(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.

Updates- scene 1

Hey guys

So sorry about being gone for so long! I spent this past month stressing out about passing div 2. Now that i have, its time to get back into the groove of div 3. Just to clarify some things, I am now revising the play that I wrote in the spring, rather than coming up with some new minstrel show. And boy, do I feel relieved. So.. I have been trying to make the play into a two-act, and really strengthen it. Simultaneously, I am trying to incorporate some of the ideas that I had about the other play into this one, as well as use this blog as a space for me to think out my more analytical stuffs.

Right.

So I wanted to share with you guys the first scene of my play as it was in the spring, and the revised version of the scene that I wrote about a week ago. It's not a FINAL revision, but it will give you an idea of where I want to go with the script. So, here is the original scene:

Scene 1.
Lights up, on Adanne’s bedroom. She and Claire are in bed.

ADANNE. Tell me what you like best about me.

CLAIRE. Oh god, Danney. Are you serious?

ADANNE. Yes. Sometimes it’s nice when the woman that you’re sleeping with gives you a compliment.

CLAIRE. (laughs) God…

ADANNE. Come on…

CLAIRE. I don’t feel like playing this game right now.

ADANNE. (pause. Adanne is waiting for Claire to change her mind) Ok. Fine. (mumbles) Forget I even mentioned it.

CLAIRE. Alright, I’ll play along. (pause.) My favorite thing about you is that …

ADANNE. Yeah?

CLAIRE. I don’t know.

ADANNE. You don’t know?

CLAIRE. Nope.

ADANNE. You don’t know?

CLAIRE. Danney. I don’t know. As in I need some more time to think about it. You really put me on the spot. And I’m supposed to just have some answer ready for you? I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow or something.

ADANNE. One more question. (slight pause) Claire?

CLAIRE. (A bit annoyed) Mm?

ADANNE. What am I to you?

CLAIRE. Well… that one’s a little easier to answer. You’re mine. I own you. (leans in to kiss Adanne, but Adanne pulls away)

ADANNE. What did you just say?

CLAIRE. I said you’re mine. That’s not good enough either? You want some elaborately written love poem or something- (Adanne pinches her) ouch! Hey-

ADANNE. No. You said “I own you.” That’s, like, number 3 on the list of things not to say to black people. Right after the “N” word and Yo Mama jokes. Claire, we talked about this.

CLAIRE. Why are you in such a bad mood?

ADANNE. Because my girlfriend doesn’t respect me. (Claire rolls her eyes) I just- do you even listen to yourself sometimes? I think… maybe you should go.

(long pause)

CLAIRE. You know what? Fine. I am not in the mood to take your shit. (Claire gets out of bed, begins putting on her clothes) Especially after you begged me to come over here, practically begged me to screw you. Fuck your bad attitude.

ADANNE. Who’s got an attitude? You always talk down to me when we get into these fights…

CLAIRE. Like how? Tell me what I’ve said.

ADANNE. It’s like the other day. You remember? How you said that I was...

CLAIRE. Yeah?

ADANNE. So fucking black.

CLAIRE. That's it? That's, like, a compliment. (pause) I love your skin. It’s so dark and pretty and smooth.

ADANNE. Stop it.

CLAIRE. It's true. When I first met you, I just wanted to kiss your whole body. Every pigment.

ADANNE. You're ridiculous.

CLAIRE. I’m really cold.

(slight pause)

ADANNE. Well, I guess you can come back.

CLAIRE. Good. But aren't you forgetting something?

ADANNE. Like what?

CLAIRE. Like an apology?

ADANNE. Huh? I'm sorry, Claire, but I don't see why-

CLAIRE. Ah, you're forgiven. (she climbs back into bed, clutches Adanne to her. Adanne is stiff. Claire doesn’t notice.) How could I stay mad at you? You look so cute when you're wrong.

ADANNE. ...Right.

CLAIRE. You know, when I was younger, I used to wish that I were black? Yeah. I always wanted an Afro and thick lips and dark skin. But I'm just some plain white Jewish girl from upstate. Nothing exotic about that.



