From Lisa Torjuul
“Exotic”, “available” or “fiery” – girls and women of colour have to deal with these attributions every day. Not only in their dating life, but also on the street, at work and at school. How does that sexualisation feel for women when it is directly linked to racism? What can be done about it? And what does it have to do with colonialism?
In this podcast episode, women of colour talk about their experiences and how they deal with fetishisation. I also talk about the origins of exoticisation in colonial history.
Language: German, English
Music: Hicham Chahidi
Illustration: Chloé Huie Brickert
Sources:
Engmann, R. A. A. (2012). “Under Imperial Eyes, Black Bodies, Buttocks, and Breasts:British Colonial Photography and Asante ‘Fetish Girls.’” African Arts, 45(2): 46-57.
Fahrni, O. (16. August 2019). „‘Die Kolonialisierung war eine grosse sexuelle Safari‘“. workzeitung. https://www.workzeitung.ch/2019/08/die-kolonialisierung-war-eine-grosse-sexuelle-safari/ (13.12.2022)
Gunda Werner Institut (18. April 2019). „Was ist Intersektionalität?“. Heinrich Böll Stiftung. https://www.gwi-boell.de/de/2019/04/18/was-ist-intersektionalitaet-eine-definition (13.12.2022)
Kramm, R. (20. Mai 2016). “(Post)kolonialismus und Globalgeschichte. Geschlecht und Sexualität“. Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung. https://www.bpb.de/themen/kolonialismus-imperialismus/postkolonialismus-und-globalgeschichte/219143/geschlecht-und-sexualitaet/ (13.12.2022)
Levine, P. (2008). “States of Undress: Nakedness and the Colonial Imagination.” Victorian Studies, 50(2): 189-219.
Pieterse, J. (1992). White on black: Images of Africa and blacks in western popular culture. New Haven [u.a.]: Yale Univ. Press.
Reh, M. (14. Dezember 2020). “’Es ist die Fantasie der prüden Schlampe, der Heiligen und der Hure‘“. ze.tt. https://www.zeit.de/zett/liebe-sex/2020-12/antimuslimischer-rassismus-pornografie-hijab-pornos-fetisch-sexismus (13.12.2022)
Sotelo, K. (26. September 2022). „A dive into the degrading world of fetishization Latinas live in”. The Daily Orange. https://dailyorange.com/2017/09/dive-degrading-world-fetishization-latinas-live/ (13.12.2022)
Stoler, A.L. (2013). “Foucaults “Geschichte der Sexualität” und die koloniale Ordnung der Dinge.“ In S. Conrad, S. Randeria & R. Römhild (Hrsg.), Jenseits des Eurozentrismus: postkoloniale Prespektiven in den Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften: 301 – 321. Frankfurt/Main: Campus Verlag.
Thu Tran, M. (24. März 2021). „Unterwürfig, verfügbar, willig“. Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. https://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/abschiedskolumne/sexismus-rassismus-vietdeutsch-90025 (13.12.2022)
Williams, E. L. (2013). Sex Tourism in Bahia Ambiguous Entanglements. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Woan, S. (March 1, 2008). “White Sexual Imperialism: A Theory of Asian Feminist Jurisprudence”. Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, 14(2): 292.
Zeller, J. (2010). Weiße Blicke – schwarze Körper: Afrikaner im Spiegel westlicher Alltagskultur. Erfurt: Sutton Verlag.
About the author:
Lisa studies interdisciplinary anthropology in Freiburg. Besides, she writes for the local newspaper Badische Zeitung and picks out the best current indie tracks in the music editorial office of uniFM. She likes to discuss justice, mental health and current cultural phenomena. She also likes dogs and beautiful light.
