Maybe it's the reddened (sp?) skin. Maybe it's the long red locks (my locks are long and red). But it's definitely their beautiful bodies... their breasts especially.
Actually it's for more than just some reason. It's because they're beautiful and when I see them, I see me. I mean this in a very intimate sense, not some fantasized kinship with other women of African descent. I can literally look at them and see features of my own body; a body that I have not always loved or been proud of or thought was beautiful. A body I thought was strange, according to images of women's bodies I'd seen on tv, in magazines, online, even in pornography. I saw these women and stopped feeling alone and odd.
There was one such picture which is my favorite (that I can't seem to locate) of a young himba woman walking down a road smiling, with this very sharp arch in her back. It was posted on facebook and a huge uproarious debate ensued about what she needed and how she could better herself (tons of inconsequential mess) and then someone asked if that arch in her back was normal. Of course it's normal! ha! I'm normal! <3
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