For Colored Books: Book Review: For Colored Books

For this assignment, I decided to analyze a scene from the movie For Colored Books (2010), which was based off of Ntozake Shange’s 1975 play for colored who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. The scene that I will discuss follows the “lady in yellow,” also known as Yasmine, played by Anika Noni Rose. The scene is an example of how a rapist does not have to be a stranger. This particular scene in the movie was difficult to watch for two reasons. The first being that Yasmine had invited a man, Bill, over to her home that she believed was a good man. She had no intention that the night was going to end with her being raped. She had opened up herself and allowed someone in and they took advantage of her. Second, as she explaining

In the film, For Colored Girls (2010), there are several storylines where black women are victims of all types of sexual assault. However, Yasmine’s story especially spoke to me because she is the one that I can relate to the most. Here is an example of a black woman who was just trying to find love through a healthy relationship and she ends up having a piece of her taken away by a black man. Before he proceeded to rape her, she was explaining how she felt like the date went well and how it did not seem fake like the ones she had previous experienced. She was blindsided. The most frightening point is that I could at any point be Yasmine. I am an African-American woman who lives in an apartment by myself who enjoys cooking. Since a rapist does not have one particular face, how would I know if I invite a man that I feel comfortable enough to invite into my home, will end up raping me? This is where the fear that Jill Filipovic mentions in her essay Offensive Feminism: The Conservative Gender Norms That Perpetuate Rape Culture, and How Feminists Can Fight Back comes into play. Because “73 percent of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victims knows (Filipovic 21), I have to always be on alert to ensure that I do not “set myself up” to be raped. Yes, there are suggestions that Filipovic mentions that women are

Yasmine had verbally expressed to Bill that she did not want to have sex. She was clear about her intentions when she told him, “We are supposed to be having dinner,” and later when she said, “No you have it all wrong.” However, Bill proceeded to assault her because he wanted to. Rape is a choice, not a misunderstanding. Could Yasmine have been more direct with Bill by stating, “I do not want to have sex with you tonight?” Yes she could have, but that is beside the point. No means