Roots to Rediscovery: Reclaiming Afro Eroticism
Sexuality, like Blackness, is both phenomenally natural and intrinsically political. To fully understand the story of Black people's presence in this country, you must acknowledge the reality of Black people's sexual acceptance and White supremacist sexual fears.
"White racism is rooted in the fear of Black sexuality." -Excerpt from Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins
Black history does not begin with the introduction of Europeans; however, for the purposes of this article, that is exactly where we'll be starting. The legacies of colonialism still shape our sense of self and modern-day politics. There is no way to discuss one without addressing the other. The Europeans didn't come to Africa empty-handed. They came with all the baggage of rigid moral ideals, including sex-negativity and racial superiority. Instead of reflecting on the “Why” for the cultural differences between themselves and the Africans they met, they relegated them to be no better than a beast. They saw their scantily clad appearance as evidence of their promiscuity instead of evidence of adapting to extreme heat. They watched lustfully at how African women moved and used this to define all Africans as sexually insatiable and out of control. This drove their barbaric policies that intended to police Black sexual expression from then to today. Fortunately, my people are strong-willed. Even when we were seen as theirs' we were ours. Through time we always found ways to circumvent oppression and embrace our sensual sides. That is who we are, and this is our story.
The History of Colonial Oppression of Black Eroticism
Knowledge is power, and therefore there is a revolution in reclamation. The Black American sexual story is as vast and as diverse as the people it reflects. Often the only way forward is to look back. Follow me as we start at the cross-section of Black introduction into America. This is a journey of loss and love, survival and success, shame and celebration, and the truth of the Black erotic existence.
We all know the story of the Transatlantic slave trade and the horrors inflicted on people of African descent. At the inception of this country, Black folks were thought of as property which means, like our persons, our sexuality also belonged to the system of white supremacy. The White fear of Black sexuality initiated the systematic attempt at destroying Black eroticism. It started by eliminating our bodily autonomy. Our bodies were not ours to do with as we pleased. Our bodies were used as machines to labor away to the point of exhaustion and death. Our breasts were used to feed not the children born of our bodies but the children of our enslavers. Our families were forcibly separated. Our women were assaulted to fill the sexual fantasies of White men and to provide a steady workforce. Our men were raped to satisfy bored White women and as a means of psychological control. The children born to us were destined to the same fate as their parents. Our assumed promiscuity was the justification for immeasurable horrors committed against us. We had no bodily autonomy. We had no reproductive control.
However, we fought back in big and little ways every day. When they said we could not marry, we created the custom of jumping the broom to symbolize the unions of our love. Enslaved women learned homeopathic remedies to prevent or end their pregnancies, not to condemn their children to the horrors of slavery. Sometimes they even chose to make the difficult decision of killing born babies themselves as a labor of love. Rather than be raped, many fled North in search of better conditions. Bred and brutalized, white society believed they had control of "Who We Are", but Black people have always defined themselves for themselves (even against great odds).
Embracing Black Sexuality Despite Historical Oppression
After slavery, White attitudes changed from forcing our population for labor to wanting to limit our growth. It was once incentivized to procreate by means of not getting sold and maybe (depending on the owner) better treatment; it was now highly penalized. Forced sterilizations, temporary and permanent, happened in mass. Black people were still under the threat of near-constant sexual violence from those who saw them as incapable of being raped. Black men's perceived inability to control their sexuality also cost them their health and their lives when it came to their interactions with White women.
Regardless of these facts, Black people fought hard to support their families, for their right to marriage (both within and outside of their race), and be seen as human. Even as we faced adversity, Black people still found ways to explore and define our sexual selves.
William Dorsey Swann was the world's first Drag Queen. Born enslaved, he was the first person in the U.S. to lead a queer resistance group and the first known person to self-identify as a "Queen of Drag". He created spaces for Queer, Black folks to embrace their sexuality and gender identities while building community with one another. As the Great Migration saw Black people move from the South to the urban North, this migration expanded opportunities for them to define their own Blackness.
