Recently I’ve begun reading Frantz Fanon and found his theory on gender related to race in Black Skin, White Masks (1952) to be disturbing.
He has two chapters in the book I will focus on, one titled “The Woman of Color and the White Man,” the second “The Man of Color and the White Woman.” It should be noted, he does almost exclusively focus on the relations between the black people of Martinique/Antilles and their French colonizers.
“The Woman of Color and the White Man” is extremely prescriptive and critical of black women for their apparent attraction to white men. His point of reference for this is Mayotte Capécia’s I Am a Martinican Woman (1948). Capécia’s work is rampant with colorism and has been widely criticized for its descriptions of internalized black inferiority.
Fanon would describe that “It is commonplace in Martinique to dream of whitening oneself magically as a way of salvation,” and claims that “a lot of girls from Martinique, students in France, [...] confess in lily-white innocence that they would never marry a black man.” Fanon speaks of black women as though they are children, writing in a patronizing tone, “[black Martinican women] too one day will realize that ‘white men don’t marry black women.’” He writes with a tone which conveys that black women are not capable of being attractive. On top of this, his belief seems to be that black women only have one real job, “to whiten the race.”
Fanon is insecure in his manhood and believes he cannot be a complete man as a white man is capable of.
In “The Man of Color and the White Woman,” the descriptions of the black men are far less judgemental. He writes, “between these white breasts that my wandering hands fondle, white civilization and worthiness become mine.” Even if we focused on less sexual descriptions (there are several within the chapter), Fanon wrote, “By loving me, [a white woman] proves to me that I am worthy of white love. I am loved like a white man.”
It is evident that Fanon views women as tools, but their worth differs depending on their race. He claims this is not unique, later in the chapter explaining that “with Antillean men we learned that their main preoccupation on setting foot in France was to sleep with a white woman. [...] this ritual of initiation into ‘authentic’ manhood.”
Black women have the purpose of procreation according to Fanon, while white women have the purpose of sexual pleasure. A black woman cannot be sexually enjoyed, and a white woman cannot mother his children.
