Another trope I'm sick of: the Modern Jezebel. She's the music industry's answer to the hyper-sexualized Black female imagery first made famous in the Antebellum South, where it was used to justify the abuse of enslaved women. A (TW: Rape, assault.)

We can trace the origins of the Jezebel archetype back to the 1810s, when a South African woman named Sarah Baartman was exhibited as a freak show attraction due to the size of her buttocks. When she died, Europeans dissected her and displayed her genitals in a French museum.

Scientific racism painted Black women as "savage women" was seen as very distinct from the "civilized female" of Europe. We were considered naturally promiscuous and "unrapeable" due to our body shape.

The Jezebel is alive and well in today's music industry—especially in the late 2010s. While white and Asian women are also sexualized in music, Black and mixed-race female artists are often filmed like porn stars.

Before you guys accuse me of slut-shaming and policing Black female sexuality, just bear with me, okay? When's the last time you saw a white woman bent over like this in a music video? I'll wait. Does Taylor Swift have to do this for views? What about Ariana? Britney?

Speaking of Ariana, she might be guilty of blackfishing, but she certainly knows when to distance herself from Black female hypersexuality. In "Thank You, Next," the white girls are portrayed as demure and pretty, while the Black girls are...twerking on the floor :(

A similar pattern emerges in almost every music video with white and Black/mixed women sharing screen time. In "Taki Taki", Selena Gomez is tastefully sexy, showing only her midriff. Cardi B is bent over and popping out of her shirt. It's giving Madonna/whore.

I've seen it again and again. White women are sexualized like Disney princesses. Black women are sexualized like animals.

The only white woman in the industry who was hypersexualized to the same extent as most Black women in the industry was Iggy Azalea. But she didn't last. Why? Because white people know that this hurts their image. They don't tolerate negative promotion like we do.

Sidenote—you know who else doesn't tolerate negative promotion? Koreans. They'll let Jezebel-types like Hyolyn twerk in her music videos, but the Nation's Girl Group will always be girls with a cleaner, cuter, more "respectable" image, like Twice.

Here's Nicki and Tinashe with their legs spread, because apparently that's all that Black/mixed women are good for. Have you ever seen Billie Eilish do this? Dua Lipa? Katy Perry? Madison Beer?

What's so sad about the Modern Jezebel is that back in the 1800s, Black and mixed-race women couldn't control our image. Now we have control, and we STILL choose to do this. We choose to tell the world that we're whores. Why? Is it low self-esteem?