It’s Time to Stop Policing Black Women’s Sexual Expression
In Taryn Finley’s article, ‘It’s Time to Stop Policing Black Women’s Sexual Expression’, the central theme hinges on the topic of black sexuality and efforts to replicate and disseminate pro-black sexuality discourse in the media. Dalychia Saah and Rafaella Fiallo, the starters of Afrosexology, felt that in a society where neither blackness nor homosexuality are considered normative, a society where heteronormativity is put above all else, the experience of sexuality for an African American woman, weather heteronormative or homosexual, can be confusing to navigate. The creators of Afrosexology, a sex-positive website for the black community, noted that further exacerbating this confusion about the truths of sexuality and sex is the conflicting views that they were presented with in the media and in church. This dichotomy in views of sex and sexuality left them feeling like they had nowhere to turn to for the truth about sex.
An example that gives context to the construction of black sexuality, it’s confusing boundaries, and resultant effects on African American’s sexuality experience, is ‘Prison for our Bodies, Closets for our Minds’ by Patricia Hill Collins. In this passage, Collins explains that African Americans have historically been constructed as hypersexual with an ‘animalistic’ or ‘primitive’ sexuality, prescribed to them by colonial white, heteronormative men in order to separate, segregate, and justify unjust treatment. Within this ‘white is good and pure’, and, ‘black is dark and therefore sinful and dirty’ ideology, black sexuality was constructed in discourse and media. So, for an African American woman to have this predisposed tag on her sexuality, one that is hardly empowering to allow unapologetic embracement of that sexuality, and to be forced to ‘figure out sex’ on her own, this landscape must be very difficult and confusing to navigate.
Faced with these challenges from every side of the experience of black sexuality, Dalychia Saah and Rafaella Fiallo wanted to foster discussion and engage in sexual dialogue that made them the proponents of representing unashamed black sexuality through promoting self-love and empowerment over their own bodies. They do this through posting pro-sexuality content on their website and Instagram as well as offering ‘traveling workshops on twerking and oral sex, provid[ing] worksheets on masturbation and suggest[ing] books related to the black body, feminism and/or intimacy in hopes of sparking conversation among black people’. This article fits into our ‘Why Understanding Sexuality in Media Matters’ conversation because the subjects saw that they as African American women were being left out of pro-sexality discourse, portrayed as hypersexual in the media, and felt there was confusion for young African American girls about the appropriateness of their sexuality and pleasure, stemming from historical discourse about their constructed sexuality. It is important that women like Dalychia Saah and Rafaella Fiallo stand up and demand to change the conversation surrounding black sexuality as it was formerly constructed, and still is represented throughout the media today. By putting out their own representations of pro-black sexuality and pleasure, they are reaching to other African American girls to promote positive self-feelings of worth, foster an understanding about the pleasures of unapologetic sexuality, and encourage other African American girls and women to have agency over themselves through enbarcing their sexuality.
After reading this article about Dalychia Saah and Rafaella Fiallo’s Afrosexology business, I looked them up on social media. Their Instagram was really stunning and beautifully put together. The pictures on their page promoted healthy and pleasureful sex and life for black people of all shades, genders and sexualities. A further question for consideration surrounding this article might be, while looking at Dalychia Saah and Rafaella Fiallo’s Afrosexology page, how do you think they characterize and represent black sexuality? Do you see the connection between their spoken mission in the article and the content on their page? What is the age group that this page is targeted towards? The answer to that latter question, I believe, can help shed light on the ages of sexuality information- seeking among African American girls and women, and give information to leaders like Dalychia Saah and Rafaella Fiallo about appropriate target audiences that need media resources to support their navigation and understanding of their experiences of sex and sexuality.
