ipl-logo

Summary Of Dorothy Roberts 'Killing The Black Body'

960 Words4 Pages

Dorothy Roberts ' Killing the Black Body confronts racial injustice in America by tackling the historical and ever-present assault on Black women 's procreative freedom and reproductive autonomy. It emphasizes the significance of including Black women 's experience with issues such as perceived promiscuity and eugenics, and the struggle to control their own bodies in the study of the birth control and reproductive liberty movement. Roberts centralizes her arguments on four central themes, which include how "Regulating Black women 's reproductive decisions has been a central aspect of racial oppression in America,… how the control of their reproduction has shaped the meaning of reproductive liberty in America,… that we need to reconsider the meaning of reproductive liberty to take into account its relationship to racial oppression,… and that reproductive freedom is a matter of social justice, not individual choice" (Roberts, 6). Simone de Beauvoir wrote in her feminist philosophy, The Second Sex, that "It was as a Mother that woman was fearsome: it is in maternity that she must be transfigured and enslaved". She appropriately described how in Motherhood, a woman 's identity can be devalued. A relevant example of this point is the derogatory icons of Black Women - Jezebel, Mammy, Aunt Jemima, Matriarch, and Welfare Queens (Roberts, 8). Each of these icons is rooted in the deep mythology that applies racial politics to black women by corrupting the reproduction process at

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of 4: 44 By Anthony Boynton

    984 Words  | 4 Pages

    The disregard for black women is an issue that is slowly becoming a topic of discussion. In addition to Malcolm X’s acknowledgement that “The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman”, Crunktastic writes in the Crunk Feminist Collections about her experience being a black woman and being disrespected. Both Boynton and Crunktastic write pieces that encourage men to put aside their feelings of entitlement and begin to respect black women.

    Read More

  • AMH 2035 Final Exam Questions

    625 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Critical Race Theory was developed by a group of feminist scholars who studied the ways “racism and sexism helped to create and reinforce a power structure that historically privileged white males had over other Americans”. In the past 20 years, critical race theorists have used slave history to prove how a negative image of black women has persisted. It is the opinion of many respected scholars that the Critical Race Theory is difficult to define with simple examples. Two female scholars Derrick Bell and Darlene Clark Hine gave detailed examples to clarify their claims that race and gender played a major role in how CRT scholars were able to demonstrate why slave owners created the “jezebel” and “mammy” stereotypes. The “jezebel” was a term that implied a black female slave was a primitive creature with uncontrollable sex urges which caused innocent white slave owners to lose self-control.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of No More Nice Girls By Ellen Willis

    1267 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rather than stating the argument, Willis poses it as a question, “Are the fetuses the moral equivalent of born human beings?” (Abortion Debate 76), thus showing how modern feminists can only support one side of the argument in their chosen stance, and cause limitations by doing so. In doing so, Willis shows how to some “extent… we objectify our enemy and define the terms of our struggle as might makes right, the struggle misses its point” (Ministries of Fear 210), which implies that feminists have completely missed the point of the argument by getting caught up in an answer. Rather than looking for a compromise or gray area, they exert their stance as the only solution that woman can have. Willis also shows how feminists fundamentally “see the primary goal of feminism as freeing omen from the imposition of so called ‘male values’, and creating an alternative culture based on ‘female values’”

    Read More

  • Linda From Incidents Sparknotes

    790 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Incidents, there are a multitude of challenges presented through Linda where the reader can explore the indecencies submitted to young slave girls. Outside of being torn away from their children and family, spoken to through various degrading commentary causing emotional and mental strife, the most damning tribulation to being the misrepresentation of a hideous, colored women would be the constant and continuous raping done by slave masters and other men who lacked melanin. Another bereavement of conception would be the requirement to respect and retain loyalty to those who neither deserve nor reciprocate the same actions due to entitlement, color pigmentation, or ranking. Young slave women were beaten and dehumanized by individuals whose

    Read More

  • The Fourteenth Amendment: Muller V. Illinois

    244 Words  | 1 Pages

    On July 9th, 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in order to secure the previously infringed on rights of formerly enslaved African Americans. This racially charged amendment was intended to guarantee the protection for these former slaves, yet this amendment was distorted in order to justify and deny rights for women, gay couples, men, and various other minority groups. Through examining specific cases such as, Muller v. Oregon and Bradwell v. Illinois, it becomes evident that this amendment has been used both positively and negatively to effect women’s rights and protection under the law. Especially in regarding the 19th century, the Fourteenth Amendment was used to rationalize sexist actions by employers, states, and other officials.

