Unit 3: Black Bodies

When it comes to black bodies and how they are controlled, there are examples everyday present right before our eyes. During the years of slavery our bodies, and lives, were not our own. Slaves were literally taken and stripped bare in front of hundreds and seen not as a human being tortured, but as a thing to serve someone else. While the controlling of black bodies isn't as literal today, it is still very much alive, especially when it comes to perception of beauty.

In the video above you have what is called the doll test. Kids are given two dolls, one black and one white, and they are asked a series of questions. One of the first questions was "which doll is prettiest" and all of the children immediately picked the white doll. When asked which doll was bad or ugly they all selected the black one. This video is a pretty evident case of controlling black bodies. It is conditioning them to believe that anything brown, like them, is considered bad, ugly, etc.


Another way in how "others" control black bodies is the appropriation of the black body. Piggybacking off of the video, black people have been told for years that our bodies were not beautiful. Although aspects of the black body cause fascination, it still wasn't anything important. Take for example the butt. Like one of our readings stated, the butt was something that always caused a stir in other communities and as stated before, it was literally taken and put on display. It wasn't until recently that the black body started to get some appreciation, just not on black people.
"Twerking", something already popular within the black community, was previously deemed savage or animalistic. It wasn't until a popular white artist took it to make herself seem "cool" that it became something to celebrate. Twerking is a dance that puts primary focus on the butt and now that it's something that white people celebrate there is a rise in white people with these physical features that are associated with blacks. A prime example is Kylie Jenner.

A once flat buttocks, thin lipped, pale white woman now has larger lips, hips, rocks a spray tan all year long, and has a significantly larger butt. While she continues to get praised for the way she looks, black people and there bodies are still considered less than.