Black people being perceived as sexually deviant predates slavery in America. Europeans’ ethnocentric eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing when they first came across the underclothed Africans. Historically, Black women’s bodies have been sexualized and priced for what they were able to provide for others. During slavery, their sexualization provided slave children and sexual gratification to the slave owners. The forceful extraction of free labor from their physical bodies provided monetary gains for the slave owners. 

In the early 19th century Sarah Baartman, also known as “Hottentot Venus” was a prime example of the exploitation and dehumanization at work during this time. She was taken from her home in South Africa and paraded around London and Paris for the amazement, bewilderment or disgust of those that laid eyes on her body. Due to her skin hue and body shape, Sarah Baartman and female slaves in general were regarded as animalistic in nature, like a sub-human species. Slavery also gave birth to the insatiable lust of the Jezebel, White men would use this stereotype to justify sexual relations with female slaves. 

The exploitation of the Black female body is allowed in society so long as it is for the benefit of someone else. Fast forward to the 20th and 21st century, and the Jezebel stereotype endures. Black women in movies and music videos often have to parade their figures and play various forms of the seductress in order to garner any attention. In movies, they are either the jezebel or the mammy, Black women in cinema are rarely allowed to develop their acting abilities outside of these two roles unlike their white counterparts. In the music industry, the video vixen is typically directed by a man that displays her body for the world to see as she gyrates for another man. While the stereotype still remains, now more than ever before, Black women are owning their sexuality. Instead of letting others control when and where they display their sexuality, Black women in the music industry are beginning to embrace their sexuality on their own terms and in ways they are comfortable with.