Black women don’t give head, and other lessons learned from Essence
CVK
(Thanks to Geraly for this tip!) The June 2006 issue of Essence magazine featured an article titled “Looking for Mr. White,” based on the results of a survey the magazine did, polling their readers about attitudes towards interracial relationships. You can read the article in its entirety here.
Sounds like Essence was surprised by what they found. About 45% of the respondents said they’d been involved in an interracial relationship, and 70% said they’d been asked out by a white guy. Also, 81% said they weren’t fazed when they saw a black woman with a white man.
But this being Essence, the article had to quickly steer the subject towards that other kind of interracial relationship: black men with white women. About 53% of readers said they disapproved of black men dating white women.
And from there the article just disintegrates into the same mess of tired stereotypes we see over and over and over and over again… Let’s count them down, shall we?
1. All interracial relationships are black and white
Apart from a passing mention from a guy talking about having “Black friends who date White women. Asian and Latino…,” this article only discusses relationships between black men and women, and white men and women.
2. Successful black men prefer non-black women
“Yeah, we’re cool with Halle switching from marrying Black men to dating Gabriel Aubry, a White model. But Kobe, Tiger, Terrence and Taye? Hmmm.”
more after the jump…
3. Black men can’t handle a “strong” black woman
“‘In general, it’s less of a power struggle to date White men,’ says Leah, the New York City artist. ‘Black men can trip when women challenge them.’”
4. White women have no standards
“Richard, the marketing specialist, sees the reverse. ‘White women are a little more accepting of your shortcomings’–be it job, income, education or status, he says.”
5. White people don’t get stuff about black people’s hair and skin
“…some Black women, for example, having to explain why they won’t have sex in the shower. (Who wants to stress about water getting under that shower cap?)”"Joel, 33, from Philadelphia is Black and says he’ll never forget waking up with a White woman he’d slept with for the first time. ‘She asked me, ‘What’s that on your hands?” he recalls, as she pointed to the white flakes between his fingers. ‘It was ash. She had never seen ash before.’
6. White women give head but black women don’t
“Lamarr, 30, an attorney in L.A., insists there are sexual benefits to interracial dating: ‘White women are much more accommodating. There’s a saying, What a Black woman won’t do for you, a White woman will.’ He says he recently had one sister tell him, ‘Look, I’m Black. I’m not going to be giving head like the White girls do.’”
7. White men are awesome in bed
“And what about White men in bed? ‘The earth moved. He was very good,’ says Lynn, 39, from Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she notes there are many Black women dating White men. Years ago she became one of them out of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised.”
If these stereotypes seem familiar, it might be because they are trotted out in literally every single article about black-white interracial relationships. Also, practically every single one of these stereotypes was featured in that spectacularly bad episode Oprah did on interracial relationships. Oh, but Essence forgot one: the one about how white people can’t dance? Whew! Good thing Oprah covered that one.
If you’re interested in more on how the media perpetuates endless stereotypes about interracial relationships, check out our article Media Reflects Society’s Ambivalence Toward Interracial Relationships and video clips from our New Demographic workshop, Not Just Fetishists and Race Traitors: Challenging the Ways We Look At Interracial Relationships.

Mixed Media Watch - tracking media representations of mixed people on 17 Jul 2006 at 10:33 am
[…] MIXED MEDIA WATCH NEWS UPDATE Jen discusses several recent news items: a controversial Sony PSP ad released in the Netherlands, the potential HBO comedy series that may arise from Angela Nissel’s Mixed: My Life in Black and White, and a recent Essence magazine article chock-full of stereotypes about interracial relationships. […]
ATR 32 - July 17, 2006 - Voicemail 206-203-3983 - addictedtorace@gmail.com at Addicted to Race on 05 Aug 2006 at 11:11 am
[…] MIXED MEDIA WATCH NEWS UPDATE Jen discusses several recent news items: a controversial Sony PSP ad released in the Netherlands, the potential HBO comedy series that may arise from Angela Nissel’s Mixed: My Life in Black and White, and a recent Essence magazine article chock-full of stereotypes about interracial relationships. […]