Black
Bodies And Manipulation
The author Barry Webster
wrote, “all bodies-men’s and women’s-are fragile and must be handled gently so
as not to hurt the people living inside them’. However, it can be argued that
bodies have not be handled gently and instead the manipulation of the black
body had led many black men and women to feel hurt and disenfranchised. In
order to bring this manipulation and disenfranchisement to the forefront, idea
and slogan that Black lives matter has been discussed and chanted for the past
few years; however, through the controversy of that mantra should also lend to
the dissuasion of how the bodies of black people has been manipulated by others
ever since Blacks disembarked the ships coming from Africa. Historically, Black
bodies have been manipulated because Blacks were seen as possession and as
non-human thus the body of the Black man and Black woman was under the
leadership and control of slave owners. However, society is 150 years removed
from slavery, yet the manipulation of black bodies still exits—just in a
different form.
When it comes to the manipulation
of the black bodies my mind instantly thought of how bodies can be controlled
through a sexual lenses, I thought of Bell Hooks and the sexualization of black
bodies as well as how the black image is manipulated through the media. The media promotes European standards of beauty, as
black women we can only be seen as beautiful when we have white features or if
we have exaggerated features such as big butts or huge lips and then are
characterized as unintelligent sex symbols.Why is it that black features are
never beautiful on black people? Furthermore when it comes to our black men
they are seen as exotic sex conquests known to be good in bed and violent. This
media portray has manipulated the perception of our black men, forcing them to
change the way they dress and carry themselves in an effort to seem less
threatening.
Additionally, how many
times have guys told a girl “if you loved me you’ll do this for me”? As if her
love for him comes with a price tag. The most specific example I can think of
would be the movie School Daze Julian refuses to have a virgin on the line of
his fraternity and so he tells his girlfriend to have sex with Half Pint, he
convinces her that if she really loved him she would do this for him. However
after she does how he asks he dumps her for being a hoe, saying that no real
woman would have had sex with someone else. As writer Michael Bassey Johnson
says “Young girls are like helpless children in the hands of amorous
men…whatever manipulation on their bodies seems like love to them, sooner or
later they come to their senses but the scars are not dead…”
The food industry is
completely manipulative, food corporations all talk about healthy living and
the well-being of their customers yet a bag of chips costs about $3 and the
dollar menu at McDonalds can give you large quantities of food at a low price
while most of the healthy fruits and vegetables cost around 5 and a pack of water
costs around 8 while you can get an entire liter of soda for as low as $1.50. If
I am trying to feed my family I can’t afford to feed them the healthy food that
they deserve because healthy food is simply more expensive. Food industries are
manipulating people who come from less economic standings by covertly influencing
their posters with their sales tactics.
Our first solution is to recognize
when we are being manipulated whether this is sexually or otherwise. Afterwards
it is up to us to be the change we want to see in our society, we cannot simply
bow to the powers of manipulation in any form we as a people have to have the
courage and forthright to stand up for ourselves.
