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it's important to keep in mind one of the main reasons women of color are expected to be always sexually available--because in countries where they've been historically enslaved or colonized by white cultures, the white men in those cultures felt free to rape them with impunity. That women of color in colonized countries should have any say-so in what happens to their bodies, sexually or otherwise, is a pretty new idea in the grand scheme of things, and one that women of color have had to fight hard for, and still have to fight for today.
Women of Color Seen As Always Sexually Available | Womens eNews
Seeded on Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:33 PM EST
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Consider, for example, the image of the "innocent virgin." Picture her in your mind's eye. Maybe take a moment now to draw a picture of her, or write down a description of what she looks like.
What did you draw or describe? Was it a white girl with long hair? Maybe blond, blue-eyed, or freckle-faced? If it was, it's not an accident. Because we live in a racist society that values white girls more than girls of color, we tend to imagine that purity is pale.
That assumption has a terrible flip side: Girls of color are often viewed as always sexually available, simply because of their race. Just look at the specific stereotypes: Latina women are "spicy," Middle Eastern and South Asian women are simultaneously "exotic" and "repressed," Asian women are "submissive," black women are "wild" or "animalistic"--it doesn't matter what disgusting stereotype you choose, it boils down to the same thing: Women of color are assumed to be always available for sex.
- 5 votes
#1 - Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:35 PM ESTWho ever made that assumption doesn't know very much about Caucasian women I think.
The author is talking about stereotypes, not actual black or white women.
- 1 vote
Consider, for example, the image of the "innocent virgin." Picture her in your mind's eye. Maybe take a moment now to draw a picture of her, or write down a description of what she looks like.
That reminds me of the closing argument in A Time To Kill.
- 5 votes
#2 - Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:47 PM ESTCertainly gives you something to think about that I have never thought about before. Interesting & sad.
- 5 votes
#3 - Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:22 PM ESTI always thought blonde women are porn stars because most ofl the porn in my country has white blonde women in it. so go figure..
- 6 votes
#4 - Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:09 PM ESTNone of the Asian women I know are submissive. lol And, being Italian, and forgetting Jersey Shore, what's the stereotype of my availability for sex? I'm a pale Italian.. does that really make more virginal looking, or, being that I am Italian, am I sex craved freak? Or, maybe I just need more sun?
Good call on the porn angle. Many of our porn starts are blonde, fake or real tanned (also causing virginal freckles), clear shoes (why clear shoes?) and kinda plastic.
I don't quite know about this particular article.. lol
- 3 votes
what's the stereotype of my availability for sex?
Depends. Big hair or not? Gum smacking or no? Heavy EC US accent (NJ, NY, MA, RI in particular) or not? There's too many unknown unknowns for this to be a known unknown.
- 1 vote
women's behavior like men's are more defined by the social culture they are in rather than race. It would be relatively difficult to find submissve urban working women in any country because an urban working woman is very different than a rural uneducated woman.. and so on and so forth.
- 2 votes
In the US, being rural doesn't necessarily mean being uneducated. Rural women here are likely to be very independent. Many are horsewomen, farmers, ranchers, rodeo riders, truck drivers, etc. They choose to live in ranch country because they hate urbanized cities.
But I agree that culture affects us all and shades how we perceive each other and life itself.
- 1 vote
Ah ha. I'm West coast. Just wanted to put that out there.. lol.
There just isn't one answer. I think about the people I know and.. my black girl friends are not "angry black women" and they are not people who I would say present themselves as sexually available. Most of them are mixed with one white parent. All of them would be highly offended.. We are in the PAC NW and the culture here is very different than say Oakland, the Southeast, etc.
Yet, I also think that the family dynamic has something to say about it. If they came from a long line of women who are oppressed/cowed/abused they may either accept it as the way it should be, or rebel against it and break the cycle.
Sooooo many factors that make more of an impact than the color of ones skin. To say it goes back to slave days doesn't cover it. ALL women suffered gender inequality and the things that came along with that- no right to own property, loss of children in a divorce and all assets going to a spouse, unfair wages, no right to vote and so on. That includes being subjected to rape and beatings from a spouse, being that spouse's property..
Why can't each person just get the opportunity to be who they are, and not put into a box?
- 3 votes
Yes true..in the US education is higher and wealth distribution is relatively more even... so the difference is less in the outward appearance...
Now in India , rural women in India may not speak english but they do tough tasks. Now some of these tasks like walking 2 miles to get water or cooking for 8 family members every day ...or washing clothes in cold water are really demanding.. you could easily change the behavior above by providing piped water , providing transportation and providing modern kitchen washing gadgets...so its also about economics.
With the satellite TV reaching out to villages and rising economic standards..all bets are off as to what a woman or man for that matter is going to be.
so it's just safe to say that change is the only inevitable fact of life.
and behaviour is a function of culture as well as economics.
- 2 votes
And stereotypes, apparently, are a function of culture as well. In my culture, the good ol' US of A, I've been around more than my fair share of men who think the darker the hair and skin, the easier it is to get sex from the woman. In India, according to Vikramjit Singh, women who look like me are considered to be easy. Who do you think men in middle eastern countries consider to be easier? Their countrywomen or those shameless hussies with too much freedom in western countries? Any way you slice it, it's dehumanizing and, consequently, inaccurate.
- 1 vote
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