Discovering what is archived about the lives of non-indigenous queer racialized Canadians was our particular interest. Through our visit to The Arquives (previously known as the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives) in Toronto, we noted many ethnic or racialized queer experiences categorized by country. As a comparison, we wanted to analyze how accessible such artifacts were digitally. The Arquives’ digital archives were unfortunately a scarce database for such artifacts when searching by racialized countries’ names. We then extended our search to include ethnic or racial identity categorizations such as, for e.g. “south asian,” “black man,” etc., to analyze what artifacts would be presented. Upon searching for the term ‘negro,’ we found the above advertisement from a Canadian newspaper published in the 1960s.
It is crucial to begin by acknowledging how this advertisement is framed through its existence within The Arquives. The advertisement does not explicitly state that it is seeking any (homo)sexual connections but this is how we viewed the advertisement. It states the desire of a “young white gentleman” to meet a “well built negro gentleman” which can suggest a sexual or physical-based arrangement. However, finding this advertisement within The Arquives might suggest that it is implicitly sexualized and linked to homosexual relations.
Classified ads, small messages grouped under specific headlines in newspapers, have various purposes, including the promotion of individuals seeking a sale of their goods (Bhasin, para. 3). Globally in the 1960s, ads were being used in seeking romantic connections. However, prosecution was prominent for these ads as they were suspected to be frequented by sex workers and homosexuals (Lee, para. 15). The specification of a “well-built negro gentleman” is eerily similar to Canadian slavery ads (such as the one shown above) from the 1700s seeking to sell black slaves (Exitan-Babiuk, 89). The ease of public commodification of black bodies is parallel in both circumstances – what does this then mean about the value and objectification of black lives? The lack of characteristics of the person being sought in our chosen ad is related to what bell hooks describes as black slaves being seen as “salable parts” with no presence (Okoye, 208). Therefore, why continue to impose this desire onto a black object that has no presence? hooks describes this as the commodification of otherness, that blackness provides a new satisfying delight for white consumers. Ethnic commodification, as bell hooks describes, provides an intriguing newness that brightens up whiteness. This desire for ethnic commodification can extend into interracial fetishization.
Initially the advertisement being created in 1964 interested us around the experience of gay interracial relations for black and white communities in the 1960s. The act of specifying racial interests creates a fetishization of the black body. The implicit racially-fetishizing tone raised questions for us about when gay interracial sex became ‘open.’ During American slavery, homoeroticism was used by white slave owners as a form of both sexual exploration and punishment towards black male slaves (Foster, 451). Though gay sex was prohibited during this era, the power of the slave owner and the shame of being a victim of male-to-male sexual violence enabled the silencing of black male slave victims (Foster, 451). Aliyyah I. Abdur-Rahman provides an analysis of Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), recalling the discussion of a black slave named Luke who was forced to perform sexual favours for the young white slave owner as well as being flogged as a form of punishment. Abdur-Rahman argues that the abuse experienced by Luke demonstrates a form of domination that helped in “shap[ing] white American identity in the US” (Abdur-Rahman, 233). Therefore, interracial sexual violence between slaves and slave owners was used to enforce white superiority over the black male body through control, pain, and pleasure. So although the 1960’s were a period of Black civil rights and saw an influx of immigrant black populations into Canada (Faabi & Jackson, n.d.), interracial male-to-male relations (though historically non-consensual and violent) amongst black and white men were not new to that era. How then might the influence from a sexually violent history to consensual gay relations affect contemporary gay interracial interactions?
The history of slavery and sexualized violence between black and white men brewed the beginnings of racial fetishization and sexual discrimination. Thomas Foster quotes John Saillant’s work on the black male body and interracial sexual appeal, stating that “[abolitionist] literature idealized black male bodies in a manner that included an unusual focus on height, musculature, and skin colour” (Foster, 450). This racial fetishization has influenced contemporary interracial gay relations and sexual discrimination, particularly in mobile dating apps like Grindr – a gay dating app that allows users to create bios/profiles in which users may specify racial preferences. In an article for Vice, Andre-Naquian Wheeler describes his experience on Grindr as being highly racialized and fetishized. He draws on several of his experiences as well as pop cultural texts like Get Out and Insecure where black men are being sought for the satisfaction of white men’s commodifying and objectifying kinks. When black men are unable to meet this demand, from Wheeler’s examples, they have been faithfully disposed of. Wheeler poses the question: “what are the border lines between affection and fetishization?” His question reflects the difficulty of being a queer black man trying to navigate consensual and reciprocal romantic and sexual relationships with the pressure and fear of how far white men’s sexually discriminating practices will go.
Access to archived experiences of queer racialized Canadians enables insight into narratives that may be scarce to find. An observation of this advertisement probes a query into the historical and modern effects of the sexual interactions between white men and black men. Thus, we respond with this analysis that racialized histories and experiences of power inequality through slavery, objectification, commodification, and fetishization are factors that have impacted and complicated the interactions between these groups.
Authors
Candace Oghide is a Master’s student in Nursing and Sabrina Ramroop is a Master’s student in the Cultural Studies and Critical Theory Program at McMaster University.
Works Cited:
Abdur-Rahman, Aliyyah I. “‘The Strangest Freaks of Despotism’: Queer Sexuality in Antebellum African American Slave Narratives.” African American Review,
no. 2, 2006.
Bhasin, Hitesh. “What Is Classified Advertising?” Marketing91, 18 June 2018, www.marketing91.com/what-is-classified-advertising/?fbclid=IwAR1SVMlJ3Zld7sfa1wlyhvytl6MGdea7u_Q63wYwvn9jopeZV5zXVJlIRY8.
Costa, Thomas, compiler. Virginia Runaways: Runaway Slave Advertisements From IBth Century Virginia Newspapers. October 27,2003. August 30, 2004.
Extian-Babiuk, Tamara. “‘To Be Sold: A Negro Wench’ Slave Ads of the Montreal Gazette 1785 -1805 .” Library and Archives Canada, www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/QMM/TC-QMM-98920.pdf.
Faabi, Nadine, and Henry M. Jackson. “Early Black Canadian History.” Emancipation Festival, www.emancipation.ca/early-black-canadian-history?fbclid=IwAR0gyM3OJtWxNT-lgxW-WsV6Vxydp4wkuIw6VgQLmW62Mfmp_bVq6ARQBYs.
Foster, Thomas A. “The Sexual Abuse of Black Men under American Slavery.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, no. 3, 2011, p. 445.
Goff, Phillip Atiba, et al. “The Essence of Innocence: Consequences of Dehumanizing Outgroup Children.” American Psychological Association, 2014, pp. 526–545., doi:10.1037/e506052012-085.
Lee, Susie. “Https://Www.huffpost.com/Entry/Timeline-Online-Dating-fr_b_9228040.” Huffington Post, 14 Feb. 2016, www.huffpost.com/entry/timeline-online-dating-fr_b_9228040.
Wheeler, Andre-Naquian. “As a queer black male, i’m tired of being fetishized on grindr.” i-D, 31 May 2018. https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/pav3vk/as-a-queer-black-male-im-tired-of-being-fetishized-on-grindr.
“”Would like to meet a well built Negro gentleman”,” The ArQuives Digital Exhibitions, accessed April 7, 2019, https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/items/show/307.