Black Women Are Sexy, But Are We Beautiful? One Article Explores the Difference
Like the rest of the diaspora, Brazil has had a complicated relationship with race. Although the country claims to be a “racial democracy” and boasts one of the largest black populations in the world, the country struggles with racism and prejudice much like its American counterpart.
Recently, the New York Times published an article about Brazil’s booming modeling industry, but as Erica Williams of the Ms. Magazine’s blog points out, things aren’t always as nice as it seems.
As the NY Times piece mentions, model scouts in Brazil routinely try to find women with “the right genetic cocktail of German and Italian ancestry, perhaps with some Russian or other Slavic blood thrown in,” but the reality on the ground is much different. Brazil is a country that boasts a large contingent of brown bodies, and over the years, darker skinned entertainers have been making headway in the country’s media. But in spite of this movement toward more inclusive images, the models that come out of Brazil have overwhelmingly European features.
One fashion expert calls the practice of presenting only European-esque models embarrassing: “I was always perplexed that Brazil was never able to export a Naomi Campbell, and it is definitely not because of a lack of pretty women,” Erika Palomino, a fashion consultant in São Paulo, tells the NY Times. “It is embarrassing.”
Williams argues that the big booty (often times brown) women used to market the country to tourists (men) are not the same women exported to the fashion industry for one reason only: Women of color are good enough to sleep with, but are rarely considered beautiful.
She explains:
Ironically, while scouts search Southern Brazil for women of European descent to fit into their standard of beauty, European and North American men travel to the northeast of Brazil seeking sex with women of African descent who they imagine as hypersexual.
Walk to any newsstand in Salvador da Bahia and you will find dozens of postcards that use images of black women scantily clad in bikinis to “sell” the area to the rest of the world. This is nothing new. The figure of the mulata, or mixed-race woman of African descent, has long been represented in Brazilian popular culture as the epitome of sexiness. Exported abroad as early as the 1970s in Oswaldo Sargentelli’s world tour of samba shows featuring mulata women, now the term has become synonymous with “prostitute” for many European men who travel to Brazil for sex.
So, while women of African descent in Brazil may be considered “hot” or “sexy,” they are not considered “beautiful” enough to be models. In fact, as Barrionuevo states, “more than 70 percent” of Brazil’s models are from the “three southern states” that have had the heaviest influx of European immigration.
1.) Beauty is relative. How and why a person buys into limited thinking of abiding by somebody’s standards is beyond me. A non entity at that.
2.) If woe unto you, you feel slighted-support YOUR magazines-ESSENCE, Afripop, blah blah!
3.) President Obama is still president of the United States of majority whites and flairings of minorities, here nor there….
4.) I’m suffering from an overload of race/racism related issues. Can ya’ll bring sexy back!
Ok so once black women get their turn at being white people’s “standard of beauty” – then what?
Will that end white supremacy?
black america got its turn in white people’s white house and all that did was pacify a global opposition to white supremacy that was reaching critical mass.
kiss teet
dyam foolishness
You know, as much as we would like to think that we don’t need others to validate who/what we are, it’s sort of counter intuitive. We want to be confident in natural selves, but there is so much evidence to the contrary. We want to believe that we are appreciated and valuable, but no one is breaking down the door to tell us so. Sadly, until the media starts showing more diversity we will always feel the need to bawk at the stereotypes pressed on us. Otherwise, young girls who haven’t hit the “Don’t give a damn” age feel like they’re lying to themselves and feel the need to torture and change themselves.
Just like dhonesty1 said up top “And we can thank black men for this as well”. And it’s true. Rap and Hip Hop culture does not exalt black female beauty like they do sexuality (granted there are exceptions). I don’t think what she said was a man-hating statement, but an observation that black women don’t get any help from either side in regards to how they are viewed in the world.
At the same time, however, we have to blame ourselves. We have to blame the misguided women who show up to these photo shoots and become video vixens for not putting self-respect and the images/esteems/ and lives of all the women they will come to affect before making a dollar. We have to blame the actors who take the stereotypical roles. . . etc. (Now doesn’t that sound deluded and unrealistic?)
It’s depressing to think that we need “help”. Someone needs to go and sound the trumpet and tell people that it’s okay to find women of color attractive. That we need “help” from men to get other men to find us valuable. . .
But what do you do about that? Beyond holding your head up high and doing whatever is in your power to be the best you can be? What can we do for ourselves in the shadow of so much diss and doubt?
Im gonna play the game and I hope you do as well. After all, its about growth and understanding.
Do you think the way whites view black male heterosexuality in a way that is not fetishized? Do you believe that black women are sending out great messages in regards to black manhood? Are those messages always loving? What is the most recent song you can remember hearing a black woman hold black men up as a standard (I cant think past Badu’s “Soldier”)? Are other ethnic groups’ men responsible for the way white people fetishize them? Are the negative views of black men around the world the fault of black women?
