Black men in dresses
Darryl James just wrote a great column for EURWeb.com about how angry he is that the image of the black male is “under attack” in America. In some places his commentary comes dangerously close to sounding homophobic, particularly when he’s complaining about how the “diminishing and effeminization of the Black male.”
The Black man in drag is one of the new coons. It’s hip and chic and the stereotype is comfortable for all who may have fear of a strong Black man. For white people, the stereotype presents a non-threatening Black male who won’t stand up to racism or start a revolution. No one has to oppress him, because he’s self-castrated.
The stereotype is also comfortable for women who have had nothing good come from relationships with Black men because a castrated clown won’t tell them what to do, won’t beat them and will sit down with them as nearly one of them. Perhaps they find comfort in this new role of the sensitive male gone too far–so far that he has become the woman. Literally…
And, dig, if you will the release of Martin Lawrence’s drag queen gig “Big Mama’s House, II,” during the same time period.
Even the most popular comedian today, Dave Chappelle recoiled when they came at him with the dress, which he acknowledges is always a part of the plan for Black men in entertainment.
Jamie Foxx wore the dress as Wanda long before Oscar consideration. And Martin Lawrence first played “dress up” on his very own sitcom, playing an ugly, ignorant woman that Black women should have beaten him for.
While I don’t agree 100% with his analysis, I do think that the increasing popularity of having black men dress in drag is something worth examining. Dave Chapelle talked about this phenomenon when he recently appeared on the Oprah show. Why is it that at some point in their careers, every black actor will be asked to put on a dress?, he asked rhetorically. Of course for fear of alienating her core audience of white housewives, Oprah didn’t let him get too deep into discussing how a white-run Hollywood ultimately enjoys casting people of color in certain kinds of demeaning roles (he talked about feeling like “damn, they got me!”), but it’s an interesting issue. When a black man puts on a dress, is it a way of eliminating his oh-so-threatening black male sexuality? (By the way, if you haven’t already, definitely check out Scott Poulson-Bryant’s excellent book on the subject, Hung : A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America.)
Darryl James just wrote a great column for EURWeb.com about how angry he is that the image of the black male is “under attack” in America. In some places his commentary comes dangerously close to sounding homophobic, particularly when he’s complaining about how the “diminishing and effeminization of the Black male.”
The Black man in drag is one of the new coons. It’s hip and chic and the stereotype is comfortable for all who may have fear of a strong Black man. For white people, the stereotype presents a non-threatening Black male who won’t stand up to racism or start a revolution. No one has to oppress him, because he’s self-castrated.
The stereotype is also comfortable for women who have had nothing good come from relationships with Black men because a castrated clown won’t tell them what to do, won’t beat them and will sit down with them as nearly one of them. Perhaps they find comfort in this new role of the sensitive male gone too far–so far that he has become the woman. Literally…
And, dig, if you will the release of Martin Lawrence’s drag queen gig “Big Mama’s House, II,” during the same time period.
Even the most popular comedian today, Dave Chappelle recoiled when they came at him with the dress, which he acknowledges is always a part of the plan for Black men in entertainment.
Jamie Foxx wore the dress as Wanda long before Oscar consideration. And Martin Lawrence first played “dress up” on his very own sitcom, playing an ugly, ignorant woman that Black women should have beaten him for.
While I don’t agree 100% with his analysis, I do think that the increasing popularity of having black men dress in drag is something worth examining. Dave Chapelle talked about this phenomenon when he recently appeared on the Oprah show. Why is it that at some point in their careers, every black actor will be asked to put on a dress?, he asked rhetorically. Of course for fear of alienating her core audience of white housewives, Oprah didn’t let him get too deep into discussing how a white-run Hollywood ultimately enjoys casting people of color in certain kinds of demeaning roles (he talked about feeling like “damn, they got me!”), but it’s an interesting issue. When a black man puts on a dress, is it a way of eliminating his oh-so-threatening black male sexuality? (By the way, if you haven’t already, definitely check out Scott Poulson-Bryant’s excellent book on the subject, Hung : A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America.)