    Read More

  • Terror In The Heart Of Freedom Summary

    983 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rosen points out that African American women were framed by negative stereo types that depicted them as sexually promiscuous, unruly, and lacking virtue. Rosen describes how the media, the judicial system, and the Klu Klux Klan used these talking points to prolong or prevent the full citizenship of both African American men and African American women. Rosen points out that the night raids in which the Klu Klux Klan terrorized the African American population used tactics such as separating the men from

    Read More

  • Feminism: The Damnation Of Women By Du Bois

    172 Words  | 1 Pages

    Feminism greatly ties into “The Damnation of Women essay in many ways. Firstly, Du Bois took a feminist approach by focusing on the oppression of women and injustice when it came to Black women. One major aspect of feminism is the objectification of women. Historical as briefly mentioned in the essay Black women bodies had been objectified. The two following quotes show how Black women were viewed as objects instead of humans, “she was mated as the stock of the plantation were mated, not to be the companion of a loved and chosen husband, but to be the breeder of human cattle for the field or the auction block.

    Read More

  • In The Uses Of Anger By Audre Lorde

    811 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1980’s black women are faced with a lot pressure in society, Because women of color are both women and racial minorities, they face more pressure in which lower economic opportunities due to their race and their gender. This pressure is reflected both in the jobs available to them and in their lower pay. Also because they are women of color they are likely to be the giver of the house and also within the families. Through the use of anecdotes,rhetorical questions, anaphora, ethos and metaphors, "In The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism, Audre Lorde argues that women of color need to respond to racism with anger spurred from their fear and that not a bad thing depends on how anger is portrayed.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Ar 'N' T I A Women By Deborah Grey White

    880 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book Ar’n’t I a women the author, Deborah Gray White, explains how the life was for the slave women in the Southern plantations. She reveals to us how the slave women had to deal with difficulties of racism as well as dealing with sexism. Slave women in these plantations assumed roles within the family as well as the community; these roles were completely different to the roles given to a traditional white female. Deborah Gray White shows us how black women had a different experience from the black men and the struggle they had to maintain their sense of womanhood against all odds, resist sexual oppression, and keep their families together. In the book the author describes two different types of women, “Jezebel” and “Mammy” they

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In Toni Morrison's In Beloved

    1238 Words  | 5 Pages

    Morrison’s authorship elucidates the conditions of motherhood showing how black women’s existence is warped by severing conditions of slavery. In this novel, it becomes apparent how in a patriarchal society a woman can feel guilty when choosing interests, career and self-development before motherhood. The sacrifice that has to be made by a mother is evident and natural, but equality in a relationship means shared responsibility and with that, the sacrifices are less on both part. Although motherhood can be a wonderful experience many women fear it in view of the tamming of the other and the obligation that eventually lies on the mother. Training alludes to how the female is situated in the home and how the nurturing of the child and additional local errands has now turned into her circle and obligation.

    Read More

  • Summary Of An End To The Neglect Of The Negro Woman

    427 Words  | 2 Pages

    The excerpt I chose to reflect on is called “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” by Claudia Jones (1949). Jones express the concerns that women of color in her time suffer from the neglect and degradation they receive throughout their lives. During this time, the reason many African American women go through the struggles in their community originated from the notion that the “bourgeoisie is fearful of the militancy of the Negro woman” (108). In my opinion, they have every right to be afraid of African American women. As Jones stated nicely "once Negro women undertake action, the militancy of the whole Negro people, and thus of the anti-imperialist coalition, is greatly enhanced" (108).

    Read More

  • The Color Purple Rhetorical Analysis

    1225 Words  | 5 Pages

    As black women always conform under patriarchal principles, women are generally silenced and deprived of rights because men are entitled to control everything. Women are silenced in a way that they lose their confidence and hesitate to speak up due to the norms present in the society they live in. Hence, even if women have the confidence to try to speak, men wouldn’t bother to listen since men ought to believe that they are superior to women. In addition to that, women often live in a life cycle of repetitions due to patriarchal principles since women are established to fulfill the roles the society had given them. It is evidenced by Celie as she struggles to survive and to define oneself apart from the controlling, manipulative, and abusive men in her life.

    Read More

  • Angela Davis: A Social Activist

    869 Words  | 4 Pages

    To be specific, she situates the imminent feminist struggle by highlighting the legacy of slavery among black people, and black women in particular. “Black women bore the terrible burden of equality in oppression” (Davis). Due to her race, her writing focuses on what she understood and ideas that are relevant to black females. Conversely, since white men used black women in domestic labor and forcefully rape these individuals. These men used this powerful weapon to remind black women of their female and vulnerability.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

    1288 Words  | 6 Pages

    Her tragedy reflects not only the sexism in the African American families in early 20th century, but also the uselessness

    Read More

  • Social Stratification In The Movie The Help

    610 Words  | 3 Pages

    Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

    Read More

More about Summary Of Dorothy Roberts 'Killing The Black Body'

Open Document