Racist Love Stories
16 01 2008My father is a biker. He currently owns two Harley-Davidsons. He is a serious biker, he attends rallys and swap meets and is an active member of the AMA. Last summer he attended some type of motorcycle show, from which he always returns with lots of photos of a variety of customized bikes. He showed me one and was surprised when I took immediate offense.
It’s not just that this particular design was too showy and sexualized for my Muslim tastes. It was who it was actually depicting that most concerned me. The design was the stereotypical Indian Maiden. Not a classy or cultural depiction, no this was a pin-up style: the high cut short skirt and bra-like top, arms behind the head, back arched, slick partly opened lips, etc. It was an overtly sexualized version of the mysterious Red Woman.
Like Native American women (of which I am one, and let me say, I in no way can relate to that motif presented), other women of color are regularly fetishized for the fantasies of men. Arab women are depicted in sheer Jeannie-like costumes, belly-dancing and wearing face veils that barely conceal their animal hungers. Latina women are routinely presented as HOT HOT HOT, large-breasted, tiny waisted, fiery and passionate. Asian women are supposed to be tiny, submissive, quiet, and well versed in the nastiest of bedroom acts. Black women are the repositories of the continued slave-days thinking that they are warm, chocolatey insatiable love machines who have no expectations of a commitment from men. These fantasies have been playing out for centuries as men create pictures of women that meet their wildest dreams of sexual gratification.
Despite women complaining for decades (if not centuries) about how this objectification of our bodies has created eating disorders, lack of self-esteem, acceptance of infidelity and domestic violence, and a myriad of other social issues, we are now able to partake in a similar dysfunction and fetishizing of men.
Through the genre of the romance novel, which is by and large written by and for white women, men of color are now openly portrayed in the same type of dysfunctional ways that we have complained about being treated.
I wrote about one such author the other day. My point in that particular post was in relation to her unprofessional behavior and theft of others’ work, but I did mention in passing that her books are inherently racist anyway. My brief mention of the racism in her books was meant to be a passing comment, intended to point out one further reason that I wasn’t interested in her books anyway. Well, nevermind that I detest romance novels to begin with (although I have to give Nora Roberts props for pretty interesting writing and a better quality of historical research than most). Anyway, I hadn’t actually wanted particularly to discuss the racism in the books, but the plagerism allegations.
That changed when a well-meaning commentor questionned why I would declare these books as racist. In attempting to answer her, I found that I wasn’t prepared because the racism was so obvious to me that I was genuinely surprised that someone else wouldn’t recognize it.
My initial thoughts after responding to the comment in rather simplistic terms were
Although it seems so obvious to me what is racist and problemmatic about it, I’m not feeling very articulate in addressing it right now. Maybe I can put together a better post that actually addresses that in a broader and clearer way, but I’m not sure when I can get that together… to incite some intelligent discussion and address as women of color how such writing about our men makes us feel? And I guess, I kinda am asking, am I just crazy for feeling this way? Am I way off base? I hate the “Arab men are mysterious/Black men are well hung/Native American men are so spiritual/Latino men are such HOT lovers” type of thing that goes on in these kinds of novels. I hate it when women of color are fetishized that way too, but I don’t think that makes it okay to stereotype and fetishize men that way. I guess I do feel a certain amount of animosity towards the “white women take our men” in much the same way that I feel strongly about Muslim men who marry non-Muslim women, leaving so many single Muslim women alone and in a sense making a statement that we are not good enough for them. By which I don’t mean that men of color should never be with white women or that white women have to bear the burden of colored women’s insecurities, but books like this in my opinion do a disservice to us and promote this problemmatic issue. I don’t want the discussion to turn anti-white woman, but I do want to address why it is offensive for there to be a whole genre of writing by and for white women that turns our men of color into hot tamale/one-dimensional charicatures for their pleasure. Am I making any sense at all???
So I guess this bears discussion (you can see some pretty interesting comments on the original post, but I’d like to move that part of the conversation over here). I am surprised that we can all understand fairly easily why it is offensive when women are depicted in stereotypical ways. I’m confused why it is more difficult for us to recognize when the same is being done to men of color and why this is also wrong.
I got here through a rather circuitous route, but what I’ve read so far of your blog is really interesting!
I think some of why it’s difficult to see the racism in the common bi-racial romance novels (and I personally think they’re racist against both men and women of color) is because the visible person being stereotyped - the man of color - is part of a category that most people think can’t be objectified, men. The invisible person being excluded, and the fact that it’s simply assumed the reader must be white, is the woman of color, which is why I say it’s racist against both genders.
Salaams sister, maybe not such an issue for yourself if you’re a revert but the reason a lot of Muslim men marry Western women is that it’s just so much easier. Most Muslims are from an underclass, so the men usually don’t have much wealth, probably don’t have their own home and usually have to be a breadwinner for younger siblings and their parents. A Western woman that a Muslimman goes for would be the type that doesn’t expect him to provide all of that for her, they usually go for the Muslim man simply because they’re attracted to him. They also don’t have the restrictions from their own parents as to who they marry.
Asalaamu alaikum Raashid.
Too many issues there. First of all, I didn’t say I have an issue with Muslim men marrying “Western” women (I am “western” myself) but with them marrying NON-MUSLIM women. This is as much an issue with Western Muslim men as with “born” Muslim men. The issues you cite are part of it, but not the whole. And it is HARAM for a man to marry any woman intending that he will not have to provide for her rights because she doesn’t know any better. Yes, of course it’s “easier” but that doesn’t mean it’s right. It’s also not true to say that Western women have no restrictions from parents as to who they marry, as parents do play a bigger role than some realize, even if it is different from the traditional Muslim parent’s role.