The Harlem Renaissance and Blues music showcased how Black folks were committed to exploring themselves using the art scene regardless of White perceptions of the time. We saw significant themes of Black sexuality, homoeroticism, and Black feminism during this time. Here we saw the creation of Shake Dancers and the subsequent theft of their erotic work by white burlesque troupes of the times. Using the Blues, women discussed tapping into their own sexual power.
The trend continues with the Summer of Love, the Black origins of rock, the rise of disco, and the Hip-Hop and the Video Vixen era. At the same time as a collective Black sexual awakening, we also saw the emergence of respectability politics. While some in the community found freedom in saying F.U. to white society's standards, others thought their liberation would be found in assimilation. Respectability politics is the belief that conforming to societal norms will grant marginalized communities a seat at the table. The philosophy came from the idea that if we "behaved," then the powers that be would have no choice but to respect and therefore accept us.
The Self-Policing of Black Eroticism Beyond White Supremacy
"Respectability politics subjugate personal responsibility." Sarah Kelsey Hall
White society wasn't the only community policing Black sexual expression. We also policed ourselves. The center of Black culture is the Black church. Whether you believe it or not, all our lives have been influenced by its' presence. Unfortunately, respectability is a significant tenet of Black religious principles. As hard as Black people fought to self-define their erotic power, others fought to restrict it. This is a direct result of the tyranny of White supremacy. I don't blame folks for trying to get in where they fit in, but Whiteness doesn't want us to fit in. They will forever move the goal post because White supremacy views Blackness as the antithesis of Whiteness. We must let go of the desire to assimilate into White Society and instead find ways to prosper as a community. This includes embracing the aspects of the Black culture they tried to make us hate within ourselves.
Supreme Power in the Reclamation & Rediscovering of Black Eroticism
There is power in reclamation. Reclamation can be expressed differently by different people. When we liberate ourselves from White Supremacist scripts, we can fully become who we were always meant to be. Reclaiming our sexual power is not about extremes. It's not about forcing hyper-sexuality as a means of rejecting sexual rigidity. Reclaiming means tapping into what was always yours—finding ways to express the erotic in ways that feel the most natural to you without judgment. This could be my engaging in polygamous relations like some of our ancestors, which could mean devoting yourself exclusively to one person or somewhere in between. The goal isn't to overthrow our oppressors to become them merely. Black people are not a monolith, and neither is our eroticism.
"Once we begin to feel deeply all the aspects of our lives, we begin to demand from ourselves and from our life-pursuits that they feel in accordance with that joy which we know ourselves to be capable of. Our erotic knowledge empowers us, becomes a lens through which we scrutinize all aspects of our existence, forcing us to evaluate those aspects honestly in terms of their relative meaning within our lives...." – Audre Lorde
Reclamation is often easier said than done. There is a lot of reflection and self-work involved. It means unlearning harmful ideas passed down over generations. It means learning new ways to commune with our bodies and our sexual practices. We must look at where some of the narratives we have come from and decern if they are a product of White Supremacy. We must re-evaluate how we view and sometimes judge others for not living in conjunction with our own sense of morality. We must take note of the ways we try to impose our own ethics on the lifestyles of others. Ultimately, we must learn to give ourselves and each other grace and love.
"Even if it makes others uncomfortable, I will love who I am."- Janelle Monáe
This world attempts every day in various ways to destroy the psyche of the Black community- mind, body, and spirit. It is our labor of love to each other, never to let them.
Juneteenth is right around the corner! What better way to celebrate than educating ourselves on the history of our people and how reconnecting to our roots of eroticism can push Black culture forward in every aspect. A significant part of Lala's Bedtime Tales mission is to provide a safe space and judgment-free zone to educate yourself on sexual health & wellness. The Sexual Health & Wellness corner will have monthly articles dedicated to continuous education on living a positive and sexually healthy lifestyle. Subscribe to Lala's Bedtime Tales Newsletter and follow @LalasBedtimeTales on social media to never miss any sexual education to help you live the healthiest life possible. Also, check out the Lala's Bedtime Tales Podcast and Lala's Oh So Exclusive Patreon account for even more content! If you’re browsing for sexy pleasure products or cute giftable items, then check out Lala’s Pleasure Shop.
