The Dehumanization of Black Women in the Media

The inaccurate depiction of women in the media is a story as old as time and it’s an ongoing tale. Jean Kilbourne, a media analyst expert, dissects the methods used in advertising that misrepresent women in the media, one of these methods being objectification. Her conclusion can be further explored when discussing the objectification of black women specifically. Kilbourne’s assertion on the objectification of women in the media is heightened when those bodies belong to black women, but there are opportunities to defy this norm.

Image I is a perfume ad starring a black woman pressed against a pink wall. There are objects such as sunglasses and a microphone attached to the wall and the model is attached to the wall as well. She is restrained by what appears to be wire of some sort and her limbs are bent at rigid angles. Her stiff body is dressed in a square neck cheetah print crop top and matching mid-rise wide legged pants. The model’s afro has a full shape. Her look is complete with gold closed toe heels and gold hoop earrings to match. In gold shiny letters reads ‘MOSCHINO CHEAP AND CHIC’.

At first glance this image may strike you as beautiful and powerful but I guarantee you it’s powerful in a way you have yet to conclude. This image is powerful in the way it plays into negative ideas about a black woman and the body she owns. Kilbourne informs that for years women’s bodies and products have become interchangeable. You can see this notion reflected in the ad in the way that the black woman displayed is objectified. Notice that the perfume for sale is nowhere to be seen in the image. Instead, what catches our eye is the woman restrained to a wall just like the other objects, as if she’s one of them, her still body is constrained. Other brands at this time such as Vogue had all black models exclusively dressed in animal print (Sloan). Disguised as inclusivity, representing black women in animal print exclusively, alludes to racist ideals that compare black women to animals and enforce the dehumanization of black women overall.

The objects and the model attached to the pink background appear to be portraying a stereotypical doll box. The model stares down at her audience as if she is on the highest shelf in the toy aisle and must look down to meet your gaze. The ad profits off of her body by objectifying her, portraying her as a doll in a box, a mere commodity to be bought and sold. This perfume ad makes their dime at the expense of the black woman, the body she possesses, and the dangerous falsehoods that objectification produces.

Image II is a Teen Vogue cover starring Jari Jones, an influential black trans plus sized model. In the ad she is sitting in a cool metal chair with one leg crossed over the other. Her upper torso leans against the back of her chair and her left-hand rests on her lap. The chair has a zig zag shape on the bottom half and ridges stretching horizontally across the bottom. The model’s hair is styled in a half up with two afro buns on top and the rest of her full afro falling on her shoulders. She wears a textured cream mini dress with a teddy bear print, accented with green. The model wears bold green eyeshadow to match and nude lip gloss. A black leather trench coat is loosely draped on her shoulders. She wears mesh tights with a wavy line accent and butterflies at the intersection of the lines. Her look is complete with chunky black Dr. Marten combat boots. Against the gray background reads in white capital letters, ‘WHAT IS FASHION NOW?’.

Image II exudes power in every way. The black leather trench and boots make her look powerful. The textured cream and green minidress combined with the bold eyeshadow and nude gloss gives her a sense of subtle flare. In this image alone the model is challenging norms. Her plus sized body stands against what Kilbourne has titled ‘the glorification of skinny bodies’ and gives representation for plus sized women. This ad also gives representation to trans women rather than just cis women. The image inquires ‘WHAT IS FASHION NOW?’. In the image lies the answer. The unyielding metal chair beneath the model is lined with ridges, but the model is challenging everything that the rigidness of conformity proposes. She’s not only challenging the beauty standard; she’s challenging everything else we as a society conform to. The butterflies on mesh tights allude to change, they propose we evolve. Just like the butterflies on her mesh tights, she is also calling on us to evolve. She is ready to challenge everything we’ve learned to accept. The question is when will we be able to do the same? The answer lies in her eyes. The time is now. This advertisement does justice to black women in the way that the vastness of black beauty is reflected in the model. She’s a trans black woman and a plus sized black woman and this advertisement says that her blackness and the intersection of all her identities are beautiful and powerful. This advertisement properly represents black women by portraying her story and body in a powerful honest way rather than objectifying her.

20 years exist in between the two advertisements. Although progress has been made when it comes to the portrayal of black women in the media, there is still so much to be done. We’ve only just begun. Black women deserve more than to have their black bodies objectified in order to be in the media at all. Additionally, representation is more than photographing someone who’s not white or thin or cis. It’s also about the story you tell within that image. It’s about the ideas enforced and conformed to inside the story the media decides to tell and whether or not that story is an honest reflection of reality. It’s about whether a marginalized group will see their story told in a big beautiful way, in the way they deserve to be seen. It’s about whether or not the media is interested in painting a portrait of reality, of displaying the beauty in the black woman or whether they’re more interested in using her black body, objectifying it, fetishizing it, and selling it like another one of their products. Except, black women are not for sale. We are not anyone else’s to possess. We are our own and the second advertisement is ready to shatter the norms we’ve learned to accept. The model is breaking standards of beauty designed to exclude her and the time to join her in the hour of change is now. The hour is now because all women deserve to see themselves in this light. The hour is now because the woman in the first image deserves to be captured beautifully rather than dehumanized. The hour is now because it’s time to question everything we’ve ever known in pursuit of freeing our minds from conformity to a beauty standard that would rather dehumanize the black woman's body than celebrate her.