Anddd.. here is the scene with my revisions:



Scene 1.
Lights up, on Adanne’s bedroom. She and Claire are in bed. On Adanne's bedside table, there is a Mammy statue. It is positioned as if it is looking at the couple. In the scene, Adanne doesn't seem to notice it, but Claire is caught staring at it a couple of times.

ADANNE. Tell me what you like best about me.

CLAIRE. Why?

ADANNE. Well... Sometimes it’s nice when the woman that you’re sleeping with gives you a compliment.

CLAIRE. (laughs)

ADANNE. Come on… (Adanne kisses her cheek. She is waiting for Claire to change her mind)

CLAIRE. I don’t feel like playing this game right now.

ADANNE. Ok. Fine. (mumbles) Forget I even mentioned it.

CLAIRE. (pause.) My favorite thing about you is that …

ADANNE. Yeah?

CLAIRE. I don’t know.

(pause)

ADANNE. You don’t know?

CLAIRE. Nope.

ADANNE. You don’t -?

CLAIRE. Danney. I’m supposed to just have some answer ready for you? I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow or something.

ADANNE. One more question. (slight pause) Claire?

CLAIRE. (A bit annoyed) Mm?

ADANNE. What am I to you?

CLAIRE. Well… that one’s a little easier to answer. You’re mine. I own you. (leans in to kiss Adanne, but Adanne pulls away)

ADANNE. What did you just say?

CLAIRE. I said you’re mine. That’s not good enough either? You want some elaborately written love poem or something-

ADANNE. No. You said “I own you.” That’s, like, number 3 on the list of things not to say to black people. Right after the “N” word and Yo Mama jokes. Claire, we talked about this-

CLAIRE. Why are you in such a bad mood?

ADANNE. Because my girlfriend doesn’t respect me. (Claire winces at the word "girlfriend") I just- do you even listen to yourself sometimes?

(long pause)

CLAIRE. You know what? Fine. I am not in the mood to take your shit. (Claire turns her back to her in bed, mumbling) Especially after you begged me to come over here, practically begged me to screw you. Fuck your bad attitude.

ADANNE. That'd be just about the only thing you're fucking these days..

CLAIRE. What?

ADANNE. We've been dating for-

CLAIRE. seeing each other. (pause)

ADANNE. We've been doing whatever the fuck we're doing for the past three months. And we've only had sex twice.

CLAIRE. So? We're taking things slow. I love that.

ADANNE. Well then what's wrong?(pause) Is it me? (pause) Oh god. You don't want to touch me.

CLAIRE. No- I didn't say that.

ADANNE. You didn't say anything.

CLAIRE. (pause) I just haven't been feeling up for it.

ADANNE. So what would get you up for it?

(pause)

CLAIRE. Are you serious? (laughs) Jesus.

(pause)
(pause)

ADANNE. Do you wanna leave?

(Claire sits up. They share a look. Claire gets her things, slowly. She stands up, out of the bed, then quickly grabs at Adanne, tries to kiss her violently.)

ADANNE. What the fuck are you doing?

CLAIRE. Isn't this what you want?

(Adanne slaps her. Claire begins to cry.)

ADANNE. Oh, shit- I'm sorry. (pulls her close) Shh. Poor baby. It's okay, it's okay.

CLAIRE. You promised to take care of me-

ADANNE. I know-

CLAIRE. You promised-

ADANNE. I'm sorry, I was wrong. Not till you're ready. Okay?

(Claire continues to cry violently, but soft laughter is also heard in the background. Lights fade)


The endings are clearly different. Here, Adanne is actually put into a mammy-like role. It helps to explain how accepting she is of taking on the mammy role later in the play. It also shows a more vulnerable side to Claire. And the lack of intimacy in their relationship allows Adanne a chance to be sexually liberated. Although, I'm really stuck on the idea of what "Sexual liberation" means. If anyone knows of any good readings, please let me know.

so it's been a while...

First off, I apologize for not being as active on this blog this summer as I should have been. But now that school is around the corner, I am feeling the crunch!

