is missing because it is not coming from the inside. The identity chosen here is different from the sexual object society chose, it's one more professional of a performer.

3. Black, Strong, Angry, and a Women

fineartamerica.com / Via Hooks, Bell. "Chapter 21 Ain't I A Women: Looking Back." Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston, MA: South End, 1989. N. pag. Print.

Bell Hooks addresses the strong and angry black women identity in her book "Talking Back" chapter 21. In this chapter she is addressing her writings and process in "Ain't I A Women". She tells the reader of how she was a young college graduate, working women. In failure to find black women empowerment at her university, Hooks decided she would create herself in "Ain't I A Women". In the women studies class it was only focused on white women. Hooks found it important that black women knew they had an identity and history. In her history, psychology, and sociology there was no identity to be found. Bell Hooks admits to writing the book from a form of passion of empowerment, education, and declaration. As Hook was writing she came up against the myth of the strong black women. It had been the only story told of black women. Hook lets us know that it is not important how true or false this myth is, but instead that it is not the only part to black women. There is more. When Hook went on to get her writing published her critics said it was an angry piece and urged her to change the book. Hooks refused, the piece was not angry. The piece was written from a form of passion. Outspoken black women are misinterpreted with being angry. It is actually just passion, conviction, and intensity trying to get their point across. The constant mix up of the two makes the world believe in the angry, crazy black women. this identity is often seen as negative from society and from the women who carry it. It can be conclusively decided in the black women community that one does not want to be thought of as irrational and angry. It distracts listeners away from the point trying to be made. The white critics could not see the newly identity of black women Hooks had written about because of the wrongly accused angry mindset. The image above is of the black mammy in the slave era. The mammy is known to be the image of the first angry black women. She would beat on her husband because he was useless, she worked all day and took care of her master's children. When she went home she would not only emotionally and physically abuse her husband but her own children too. This identity dates way back to slavery days when black women did have something to be angry for. However, this angry mammy image was still painted by the white patriarchy and not by black women. This identity has been following black women before they could even have a choice in it. This identity should not be loosely placed like our social forces allows it to be. I believe Hooks would agree.

4. The Masculine Women, One Who Has to be the Man and Women

nosairabor.blogspot.com / Via Lorde, Audre. "Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist's Response." Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed, 2007. N. pag. Print.

Audra Lorde in her book "Sister Outsider" speaks on the masculine women identity in her chapter title Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist's Response. Lorde explained how she was left with the difficult task of teach her son how to be a respectable man. This would be difficult because not only was she a women who shied away from masculine ways, these are reserved for men, she was too a lesbian in a relationship. Lorde stated that her son Jonathan would bring out the testosterone in her that was hardly tapped into. It was every black parent's job to raise a child based on love and survival. They were born into a world with few privileges. Jonathan that's privilege was is male anatomy. Lorde wanted to raise Jonathan in a way that he will not be corrupted by this privilege. This was difficult for men to do yet alone a woman. Lorde found herself trying to embody a masculine identity so that her son could survive. The was a incident where Jonathan ran home crying away from bullies. Instead of feeding into the corruption of power and getting onto her son for crying, Lorde took a different approach. She instead told him stories of how she was once afraid too. The ability to refuse to fight is just as strong as the person who can fight. Strength is still learned. In the end Jonathan along with Lord's daughter learned things like courage and strength in different ways. Masculinity was being taught in a healthy and successful way from a women. The poem "Ain't I A Women" by Sojourner Truth(http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/sojour.htm) speaks being a black women with masculine traits. In the poem she talks about being independent and sometimes doing the masculine work, but still remaining the women. She could work and eat just as man do but she still remained a women. Black women sometimes choose to or are forced to be a masculine women. Because this may strip some men of their masculinity it is looked down on. When one thinks of how women are the back bones of men, the behind the scene work, the emotions like Lorde said they choose not to show, they might as well me the man himself. They are truly equal. Powerful identities are looked down upon when social patriarchy is being challenged.

5. Mammy and Hottentot Venus

Via Fuller J. The 'Black Sex Goddess' in the Living Room. Feminist Media Studies [serial online]. September 2011;11(3):265-281. Available from: Communication & Mass Media Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed August 6, 2014.

Jennifer Fuller in "The Black Sex Goddess” In The Living Room :Making interracial sex “laughable” on Gimme a Break" speaks on the black female body being asexual and sexual. The show was about a black female former nightclub singer who became the maid of a white family. She was chosen because she was strong enough for the job; she had experience the harsh sides of life. The maid, Nell Harper, was not a typical maid. She was very sexually outspoken and prided herself on this. This instantly gave the identity of a sexual object to black women. Nell was out of the white norms of beauty. She was curvy. At this time there were few black female figures on television. Fuller tells us that the asexual maid who is goo enough to take care of a white man and his children, but not good enough for full companionship. Also the other representation of black women were the sexually driven characters. Still meeting one half of companionship in the fantasized bedroom, the black women could not be married. Fuller tells us that Nell's sexual curvy body was enough to elude sexuality safely in a interracial sitcom. This was acted out one scene, "You're [Not] Mrs. Kanisky!", on the comedic show. Mrs. Kanisky was the white wife on the show. The scene focuses the reasons why of course Nell couldn't be his wife. In comedic and subtle ways it is pointed out that from body figure to skin color there is no way Nell can be his wife. Fuller also does some comparison of Nell to the infamous Hottentot Venus. Hottentot Venus was displayed around Europe like a art show to amaze at and amuse about the interesting differences between the black and white female body. In a video on Hottentot Venus, birth name Sara Baartman, it shows how she would be displayed naked in front of white viewer. This type of display would be seen as very sexual. While highlighting sexuality in the black female they also created them in an asexual aspect in the fact of white men and black women. These are examples of black women being forced from social forces to choose between owing a sexual identity of completely doing away with it. Both can be degrading.

