Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Whose the Best Woman of Them All
A look into how and why the role of the “other” was placed on black women, and how it negatively impacted them during slavery and even now in 2017.
Most people are surely familiar with Snow White, the fairy-tale about a girl who was the “Fairest of them All” or so said a man in a mirror but, no one ever really talks about the evil Queen story. She is perceived to be an envious person who is constantly judging her own beauty based on the qualities that Snow White possesses, but mainly her “fair” (read: white) skin. Now refer back to the 1800’s where white woman categorized black women slaves as the “other” based on their skin and suddenly the classic Disney movie can be a subtle metaphor for racism.
In our dichotomous society we tend to compare people based on their “opposites.” Black woman have always been the “other” to white women, and women in general have always been the “other” to men. However, some people refuse to acknowledge how that label came about and stuck around even now in 2017. Patricia Hill Collins, a sociology professor and author, believes that white woman can define their normalcy based on African American women’s status as an “outsider.”
She argues that back when slavery was the norm, many white women saw black women as a threat and needed to exercise their domination over them. To do so they needed to oppress both black women’s race and gender. Despite also being women themselves, white women believed they were in control because of their fair skin and wealthy status. The concept of intersectionality was not a thing back then. So, in order to make black women subordinates, white women classified them as the “other”. White women were supposed to be the epitome of the perfect woman, but black women were seen as dirty, whores, and impure.
The labels went even further and black women began to be classified into one of four categories: the mammy, the matriarch, the welfare mother/queen or the Jezebel. Meanwhile, white women get to be labeled hardworking and “saviors”. Even today we see these tropes portrayed in media, especially in film.
Movies Perpetuating Tropes
A perfect example of these tropes in action is the 2009 Drama “The Blind Side”. In this depiction of a true story, Sandra Bullock plays the wealthy Leigh Anne Tuohy, an upper class white woman who stumbles across Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron), a homeless black teenager. Throughout the film she cares for him and then fights for his adoption and assimilation into her cookie cutter life. But the scene that stands out the most is when she visits Michael’s biological mother. The contrast between how Leigh and the mother are portrayed is stark.
Michael’s mother is painted as unstable and unable to care for her children which prompts Bullock’s character to come in as the white savior and save the day by taking care of Michael and putting him through school. I can remember watching this movie as a child and thinking that this white mother was so brave and amazing for taking on this challenge. Now, after re-watching the film with the knowledge I have from taking multiple courses in Gender Studies, I can see how problematic this film actually is. It’s painting black motherhood in a bad light and further perpetuating negative stereotypes about black women while white women are getting praised.
Even black men contribute to the categorization of black women. The constant objectification of women’s bodies in music videos or even Tyler Perry’s adaptations of a black matriarch in his Madea films are just a couple examples.
What Women Do to Fit In
So how can black women be treated as equals? That has been a challenging question for some, but the answer is not so simple. In an effort to assimilate to white culture and gain some semblance of equality, many black women have attempted to lighten their skin using skin bleach. For those of you who may be unfamiliar, the chemicals in skin bleaching products essentially stop your body from synthesizing melanin and that results in lighter skin tones. In some black-centric nations like Ghana, skin bleach cremes are a multi-billion dollar industry.
This bleaching phenomena is aptly named the “Snow White Complex”. White skin is deemed superior and therefore better than the rest while black skin is considered less than beautiful. This concept is even present within black communities. Those with darker skin tones are seen as the “other” to those with lighter skin tones even though they are all black. This intra community bias is fueled by media interpretations of the “other”, which, again, was founded on white women’s racist intentions during the 1800's.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. While skin color is a common factor that defines what makes someone an “other”, names also have an impact on black women’s lives. Someone with the name Jane Smith might be selected for an interview because one can assume she’s white whereas someone with a common black name like Aaliyah might be weeded out because one can assume she’s black. While this may not seem like a common thing, it happens quite a lot. Uzoamaka Aduba, who plays the character “Crazy Eyes” in Orange is the New Black, mentioned that she once wanted to change her name because no one could pronounce it and presumably it would be easier for her to have a name that others recognized. Funny enough, as I type this article, Jane Smith’s name is recognized and correct but there is a red line under Uzo’s name signaling an incorrect spelling or a name that simply does not exist.
This dangerous concept of black women being the opposite to white women has plagued our society for too long. The fact that black women feel the need to change the color of their skin or adopt a “white” name in place of the one their mothers and fathers gave them is appalling. You should not have to be a Snow White in order to get a decent shot at living in this society.
By demonizing black women and classifying them as the “other”, white women have only furthered their own agenda. They became more desirable to their husbands who were having relations with black slaves for breeding purposes. They were able to maintain privilege in fights for women’s suffrage and education. Come modern times they were able to get jobs that didn’t revolve around cleaning homes or taking care of children. White women in the 1800’s set the stage for white women today and gave them endless possibilities while black women and women of color in general are still suffering.
I posed the question earlier about how we can all be truly equal and I feel like we are a long ways away from that. However, I feel like we can inch closer and closer through positive media representations of women. Dove, for example, launched an ad campaign that enforced beautiful skin of all colors. If we celebrate rather than criticize our differences then maybe we can shy away from the idea of the “other” and try to get on board with the idea of the “same”.
