I usually don’t make reference to
the same blog post or Facebook thread two days in a row, but y’all need to drop
everything and look at THIS excellent Facebook post and discussion that Vonnie is hosting. Right now.
Because I guarantee you’ll see our history as women of African descent with new eyes.
Vonnie’s post states in part:
Because I guarantee you’ll see our history as women of African descent with new eyes.
Vonnie’s post states in part:
I want to talk about how black women have had their femininity birthright taken from them and how we're punished for it. Barby Jayne and Ashleigh Brown sparked some thoughts in my mind about this as well as the tahitian dancing post I shared earlier.Where are the African Geisha-types? Courtesans? Nothing about us was ever lauded by bm to the world as a feminine ideal; we've always been betrayed and used as warriors and work mules. How many books/movies/poems have been done about the "pretty prostitute/mistress/courtesan/geisha" in ancient times or now? how many were about BLACK women being the ultimate in feminine sex appeal? Where are our sonnets/odes/epic poems/literature? The Middle East, Asia, and Europe have countless impressive and well known texts dedicated to their women's beauty and femininity, wars were waged in their women's honor, art was created solely to praise their beauty....once again, where's ours? Has no one ever thought about that? . . . [ ]
. . . [ ] Our femininity was never appreciated or emphasized and now we're demonized as hard, angry, mean....where they do that at?African art tells everything anybody needs to know about Black men's ancient and eternal betrayal of Black women, when you understand what you're seeing.
As one commenter named Fatou stated on that thread—and she brought receipts:
The same dynamic applies to African dances--as another commenter (Cree Skylark) on one of Vonnie's posts, pointed out, even the traditional African dances that folks try to cajole African-American women into celebrating are MASCULINE war dances.
I never made that connection before, but she’s absolutely right. Those African dances mostly look like AA fraternity step show stomping. Which is why I could never relate to that African dance stuff when I took dance classes as a teenager. All that African stuff looks mucho macho!
Just compare THIS:
To this Maori wedding haka (which is traditionally a WAR dance):
And to this original haka:
And to these African gumboot dancers:
VERSUS this flamenco dancer. I picked
flamenco because it involves percussive foot tapping. But notice how this
dancer’s feminine silhouette is being emphasized and celebrated in most of her
movements. As opposed to stomping around like a male warrior or male miner.
Now that you’ve seen this mess lined up in a row,
reread Fatou’s comment:
Fatou Diarra This is on point. I was discussing this with my cousin from my Ghanaian side and she concurred 100 percent. Even at the museum..we noticed African art forms display carvings with their women carrying loads, breast hanging down, and naked..whereas, the Greco Roman art always displayed their women in the best light..hair well done..posing..robed. It is very apparent that African men didnt value or celebrate femininity in their own women. This is some of the reason why foreigners perceive the African woman to be unprotected and just "out there"..and why black men have an obsession with chasing nonblack women from ancient times..e.g. Moors..it is the femininity of the nonblack woman that draws them..but celebrated and preserved by her men. My cousin even pointed out that in love songs made in Ghana..a term of endearment is "me obroni"..meaning my fair skinned woman or my white lady.
When you look at these cultural artifacts, it’s
obvious that everything in that historical African surrounding was about
grooming Black women to be exploited as mules, work horses and she-male warriors.
Mules and she-male warriors whose primary
purpose has always been to be pimped by adult Black males.
Ladies, it’s long past time for African-American women to
stop worrying about any of that “Black stuff” and learn how to use
feminine skills to their advantage.