‘I’d Say 14 is Too Young’
PreTeen, Hypersexuality, Naiveté, Innocence, Emerging Sexuality, Sexalized Media, Music, Role Models
"It is implicit that girls are consuming 'sexualized' media”, Jackson and Goddard state. With the ‘mainstreaming’ of the pornography industry and post-feminism empowerment discourse, tween girls are subject to viewing sexualized media ranging from television to their favorite artist’s music videos. But what are the implications of watching sexualized media on tween girls, aged 7 to 14? How do girls understand and navigate their sexuality being in-between the age of what is ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’ in sexual discourse? Post-feminist ‘empowerment discourse’ leaves girls in this turbulent age range caught between a discourse accomplished through sexuality, and a 'sexualized child discourse' that disempowers tweens through their vulnerability and naiveté. The latter discourse constructs itself around the idea that tween girls lack understanding to decipher media messages, a conclusion that Jackson and Goddard find to the contrary. But in the same way that ‘sexualized girls discourse’ assumes tweens do not understand implicit sexuality in media, tween girls prescribe this to 'younger girls' often saying, “they do not understand”, “they don’t get it”, referring to sexuality in the media, further underscoring the younger as naïve. A third discourse Jackson and Goddard highlight with their interviews was “Girl Power” discourse that tweens pull from to, “disrupt their positioning in sexualizing discourse whilst also underscoring the fragility of such agency in contexts where consumption of ‘sexualized’ images is seen by parents and young children”. Through this distinction between ‘empowerment discourse’, ‘sexualized girl discourse’, and ‘Girl Power discourse’, Jackson and Goddard attempt to understand the balance between identities as a developing teen and what they deem ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’, ‘old enough’ and ‘too young’, ‘comfortable’ and ‘awkward’ in reference to sexuality in the media. These three distinctions are what tweens pulled from frequently in Jackson and Goddard interviews. One girl states, "I’d say fourteen is too young, but fifteen is like, exactly in the middle, it’s in the middle of being too young and then too old”. Here, the girl draws a distinct line between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, deeming one appropriate and another inappropriate for the act being discussed—Miley posing in a bed sheet on the cover of Vanity Fair. This navigation between 'too young' and 'too old', 'too innocent' and 'too sexual', exemplifies the line that tweens, and arguably girls throughout teen-hood and adulthood, have to continually navigate to not be 'too' much of something in societies eyes. I began to wonder, ‘What is our obsession with giving quality to the quantity (of age)?’. Just as we prescribe meaning to words, we see the prescription of age-based boundaries according to the quantity of age. In the same way that girls balance this line of age, being ‘too young’ or ‘old enough’, they balance their projection of sexuality different at each age based on the ‘appropriateness’ deemed by society.
Awkwardness around Hyper-sexual Media
Jackson and Goddard highlight “the fragility of such agency in contexts where consumption of ‘sexualized’ images is seen by parents and young children”. By this, they mean the implicit and explicit ‘awkwardness’ that tweens feel when watching sexualized media around children younger than them, and their parents. This awkwardness suggests that tween girls are aware of age-based appropriate boundaries in relation to sexualized media. This awkwardness that shows up when girls watch hyper-sexualized media, in specific around their parents, “speaks to the friction between girls’ participation in 'sexualized' music industry (and media) that risks being read as inappropriately sexual, and their positioning as asexual girls in good girl and childhood innocence discourses”. Tween girls explained that it is often parental misinterpretations, embarrassment, and awkwardness, that their parents might “get the wrong idea” (i.e. 'the mistaken idea that girls may accept, enjoy, and possibly even want to emulate the hyper-sexiness depicted in the video they watch'), and not fear of being disciplined that girls stated they would change the channel, make a comment, or pretend to not be watching, when sexualized media was shown with a parent present.
Roles Models and their Transitions
Most often, sexualized or hyper-sexualized media viewing by tween girls is in the form of music videos, watching their favorite artists. Miley Cyrus, formerly Hannah Montana, was a popular topic of discussion between the girls for her emerging sexual ‘inappropriateness’, as the tweens deemed, and her role as someone a girl could ‘look up to’. This transition for Miley Cyrus, from the ‘good girl’ to ‘temptress’ is a common theme in the music industry, where artists work to continually evolve their career and keep their fans interested, while also growing with the fans. Another example of this shift from ‘good girl’ to ‘temptress’ in a female artist and role model can be exemplified by Christina Aguilera shift from innocent, sweet young Christina, to transformed Dirty Xtina (think literally of Christina’s ‘Dirty’ music video). This Dirty video had me reflecting on the sexualized music videos I had seen as a tween and wondering how I navigated this period of time growing up. My question formed, ‘If tween girls are unaware they are navigating the line of age and sexual appropriateness when viewing sexualized media, for I did not understand this burden until late-teens, what are the effects on their self confidence, esteem, and self-worth? Do adverse effects of viewing sexualized media only ‘show up’ or are allowed to be understood after-the-fact of the ‘tween’ age range?
