Grace Biskie wonders what she’s supposed to tell her two young sons about the black woman chair.
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When an international magazine editor sits down on a chair called “the black woman chair,” for an editorial magazine…
…heads are scratched. Pearls are actually clutched. Swear words are articulated. Anger is not just in the head or heart, it is felt in the body. From anger to sadness to despair.
Then you remember this IS our reality. You forgot…since yesterday.
You post it on Facebook and every one feels ALL THE RAGE. And you feel confirmed that it IS -in fact- jarring, awful, perhaps even evil. A piece of “art” gone rogue. A misstep by an editor, a photographer, a magazine editor, a publisher.
They apologize, say “everyone is equal” but you know in your heart this was no unintentional misstep. This chair was made to be intentionally “provocative,” they can call it “not racism,” and a “piece of art,” and you can call bullshit all day but mostly you stuff it down because if you didn’t each new instance of your objectification would suffocate you.
You wonder what you’re supposed to tell your two young sons about the black woman chair. They are only 4 & 8 and Lord Willing will not see it due to limited internet use but you know they will catch get wind of how black women are objectified and over-sexualized from ALL THE THINGS. Things as “innocent” as Miley Cyrus appropriating black women on prime-time to the not-so-innocent portrayals of black women as sluts, hoes & bitches in song lyrics and music videos.
You think about your boys seeing this about other black women, but what about you? Haven’t they all ready internalized it in YOU –their own flesh and blood Mama is different and not in a good way?
Your heart aches because they can articulate that your natural hair styles are “crazy,” “too big,” “silly,” & “out of control.” You smile and they smile because they are little people, articulating the only truths they know: you & all your hair look different from the messages I’ve all ready been told about what is beautiful and acceptable.
You are not beautiful, black woman, you are silly.
It’s a small thing really in comparison. Yet, it sends a message you know loud and clear: by the time these boys are 14 & 18 they will know -maybe even believe- black women are worth less than white women. They will know their Mama is a part of one of the most marginalized populations on the planet and God help them if you don’t raise them up to be responsible advocates.
You wonder what message a chair like this sends to little boys in light of African-American history. You wonder how your boys will respond when they learn how often black slave women were raped by white slave owners, how painting the picture of black women as Jezebels, harlots, whores and sluts is a socially accepted way of interacting with us?
To degrade the black woman then is now every bit as acceptable in art. Art, it covers all manner of sins doesn’t it?
You will teach your boys that half of us -HALF- have been sexually abused by 18. One day, you will tell your boys their own black grandfather spent 8 years in prison for doing just that to their Mama. They will hate him, and you will try to teach them the freedom in forgiveness. You will try to help them understand black women’s bodies aren’t their right to use, denigrate, objectify as they please…even as you try to understand this yourself.
You wonder if you can use an image like this -at least the idea of it- to explain the emotional violence against you and your Sisters face every day. The positioning of her legs, the belt, she is vulnerable. My positioning in this country, is every day as vulnerable. Will it help to tell them my sons how often black women are molested and told to keep quiet? Will it overwhelm them if they know how often black women are raped?
You want them to know this because you do not want them to grow up without understanding how vulnerable we all are. You want them to know if you were ever murdered or stolen they may never see justice because folks simply won’t care.
You want them to see little black girls in the 7th grade with big natural hair or dreads and find them every bit as beautiful and desirous as the blond haired blue-eyed baby girl across the row. You hope that one day your sons will find a strong black woman marry-able not “too loud,” “too crazy,” “too angry,” “too natural,” “too sexual,” “too dark,” or “too” anything. Yet, this is not the path of least resistance, this is The Hard Path.
For your sons to choose to marry a black woman means them seeing past images and messages like the black woman chair over and over and over again without internalizing it, while choosing to acknowledge both their male and light-skinned biracial privilege which will likely allow them to float through life without having to deal with any of this unless they choose to.
You want to be hopeful but you worry. You feel as if you could suffocate.
You worry because even when you are beautiful and successful the media will lighten your skin to look like…well, me.
You worry because you know you may not get the next job promotion your very fair skinned sons may get due to your natural hair.
You worry because many black women die without honor.
You worry because researchers have linked the experience of constant racism to cases of adult onset asthma in black women. That’s if your not dead all ready since black women are the leaders in death rates due to heart disease and heart attack.
You worry because seemingly EVERYONE is afraid of our black men whom we love! Our brothers, our boyfriends, our husbands, our sons, our uncles. And when they are afraid they imprison and kill them. So you worry.
You worry because you try to be a bridge for reconciliation but you are exhausted.
You worry because you fear more black women will be murdered without justice.
You worry because even our First Lady can’t escape being objectified at best as a prop to a political statement, at worst as a sexual object.
This may look like “just a chair.” Just an unfortunate editorial misstep “taken out context,” but don’t lie to yourself.
As a black woman, here’s what I know: this “art” is an image representative of our positioning on this earth.
Almost an exact representation.
Have a seat.
Or stand up and advocate.
The onus to teach our sons a different way is on all of us.
