A new documentary by Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington Dr Carolyn West examines how pornography perpetuates racist stereotypes of black women. The documentary was screened at this year's Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Online Global Summit, which Collective Shout's Melinda Tankard Reist and Caitlin Roper also addressed.
Dr West poses the following question:
What happens when your early sexual experiences are masturbating to images of black women being anally, orally and vaginally penetrated by multiple men? What do these images teach you about masculinity? What happens to your humanity? How do these images shape how you see black women, and how do these images shape how black women view ourselves?
Dr West exposes common racist tropes in pornography, such as depictions of black women and men as animalistic, sexual beasts, black women as insatiable, and racist terminology like "dark meat", "hood rats" and "urban hoochies" to refer to black women, and reducing black women to 'big butts'. She situates these racist themes within a wider historical context of racism and slavery.
The porn industry perpetuates “...a belief that black women’s innate hypersexuality made them unrapeable and undeserving of protection and sympathy.”
— Collective Shout (@CollectiveShout) July 26, 2020
-Dr Carolyn West #CESEsummit #endexploitation
Dr West takes viewers on an hour-long visual tour of the image of black women in pornography. She exposes pornography depicting black women being used by KKK members and men holding confederate flags, a series called "Exploited Black Teens" and pornography featuring black women with nooses around their necks. As she points out, the porn industry profits from promoting hateful racist stereotypes of black women.
If you're registered for the CESE summit, you still have a few days to watch this impactful documentary. If not, you can register here.
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