Black History Month | Deconstructing stereotypes of black women

After an enforced two-year hiatus, Black History Month kicks off this year with a host of activities, talks, shows, shows and From darkness to light. Programming that bears witness to the vigor and creativity of black communities. Here’s a sneak peek of what to expect.

With The myth of the black woman, actress and director Ayana O’Shun explores the prejudices and stereotypes that have shaped the image of black women over time. While addressing the pressures that women of color face in a society where hints of sexism and racism remain.

“First, being a woman is a problem. Second, skin color is a problem. Taking your place in society is another problem. That’s the black woman, “summarizes activist Anastasia Marcellin in The myth of the black woman.

Director Ayana O’Shun agrees, replacing the word “problem” with “challenge”. ” That is true. This is the challenge of several minorities”, but black women are “ready to take it up to make their place”, she specifies. Like her speakers, she envisages the future with admirable strength of character.

If she made this documentary, it’s because she realized – in her acting profession – that she was always offered the same types of roles. Either the hypersexualized woman (the Jezebel) or the nanny, or even the angry woman.

“I started researching the subject, and the further I went, the further back the centuries I went! I realized that these stereotypes had been perpetuated over time. I made this documentary because it is information that I would have liked to have had growing up, but also to talk to women about the consequences that these stereotypes have had in their lives. »

About twenty women thus take the floor in The myth of the black woman. From different backgrounds, ages, origins, hair types and skin colors, including Anglo-Montrealer actress Patricia McKenzie, actress Joujou Turenne, singer-songwriter Jenny Salgado and curator Diane Gistal.

All testify to these prejudices or stereotypes. Less intelligent, less eloquent, more prone to sex – many of them say they have been mistaken for prostitutes (at one time or another) – destined for menial positions or described as activists perpetually angry.

Consume or Cage

In her film, Jade Almeida, a sociology researcher, notes that black women are often compared either to animals – panthers, lionesses, tigresses – or to food – chocolate, salted caramel, etc. “They are often reduced to something that we eat or put in a cage…”

Agnès Berthelot-Raffard, doctor of philosophy at York University in Toronto, also refers to artists like Nicki Minaj or Cardi B, who exploit their image of Jezebel by displaying their sexuality “to keep power over their bodies”. “When we reappropriate socially devalued codes, aren’t we in a form of reproduction of the myth? she asks.

“Sexuality sells,” says Ayana O’Shun. No matter the skin color. The problem is when you only see that. I have no problem with these artists displaying their sexuality as they do, but if we only show these girls, when there are other artists, I find it a shame. That’s why in the documentary, we also find Sarahmée, a rapper, but who doesn’t twerk…”

Let’s go back to Ayana O’Shun’s starting point. Hasn’t the situation evolved, all the same, for some time for black actors? Isn’t there better representation on our stages and on our screens? “Since the Black Lives Matter movement, in 2020, there has been a better representation of diversity, it’s true, answers the actress and director. But not yet of the type of roles offered. There is still work to raise awareness. There is an improvement in the quantity, now it remains to improve the quality. »

Marlihan Lopez, coordinator of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia, discusses the issue of the treatment of black women in the justice system and the feeling of indignation that leads many of them to activism. This is why they are often called “angry women”. “However, feminist movements lead the same kind of fights, but they are called hysterical…”

We have understood over the years that feminist movements are struggling to make room for black women. “There are at least three women in the film who were active in feminist groups and who tried to change things from the inside, but it didn’t succeed,” says Ayana O’Shun. They came to the conclusion that they had to found their own movement for black or racialized women. So I hope that my film will also find its way into feminist movements. »

The nanny

The other stereotype addressed by the director is that of the nanny, reinforced by the important place occupied by black women in the health sector, early childhood services and with the elderly. Agnès Berthelot-Raffard says that it has already been presumed that she taught nursing… The philosophy does not correspond at all to the typical job of a black woman.

“We put you in a position that you should have. It is a form of mini-aggression, believes Agnès Berthelot-Raffard. What we are being told, in a way, is that black women should accept subordinate positions, positions where they have to take care of others. Those in power would only be promoted for reasons of representativeness…”

There is something chilling about this observation. Role models for black Quebec women are not that numerous… In fact, several women interviewed by Ayana O’Shun could be considered role models. “They are not victims, specifies the director. They are bright and strong. »

Strong women. This is what is required of them. Let them perform well too. The load is heavy and often leads to depressions. This is what Ayana O’Shun discovered while shooting her film. “It’s not a subject that I wanted to deal with at the start, but each one spoke to me about it naturally. I didn’t realize how depression and mental health issues were also present in the black community. I think it concludes well to address the consequences of the prejudices they suffer and the pressure they experience to be the best and the strongest. »

The myth of the black woman hits theaters in Quebec on February 10.

To be continued

The Blaxploitation years

The Cinémathèque québécoise presents some fifteen films from the American Blaxploitation movement, popularized in the 1970s. other slaves. For the first time, from those years, we see them in leading roles. Pam Grier in CoffyTamara Dobson in Cleopatra JonesSidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte in Buck and the PreacherJames Earl Jones and Diahann Carroll in Claudine.

Aphrodisiac

Aphrodisiac is a solo show featuring Maryline Chery and dealing with Afro hair through several stories and voices. Aphrodisiac tells us in particular the story of Rhizome, “memory and root of negritude that lives in the head, the subconscious of Mady, a 13-year-old Afro-descendant girl, who lives in Laval and experiences racism, micro-aggressions on a daily basis”. This show presented by the Potomitan collective is “a conversation, a reflection, a wound and a healing of our silenced roots”. It is directed by Lydie Dubuisson. Presented at the Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée.

Yamoussa Bangoura Conference

Guinean circus artist Yamoussa Bangoura, who founded the school company Kalabante, will talk about his artistic journey since his arrival in Quebec. From his first collaborations with Cirque Éloize to his exchanges with Artcirq in Nunavut. Yamoussa Bangoura, whose troupe is largely made up of members of his family, trains young people (including orphans from Conakry) in circus arts and music. A unique inclusive model, which he will talk about during this (free) conference scheduled for Friday, February 3 (at 7 p.m.), at the Laval Multicultural Library.

Fade to Black Festival

Five African-Canadian and Afro-Quebec women filmmakers will present their short films at the Cinémathèque québécoise, from February 8 to 12. Amaniby Alliah Fafin, No ghost in the morgue, by Marilyn Cooke, Him & Herby Simonee Chichester, birds nestby Nadia Louis-Desmarchais, and To life to love, by Emilie Mannering. After the screenings, a discussion will be led by curator Diane Gistal around the profession of filmmaker and inclusion in the Quebec and Canadian landscape.

Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes

The history of the famous music label and its legendary recording sessions of course intersects with the broader history of jazz music in the United States. This is what the documentary offers Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes. A foray into the musical bubble of many jazz icons. From Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk or John Coltrane to today’s Robert Glasper, Ambrose Akinmusire or Norah Jones. Sophie Huber’s documentary, presented at the Cinéma du Musée, contains interviews with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

Exhibition Fugitives!

Fugitives! is presented by hip-hop artist Webster (Aly Ndiaye) in collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. The exhibition illustrates 13 escaped slaves. The drawings were made by Paul Bordeleau, D. Mathieu Cassendo, Djief, Em, Maliciouz, Caroline Soucy, Richard Vallerand, ValMo and Amel Zaazaa. A way to “give a face to dehumanized people”. Presented at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec in 2019, the exhibition moved to Rivière-du-Loup until March 26.