(Sexual) Liberation

Okayy... and now for the scary stuff.

Sexual liberation. Sexual... liberationn... damn. A big part of me feels like I got myself in a bit of a bind with my Div II/III title. The truth is, people, I have no idea what I originally meant by sexual liberation. I don't know what sexual liberation means. Am I talking about reconfiguring our concept of the Mammy as that of a sexual body? Am I talking about allowing Mammy enough agency to discover her own sexual journey? Am I saying that liberation is sexy? And why did I put sexual in parentheses (thinking about it now, probably because I didn't have an answer to the questions that I just posed, lol)?

Originally, I was going to create a minstrel show. In this minstrel show, the characters were going to "switch roles"- The "new negro" was going to go coon-ish over some watermelon, Uncle Tom was going to find his "Brute" strength, yella gal was gonna get pregnant, and mammy... she was going to become a sex-crazed, lingerie wearing hussy. Now, I can see you asking me, "Stokely- what's the point?" And I will tell you, reader, my original Div III idea was to create a minstrel show in which the caricatures (because at the end of the day, that's what they are) try to become characters through destroying their stereotypes. However, they get a little lost along the way, and end up becoming the anti-thesis of their current stereotype, leaving them stuck.

But I'm not going to do that anymore. So now, I am trying to figure out how to incorporate all of that juicy goodness into the play that I have right now. How does Adanne liberate herself (sexually or no) in the play? How does the Mammy statue? How do the other characters?

About a month ago, a friend of mine (hi Mai!) sent me a link to a video of a woman named Mollena Williams doing a burlesque performance for the Int'l Ms. Leather Fantasy Contest. Here is a video of the performance:


Now. As I told Mai, the only thing I could think of after seeing this performance was "hmmm..." I don't think I know how I feel about the performance yet, mostly because of my own feelings on bondage (but I won't get into that) but one thing is true- this performance makes you think.

Now. Kara Walker. Oh, come on, you knew I was going to bring her up eventually! It is a known fact that I absolutely hate Kara Walker. I think she uses shock just for shock's value. And I think the woman needs serious therapy. But all hate aside, I keep coming back to her work. She has had two exhibits that I keep coming back to. The first is "My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love." The second is "Narratives of a Negress." Walker portrays blacks like animals, like nightmares. In fact, many of them are seen in her artwork feeding their Ids: fucking each other, animals, themselves, shitting and killing each other, drawn with hugely distorted features- large noses, lips, butts. But- let me stop there. This post wasn't meant to be another rant about my dislike of Ms. Walker and her work. This post is about Sexual liberation.

And what are Kara Walker's characters, if not "sexual"? (And where does "love" fit into the equation? Or does it have to?) Is sex liberating for the black female body when it is on her terms? When it is for her enjoyment? If Mammy were to be sexual, would she be something (or someone) else?

My best friend also studies the ways that the black female body is sexualized, but from the "opposite" perspective. She studies how the black female body is oversexualized. But this isn't liberating, either. I have also been reading "Venus" by Suzan-Lori Parks, which is a play based on Saartjie Baartman, the famous Venus Hottentot. Her sexuality was what her captors used to enslave her. She was displayed in freak shows because of her "large buttocks and genitals." Which reminds me of a Kara Walker index card, in which she says: "I turn invisible when I turn sideways".

So, on the other hand, the black female body can lose its power when it is oversexualized.... ahhhh.

Where is the medium? Does one have to have sex in order to be sexually liberated??

Ah.. I give up for now. I tried to take a crack at it, but just talked myself in circles.. I've got way too much to think about.