MARKET IS EVERYTHING: AFRICAN BIG BUM EDITION
I learned from the that Ivorian women have taken it upon themselves, to be both cosmetic surgeons and pharmacists, just so that they can do the . I am sure the Ivorien men are not complaining, but I wonder what African women think about the objectification of women. As women living in Nigeria, or Ivory Coast do you feel the increased pressure. Does increased globalisation work for or against the African woman?One man on the streets of Abidjan agreed: "Us boys, we appreciate these things because when women use the treatment it attracts us, but for women it's not good."
What do you think? Until recently even when a lady had her mind set on taking HGH or other body enhancing medicines she simply did not possess the economic wherewith all to acquire these commodities. Thanks to a flattening world, prices and transaction costs have fallen so much that we can now do as the westerners do. Please tell me I am making this all up.
In the past, I have warded off questions about my lack of enthusiasm about celebrities by simply saying, "I grew up in Africa, I have enough to fill the emptiness". However this report has chipped ever so slightly at that belief system. I just realized that the personality fort which I have built up for just being African will be eroded in the near future.
Is the core African belief system a lost cause? Should we just dance to the tunes played by the global economy? Is it worth fighting for that old time sanity at all? Maybe we should throw our hands in the air and simply create our own J-Lo to fawn over?
I'd leave you with a quote from the BBC article; do the bobaraba because I already have a big bum - Dancer.
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19Comment(s):
I am back. What did I miss. Why are you so ani-China. The women want it, they produce it. Chikena.
you are making this up.
ever heard of what Ivorians call "Ghanean Products" ? Bleaching cream and all that ? Ever wondered about how big the hairdressing market was ? or just how much time and money senegalese women spend on getting those complex braids ?
Is the core African belief system a lost cause? (..) Maybe we should throw our hands in the air and simply create our own J-Lo to fawn over?
Which core African belief system ? The one that gaves us Mapouka ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapouka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCT2_EX74Gc
U are a trip man..
I go with Random African on this issue... I always hold essentialising discourses suspect, and that is the same way I treat the one on an African belief system. Anyone who has ever had to discuss "The African Culture" must understand what I mean.
@Loomnie I find that interesting. Let me clarify that I was refering to the attitude of us Africans towards our body and our comfort level with our looks and how we do not often want to be like other people. I hope that makes my point clear.
@Random has point with the bleaching cream..I never looked at them that way..I just looked at stuff like that as the preserve of the less educated and misled. Is it really that pervasive?
I don't think it's very pervasive. I mean, when I visted Kinshasa I managed to not see one single bleached person. But it's there. Artists do it, some poor people do it, ome rich people do it.
After all, not every american who can afford plastic surgery does get new titties or a face lift.
what do you mean by "do not want to look like other people" ?
and oh yeah, let me also submit these guys:
http://ian.macky.net/secretmuseum/page_2.25.html
nawa ooh
This is grosse. We as a people used to have so much self esteem. We do not need to be like others to attain fulfilment. Maybe the pressure is beginning to mount. I remember when the craze about being skinny hit Nigeria too.
lol this is funny, what do I think of the objectification? well its still all comes down to personal choice, yes the products are available, hey if you want to objectify yourself as a woman, by all means go for it, this seems very simple to me. A woman that respects herself and wants to be respected handles herself accordingly but if you feel the need to call attention to your body parts and go as far as the bobaraba hey its a free world. lol oh mu gosh I just remebered how those military guys used to harass chics that were in "shaba" skirts (skirts with loooong splits in the front) I guess gone are those days when people were still trying to "hold Africa together" ok back to the subject...
Life is full of choices unfortunately morals all over the world continues to degenerate
Omodudu leave your belief system intact, all these garbage does not change the way you were raised or simply just how things used to be
Ha! fight for old system ke, how do you do that with all these media and american wanna be's, abeg....
What exactly do you mean by the core African beleif system? I remember my grand mothers trying to look pretty, as much as they can. Does the African system exclude trying to look good? I think you are stuck in the past.
@Loomnie, I wish you would expand that a bit. I am lost.
@Random, even when I agreed with you, you changed your position again, ie bleaching.
