Comments on: “Africans” as Props for White Femininity

By: More Fetishization of Black Bodies as Fashion Props (Mildly NSFW) » Sociological Images

Sat, 15 May 2010 16:32:11 +0000

[...] see the porn producer with a heart of gold, interracial dating as tourism, Indian people as props, Africans as props, and Africa is wild. var addthis_language = 'en'; 17 Comments Tags: clothes/fashion, [...]

By: What Do Indian People, Architecture, and Nature Have in Common? » Sociological Images

Fri, 07 May 2010 17:16:50 +0000

[...] more examples of this phenomenon, see our posts on porn in Kenya, Africans as Props in Britain’s Next Top Model, Vogue in India, Undifferentiated Asians as Props, and Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku girls. var [...]

By: Who Is Primitive? » Sociological Images

Who Is Primitive? » Sociological Images — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:33:01 +0000

[...] for more on the social construction of the modern and the primitive, see these posts: “Africans” as props for white femininity, Union Carbide brings modernity to the world, primitive Australia cures modern ills, women as [...]

By: PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY IN VOGUE INDIA » Sociological Images

PRIVILEGE AND POVERTY IN VOGUE INDIA » Sociological Images — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:12:54 +0000

[...] these to other interesting fashion spreads here, here, here, here, and here. 6 Comments Tags: class, clothes/fashion, discourse/language, nation: India, [...]

By: Undifferentiated Groups of Asians as Ad Props » Sociological Images

Undifferentiated Groups of Asians as Ad Props » Sociological Images — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:10:55 +0000

[...] Britain’s Next Top Model that Lisa posted about last year, in which Africans were used as background props in a photo shoot with the contestants. The Asian individuals in these two ads are an [...]

By: Sociological Images » Africa Is Wild, And You Can Be Too

Sociological Images » Africa Is Wild, And You Can Be Too — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:32:19 +0000

[...] different historical periods. See other examples of representing Africa in this way here, here, here, and [...]

By: Sociological Images » PORN PRODUCER WITH A HEART OF GOLD

Sociological Images » PORN PRODUCER WITH A HEART OF GOLD — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:12:51 +0000

[...] of the modernity/tradition binary (like the fashion shoots we’ve highlighted–see here and here–but explicitly and literally sexualized) and that the videos might function as a [...]

By: Sociological Images » GWEN STEFANI’S HARAJUKU GIRLS

Sociological Images » GWEN STEFANI’S HARAJUKU GIRLS — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:30:14 +0000

[...] I think that Stefani’s use of Asian women as props (they may or may not be Japanese) fetishizes Asian women and reinforces white privilege. The Harajuku Girls serve as contrast to Stefani’s performance of ideal white femininity. It makes me think of both this poster on colonial-era travel and this fashion spread. [...]

By: nitay

nitay — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:10:26 +0000

that’s very similar to this picture by an israely fashion company:
http://www.notes.co.il/lir/user/bar22.JPG

By: Breck

Breck — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:45:00 +0000

Are you fucking kidding me!? To reprise what I said months ago about Iceland: Holy shit! What the fuck is wrong with the U.K.?

Now, to demonstrate that I am not incapable of learning from my mistakes of generalization, allow me to be more specific:

Holy shit! The producers of Britain’s Next Top Model are a rabid pack of racist, imperialist, colonialist shitbags! Fuck those assholes.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:25:58 +0000

You can watch BNTM on youtube. This episode starts here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mh4aD9Krk8

By: Le

Le — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:26:54 +0000

Um white models are more or less the central attraction in countries around the world. Here is my blog on the phenomenon in Asia.
http://covergirlsthedocumentary.blogspot.com/2008/06/white-models-in-asia.html

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:41:05 +0000

According to the website (linked above), they’re in South Africa, home of apartheid. In the summary (same page), we learn that, “The next day they were greeted by Zulu dancers and Huggy, who informed them that the warrior men would join each girl on their photo shoot.” I did a bit more digging and found a recap of the episode. That morning, the models were told to “Get ready to discover the fashion warrior in you.”

So are the models supposed to be like these Zulu dancers/warriors, then? Or is the reason that the “primitives” look so lifeless that the models have they dominated them, perhaps with their whiteness/Britishness (especially in the first two photos), or how much of a “fashion warrior” they are, or [some other throw-back to colonialism]?

I’d be really interested to find out what directions were given during the photo shoot, both to the models and to the “props.”

By: jim

jim — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:49:33 +0000

Not so much props as background. It looks like the models have been green-screened in.

By: Mammy redux, again « don’t do that

Mammy redux, again « don’t do that — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:52:07 +0000

[...] And… more link love for Sociological Images – this post on African People As Props for White Femininity. [...]