Chair designed by Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard
Originally appeared at Grace Biskie.com
You tell your sons AND Daughters that this is the same-old-game-they-always-play: 1) Tell you their reinforcement of “isms” is art; 2) Tell you that YOU are too sensitive, trying to OFFEND their Freedoms, trying to censor them; 3) Use your genuine awareness of and offense at what they ARE doing for free publicity and to make money off of you and gather more of “their kind” of haters You TEACH your sons and Daughters to, as Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world” and you TEACH them to boycott supporters of what offends them. STOP… Read more »
I’m wondering what you would say to people in the BDSM community about that chair. They would probably have a somewhat different interpretation. Presumably there’s a tiny number of African American women in that community. Their particular interpretations might be a little more complicated?
The BDSM community is all about consent and understanding the importance of power balance. Subs have a LOT of power to control the ways in which they are treated. That’s a fundamental tenant of consent.
This chair isn’t about BDSM when used in this context. It’s about shock value, and it’s about power. Who in this photo has the power? Is the photo about bondage or sexuality? No.
Also, the photo very much looks photoshopped, so not sure this woman was actually sitting on the chair.
The chair itself is purely disgraceful to all women, and I saw the same chair on FB yesterday, with a white woman.
That image is disgusting and reprehensible. And art does not cover all manner of “sins” or vulgarity. Shame on that editor for her blatant disregard for equality and general human decency.
I try to talk about everything with my 13 year old son…even stuff we talk about in hushed tones, he picks up on right away…even stuff about the chair…. My son just covered the Civil War and Reconstruction in the South….we are also reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” along with watching the movie starring Gregory Peck….I have to explain to him that racism did not end and that it still persists in various forms….perhaps some people want to turn back the clock and experience it in some lurid fantasy… Scout Finch (aged 6-8years old) in “To Kill a Mockingbird” asks… Read more »
I don’t mean to be the voice of dissidence here, but when I see the picture, I see a criticism of how black women are viewed and treated. It seems to me that they were purposely making the scene as ridiculous as possible so it wouldn’t be mistaken as an endorsement. If they wanted to be racist, I think they would’ve portrayed a black woman in a more believably stereotypical way. I would tell my boys the picture is a depiction of how unfairly black women are treated and unfairly they’re judged, and tell them they’re better than that. Plus,… Read more »
That’s what I was thinking, unless they specifically said otherwise.
This is bringing up the Blurred Lines hullaballoo all over again – if people go into a scenario determined to be offended, then they usually get their wish.
TELL THEM THAT THERE IS NO BLACK WOMEN’S CHAIR.
WOMEN STAND TOGETHER IN UNISON AND WILL SUPPORT EACH OTHER IN THE FUTURE.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whoever circulated this photo is trying to incite discussions of hatred. That’s why women have to support each other, regardless as to what their ethnic background is. We are all WOMEN and need to ask the producer of this hatred to step down and learn about our power as agents of change against social bigotry.
http://fashionbombdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Chair-by-Allen-Jones-1969-001.jpg
It was in 1969 that British artist Allen Jones, a friend and contemporary of David Hockney at the Royal College of Art, designed a set of sculptures — a hat-stand, table and chair — all incorporating fibreglass models of submissive women (although they were white, not black) in skimpy leather outfits.
You can google the artists name to see his original 60’s work
The man who turned half-naked women into chairs – and called it art: How Allen Jones’ sculptures are still sparking controversy 45 years on Roman Abramovich’s girlfriend Dasha Zhukova was pictured in a chair made from a mannequin of a black woman on her back and legs in the air The chair was designed by a Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard It was based on an earlier 1969 piece by British artist Allen Jones Jones was at the forefront of the British Pop Art movement but never as famous as his contemporaries, Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein or Andy Warhol He claims ‘Woman… Read more »
Racist, misogynistic, hateful, cruel, and disgusting. I wish I knew Russian swear words, so I could communicate clearly with that Russian woman sitting on the chair. What do we tell our SONS about the chair? That it’s racist, misogynistic, hateful, cruel, and disgusting. Tell them everything mentioned in the article. I agree with that approach. Now, while we’re at it, how about we tell our DAUGHTERS the exact same thing bout that chair? The person sitting on the chair is a woman. She’s someone’s daughter. She apparently did not get the message growing up. She is clearly something besides simply… Read more »
You tell your boys the same thing you’d tell them about THIS chair. Sexism is an everyone problem.
http://wandrlust.tumblr.com/post/19619111599/chair-1969-allen-jones-the-design-inspiration
I agree. Call people on their sh*t, no matter what their race, ethnicity, sex, or gender. Like the *woman* sitting on the chair, for example.
Grace you’ve captured the very real damage something like this vile chair photo does. It’s not :just art” because it doesn’t exist out of the construction of our racist society. Thanks for writing about it.
After I got done swearing, wanting to vomit and crying, I was inspired. Though still utterly sick to my stomach.
I think one big step in reaching black sons on this is making sure that they are made aware of all that is going on but doing so in such away that they are not made to feel like they are being beat over the head about it. And by that I mean there is risk of those black sons burning out and basically throwing their hands up, saying “screw it” and just going with the flow that contributes to everyone’s destruction.
Grace, this had me in tears.