Rihanna and The Oversexed, Erotic Image of The Black Woman

A few months ago it was announced that Robin “Rihanna” Fenty  would win the  Council of Fashion Designers of America 2014 Fashion Icon Award. The songstress is a pop icon that undoubtedly turns heads for her striking beauty and perfectly conceptualized looks. Her stylist Mel Ottenberg and Adam Selman, a designer she had previously worked with were the major influences on her nearly naked dress she wore to this year’s CFDA Awards. The Swarovski crystal encrusted dress was custom designed and made by Adam Selman and a team of individuals. The translucent, mesh dress had over 230,000 Swarovski crystals. On Josephine Baker’s birthday June 5^th, Rihanna tweeted a photo of her next to the iconic entertainer stating:

“Happy birthday to the late Josephine Baker! You have and will continue to inspire us women for decades to come!”

This creates a paradigm between women of color who are entertainers and viewed as oversexed in the eyes of the mass media. The mass media as a whole ‘over reports’ on the sexually deviant lives of women of color by presenting them as wild, hot, highly sexual beings. Shows on VH1, Bravo TV, etc. associate negative connotations with being a Black women in Western culture. Artists such as Rihanna, Beyonce and countless others are seemingly always in the spotlight. Their images are worth money which explains why in the mass media some Black or non-black women are obsessed with the images they see of these two stars. It all perpetuates a false reality since viewers, listeners and readers do not literally know the lives of these women.

Many individuals took to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss how they felt about Rihanna attending the CFDA Awards nearly naked. It was interesting that a lot of the negative feedback was from Black women on all social networks. Without realizing it some Black women were expressing their feelings about it being unacceptable for women of color to express themselves sexually if they see fit.

The historical context deep within the shaming of Rihanna for wearing what she wanted to wear is the objectification of Black women in the mass media. Slut shaming and respectability politics are deeper issues beneath the backlash Rihanna received for wearing her see through dress to the CFDA Awards. 

Slut shaming is very popular in Western culture, it simply means that women who openly express themselves sexually or speak about it, they aren’t being what society expects women to do. The notion of respectability politics is essential to understanding this issue because in mass media an oversexed women especially women of color is deemed worthless by many men. Yet on the other end of the spectrum it is seemingly okay for men to exhibit phallic, strong traits and speech to express themselves. By taking control of her sexual image similar to Josephine Baker during her glory days, Rihanna is stating that she owns her image and no one has control of it eradicating slut shaming and reminding Western society that double standards are irrelevant if you have control of your body as a woman.

For the individuals who spoke negatively about her appearance claiming she is a role model for young Black girls, that reasoning is problematic. In today’s media, young girls should have women to look up to in their communities and home. If that isn’t possible other alternatives are essential in raising young women of color; a Black women in Western pop culture cannot serve as a role model due to the many dichotomies surrounding her image. 

My tweets on the issues surrounding Rihanna's custom dress.

To read writer Sesali Bowen's thoughts on Rihanna, Maya Angelou and Josephine Baker click here

To read Style.com's coverage of Rihanna's custom dress and styling click here

To read CNN.com's coverage of Rihanna's CFDA Awards dress and more click here.