Jezebels, Sapphires, and Mammys

So which one are you? You've got three to choose from: you can either be Sapphire the rude overbearing bitchy, loud and malicious black woman or you can be Jezebel an over sexualized promiscuous whore and last but not least you have the choice of being Mammy, a domesticated and nurturing "yes-a-mam" woman. Jezebel, Mammy and Sapphire once prominent caricatures since the time of slavery are now real life breathing characters within our society. Despite being an age old topic of discussion within the black community; if ever the discussion was needed along with a solution to the problem, now is the time.

After reading a blurb on  Coco and Creme's online magazine about the depiction of black women’s bodies and sharing the link on facebook, a friends response was that the article was a little too vague, which I had to agree with. I'd like to give the writer the benefit of the doubt (it is an age old issue) however with a topic such as this its not to be taken lightly and have the surface of it just touched. Thinking about the state of black women today it dawned on me that despite trying to disprove these stereotypes about us we have in fact brought into and now embody the abovementioned caricatures. For each of the three caricatures I can give many examples of black women who have in fact materialized into these caricatures.

If we really want to study the topic at hand, I can also mention Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden's book "Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America". An eye opening book the two women touch on the five myths within American society (among other topics) which are juxtaposed to the three caricatures. According to the book, the five myths include: 1.) black women are inferior to other people, 2.) black women are unshakable, and are somehow physically and emotionally impervious to life's most challenging circumstances and events, 3.) black women are deemed strong, invulnerable, and unshakable and are often stereotyped as unfeminine, 4.) are especially prone to criminal activity, and 5.) black women are perceived as sexually promiscuous and irresponsible. The three female caricatures embody these 5 myths. Is it me or is that the more we fight against theses myths the more that we in fact become them?

Sometimes I wonder if this topic/discussion/problem is really even worth the discussion or the energy to battle. As some would say we're so far gone that the damage cannot be repaired or as others would say "Im tired of the whole black woman’s empowerment movement and would rather live, trust God and die". These are simply my thoughts however to have knowledge of these issues and discussions at hand and not be proactive kind of sucks and only deprives us any power that we do have...