Sexuality and Performance
This article fits with our discussion of sexuality and performance in its highlighting of tween girl discussion of their navigation of sexuality, and how they feel about sexualized media and age-based boundaries. Sexuality, just as gender, has been socially constructed and is therefore performative. This article exemplifies the fine line that tweens balance their performance of sexuality between ages 7 and 14, when they are still placed in the ‘innocent’, ‘naïve’ category of discourse, but also considered a part of sexual post-feminist discourse. Based on this delicate line drawn for tween girls, what are the future implications of the constant navigation of this performance? I am left wondering, Will this line of age and sexuality ever be broken down, or is it too important in protecting the interests of young children and tweens?
To What Do We Owe ‘Sex and the City’?
Third Wave Feminism, Choice, Sex & the City, Agency
In Chapter 4, Orgasm and Empowerment: Sex and the City and the Third Wave of Feminism, Henry discusses the progression in the definition and discussion of femininity and sexuality that followed the first two waves of the feminist movement. Henry links how the first waves of feminism created the climate possibility for the production of a show that was bold as Sex and the City in popular media, also exemplifying what he would argue is the emergence of third wave of feminism. Sex and the City was still a revolutionarily bold show, when it first emerged on television in the late 90’s, in its discussion of sexuality and the freedom of women. The framework of the show included a beautiful, stylish, main character, living in the big city with her three best friends. As she writes her column, Sex and the City, she narrates the social and sexual issues and conquests in her daily life and the episode typically outlines the discussion and decision of a pivotal question that is used as a jumping point for the ‘choice’ that the character will have to make. Henry argues that this ‘choice’ is central to the ideology of third wave feminism.
Critiques and Structure of the Third Wave of Feminism
Some critique that this third wave of feminism has no clear agenda, but others support this ideology and have chosen to stress individuality and an individual definition of feminism. Similar to this focus, Sex and the City touches on topics of female sexuality explicitly, but focuses more on the female’s ability to chose their own path or decision. For example, the show discusses abortion in one of the episodes, when Miranda unexpectedly thinks she is pregnant. As with today, abortion was a heavy topic of discussion, especially in public, popular media. But this episode about abortion did not take a stance of ‘abortion is wrong’ or ‘abortion is right’, but instead focused on Miranda’s personal decision to get an abortion or not. This episode’s narrative is a clear example of Miranda’s ability to, considering her own femininity, sexuality, body, and life, make a choice about her future and what that entailed. Abortion itself is a larger issue of the female experience that is explicitly clear about choice. But smaller examples can also be found latent through the show and our own lives. When we wake up and decide to wear long pants instead of a short skirt that day it is because we have the ability and privilege to make that decision.
The Second Wave of Feminism and ‘The Choice’
This idea of ‘choice’ may feel live a given right to many women, but it was only after the second wave of feminism in the 1960s that allowed for us to develop a ‘diverse generation of women who value their choice and individuality’. It was because of the base that the previous wave of feminism had laid, that women of the following generation were able to progress more with female independence and sexuality. It also allowed for the possibility in the discussion of female sexuality, with women pushing the limits of what was ‘politically correct’ at the time.
Even in shows of the 1970’s, such as The Mary Tyler Moor Show, Maude, One Day at a Time, are key examples of US TV's depiction of feminism since the 1970s, featuring one woman character—“explicitly described as feminist or as 'liberated'-- through which they discuss the women movement”. This was still a large step in media depictions of females, arguably leading to the possibility of Sex and the City’s illustration of not one, but four ‘liberated’ young women who each represent an ‘archetype of contemporary womanhood’. But Henry notes, “when feminism has appeared on TV it is usually reduced to this ideology of choice-- a choice freed of the necessity of thinking about political and social ramifications of the act of choosing”. While this is an oversimplification for entertainment purposes, the ability to make decisions about ones sexual modesty, promiscuity, experience, and pleasure, to name a few, come down to the ability for a woman to make a choice, a clear result of the second wave of feminism.
