The Black Goddess: Who are we?
May 13, 2009 No Comments[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ7mmMe4klQ]
Last week I did a post on Lil Kim called the Pop Tart Hustle. Shortly after I posted I started to think long and hard about what I had written and then somehow my mind reverted back to Sara Baartman. I thought of Bionic Booty and then the Hottentot Venus bubble booty. I thought of Sara Baartman performing for white audiences to make a living and then I thought of Lil Kim on DWTS, and I didn’t see a fucking difference! I claimed to support the pop tart hustle of Kimberly Jones, but I cringed at the treatment of Sara Baartman who was poked and prodded at, and forced into prostitution.
But then I simmered down a bit and thought about how women are made to feel ashamed of their bodies, especially the black woman. Her ample rear end, her substantial yet delicate kinky tresses, and her broad facial features have been ogled and ostracized for years so much that we don’t know who the hell we are anymore!
The one thing I can say about the pop tart hustle is that Kim represents for the ladies, and is confident and expressive through her sexuality. Although one can be thrown off guard with tracks like How Many Licks, Not Tonight etc, or her racy photographs. Know that she uses it as bait and sometimes you have to play a sucker to catch a sucker.
I agree with the video in that we need to stop supporting the booty popping industry that our women are constantly being pimped out in, but at the same time we should not feel ashamed of our sexuality and our unique bodies. The original goddesses stood 360 degrees in a place of power. She demanded respect, pleasure, and adoration.
Recommended reading on Sara Baartman
Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture (Janell Hobson)
Just had to share my thoughts, please feel free to leave yours!
Recovering the goddess one post at a time,
Tee’d Off
Goddess