After discussing Venus in Two Acts and Saartjie (Sarah) Baartman’s story, I thought about how many beauty trends today involve evoking black culture and black features without having to experience the oppressive and systematic inequalities that come with actually being black. Time magazine published an article after Kim Kardashian, a celebrity well known for appropriating blackness within her and her family’s brand, “broke the internet” by posting nude photos that were strikingly similar to depictions of Saartjie’s body.
Check it out here: https://time.com/3586176/kim-kardashian-saartjie-baartman/
This caught my eye especially since I have been unable to stop thinking about the completely horrific murders of the summer. The availability of the black body to be seen and visually mutilated by watching eyes is a horrific practice that has gone on for centuries as put here. But in connection with this class, from speaking to some of my asian friends I have gotten the notion that the asian body (at least the asian female body) has had the same lusting stares directed towards them as they are called exotic. This then reminds me of why the Bandung Conference was formed in the first place: as a refuge of sorts for people of the African and Asian continents to try and figure out their own ways out from under colonial powers or Western powers.
This post got my attention because I’ve been seeing a lot of things on social media lately about blackfishing. It’s gotten me thinking about the weird and racist juxtaposition of white women tanning excessively while Black and Asian women are told they need skin-lightening products. Race plays such a heavy role in the objectification of female-presenting bodies, and I think I’m just constantly reminded of that fact.