Representative?
Although Sex and the City spurred the talk of femininity and sexuality in popular media, the show can be criticized for its unrepresentative cast. The four main women are all white, upper to middle class, heterosexual, thin, women, creating a 'racially, sexually, and economically privileged version of feminism, that for the American public, has come to represent feminism in today'. Even the character’s abilities to spent hours of their days preoccupied by their sexual lives and relationships, is a privilege of their race and status in itself. Henry argues that, “the feminism offered by sex and the city suggests white, upper class, straight women have the luxury narrowly to define liberation exclusively in terms of their sexual freedom”. Further, third wave feminist writing also reflected this neglect of race and class status.
Further Discussion
Sex and the City, the show, as well as this article, Orgasm and Empowerment: Sex and the City and the Third Wave of Feminism, are both very important components of our gender and sexuality class to begin the discourse about the waves of feminism, what they allowed the women of the future generations to achieve, and how that is reflected and encouraged by the popular media, in specific television. A couple central questions for further consideration would be, Do you think we are now in a forth wave of feminism today? How about a fifth? Do you think we have made progression in the inclusion of all races and sexualities in feminist discourse and discussion? What have been the main accomplishments of these waves of feminism in todays media, post-Sex and the City?
Examining Ageism in Hollywood
Script, Video, Sexuality, Gender, Media, Age, Ageism, Responses, Different Perspectives
For the final project, our group analyzed how age affects media portrayals of actor sexuality. However, throughout our research, we discovered that the portrayals of older actors and actresses of roughly the same age were vastly different. Women in their thirties seem to lose their sexuality and are routinely cast in a-sexual roles as either mothers, coworkers, or friends. In contrast, men are cast as fully sexually-capable characters no matter what their ages are. To make it even worse, it is commonplace for the media to pair an older man with a much younger women. For example in Edge of Tomorrow, Rear Window, Flight, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Lost in Translation, and Entrapment the age differences run from no less than 21 years to 39 years with the man always older. And these are just a few of hundreds of examples over the last 70 years! Because of this trend, we concluded that an actor or actresses’ gender determines how the media portrays them as their age. Therefore, age and gender are linked in inseparable ways when it comes to analyzing the sexuality of actors.
This ageism has persisted overtime. According a 1999 article from Back Stage, the SAG reported that, “37% of all males cast in films and TV shows in the previous year were over 40, but only 24% of the females cast in films and TV were in that age group.’’ Additionally, “just 21% of female leads were over 40, compared to 34% of male leads.’” Finally, men were cast in twice as many roles as women. The SAG Vice President Amy Aquino even went so far as to say that “many older actresses [were] leaving show business because they can’t find work…[w]omen get hit much harder and faster as they age in this industry…women in their 40s and 50s find themselves competing for fewer and fewer jobs.” (Back Stage, 1999).
We found that members of the entertainment industry had tried to combat this pretense that male actors keep their sexuality forever while female actresses loss it as they age. In a Variety article from the 80’s, we found an advertisement for a workshop entitled, “Career Problems of the Older Actress,” which aimed to help actress overcome being cast as only “bad ladies or grandmothers.” In 1995, an article from The Big Picture named dozens of movies where the romantic male lead was decades older than his female counter part. The article speculated that the age disparity persisted because men dominate many roles in the entertainment industry therefore ensuring that the hegemonic male standards of sexual attraction rule. As the article says “Apparently, men think men stay sexy indefinitely, regardless of age, whereas women do not.” Even recently, 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal spoke out against ageism in casting in an interview with The Guardian where she recounted being told she was “’too old to play the lover of a man who was 55.” Meanwhile, although there is only 10 years age difference between them Sally Fields plays Tom Hank’s mother in Forest Gump.