I want to talk a little bit about Aunt Jemima. The lovable woman on the pancake box that we have grown to love. Many people do not know that Aunt Jemima was not a real person- the famous instant pancake recipe was created by two white men- Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood- in a scientific lab. Nancy Green, a black woman born into slavery, as hired in 1890 to play the role of Aunt Jemima. The name came from a famous minstrel song at the time. Ms Green traveled to different world fairs, playing the role of the lovable mammy character, reminding her all-white crowds of the "good-ole days" when Mammy so-and-so would make them pancakes and biscuits and scrambled eggs and fried chicken and collards and ooh-whee, gotta love that Southern livin! But surely black female slaves did not all fit this mammy stereotype- Mammy, and Aunt Jemima, is a work of fiction. She is a false creation in white America's memory, one that allows white America to justify slavery on the basis that not only did blacks like being enslaved, but that they were treated like family! Like a mother or an aunt, even!

America has a strange love affair with the black female body. It only makes sense that America soon began to "consume" the Mammy caricature. If I was at home, I would quote bell hooks' article "eating the other: desire or resistance", but unfortunately, I left my copy of Black Looks at home. But what I will say is that I came across a disturbing video on youtube that I would like to share with you. It was entitled, "Hey Aunt Jemima" and is a spoof of "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White Tees. It seems harmless at first, if not plain stupid- a white man sings his love to a bottle of Aunt Jemima pancake syrup. But the way that he sexualizes the syrup, coupled with America's history of Mammy-lovin leaves a nasty taste in mouth. For example, one of the lyrics goes:

hey aunt jemima why dont i go make some pancakes or would you prefer i turn you over just give you a spanking let me know i know my wife thinks you're a ho, dont let me go

He also goes to say:

Jemima you are family, like an aunt you've been to me

I don't even know where I'm going with this post anymore, so I will let you watch the video for yourselves. Imagine that he is actually singing to a black woman named Aunt Jemima. It changes the video's context a bit, doesn't it?



*EDIT: Also, I got a lot of my Aunt Jemima facts from this website:


And also the book Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America by Micki McElya

This is how I feel about what I study.

"Black Mother Woman"

I cannot recall you gentle
yet through your heavy love
I have become
an image of your once delicate flesh
split with deceitful longings.

When strangers come and compliment me
your aged spirit takes a bow
jingling with pride
but once you hid that secret
in the center of furies
hanging me
with deep breasts and wiry hair
with your own split flesh
and long suffering eyes
buried in myths of little worth.

But I have peeled away your anger
down to the core of love
and look mother
I Am
a dark temple where your true spirit rises
beautiful
and tough as chestnut
stanchion against your nightmare of weakness
and if my eyes conceal
a squadron of conflicting rebellions
I learned from you
to define myself
through your denials.

- Audre Lorde

TOPSY

Another character, one of the pickaninny chorus members. Here are some pictures, for thought:

Liberation of Aunt Jemima

Ironically enough, months after I had named my Div II " The (Sexual) Liberation of Mammy, Pt 1", I found out about artist Betye Saar. Saar was an artist whose work helped influence the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s. In 1972, she created a piece that she entitled, "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima". Her goals were similar to mine, and I have gained an immense amount of inspiration from her "liberation" pieces.



Note how she puts a gun in mammy's hand, along with the broom. There is also a black fist in the framed picture. The broom and gun in Mammy's hand are an homage to the famous picture of Huey Newton, one of the leaders of the Black Panthers Party:




Saar has done many other powerful pieces that play on black memorabilia and black liberation. This piece is entitled Sambo:



There is also a gun in the top part of the banjo case. But there are also little hanging men. It seems to be simultaneously talking about the lynching of black men and the dancing minstrel, who seems almost like a puppet here. The watermelon slice, of course, is representative of black stereotypes.

kara walker

..deserves a much longer post. we will get back to her. but this image has stuck with me throughout my time at hampshire. i often reference this image when creating my own work.



I often question whether or not positive black image is possible. And Kara makes a point. The way that "positive black image" stands today, it is a contradiction in terms. And we didn't create the images that exist for us today. I want to remember to ask myself "what is positive black image" and more importantly, "is that my goal?" I'm not quite sure if my goal is to make something positive. I know that I want to "destroy the negative", if that's even possible. I guess I am hoping to instill a sense of urgency in the crowd, so that they can feel the need to create the positive image together.. hmm. Definitely feeling that sense of urgency. Don't wanna lose that.