6. I Am a Political Messge

coolspotters.com / Via Bosch T. African Feminist Media Studies. Feminist Media Studies [serial online]. March 2011;11(1):27-33. Available from: Communication & Mass Media Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed August 6, 2014.

In a article from Tanja Bosch, "African Feminist Media Studies: A view from the global South" gender as an identity is being dismantled. Tanja states that feminism should be used more that a focus on gender but instead a analytical tool. With the emergence of black feminist media studies, the black women is being portrayed in the media. A world wide perspective of the black women is finally being seen. Bosch highlights Patricia Hill Collins view of the black stereotypical feminist when it comes to work, family, and oppression in the media. While this approach may have not been bad but it foregrounded the focus on ethnicity and gender. This may have been a good starting point but Bosch wants us to push any further. It is time now to mush issues on masculinities and femininities of black women and men. Bosch tells us that black feminism is a political tool and it is important to not become stagnant. Changing the conditions of men and women in a society are any feminist main goals. Black women find that they need improvement in their community as well as society. Also Bosch article pushes for a more global view in the methodological studies. The black women around the world needs to embodied so that all changed can be made. Studies that push the envelope and get into more political topics raised. The new future of black feminism in Bosch's article is to go further then just focusing on what is seen on the outside. Stepping into more serious cases like fairness in the work place is what is needed. In the biography (http://abc.go.com/shows/scandal/cast/olivia-pope) of the leading character in the television show Scandal, Olivia Pop is analyzed. Olivia Pope is said to be the fixer. she fixes the tremendous scandals of our era while staying calm. Olivia is sought after for help by some of the highest political men in the country on the show. Olivia is not just a women with self identity. She is a tool that is much needed. I believe Bosch would say that this is the direction black feminist need to go in. These tow sources tell us the black women can also have a political identity. After years of being the object of men and the black sheep amongst women, black women are ready to take on more serious identities. The black women is no longer the mammy slave who can be used for sex. She is the identity of a political force like Olivia Pope.

7. Why Is The Identity There?

theguardian.com / Via Blair, Cynthia M. "African American women's sexuality." Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies http://35.1 (2014): 4+. Academic OneFile. Web. 6 Aug. 2014.

Cynthia M. Blair writings in a journal "African American women's sexuality." accessed black female sexuality in relation to the history of it. Blair focuses on the sexual violence on black women by white men in slavery, the hypersexuality of black men as rapist, lynching as racial terror, pathologization and criminalization of black urban sexuality, forced sterilization of black women, and the criminalization and regulation of black women's reproduction. Blair explains how these are the central focus on how black sexuality was created. Blair shows us that the identity came from outward sources leading to false interpretations. These different sexual stigmas were forced abo black women and were then acted out. The problem now is how to escape the identity believed of you and put on you in the beginnings on one's history. The African-American women identity stared in the slave era and evolved from there. Blair tells it is important know the history of these stereotypes in order to dismantle them. In the article, The Rape of Black Women under Slavery: Part II (http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2009/10/14/the-rape-of-black-women-under-slavery-part-ii/) Harriet Jacobs a black female saves tells of some of the slave violence she witnessed. Jacobs gives a description of her slave master being the father of eleven slave children. This means that eleven rapes had occurred to father these children. The master could rape the women because they were their property. This had nothing to do with consent because a man's property does not have those rights. It is men like the master Jacobs describes that first labeled black women as whores. The negative sexuality identity still held by some black women today came from their abuser. This is something to think about, when black women themselves or society tries to paint the picture of the black whore.

8. Ethnic Idenitity and Self Esteem

Via ac.els-cdn.com

"Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem: Examining The Role of Social Context" by Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor is an examination on how an individual's ethnic identity affects their self esteem . Taylor's research explains that self concepts come from he feeling of having a place in a social group. This is displayed more in minority groups. It was found that when a certain ethnicity was found to be the minority, individuals scored lower in self identity test. This is important in the fact that black females are find them selves the minority often. This leads to minority groups finding hard to achieve true self identity. This results in low self esteem. When one has low self esteem they are more acceptable to outward identities forcefully put on them by society. The reader is lead to think if you didn't know who your are, it is going to be easy to be what ever someone is telling you. In the doll test Dr. Kenneth Clark test how young children feel about themselves. At the time of the test white was seen as good and supreme in color, class, and race. All the black children chose the white doll as the good one, the one they wanted to play with, and the one they wanted to be. This showed low self esteem in a racist era and resistance of the bad identity of just being black. Some Identities chosen by minority black women result from the feeling of nothing else to choose from or the effort to escape bad stereotypes.

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