The relationship between black female identity and sexual desire is complicated. Historically, black women have been subject to a stereotype that polices and restricts their sexuality. This is commonly known as the Jezebel trope. Reel is a romance novel by Kennedy Ryan, and it reimagines black female desire, challenging this long-standing stereotype.
The Jezebel Stereotype and Respectability Politics
Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins describes a pervasive and unsavoury stereotype that taints the image of black female desire. The Jezebel trope envisions the black woman as innately lustful with an uncontrollable, unquenchable appetite for sexuality. This is in contrast to her white female counterparts who are regarded as symbols of chastity and innocence. The Jezebel imagery was used to justify the rape enacted against black enslaved women by their white enslavers during the period of slavery. The Jim Crow Museum details the development of this stereotype which has persisted in the media with films such as Black Hooker. This film features a boy mothered by a neglectful, promiscuous, black mother. Another film is Foxy Brown, where a black female character disguises herself as a harlot.
Collins also explains how a movement began to counter the imagery of the Jezebel. She refers to “politics of respectability”, where Black middle-class women advocated for a more chaste image based on ideals of propriety and sexual abstinence. Further, she also emphasises how these ideals were based on White European principles of femininity and how they are reminiscent of Western criticisms of black sexuality.
Reel
Kennedy Ryan’s Reel rejects these historical stereotypes. The story follows a black male director, Canon, and a black female actress, Neevah, who are working on the same film. The mutual tension between the two is electric, developing into a romantic and sexual relationship. Through this narrative, Ryan deconstructs the image of the Jezebel and disregards notions of black female “respectability”.
The novel alternates between the first-person perspectives of both characters, allowing the reader to witness Neevah’s growing physical attraction to Canon firsthand. Ryan does not shy away from explicit descriptions of Neevah’s body reacting to Canon in arousal. This contrasts the ideas of purity attached to “respectability politics”. Unlike the Jezebel, Neevah’s sexual intentions are not assumed by outsiders. She states her intentions explicitly on her own. This is confirmed when she initiates physical contact with Canon. The expression of desire and consent affords Neevah the agency that is denied to black women by the Jezebel stereotype. Furthermore, the first-person narrative centres on Neevah’s internal experience of pleasure during her sexual activity with Canon. The reader is able to experience Neevah’s gratification in an immediate way. This places black female pleasure at the forefront, shifting the focus of the sexual act to the black female character.
Significantly, Neevah’s attraction for Canon is not only limited to sexual desire. She also feels attracted to him on the basis of his emotional and personal characteristics. She admires and respects his talent as a director. Neevah’s purpose for engaging in sexual activity with Canon is twofold. It is both a way for her to satisfy her sexual desire and a way to gain closer intimacy with Canon. In the novel, the sexual encounters between the two are described by Ryan with soft alliteration and words that link to pleasure and indulgence. During their sexual encounters, Canon and Neevah frequently declare their love for each other. Ryan moves away from the harmful image of black female sexuality as a deviant desire for endless sex, and transforms it into a vision of pleasure and intimacy.
In Reel, Kennedy Ryan breaks down the harmful Jezebel stereotype that has long tainted black female sexuality. She redefines black female desire, and she highlights how it can be a source of agency and love.