@Ragdoll you know I am too far gone to let go of those beleifs, that wouldn't work for me even if I were wrong.
@Obiwanne, yes o, long time where you been?
Thanks guys for contributing to this discussion.
I didnt change my position. What I meant to say is that while various things and trends are there, it's not like most people follow them.
And no matter what BBC claims, I bet enough ivorian women have natural asses to not get whatever promises them a big one.
as far as the old system, it's a myth, period. or rather an anomaly in which people confuse the victorian hang-ups they acquired while being christianized (and islamized) with "core african" beliefs.
objectifying women is nothing new and is as old as anything...a women's virginity supposedly says something about her and her family...even the purity of the nation...all societies set norms and standards which people can conform to or not...there are many options for reaching those standards, if you were excluded when God was bestowing that 'gift'...in brasil, it is also ass, er, big bums, but with a small waist and bust...samba, forro, the bikinis and even the jeans make a point of highlighting that-the bum...butt implants are available for the less fortunate...
...in the us, the emphasis is for women to have big breast...implants again are available...along with a bottle of bleach to wash in that blond hair color....
...maybe we do need to create our own j-lo instead of fawning over the original [how she became the gold standard for big butts in the us, is beyond me]...frankly, with all the media telling us that skinny white women, with blue eyes, blond long silky straight hair, small bum and big boobs [think pamela anderson] are the ideal and standard for beauty and sex appeal, its nice to see african women and our big bums being celebrated...
...we are objectified anyway...the man said: 'african women are defined by the shape of their bottoms'...[news flash to me...so it isn't my intellect?]...we women also objectify men...does it make it right?...no...but frankly, i would rather watch that video or dbanj's 'tongolo' or recent 'why me' music video with african women twisting and winding and shaking their asses than olu maintain's yahoozee remix with some little random skinny white girl 'dancing'...
...like someone above said, because it is there does not mean you have to use it...
...as for random african's mapouka youtube video: wow!!!!...dunno about that one...
all i know is that the dance is great. I can't wait to bring it all out at the next african event.
i guess i am not the only one that noticed the article. have my own take on the article on my blog.
in regards to the objectification of women, I am starting to feel as uncomfortable with African videos as I am with some hip-hop videos. I am not sure which came first in the globalized media - the misogny of the African woman or the misogny of the African American woman. The answer to that will tell us whether the celebration of big bums is truly an indigenous product of Africa (I understand what you mean by "African culture," though it is a nebulous concept) or a Western import. But like was said in my post, the objectification of African women, whether in the West or on the continent, is not new. And unfortunately, the objectification of women of African descent has some ugly racial undertones. Many cannot forget the Hottentot Venus, who was a woman (from South Africa, I believe), exported to the West to be put on display in museum because of her large bum and other interesting features (google it). The interesting thing I find about her story is that when people were calling for her liberation, she herself claimed she was *not* being exploited. I wonder if we as African women have are starting to adopt her mindset....that is it just a music video, that we are not being exploited....while the Western media gawks at our nakedness for chicken change.
What in the world?
@nneoma, you hit the nail on the head. I was comparing this phenomenon with the BET one. Thanks for coming by.
Impressive blog.
Comment's a bit late...but what happened to not oppressing women. When we start claiming it is objectification, then we start finding a reason for stopping/banning women from freely expressing who they are/want to be. I don't see anyone saying that famous, or should i be saying infamous, white chics making 'home videos' and making them available for a fee on the net, are being objectified. Or better still, that white chics who try to kill themselves by going to a size 0 in the name of beauty are objectifying themselves. If those are your assets and you can use them to get to where you're going, then i say please don't listen to the moral police of the world and do your thing. People who sound like they have high morals are usually the sluts and gigolos amongst us. I am a feminist and a human rights activist, so nothing would make me agree ever that i am objectifying myself by trying to look my best for myself or even for a man (although i wouldn't advocate the latter). My choice. We forget, it's still a man's world really and more so in Africa generally. Global influences do African girls more good than harm.
Beauty they say is in the eye of the beholder...if it looks crap to you, look elsewhere i say.
MD. END.