Going Forward
So the idea of the salacious Black male and his monster cock has been used to perpetuate the objectification and brutality of African American men. However, how does one transcend messages of marginalization when they are transmitted through interpersonal, institutional and historical channels?
This particular brand of stereotyping has been called “sexual threat” or “sexual racism.” Fear of Black male sexuality in particular is said to be a core reason for the subjugation of Black American men. Historically, Black men were described as sub-human, animalistic, and lust-driven. This reasoning concludes that Black men are a sexual threat to society and are prone to raping White women.
This idea is vividly depicted within the D.W. Griffith film “Birth of a Nation.” In the film, the central Black character, Gus, aggressively pursues a White female, who ultimately jumps to her death to avoid his advances. Gus is then tried and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan, who are heroically depicted in the film.Accusations of Black male impropriety towards White women were used to justify lynching of Black men. In one of the more notorious real life lynchings, 14-year-old African American Emmett Till, was kidnapped and brutally murdered for reportedly flirting with a White female.Author/Professor Gail Dines accurately reported the ways in which the porn industry plays upon sexual racism. Many of the adult movies with Black men in starring roles use racial themes in the title and often as the flick’s primary selling point. Titles such as “Big Black Dicks, Little White Chicks,” and ‘There´s a Black Man in My Wife´s Ass,” are a microcosm of the porn industry´s perpetuation of Black male sexual stereotypes. In these cases the troupe includes exacerbation of the notion of Black male obsession with White females which was often used to justify lynching of Black males.Larry G. Morton II, in his article entitled: MSM, the Streets, and Lockdown: Sexual Threat and Social Dominance in America, reported that present day stereotypes such as ‘once you go black you never go back’ are examples of attempts to stigmatize Black male sexuality. Or, as Dines revealed: “From the image of the black woman as Jezebel, to the black male as savage, mainstream white representations of blacks have coded black sexuality as deviant, excessive and a threat to the white social order.”