I ask you these questions because with all do respect you seem very thirsty for the makers of the beauty standard to include you in it….with our help of course. In fact considering black men – good black men – cant even keep America from killing/arresting/ fearing us, how do you expect us to do this?
Nope. Point missed. I wasn’t referring to myself at all. And the point of the article is currently the view of women. I understand completely that it is a two way street and that we should “support each other” males and females. But if you read into my snark, I was trying to point out that the expectation of having someone to blame was wholly unobtainable, because really it’s everyone’s problem. Perhaps I didn’t make that clear. Too busy waxing poetic, as they say. I personally could care less what the standards of beauty are. I got my man — married. I don’t buy magazines and fashion means ish to me. But the souls of young black women are a serious concern of mine. I care about their healthy self image.
My point is that we (as a collective–not I) will continue to revisit this issue (on both sides since we want to include both genders) until someone decides whether or not they need the media to validate them. These articles are written because of the need for validation. It stems from a place of wanting someone to acknowledge what we in our hearts should know is true. We really should find a better way of displaying the more positive messages that exist out there. That way young black women will have more to read than “People think you are ugly and suck even though they don’t know you, simply because you’re black”. I didn’t even mention what white people are thinking– as if I even could fathom. . .
And we know the relationship among black men and women is damaged. I’m sure there are as many articles on that as there are on the acceptance of black beauty.
We Black women are sexy AND beautiful. Forever and Always.
Do you know why white men are privileged and so powerful? Because they put their race of women on a pedestal.
That’s how you win.
Doesn’t matter how average looking or ugly she is (I’m looking at you Sara Jessica Parker), they will put her on that pedestal and make thirsty coons like YOU worship her.
Again,that’s how you win.
Make YOUR race of women the standard of beauty, uplift her, make her out to be a Goddess, that’s how you win.
That’s how you gain power. That’s why the white woman is the standard beauty today. That’s why black males worship the white man’s daughter,sister, wife…Until black males start uplifting THEIR race of women, not a damn thing will change!
Everyone knows this. No one respects the American black man anymore because A) They don’t respect themselves and B) They don’t respect their race of women.
The self hatred is so deep, they are breeding themselves out of existence as we speak.
Put this in your calendar: In 50 years African Americans will no longer exist.
AA negros will be in History museums and a long distant memory.
Until black males STOP hating themselves nothing will change for the black community. Right now, black males are conquered men and instead of building their community up, marrying their women and stop having out of wedlock children, they choose to hand over all of their resources to the white man like a bunch of spineless coons.
And you wonder why black women don’t respect black men – This is why!
Everyone else, Hispanics, Asians etc They all have ONE thing in common. They uplift their women. They don’t talk sh*t about them, especially not to other races!
Very interesting point of view. Refreshing even; Uplift your women. Don’t talk trash about them. Marry them and stop having children out of wedlock. Simple but oh so needed to build a nation.
“The self hatred is so deep, they are breeding themselves out of existence as we speak.
Put this in your calendar: In 50 years African Americans will no longer exist.
AA negros will be in History museums and a long distant memory.”
This.
@MayDay
Your comments are ahistorical and hysterical. So the Industrial Revolution, the Protestant Work Ethic, and representative Democracy had nothing to do with the priviledge positions of Whites in this world? Lets also remember that not all white men are priviledge and powerful. Ask the average Greek of Russian or Italian man how powerful and priviledge he feels. Than ask the average Japanese or South Korean how powerful and priviledge he feels. Read a book donkey.
“That’s why black males worship the white man’s daughter,sister, wife…”
All in your insecure and pathetic imagination.
“Until black males start uplifting THEIR race of women, not a damn thing will change!”
If only it were so simple. Youre letting you broken ego and spirit get in the way of real socio-politico-econimic advancement in the black community.
“No one respects the American black man anymore because A) They don’t respect themselves and B) They don’t respect their race of women.”
Black men havent been “respected” since time immemorial. Then again lots of races of men havent been respected since time immemorial.
“The self hatred is so deep..”
Mirrored only by your abject ignorance.
“…they are breeding themselves out of existence as we speak.”
How do you breed out of existence? Its becase you arent breeding that you would be bred out of existence. Look at Japan with a negative population growth.
” In 50 years African Americans will no longer exist.”
You would have said that 50 years ago too.
” Right now, black males are conquered men and instead of building their community up, marrying their women and stop having out of wedlock children, they choose to hand over all of their resources to the white man like a bunch of spineless coons.
And you wonder why black women don’t respect black men – This is why!”
Black women also have children out of wedlock as well. Its not black men that are making Koreans and Indians and Arabs rich by giving their money away via beauty products and cheap greasy food. Black women’s respect is neither here nor there. Black men can do just fine without or without it. Trust.
