Booty Got Swagg?

Because of the African ancestry, black sexuality, specifically of the female, has often been rendered primitive and or wild. This is seen during the times of slavery when slave owners would rape many female slaves to fulfill fantasies of animalistic sex that couldnt be provided by their much too conservative wives. Not only were the primitive, animalistic attributes of black female sexuality used as tools of fanatical fulfillment, but also largely exploited. Which is most notably seen through the accounts of Sara Baartman.

Born sometime during 1789, Sara Baartman was a native of the Cape of Good Hope until she was taken from her home in 1810. She was taken to Europe, where she traveled all over England and France in a cage exhibiting her rather large behind. For this, she was crowned the Hottentot Venus. These shows weren't free though, viewers had to pay a small price to see this. She kept some of the money she kept but often gave some to the exhibitor. She went on to die at age 26, and that's when the horror began. Her body was dissected to examine her primitive sexuality. Many parts of her body was placed on display including her labia, skeleton, and brain.

Which brings me to present day. Women have been and still are being exploited in music, movies, and videos. History has a vicious way of repeating itself because even after all the talk and controversy over the Hottentot Venus, we still see the exploitation. Videos like Tip Drill by Nelly, Donk and Booty Got Swagg by Soulja Boy explicitly exhibit the exploitation of women, but it's socially accepted because sex sales.

Cat Got Your Tongue

Has it occurred to you that the largest female crazes of today, Hello Kitty, has no mouth? Hello Kitty is a cartoon created by the Japanese artist Ikuko Shimizu. Now, maybe he forgot to draw the mouth on this little kitten or maybe it was intentional, we can really never know, but what we can do is analyze the way things are. Why does this character lack one of the most powerful body parts? The only thing worse than not having a mouth is probably not having a brain! In the Japanese culture, just as in any other, the woman has been misogynized since the beginning of time and for the artist to forget the mouth on this character is only evidence.
What does it mean to not have a mouth? No mouth essentially means no power. We see in many aspects of life the mouth is detrimental in our lives. In the Christian Bible Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." Biologically, the mouth is the initial point in the digestion mechanism; detrimental for survival. Without the ability to speak, how can we communicate? Through the "mouthlessness" of this character I get the feeling the artist believes women should only speak when spoken to, if even then. At first glance, one doesn't really notice this beloved kitten doesn't have a mouth, but by allowing our daughters, sister, nieces and any female to fall in love with this character is subliminally saying it's alright for women to walk around without a voice, it's alright to not be heard, it's alright not be able to speak up for yourself.