Feministing, Zane and Black Female Sexuality

What a difference a day makes.

I touched a cord yesterday writing about Zane and Black female
sexuality. Ann at Feministing wrote a piece the content of
a new book endorsed by Zane and linked to my piece.

On the Feministing post there was a commenter, who I presume to
be a man, who asked a question about Feminism from the perspective
of Black/Non-white women. He wrote,

Black/Non-white Feminists in this thread:
I think I have a decent grasp on the difficulty in white culture for white women (to white women in here, I’m not saying that I have experienced it or that I perfectly understand it – just that I’m able to empathise) – but when race comes into it – I have no idea what you go through.

I’ve a question for you though: how would you say that race plays into your feminism. In your culture what would you say is different coming from men of the same race as you (or men of other races – but when it comes to relationships)….

-James

My reaction was its fresh that he was curious but that he should read.
Black Feminist Thought by Pat Hill Collins is a great start.
I am also thinking of starting a Feminism and Hip Hop study group
and his comment reminded me that people are curious. However,
just because they are curious and care, that doesn’t mean they
are willing to do the work. Just peep the 100 Visionary widgets on the
left.

When I read this I thought, to ask us, on a message board, how it is to
presumes that we can answer a big @ssed question in a small
@ssed space in a little bit of time. Oodles have been written about
the topic and similar to when we want to learn about any other
subject be it Spanish, Psychics or the electoral process, we pick up a book.

I was surprised at the lack of understanding of Patriarchy that the women
in the comments had. For instance there seem to be surprise
at the fact that such work could be marketed to Black women. Two commenter’s
spoke writing,

…I am also disheartened by the fact that this filth is targeted at black women. I have a feeling that black women generally (but not all, of course) would be more susceptible to these ideas. There seems to be an a fairly strong sentiment among many black women that they need to stand by “their” men, as though they are disgracing themselves and their heritage by dating outside of their race….
-Awakened Desires,

This is the kind of literature that is marketed to the Black community? No wonder there is an growing trend of internalized racism and adoption of oppression especially with Black females. Minnesota brand viagra mastercard Timberwolves (29) – Is everyone aware that Olesksiy Pecherov is starting in Minnesota? You know, the prostatitis symptoms are not all the same, it will show different symptoms of different types of diseases which causes severe vision problem. Generic Online Pharmacy with wide variety of prescription drugs.At uschemistoncall.net, we do our best to give the customer a pleasant unique online shopping experience to order viagra 100mg price. Overweight is one of the causes for creating insulin resistance. unica-web.com best female viagra canadian pharmacy sildenafil When you apply this pharmaceutical erection gets to be more precise the sexual issues. At one point they are told that their sexuality is not only taboo but also animalistic and dangerous and now they have moved into full-on exploitation and submission because men command it.
-bbrutlag

But it just goes to show that unless you have
theory to understand and interpret what you see, while you may end
up being pro-woman, you will more than likely not to have a
historical or politcal context and or lens to filter your views.

Think about it yesterday, I went from Capitalism to Slavery to Video
Vixens to Zane all based on the bodies and sexuality of Black
women. Thats some trillness. No?

But that comes from reading Pat Collins, Marx, Corporations,
Joan Morgan and watching Nelly and David Banner.

On my blog another commenter posted that Zane is just filling a niche.
He writes,

While I do recognize that many women of color do not have a sexual identity in mass media or their own voice, I don’t think that really applies to Zane’s success. She came at a time when there were not too many popular black erotica, specifically written by women. She’s just filling a niche.
-Vee

Historical context matters. Sex is the most searched word on the internet.
And Porn is the largest industry on the internet.

To say that Zane is just filling a niche indicates that I may have lost you
somewhere between capitalism and the video vixens. Bear with me.

Black women were brought here to be enslaved as workers and to give birth
to more workers.

Capitalism is very clear about its property goal, which is to make the most
money off of all of its property.

Why sell it for $10 when you can sell it for $20

This is why The Projects in Clinton Hill have been converted to Co ops.
This is why Frisco is trying to figure out how to build Condos in Hunters Point.
This is why we have Indiana Jones 8 and Rocky 10.
This is why Black women were brought here. To work for free and give birth
to more people who would work for free.

The enslavement of Black women turned on the myth that we
were hypersexual breeders who couldn’t get enough.

The Black community has responded with an asexual view of Black women.

However, Hip hop has blown that idea out the water with half naked women
jiggling on Bet every 5 seconds. But guess what, they are called video ho’s.
If we are sexual, we will be called Ho’s.

This is an incredibly repressive way to live. Zane isn’t just filling a niche
she is allowing Black women to do something that they seemingly have NOT
be able to do which is see their sexual selves and not be called ho’s for doing it.

Word to Erykah Badu.

I know this gender work is hard ya’ll but look, I am on a mission. I think
we are in the middle of a transformation.