Labelling black male genitalia and the ‘new racism’
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12897971 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Busi Makoni (0000-0002-7411-8795, Pennsylvania State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 48-72 |
| Publication date | 2016-03-17 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Gender and Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1747-6321 • E-ISSN: 1747-633X |
| Publisher | Equinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1558/genl.v10i1.21434 |
| OpenAlex | W2325600112 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
This article explores the discursive construction of sexual racism through names assigned to the black penis by black male college students in Southern Africa. This analysis reveals use of three frequently occurring metaphors: zoomorphs, weapons and heroic historical figures. Collectively, these frequently occurring metaphors associate Southern African black men with notions of (i) wild, animalistic sexuality, (ii) dangerous, violent behaviour, and (iii) large sexual organs, which were prevalent racist ideologies of black male bodies during the colonial period. In addition, perceptions of sociocultural power dynamics attributed to patriarchy are foregrounded through metaphors related to royalty, indicating that names assigned to male genitalia align not only with the colonial construction of sexual racism but also with patriarchal gender relations. The article concludes by suggesting that names assigned to the black penis embody inherent contradictions that are not only characteristic of Southern African masculinities but also significantly complicate the dichotomy between ‘self’ and ‘other’, or ‘us’ and ‘them’, in contemporary Southern Africa
Colonialism · Human sexuality · Ideology · Patriarchy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Racism · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Anthropology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies
Beyond the gender binary
Decolonizing applied linguistics in Africa and its diasporas
Smash Her Calabash! The Metaphoric Construction of Phallic Masculinity in the Marketing of Herbal Aphrodisiacs in Nigeria
Pseudonyms as carriers of contextualised threat in 19th-century Irish English threatening notices
Metalinguistic discourses of ‘styling the other’
| Citations per year | 0.83 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |