I am concerned about the lack of forethought and cultural sensitivity that went into the creation of Spirit of Color's (SoC) advertisement for its recent show. Though the flashy colors of the posters that were all around campus and the rhyming that is incorporated into the title "Hood Stoppin', Booty Poppin'" seem fun, I would like us all to look beyond that to the unfortunate images that this can conjure in people's minds. Black female bodies throughout history have been linked to sex, from the rape of enslaved black females in America to the display of the Hottentot Venus and the sexual objectification of the girth of her behind (which was made to be an inherently black-female physical attribute) to the incredible way rap songs articulate pimping, use derogatory terms for females and explicitly recount the use of the female body as a sex object.
This is only one way that the black female body has been and continues to be objectified in this country and beyond, and it is unfortunate that this SoC advertisement joins the long list.
Not only does the title, with its absent "g's" and use of the words "hood" and "booty," which are traditionally thought to be black slang, force people to paint a mental image of the black behind and all the sexual connotations that come along with it, but if anyone does not get the picture, there is one right there on the poster to drive home the point. With an arched back, arms raised and face turned, the figure in the middle of a dance move has a rear end that draws undue attention. One could say she looks extremely cultural, performing a movement that is rooted in West African dance, but the verbal signifiers of the poster make the body position lose historical meaning and immediately link it to the current and popular read of the highly seductive and grotesque dance of "booty poppin'," which one might see in a rap music video.
So should we expect to see at the SoC show the dance moves we have come to expect in rap music videos? I highly doubt it. Speaking from my experience at past SoC shows, there were a variety of dance forms showcased, and although a few were hip-hop influenced, none were characterized by "booty poppin'."
The use of slang and the black female body do not do justice to the diversity of SoC members and the diversity of styles of dance used in their shows, nor do they do justice to black culture. The advertisement fetishizes a type of black culture by using it as a spectacle. On top of that, it is coupled with a hyper-sexualization that, while perhaps an accepted part of mainstream culture and definitely a characterization forced upon such culture through the aforementioned ways, not very many people are proud of.
Personally, I feel that I have been reduced to my butt and that my culture has been reduced to slang and suggestive dance, and I am completely offended by it. While I doubt this was the intention of the creators of the advertisement, it still hurts. I hope that by bringing attention to the subjugation I felt because of the poster, people will begin to realize the power that words and images have. We are never truly in control of how other people perceive us, but as a black woman, my image is constantly in the hands of people who do not look like me. I have to work against the images that the media imbeds into the minds of Americans and that are then projected onto my body. I am saddened that people in the Tufts community were perpetuating images that distort the black female body and reduce black culture to spectacle and fetish.
Please do not take this as my being against SoC or the show in any way. This really has very little to do with that, and more to do with the institutional racism that tends to subconsciously seep into people. I am just trying to bring these issues to the forefront of people's minds so that as a community and society we are better able to identify the blows that are being dealt to black women, black culture and marginalized peoples and cultures in general.
I encourage people to talk about this, get it out in the open, double-check themselves, hear others' opinions, reformulate their own and just generally help one other and themselves to become more aware. It would be a shame to let this topic go unchallenged.
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Brittney Taylor is a senior majoring in American Studies.