Yet, even with a history of ageism against female actors, we found evidence indicating that the media’s perceptions may be changing. In 2016, California passed a law requiring sites like “IMDB Pro remove an actor’s age from the site if requested,” (Elle.com). In September of this year, HBO’s Documentary Films President, Sheila Nevins, moderated a panel discussion of TV actresses on fighting ageism and winning. In 2015, Meryl Streep began funding a screenwriting lab for women over 40 with the hope that it would “generate more projects for mature women,” (Miller). And with the availability of social media, stars have been able to speak out publically with a loud voice to talk about the ageism they’ve faced. For example, Jamie Denbo who plays a reoccurring character on Orange is the New Black took to twitter to reveal that at 43 she was told she was too old to play the wife of a 57 year old man, and the mother of an 18 year-old daughter.
Finally, on TV itself, the representation of older female figures has begun to change. As we will discuss in our video, Gracie and Frankie is pioneering that change. As one of the leading ladys described to Elle magazine, her show is “’the only show totally devoted to the issue of aging and those complications,’” (Elle.com). While this change is coming slowly, it is coming. Which led us to a question of the chick and the egg: was the media changing because societal expectations of gender and age as it links to sexuality were changing or was the media leading the charge in changing society’s view of older actors sexuality? Although, we are hesitant to make conclusions too early, we suspect that with the expansion of civil rights for women and the effect of more and more women becoming educated and entering the workforce is shifting society’s view of women. With that comes a shifting view of how sexuality exists between genders and as people age.
Danielle:
To summarize, we first focused on how age determines the media’s portrayal of actors’ sexuality. Then we narrowed our focus to the role that gender plays in determining how the sexuality of older actors and actresses is portrayed. Using this insight, we constructed a talk show where each of us argued a different perspective on ageism as it relates to sexuality in the media. My character argues the historic perspective of Hollywood ageism that: older actresses lose their sexuality as they age and should not be cast in sexual roles while older male actors retain their sexuality as they age and can always be cast as a sexual character. I assert that the current system does not need to change.
Madelon:
My character argues against Danielle and in line with the newer perspective: that women do not lose their sexuality as they age and should be cast as fully-capable, sexual figures no matter what their ages are.
Lauren:
Like Madelon, my character also argues that women should be cast as sexually-complete characters regardless of their older age. We argue that there needs to be a shift in thinking to accept older female actresses in the sexual roles that we are accustom to seeing men in.
Ian:
I take the stance of blissful ignorance: that there is no such thing as ageism in the media. Instead, I argue that older women have always had access to sexual roles, but women have traditionally chosen to not to accept sexual roles as they age because they are not interested by the roles or would be embarrassed by them.
Victoria:
While my character primarily exists to introduce facts and points of discussion, I too argue that there is ageism and a disparity between the genders when it comes to media depictions of older female actresses.
To conclude, while this talk show is an exaggerated representation of how ageism and sexism is talked about in the media, it’s goal was to make you aware of the biases that have become normalized in the current media environment. Although at the end of our discussion in the show, each of the characters agreed to disagree, as a group in real life, we believe that it is important to be aware of the ageism and sexism that is prevalent in most media representations of older actresses because only when we are aware of it can we then challenge it.
Citations & Sources:
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Greene, R. (1996, Mar 01). The big picture. Boxoffice (Archive: 1920-2000), 132, 50. Retrieved from https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/1040579577?accountid=10747
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Career troubles of older actresses is subject for YWCA. (1983, Apr 15). Back Stage (Archive: 1960-2000), 24, 72. Retrieved from https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/962958569?accountid=10747
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Robb, D. (1999, Apr 30). SAG: Over-40 actresses are losing out. Back Stage (Archive: 1960-2000), 40, 3. Retrieved from https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/962666732?accountid=10747
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http://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/tv-actresses-fighting-ageism-winning-11009878/
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https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/05/hollywood-ageism-women
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http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/interviews/g28920/actresses-ageism-hollywood/
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https://www.ranker.com/list/onscreen-relationship-age-gap/anncasano
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Articles on Age in Gender Preference
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Hugh Hefner/Demi Moore Articles:
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Meryl Streep Articles:
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Amy Schumer Episode: