First Post-Women of Color
Women of color have had a long struggle in an attempt of conquering Eurocentric principles of being black, womanhood, and beauty. Though it is progressively more common for women of color to appear on magazine covers and other forms of popular media in the contemporary times, the efforts for their positive depiction is still in progress (Tribbett-Williams par. 2). Occurrences in the recent past might imply that the typical achievement of the present generation of black female rappers is an indication of advancement while assessing how the womanhood of the women of color has been perceived historically by the American community. For instance, at around 1984, over six decades following the establishment of Miss America Competition, Vanessa Williams was recognized as the first black winner. After what came to be referred to as “Mess America” pageant later, the representatives for the competition compelled Vanessa to quit following a sequence of her nude photos that were found in Penthouse magazine. The publisher stated that Vanessa was a spoof on the people of the United States, a pseudo definitely on her community.
Negative remarks against Vanessa result in a couple of concerns; to start with, Vanessa is made to appear as a sham, impostor, or anything else apart from genuine Miss America (Tribbett-Williams par. 4). Secondly, dissimilarity is identified between the residents of the United States and the aboriginal Americans, which implies evident racial segregation in the US and the perception that the people of color are a different entity. Hence, the great victory of the present generation, attributable mainly to their unlimited sexual articulation, is undeniably advancement. Nevertheless, for the majority of the women of color, the achievement of the contemporary generation is obscured by an account of stereotypes and mythos generated to validate centuries of affliction and sexual exploitation. The representation of the new cohort of black female rappers is mythos embodied. The history of the United States is filled with slave-based images of women of color. Patricia Morton, a writer, asserts that the pervasive use of negative representations of women of color, amid other aspects, makes it apparent that they have been subjected to a hell of the past to remain oppressed. One of the highly employed images of women of color is the representation of the sluttish temptress called Jezebel; a mythological distortion and imprecise depiction of African-American womanhood.
Second Post- Response
In the United States, whiteness has had privilege while the others have been marginalized. This has resulted in societal privileges that benefit the white people past what is commonly experienced by their non-white counterparts under similar political, social, and economic conditions. This privilege occurs as benefits in terms of a hidden package of unwarranted assets, which the non-whites do not enjoy. It acts as both noticeable and imperceptible advantages that the whites might not be aware that they possess, which differentiates it from overt partiality or injustice (Edgar 173). It encompasses misrepresentation of women of color, cultural assertions of the worth of the whites, assumed the higher social position, and autonomy of playing, moving, working, and speaking freely. Such impacts could be felt in specialized, educational, and personal perspectives. The perception of the whiteness advantage also denotes the right to suppose the universality of their experiences and mark others as unusual or exceptional while identifying themselves as normal. Attributable to a pervasive public opinion regarding women of color, assault, ill-talk, and attack against them is usually justified and not deemed newsworthy.
The media, whites, and brainwashed people of color may think that the representation of Rihanna, Beyonce, and other black women is rightfully so or that they are the problem (Edgar 175). Nevertheless, whiteness portrays women of color and other African-Americans as disconcerting, and the reductive manner in which they have been depicted for centuries makes them appear as the problem. This has led to the whites weakening the women of color under the disguise of feminism while also strengthening patriarchal oppression against them. There has been a long account of the white people talking regarding and policing the bodies of the women of color, which dates back to the times of slavery. It is clear that the focus of the issue is not the exposure of bodies by the women of color (since even the white females expose their bodies) but negative stereotypes, particularly against black people. The white people choose to criticize the black females’ bodies while the women of color rarely get the chance to speak out regarding their bodies and sentiments away from the white gaze. In conclusion, whiteness has turned out to be greatly problematic as it perpetuates a culture where the women of color act as objects to speak about, instead of people who have their rights and who can speak for themselves.
Works Cited
Edgar, Nell. “Blackvoice and Adele’s Racialized Musical Performance: Blackness, Whiteness, And Discursive Authenticity.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 31, no. 3, 2014, pp. 167-181.
Tribbett-Williams, Lori. Women of Color. 2012. Web.