“…I’m cool on food for thought, but for you I’m a starver…”- Lupe

 

The stereotypical image of the 'black jezebel'

 

….I’ve been doing research on the characters of Jezebel and Sapphire for quite a few years now, just because it ties in completely with my research and overall interests and since I’m diving in so deep, I felt like it was necessary to share this because knowledge is the ultimate power…

…Initially I envisioned that I’d drop a few lines concerning both of the “stereotypical images” but since I like to be thorough, I figured that this could be broken up into a few posts…

…peep this

…Black feminist scholars have documented two stereotypical images of Black women, “Jezebel” and “Sapphire,” stereotypical images that persist throughout history as complex representations of Black womanhood and if you know anything about the pure image of Jezebel, she is the bad-black-girl, who is depicted as alluring and seductive as she either indiscriminately mesmerizes men and lures them into her bed, or very deliberately lures into her snares those who have something of value to offer her.Jezebel is usually depicted as the “over-sexed” vixen who barters with her physical anatomy(if you will)…

…On the other hand, we have Sapphire, who is the wise-cracking, balls-crushing, emasculating woman (the bitch) who is usually depicted as the hands on hip-head thrown back-finger snappin’ one who makes it point to let everyone know that  she’s running “thangs.”

The 'Sapphire' character from 'Amos & Andy'

….. Undoubtedly, we’ve all probably  been in the presence of a modern day Jezebel/Sapphire (no names please!) and I can’t help but to admit that my initial curiosity concerning these stigmas have led me to full blown research on the topic. My initial perplexing moment moves me to ask the following:

• “Are these images correct?
• And if these images are correct,  “Do contemporary versions of ‘Jezebel’  and ‘Sapphire’ exist?”  (reinforcing negative colonizing images of Black women) and resistance (creating oppositional narratives to colonizing discourses).
• “And then finally, if contemporary versions of the ‘Jezebel’ and ‘Sapphire’ do exist, where are they and what do these images imply?”

…so think on these thoughts and questions, and we’ll review and move forward in the next post…

…stay tuned…