Race And Sexuality

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Race and Sexuality in the United States of America from 1880-1940
Joane Nagel reveals 2000 that “No ethnic boundary is more sexualized , surveilled, and scrutinized in US society than the color line dividing blacks and white” (Ethnicity and Sexuality, 2000, p.122). Racial theme has been a major part of US history since the colonial and slavery eras. The struggle of minorities to overcome the oppressors has led to the creation of many civil right organizations which demanded respect, freedom, equal rights and social advancement. Not only were minorities politically and economically disadvantaged, their sexualities were also designed to control them. Normality, which permitted acceptance and adherence into a civilized society, became visible in racial and sexual discussions. What is considered authentic and normal sexualities in the US from 1880-1940? This paper examines how race manifests in control over sexuality by exploring ideologies such as class, gender and race, which form sexual beliefs and practices among white and African Americans.
Race and sexuality operate as systems of power. During slavery, black people had been politically and economically dependent upon white people. That dependence classified group of people according to their social standings. To maintain social and economic positions, sexual regulations were established as politics to control and discipline racial subjects. In Ehlers, Nadine. 2011 “Onerous passions: colonial anti-miscegenation rhetoric and the history of sexuality.”Patterns of Prejudice 45(4):319-340, the author argues that race, gender, sex, racial identity and sexuality are inextricably linked through various discursive operations. She addressed in her analysis how ...

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...d image of black women as purely sexualized creatures are now used by hip-hop and porn industry. Even though its survival and popularity have overcome the former representation of black sexuality, black women’s bodies are still seen as object for business purposes. We can now see black sexuality as authoritative, legitimate and powerful identity.
The intersectionality of race and sexuality can be translated as the relation between the two elements and how they are influenced by one another. Meaning that the objectification and discrimination of black women’s bodies was directly shaped by white race. For example, the involvement of medical and scientific knowledge in the constructing of black sexuality as animalistic, uncivilized became the sexuality known to the world. The implementation of ideal sexuality was socially constructed to police minorities’ sexuality.

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