In pop culture, music, television and Hollywood, the standard size fora woman is size 4 and 130 pounds, max. Venus, Serena and Jenniferdefy this norm. They are brown skinned Black women who are notsize four's and they do not have blond hair. These women aren'tBeyonce, Halle or Rhianna.Venus and Serena's position in the American hierarchy of beautyis a little different from Jennifer as they are athletes, and thus aresubjected to these ridiculous claims that they look like men.Historically, one of the myths used to justify enslaving Black womenis that we were just like the men, so it was reasonable for us to workin the fields along side them. Being like men, it was okay for usto pick cotton in 100 degrees sun up to sun down, because it didn'tbother us.The myth of Black femininity is why the questioning of MichelleObama's femininity wasn't just about Michelle Obama but also aboutthe history of Black women. We run the risk of being called masculine if we refuse to be objects and express our opinions or respondwhen we are attacked. The idea is that if Black women have have an opinionand the courage to express it, they have to prepared to have their femininitycard revoked.Frequently, in pop culture books on relationships state thatone of the reasons why Black men have a hard time dating us,is because we are "super women", "who don't need a man","we talk to much"and consequently are not feminine. In ourculture femininity equals motherhood, but, motherhood isn'tconsidered work and in addition to working as mothers most ofus have always worked outside the home.It is clear that we are on the wrong side of the equation in thisfemininity algebra problem. Which leaves the question, wheredoes our femininity come from? My answer is that we define itfor ourselves.Questioning our femininity runs long deep. As a resultVenus and Serena are arguably symbols of the myths, albeitunnamed, that we continue to battle in order to have the rightto be perceived as humans who should be quiet and be pretty.I have always supported the notion of women playing sports,especially for young women as it has a tendency to teach you thatyour body isn't just something can be sexual, but that itcan be strong and resilient but also fragile and hurt as well.Which brings me to Jennifer Hudson. While Jennifer'sissue isn't being called masculine per se, she trying to negotiateher place in an industry that typically writes off womenwho look the way that she does. An article in the SundayNew York Times spoke at length about her career, how down to earthshe was and I kept waiting to hear about how the way she looksimpacts her career. While the article didn't discuss that, it diddiscuss the angst around her cross over potential.It seems that Clive is trying to figure out how to make a Jennifer Hudsoncross over album. She is in an interesting position. She doesn't looklike other R & B stars, she has been in movies she has won an Oscar, but as never had platinum album. Based on the article, I am unsurewhether she or Clive knows who her base audience is. It appears thatthey are trying to both appeal to the Dream Girls audience and the Sexand the City audience. In the article Jennifer states,“I can’t just put out an R&B song and expect that to go over for everyone,” she said. “I can’t do that with a pop song either. On the album there’s a hip-hop song, a gospel-inspirational song for my church base, and then we have to have the big ballads for fans through ‘Dreamgirls’ or ‘Idol.’ And of course I’m black, so we have to have music for African-American people, which is more on the R&B end. It’s a huge fan base, and that was the scariest part, which is where the pressure came in.”This is interesting as Black music that can cross over has suffered avariety of fates. If the music is all over the place Black folks may notbuy it. If it is pop, she may develope a wider white base but leave herleave her Black fans behind.I am rooting for her. I want her to win. Like Venus and Serena, theyare thick Black women who don't look like the dominant imagesof beauty that we are presented with on a daily basis. Because of this,their successes and struggles symbolize an attempt to create aa wider definition of beauty and at the end of the day, this ishealthy for all of us.
