By Sexual Correspondent Andrea (AJ) Plaid
Who, in the names of Faye Wattleton and Loretta Ross, declared my genitals the worst place for humankind?
I got the anti-reproductive justice folks advertising in various places in the US that my uterus is the “most dangerous place” for The Race by twisting the numbers then carrying on about how we Black women are committing “genocide.”
I get online movements telling me to guard my “child-bearing organs” until I marry The Right One due to the high numbers of “unwed” mothers. (Note how MSNBC frames the issue at MSNBC–a “health” issue that Black folks are “struggling with.” And notice how cisgender-centric both the movements and the framing are.)
I got sexual-health stats saying that (and I directly quote):
- In 2006, the rate of new HIV infection for black women was nearly 15 times as high as that of white women and nearly 4 times that of Hispanic/Latina women. (Source)
- The rate of chlamydia among black women was more than seven times higher than the rate among white women. (Source)
- Black women aged 15 to 19 years had a gonorrhea rate of 2,955.7 cases per 100,000 women. This rate was 14.7 times greater than the 2007 rate among white women of similar age (200.6). (Source)
- (WARNING: Graphic depiction of condition) The primary and secondary syphillis rates among black women was 14 times higher than that among white women. (Source)
- The rate of congenital syphilis (based on the mothers race/ethnicity) was 32.3 cases per 100,000 live births among blacks. (Source)
- Between 1998 and 2003, 13 black women were diagnosed with HPV-related cervical cancer per 100,000 women. (Source)
- Black women had the highest death rate from cervical cancer. (Source)
These are the numbers just for Black cis women. A few HIV and STI stats regarding Black trans women:
- In a 2009 study regarding young trans women in Chicago, the majority of the women getting new syphillis diagnoses were “non-Hispanic” Black. (Source)
- In 2009, 56% of Black trans women tested positive for HIV. (Source)
- A 2010 report stated that Black trans women had a “high prevalence” for syphillis (15%) and hepatitis B (36%). (Source)
I can get to the notion that the ridiculously misconstrued numbers, the news, and the movements all seem to be a concerted effort–though, I’d argue, not necessarily conspiratorial, even when it feels that way sometimes–to keep the Jezebel stereotype kicking, especially us Black women. It’s just now, thanks to the stats/media/causes, the interference-running has a more “reasonable” veneer with “scientific” bases. People can now point to the information and the concern to justify what they’re saying and doing. And yeah, we need to drop-squad on those shooting off bad information about Black women and our sexual/reproductive selves and lives.
Of course, this is when the drop-squads breathlessly corrects with the comparative data and the socio-economic reasons: “Well, compared to Latinas…,” or “Poverty, which means access to affordable healthcare…,” or “Considering that Black people only make up about 12% of the population…” And, yes, sometimes, those sexual-health numbers are proven to be bogus.
Though I understand the reasons why the comparisons and the socio-economic reasons are needed—it’s Stereotype Intervention–I sometimes feel about them like I feel when people pull similar frenetic rhetoric about Blacks and homophobia: just because we’re not more so than, say, white people, doesn’t mean that we’re not at all. When all is quiet again, the reality is, like homophobia, those sexually transmitted infections are still moving through Black communities because some of us Black folks are having unprotected sex for various reasons. The other quiet reality is some Black people continue–and will continue–to make the very complicated choice to terminate their pregnancies because it’s best decision for their lives, statistics, stereotypes, and politics be damned.
In my own life, even though I know the recommendations about getting
tested are a part of HIV and STI harm reduction, I honestly feel like I got to show my “papers” to disprove the Fucking-Black-Women-Isn’t-A-Biohazard-to-Your-Health stereotype partly due to the constant statistic roll-outs just as much as assuring my partner(s) that I’m simply disease-free.
With all the stereotyping and fact interventions, there’s still an state of being being argued. It’s about what Black women and our bodies are or aren’t, in these cases that Black women being or not being veneral-disease vessels and vectors, wombs without rings, perpetuators of in-utero race-killing. This dovetails into one of the biggest self-myths that has strengthened since HIV/AIDS and identity politics came into popular consciousness: identity as prophylactic. In other words, “I’m not a(n) _____________ (fill in the statistically affected group member and/or their “characteristics” here), I don’t have to worry about _______________ (fill in sexually related issue, act, or condition here).” Its insidious corollary is, “If I don’t date/fuck ________________ (fill in statistic-stereotyped group here), then I won’t get/have to deal with (fill in sexually related issue, act, or condition here).” And, with this, some people continue to have unprotected sex. And some other people want to make it damn near impossible to receive any care when that happens, whether the unprotected sex results in a pregnancy, an STI, or both.
So, nope, my Black lady parts are not The Enemy…but what people want to do to them is.
Image credits: Andrea (AJ) Plaid
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