THEN
For centuries, Black female sexuality has been both distorted and put on display. To justify her repeated literal and figurative rape, slave owners deemed her as innately promiscuous with an insatiable sexual appetite. When the Black slave woman was not considered the “Jezebel,” she was completely devoid of any sexuality. She was the Mammy—a loyal domestic servant to Whites that was always jovial, overweight and maternal.

NOW
This public display and distortion of Black female sexuality has moved from the plantation to our newsstands, web browsers and smartphones. Today, it’s common to find Black models featured in fashion spreads or ads in ways that accentuate their “other-ness.” Very dark-skinned models are frequently casted in spreads about white or bright color. Others are dressed in exotic attire or are photographed in a jungle or on a desert. And often, Black women are the only bare bodies on the page.

FASHION FORWARD
Some argue that all-Black magazine issues and runway shows are steps in the right direction, but fashion has a long way to go. While it’s easy to point fingers, we’re all passengers on this journey. The fashion industry as a whole must be more willing to portray the Black female model in ways that don’t exoticize and hypersexualize her. It’s also imperative that fashion designers and magazines become more embracing of Black models appearing in their ads and fashion spreads.

In reference to her 1997 Lavazza calendar shot where she posed naked inside a coffee cup, model Alek Wek notes in her memoir, “I can’t help but compare them to all the images of black people that have been used in marketing over the decades.” Like Wek, we must each continue to be critical of how Black women are (willingly and unwillingly) portrayed. If the conversation dies, this legacy of sexual objectification lives.

- Audra E. Lord