feminist blogs

Take a good look at that photo right above this sentence. Chris Brown and T-Pain are physically and sexually objectifying this young black woman, and thus, reduce her to eye candy and perpetuating stereotypes about black women. To prove everything is mutual, the video director even had this woman smiling like that is the sort of thing a woman wants. Step right up black ladies! You're going to be featured in a video where everyone is going to look at your ass. If you're black, then it's almost certain we'll stereotype you for having a big ol' butt!

The problem does not stop there. Over the course of pop music history black women have consistently been objectified. If there are women in a hip-hop video, and the lead singers are men, one can almost be certain that a display of the female anatomy will be just what the doctor ordered.

Even before hip-hop emerged, black women's bodies have been objectified. In The rebirth of the booty: America's obsession with my big black ass., student writer Amber Williams discusses mainstream America's obsession with big black ass:

Black women have been objectified as sex objects ever since their voluptuous bodies were seen as a welcome change to the bony figures of European women to whom the male settlers were accustomed. When African women arrived in America via a "free cruise" through the middle passage with their large posteriors, it was assumed that they were sex-craving, savage beasts. The view of black women as sexual predators is still seen today in both the entertainment industry and society at large.

Gunslinger Girl is the type of anime where little girls are used to fulfill the desired of men. What do the men want? The men who "condition" them (i.e., brainwash) are assassins. That's right people. Little girls brainwashed into becoming assassins. What a way to train those females! Train them while they're young so they won't rebel; that way, they'll do exactly what they're told.

The girls are, for the most part, completely loyal to their "brothers". The girls and their brothers are called a fratelo. In Italian, fratelo means siblings. Siblings are the furthest things from the truth. The truth of the story is that these girls are being exploited by men.

The girls are exploited, but they are also epitomized as heroines. They display courageous acts of loyalty to their fratelos and their fellow cyborg sisters. In this regard, the cyborg-girl-assassins are revered if they are loyal. Triela is the only cyborg who shows emotional rebellion among the other cyborgs. According to the storyline, Triela was the least brainwashed of the girls. The girls who were brainwashed the most are the most loyal.