“Everyone else, Hispanics, Asians etc They all have ONE thing in common. They uplift their women. They don’t talk sh*t about them, especially not to other races!”
It goes both ways doesnt it?
From where i’m sitting the percentage of black american men who are stricken with self hatred is no larger than that of black american women. For every self hating black american man – there’s self hating black american woman right next to him.
You kinda ALL look self hating to non-american blacks.
A real shame because black america used to be the capital of the African Diaspora, now you’re like the dysfunctional family member whose self destructive impulses threatens yourselves and the integrity rest of the family.
What kinda healthy people want to be sex symbols for white men?
Fix up black america.
@QON
Have to say, when you’re good – you’re very good QON. I fear that It’s knda wasted on these lilliterates, but still a pleasure to read.
“Everyone else, Hispanics, Asians etc They all have ONE thing in common. They uplift their women. They don’t talk sh*t about them, especially not to other races!
If this is true why are all the groups of women you named rallying and organizing against their men. across the world?
“You kinda ALL look self hating to non-american blacks. ”
…this coming from one of the biggest khoons on this site…go figure…
u r so on point that i’m sitting @ my desk on fire.. my spanish friend said black men don’t date black women because they said they have attitudes including her black bf.. i told her 1st, everything that comes out of a black mans mouth is not law.. 2nd, i told her black men say they date ya’ll because ur submissive, she said she believes that they are.. what i told her is that black men who dog their culture of women are cowards and are self-hating POS. Anybody who talks about their race to other cultures is a sellout.. i am all for dating outside the race. but i’ll be damned if i’m gonna boaster about white men, asian men or hispanic men b4 i boaster about my own.. I don’t understand how women of other races deal w/black men who self-hate, i don’t understand how black men and these other women not see that if you have children–guess what— they are half-black, the very same race that your black bf seems to hate so much.. we are stereotyped so much that when they meet a black woman they think now we are trying to act white.. NO, it’s just that u may have met a black woman or 2 w/those characteristics and now it must apply to all black women.. it’s disgraceful that we now have to defend ourselves to other races, the media, the rap artists, the comedians, and now our on brothers and black men.. it’s disgusting.. ppl of other races will continue to treat us this way as long as our black men do.. i’m sure their mothers are proud..
last point, i don’t think they see the damage they do when they have these other women thinking that they are better than us..
@oknow
I get your point but im a hetero black female who has never dated a black woman and even I know they have attitude. Also lets not be the kettle calling the pot black. Black women can be fire breathers too. The worst of which is directed to thier own children. Im less concerened about the disrespect black men show to black women to non black women than I am about the disrespect shown to black to black children by black women.
P.s. If you go on to argue black women are justified than so are black men. Whats good for the goose….
@how slow
yeh but that still leaves the title for biggest COON open, you’ve won it every year of your life and you’re no-contest favourite to win it again this year and forever more.
LOL!
“Do you know why white men are privileged and so powerful? Because they put their race of women on a pedestal.
That’s how you win.”
It sounds like you’re saying they made White women into a “trophy” that males of all races compete for. Only the best men are able to obtain these “trophies” so they work hard, get education, get the best jobs, and the most power so that they can win these women. It’s motivation to be the best. White women are lucky that they are born as “trophies” and it doesn’t matter if they are unattractive or if they have bad attitudes and few good qualities.
If Black women are not held up as “trophies” then many men will not have motivation to work hard, get an education, get the best jobs, and become the most powerful in order to win them. Any man with no good qualities thinks he can have a Black woman and doesn’t have to do anything to win her. Black women are not born with trophy status.
I think then that Black women have to raise their standards and not date men who are not successful or those who are not willing to do what White men do to win women. Black women have to also raise the standards for themselves and try to become ideal (but Black) trophy women in terms of appearance and behaviour. Someone without the qualities of a princess should not expect to be sought after by princes. By doing this everyone will raise their standards for personal conduct and for the status of their partners.
“yeh but that still leaves the title for biggest COON open”
um, yeah…that’s YOU and queen mammy respectively.
you think you’re somehow better but you’re just as ignorant and if not, more stupid.
carry on, oh comedic COON!
you do ur job well.
@ QON.. 1st u are off topic.. what do children and how women talk to their children have to do w/this topic.. i think that should be under parenting.. Cause i can easily say that their are too many men who molest their children, talk down to them, don’t spend time w/them, and don’t take care of them physically or emotionally, not to mention that other women of other races yell at their children to.. you failed to mention that but anyway..
2nd, i know black women have attitudes.. the point that most black women are trying to make is that ‘THEY ARE NOT THE ONE ONES”.. Feel me.. it’s not the pot calling the kettle black, that only applies if we deny that we can have an attitude.. it’s a characteristic that EVERYONE has as a reaction to certain things.. Point being that ppl make “ATTITUDE” synonymous with “BLACK WOMEN” but of course they don’t point it out in “OTHER RACES OF WOMEN”…