Those of us who study pop culture are aware of the immense popularity of reality TV. Reality T.V has revolutionized the television industry. “I Love NY Seasons 1 & 2 and Flava of Love Seasons 1, 2, (and astonishingly enough season 3 will debut in mid- February. These two shows are centered on Tiffany Pollard (aka New York) and Public Enemy hype man (Flava Flav). The premise of these two shows is that both New York and Flav are searching for their own true love. A dozen or so individuals are hand picked to go through series of eliminations until the “best” man or woman is left standing. During the course of the show the viewing audience is subjected to watch a circus of debauchery and hedonism unfolds before their very eyes. What is very interesting about these two shows is that the actual act is very much implied, but never focused on (because of television regulations of course). The subject of sex is never explored. This sends a powerful message to the viewing audience. When we can extrapolate that sex is being had, but the subject is never discussed, cheapens the value of the body and creates a frivolous context around sex. The largest percentage of viewers of both VH1 hit shows are between the ages of 17-25. This category of young people just also happens to be the largest growing population of HIV/AIDS victims in the US. There is most definitely a correlation.

On both “I Love New York” and ‘Flava of Love” the camera will follow each star as they return from their dates with contestants. In the private quarters of New York’s and Flav’s room the camera will show only so much of the exchange of bodily fluids, and then fade to black as the producers will let the audience here the sounds of co-mingling. Sex is never discussed during the course of the show. On the reunion shows for “I Love New York” sex has been discussed very briefly. Recently on the reunion show for season 2, contestant “Punk” revealed that the night before New York eliminated him, she had woken up in his arms that morning and told him that she loved him. He confronted her and asked her “how many others did you tell that to?” Contestant “Buddah” who was sitting right next to “Punk” chimed in and said, “I heard that more than once from NY”. The two men then per verbally butted chests in alliance over their sexual conquest of New York. They all (including New York) shared laughs over the experience on the reunion stage. In reality there is nothing humorous about the trend that has been established by these shows.

The market is over saturated with the exploitations of “video girls” bent over, shaking their behinds and their cleavage for successful hip-hop artists. It is these images that have aided in the alarming rise of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases among black women in particular. We can no longer afford to have these images be the prevailing visuals that have come to represent our youth today.

In 1810 Saartjie Bartman was a Khoikhoi woman who, at the age of 21, was taken from South Africa to Europe. Saartjie was displayed as a curiosity in various shows until 1815 when she died. Saartjie was displayed as the perfect Khoikhoi specimen. Khoikhois are herders, but Saartjie was in fact a Bushman woman - Bushmen are hunter-gatherers. This important distinction never troubled her exploiters. Saartjie’s identity was stolen and manipulated and she was re-named as the Hottentot Venus. Hendrik Cezar, a farmer from Cape Town and a British ship surgeon charged admission for people to come and inspect Saartjie, who by now was treated as merely an object. Saartjie’s main “attractions” were her steatopygious buttocs and her vagina, named the Hottentot apron. Saartjie was also exhibited in Paris, where she died of an “inflammatory and eruptive malady” (some have noted this most likely a sexually transmitted disease). Although women like her were in theory “repulsive”, many men had no hesitation in examining her genitals in detail and having sex with her. Saartjie was also objectified in death. Georges Cuvier diligently dissected her corpse and her brain and vagina were preserved and put on display. Even in death she was used as a “savage” specimen. Her remains were on display at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris as late as 1985. Interestingly, at the time France was happily and self-righteously boycotting South Africa because of Apartheid.

Black men historically have also been subjected to white hypersexuality. On a cool, spring day in March 1931, two white women hitched a ride on a freight train in Alabama in the hopes of finding work in a neighboring state. When authorities stopped the train some time later, both women, fearing arrest for violating the Mann Act, which prohibited transporting even willing women across state lines for illicit purposes, told police that they had been raped by nine black men who were also scattered along the train. The Scottsboro 9 case was one of several cases tried in courts and on many southern trees as black men were sentenced to die because of the notion that they were over-sexed beings.

In 2008 and we are still dealing with the same issues, just a different context. “Flava of Love” and “I Love NY” cannot be the prevailing images of black love. It is time for the black community to finally let go of the shame of sex, and embrace our sensuality. The black church has played a dynamic role in the shame, but this can be easily reversed if the church would acknowledge that the shame of sex is killing our community. If the church would focus on love, devotion, sensuality, learning about sex as an expression of love rather than of lust, it would change our perspectives and view on sex today.

In the same way the church has an obligation to speak out, the entertainment community also must begin to show images that will promote a healthier outlook on sex. “I Love NY” and “Flava of Love” both have “love” in the title, but have yet to show any real depictions of love. Black entertainment moguls must create shows like MTV’s “The Hills”. “The Hills” is one of MTV’s highest rated shows as it depicts successful, beautiful, young women in NY and LA focusing on their careers and their love lives.

There has never been an episode of “The Hills” that shows these girls lined up to sleep with 10 men in one night. These women have become instant celebrities and role models for young white women. With million dollar endorsements these young women are commissioned by middle schools and high schools around the country to come and speak to young women. I could not imagine Tiffany Pollard (aka New York) being commissioned to speak to any young woman; and her image is sadly today’s most popular televised representation of black women.

By Nana-Adwoa Ofori