“Girls” and the Black Sexuality Double Standard
We’ve talked a lot about the HBO series “Girls” around these parts, so much so that many of you are tired of discussing it. But rock with me for a spell.
After its debut, the web lit up with talk about the lack of diversity on the show, which follows four twenty-something friends as they try to figure out their lives. While many have hailed the show as the best of the year, others have bemoaned the fact that none of the girls are black, brown, or anything other than white.
The show’s creator and star Lena Dunham mentioned that she wrote the series from her experience, which explained the lack of diversity, but Dunham promised to add to the cast during its second season.
As the season progressed, all the “Girls” talk seemed to fade, but a new post by one of my favorite blogs Very Smart Brothas explains why there could never be a black version of the show — and it’s not why you think.
Aside from the fact that black and white women often times have different cultural experiences, Damon Young says there’s one glaring reason why a black “Girls” would not fly: Folks are uncomfortable with black sex.
He explains:
These are just three of the dozens of times sex is shown, discussed, alluded to, made light of, seen, and overheard on “Girls.” Don’t get me wrong. The show isn’t just about sex, but it would be near impossible to have a (somewhat) realistic depiction of contemporary young people — even the ones not having sex — without sex just, well, being there.
None of this could happen with a black show. Sure, young black people find themselves in the same type of situations, but if black people were shown having the same type of sex (and having the same type of sex-related discussions) the characters on “Girls” regularly do, it goes from being thought of as “real” and “gritty” and “truly naked” to “nasty” and “pornographic.”
We — and “we” in this case is “Americans” — have a strange relationship with black sex and sexuality, too strange for me to even begin to expound on today. Interestingly enough, this is true for both white and black America. As much as we complain about the lack of real black shows on TV, we’d be just as weirded out by real black sex. Can you imagine how many petitions would be made if a popular black show had a black female character asking to put her finger in a black male character’s butt during sex?
Young goes onto to explain that the show’s main character (played by Dunham) could never have a black equivalent because of her unremarkably average looks.
He surmises:
Well, if this black “Girls” is a mirror of the white “Girls,” the main character would be an average looking woman. Not “Hollywood average,” but average average. Aggressively average. “Looks exactly like the woman handing out chicken sausage at Trader Joe’s” average.
Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being average looking. Average has a low standard deviation as most people — myself included — fall somewhere within the mean. But, while there are a ton of average-looking working white actresses, I challenge you to name ONE relevant black actress under 40 who’d be considered average. Not Hollywood average, but “she looks like this chick who works at the DMV” average.
My point? As talented as (“Girls” creator and star) Lena Dunham is, there’s no way in hell her black equivalent would be able to be the lead character on a show. Not just an HBO show, either. Any show and any movie.
While I’m not particularly interested in discussing “Girls” at length yet again, Young’s idea — that people (including black folks) wouldn’t embrace black sexuality on screen — is an interesting one.
Despite black people engaging in all sorts of sex, our willingness to talk about it, view it, and be open to the idea of black sexuality is still somewhat taboo. While our white counterparts participate in slut walks and embrace their sexual liberty, black women are often held to different standards by our communities (and others who ascribe certain stereotypes to us) that force many of us to keep our sexual histories, activity, and fantasies to ourselves.
But what do you think? Is our aversion to seeing black sexuality onscreen one reason why we’ll never have a black ‘Girls’ or ‘Sex in the City’?
Of course it can be done by doing the following:
1. No rap music or any interest in trying to be a singer/producer.
2. No weed smoking
3. No hair salons.
Totally think that a show with a similar premise featuring 4 black women could be made. It’s our hesitation that keeps shows off the air. Black women deserve to see themselves & their stories portrayed in a real light. Not glorified.
Just wondering why black folk always want to participate in white folk stuff… Seem like we suffer from a mild no not mild but heavy case of cognitive dissonance. Sort of remind me how all the black blog and magazines so happy the Southern Baptist have a Black President. Oh my we have Black President for real. Stil have deal with white racist *hit! Don’t you get we dealing with the masters Children them folks have not change. Revolutiona is neve going to take place until we change our thinking and stop focusing on there media, lifestyles, etc… my life style is nothing like white folks honestly.
@Heaven you are so right. Why is a “black equivalent” of this show even necessary. I don’t think I relate to many things white people so why should we try to mimic it on TV. If anything I’m ready for a primetime show depicting early African empires. I’m tired of all these medieval and Roman empire shows. White folks act like that was the beginning of civilization, but that part of history wasn’t even that poppin’.