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2. Lesbians and lesbianism is only acknowledged to serve
as a warning to straight black women about how to behave.
The only time lesbianism is referred to in Love and Basketball,
for example, is in a conversation between Monica (Sanaa Lathan)
and her mother (Alfre Woodard) in which Monica verbalizes her mother's
worst fear:
Monica's
mom: I don't know why I keep hoping you'll grow out of this tomboy
thing.
Monica: I won't. I'm a lesbian.
Mom: That's not funny!
Monica: Well that's what you think, isn't it? 'Cause I'd rather
wear a jersey than an apron?
There
are no overtly homophobic statements in this exchange, just the
assumption that it would break a mother's heart if her daughter
turned out to be a lesbian--and since there are no actual lesbian
characters in the movie to present an alternative opinion, this
fear is the only impression with which the viewer is left.
In The Best Man, Nia Long's character is derided by her
(male) friends as so "sassy and independent" that she's
"one step from lesbian." In this one statement, the film
has both reminded straight black women that they may become undesirable
to black men if they are too independent, and characterized lesbianism
as a rejection of black men.
These
two exchanges are pretty much the extent to which lesbians and/or
lesbianism is referenced, included, or acknowledged in these films.
Oh, except for one scene in When Stella Got Her Groove Back
where a robust white lesbian comically hits on Whoopi Goldberg.
Two insulting comments, one deliberately unattractive white lesbian,
and no positive portrayals of lesbian characters anywhere to offset
these homophobic depictions. It's not enough for black writers/directors/producers
just to render black lesbians invisible, they also have to use them
as a weapon to remind straight black women to toe the feminine line.
Never mind the contributions of women like Congresswoman Barbara
Jordan (the first African-American woman to be elected to the House
of Representatives from the South), lawyer Pauli Murray (on whose
writings the NAACP based its argument in the 1954 Brown v. Board
of Education suit which overturned school segregation), anti-racism
activist and writer Angela Davis, and the countless other black
lesbians who have worked hard to make life better for all women
and African-Americans.
3.
Bisexuality among black women does not exist.
If black lesbians aren't real women, then black bisexual women aren't
real, period--they simply don't exist in black films, either in
person or in concept. Not even as a cautionary tale. Tell that to
women like Alice Walker, Me'Shell Ndege'Ocello, Bessie Smith, and
the late poet June Jordan, whose significant contributions to both
the black community and America as whole apparently matter little
in light of their (bi)sexual orientation.
So
what does all of this say about the black community's
collective attitude and lesbianism? Nothing that
hasn't been said before. Many black people continue to believe that
lesbianism does not exist within the black community (it's a "white"
problem) or that black lesbians are traitors to the race and/or
not "real" women.
In his book "One More River to Cross: Black & Gay in America,"
Keith Boykin argues that "any discussion of homophobia in the
black community must also address the specific topic of antilesbianism"
since there is an "antilesbian strain of homophobia that sees
women-women relationships as threatening to the ever-important black
family" (p. 164). Black writers like Barbara Smith, Cheryl
Clark, Jewel Gomez, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, bell hooks and many
others have made and debated similar charges about and within the
black community.
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