... and then comes this past week's episode of "Empire". If you didn't see it yourself, I'm sure you've heard about it. One of the show's opening scenes showed Gabourey's character, Becky, getting her groove on with a handsome, chiseled-chest dark chocolate brother. (Whew, chile!! Somebody pass me a fan so I can cool off. Lol.)
I cheered! I posted about it on Facebook. I thought it was great to see a big, beautiful woman on television being intimate, being sexy, and being desired. It was a nice change of pace from what we normally see on television.
But over the next several days, I heard discussions on the radio stations I listen to and read comments on social media about that scene. Some were positive, but most of the comments were overwhelmingly negative and mean-spirited. Most of those comments centered around the thought that it was impossible for someone who looks like Gabourey to land a man who looks like her on-scene love interest. While those comments bothered me, I think the thing that bothered me most is that the comments were made mostly by women of color.
Are we so out-of-touch that we can't believe big women are sexy, can be sexual, or desired? Have we been so conditioned by a standard of beauty that never included Black women in the first place that we don't even see the beauty in other Black women ... our own sisters? That, to me, is disappointing.
One of my favorite quotes from Gabourey is this one ... "If they hadn't told me I was ugly, I never would have searched for my beauty. And if they hadn't tried to break me down, I wouldn't know that I was unbreakable."
Keep doing YOU, Gabourey! I'm forever a fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment