Don't shame my body!

The black woman's body. Hypersexual? Too obscene? Our bodies become objects. We're over sexualized. In music videos, you see video vixens and that becomes the "ideal" on how a black woman is built. On the contrary, not every black woman has an hour glass shape, a huge butt and a slim waist. If we don't have the body type of a video vixen then we're considered to be "badly" shaped or "starving" if we're too skinny. It's not often you hear about black women having eating disorders when in reality, according to the National Eating Disorders Association states that the reports are on the rise. There are too many people who believe that eating disorders only occur amongst white girls and women. In my experience, growing up in the south, there was a preference of "curvier" women over a woman who was skinny. "Thicker" or "Bigger" body types were praised more. Black southern beauty standards are different from other places, in my opinion. Through a societal lens, there is an expectation of how "African" bodies should look. Our bodies are talked about negatively however are then emulated by other cultures, appropriating something and calling it there own. Sarah "Saartjie" Baartman was an African slave who was sexually objectified because of her unique body type. She was put on display in Europe for men to taunt her and call her things like "sexual deviant" and the greatest deformity in the world". Dating back to early 1800s, our bodies have been shamed and objectified for entertainment. Talking about objectifying bodies makes me think about women who strip. I believe they receive the most slack and disrespect when it comes to their jobs. Most strippers demand respect that they really do deserve, however small minded people baffle because they're basically dancing naked for money. A woman can do whatever she wants to do with her body, that's her right. Nobody is entitled to anything on a woman. Respect is the minimum, regardless of your opinion.