Claiming Jezebel: Black Female Subjectivity
Claiming Jezebel: Black Female Subjectivity
Author Ayana Byrds composition, ” Claiming Jezebel: Black Female Subjectivity” emphasizes the problem between the progressive misogynic vulgarity in hip-hop and the image it ultimately portrays for black women. The author supports this assertion through her own experience from actively listening and observing the changes in hip-hop over the course of her developing life.
Byrds cynical rant towards hip-hop begins with being shocked from not being shocked from hearing ” Hoes /Ive got hoes/ in different area codes”, lyrics from Snoop Dogg. She then dissects the lyrics and draws the conclusion, that hip-hop is the spark responsible for the wildfire in dehumanizing “black women”. She explores her conclusion by examining other factors that might have gassed the wildfire. She notices that in television, “portrayals of black women were at either extreme of the sexual spectrum”. From rap music videos that had women washing cars with their breast to girls from the “Cosby show” that have barely gone through puberty. Putting aside all allusions from the entertainment business, Byrd drew examples of real life cases, such as the Tawana Brawley trial, where she was found by a grand jury to be lying about a racist attack by white police officers, and a Jamaican women who was sexually assaulted and virtually ignored by officials. These examples prove that the media and society hardly allowed a middle ground for black women.
This cultural condition furthermore stamped a negative societal stereotype on black women who actually represented the middle ground. In effect this caused black women in all areas of the sexual spectrum to carry the politically and publicly supported representation of an inevitable villainy.