This piece is part of my 2016–2026 archive migration. Some original formatting, content, and external links may be missing, changed, or not be optimized.
Yes. Yes, they are.
During my research for the papers, I learned plenty about how African-American women are hypersexualized and exoticized, and I thought to myself…
Hmmm… that’s interesting.
Ten years later, I had a visceral experience when a white guy told me he likes black women because of how they treat him sexually; however, the guy was only with one black female.
This same guy also asked me if I could twerk and if I would do it for him.
It was only after this conversation I received my moment of enlightenment.
I thought I get it [hypersexualization of black women] now.
But my mind took me back even further – before my college days.
As a very young black female, being stared at inappropriately was a common scenario.
Many African-American females develop at a faster rate than other individuals.
When I was ten years old, I was already 5’6 [and I kept growing after this] and had strong facial features. Since I’m taller than the average woman, people assumed I was always older than my age.
“Certain bodies are just not as protected as others, and that’s a historical thing dating back to slavery. Right now, the people that have come to the forefront of the “Me Too” movement have been cis white women in Hollywood. It ignores that the people assaulted and harassed the most are women of color, and we have no recourse.”
When I read this statement, I immediately think of not only women of color but also transwomen of color who are killed daily. Many of these deceased women never receive justice because who cares about and prioritizes colored transwomen?
There are some, but outside of their community, they are frequently alone.
Hyper-Sexualization of Black Women in the Media
Let’s rewind back to the beginning of this article.
When I asked the white male why he preferred black females, he struggled to answer directly.
Yet, I continued probing him to get the truth, and you know I got the truth.
He eventually relented and said he preferred black women because they knew how to care for their men sexually (granted, let me remind you that he’s only been with one black female).
Why did that white guy hypersexualize all black females?
It’s a troubling thought, and it wasn’t because of the one black female he dated in the past.
It goes deeper than that, and the following words will help explain:
The Media Dominates The Portrayal of Black Women
“In the media, Black women often play roles such as the “hoe,” the “stripper,” the baby mama, and the jezebel stereotype, which “represents the African American woman as a promiscuous man-eater” (Versluys 2013).
If you were to come up with similarities between all of these roles, the underlying common factor that can be found is the proponent of sex.
Black women in the media are portrayed as sexual objects and this is not on accident. Hollywood works hard at perpetuating dehumanizing stereotypes of people of color, and Black women often take the target hit for this.
In this era, we know that the media is a powerful outlet to the world, not just the nation, and has a significant impact on molding the general public to think a certain way.
In the media, we see black women are often shown as “sexually willing characters often inviting of sexual objectification. [These] transcend the confines of the media, and penetrate and manifest themselves in everyday society” (Ntinu 1).
There doesn’t seem to be much attention being paid to it. I am aware of the lack of attention being brought to Black women’s voices, but I have had it with the media trying to silence us and thinking they can get away with such a harmful form of oppression for any longer.
Source: Annalycia D. Matthews
If You Don’t Believe Black Women Are Hypersexualized, Digest This…
Why do you think many women who don’t typically have certain physical assets are altering their bodies to mimic the historical appearance of black females?
Because they deem the physical alterations to be more attractive.
But to whom?
Themselves, of course, but also to the people who frequently create the standards of beauty that we have today: Men.
What happens when a female exaggerates certain parts of her body? It frequently becomes sexualized.
A Complex Intersectional Phenomenon
So we now have an interesting situation happening here…
Women are owning their bodies in a new way, which is awesome and positive.
But these same women are also changing their bodies to mimic the bodies of colored women, who are frequently hypersexualized because of their body.
Ummmmmmm……whaaaat?
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