Lies in and out of the Bed Room.

Allison Kavansgh Alavi’s study of sexual discourse in regards to male penises as represented by dildos and race is the primary focus in her article, “Little White Lies: Race, Dildos and American Culture.” She defines discourse as “a specific type of practice through which we communicate messages to and about one another.” (Alavi, 157) She compares black and white dildos to explore the discourse used in American society in dildo packaging. Alavi conducted a content analysis study to either confirm or disprove her hypothesis that black men’s sexuality is represented as hyper sexual and sexually aggressive in the adult novelty industry. What she found is a clearly racist discourse that presents black penises and in turn black men’s sexuality as dangerous and even sinful compared to the white dildos that were portrayed as sensual and erotic.
A major strength of Alavi’s article is her focus on the historical context from which she examines the information at hand. She explores the racist notions that shape the ideas of black men and their sexual behavior. Alavi’s research of black men’s sexuality begins in the fourteenth and fifteenth century (according Alavi this where she believes the stereotype was born). She argues that depictions and other works from this time period created the stereotype of black men having abnormally large penises that Europeans interpreted as a symbol of hyper sexuality. This was just one more way that white slaveholders justified slavery. According to the beliefs of some whites in during slavery blacks, especially black males, needed “enlightened Christians to help them control their sexual urges” (Alavi, 158) The hysteria that existed in the mid to late 1800s about the raping of white women by black men was also addressed by Alavi. This fear was so exaggerated that between 1889 and 1899, nine out of ten lynched men were black and were killed because they were accused of the rape of a white woman (Pieterse, 1992:177). Lastly her observation of how the media frames black men as unruly and uncontrollable was very relevant. “ Taken together, the history of racist sexual discourse, the media’s reliance on racist notions in its portrayal of black men, and the consequential control and institutionalization of racism, marginalize black men and label them as deviant and dangerous” (Alavi,159).
I found it difficult to find a weakness in this article. The only weakness in this piece was that there could be more facts presented in regards to the history of the discourse of black men and their sexuality.
Alavi’s study of dildos is a stellar example of how sex is socially constructed. Social construction is an idea that appears to be natural, normal and obvious to those who accept it but is actually an invention or artifact of a particular culture or society. What is happening in this instance is that a stereotype based upon a part of black men’s anatomy is being used to socially construct a negative and general idea about quite a large group of people. This stereotype of hypersexual and aggressive black men is apparent in two particular instances in this paper: the marketing of black dildos and black dildos themselves. There is a clear difference in the marketing of white and black dildos, the most dramatic examples include black dildos described as “massive” and as a “vibrating devil dong” while the white dildos are described as having an “exciting shape” and as made “to please”. The difference in language leads the consumer to think of the black dildos out of the norm with their incredibly large size and inhumane characteristics while the white dildos are characterized as normal and as a source of safe pleasure.
Not only does the packaging confirm Alavi’s hypothesis, but the actual dildos serve this purpose as well. She found that the darker dildos were on average almost 1.25 inches longer than the lighter dildos. In addition, the darker dildos were far more graphically constructed including veins, pubic hairs and scrotums (Alavi, 160) features that the lighter penises did not generally did not have.
I found the history of the dildo to be one of the most interesting parts of the article. It gave me more of an understanding of what we had briefly discussed in class. The dildo’s progressive transformation from a medical device to a sex toy is incredibly intriguing and is a clear example of how any idea in society has the potential to be socially constructed. I also appreciated the way she related that information to the racial and overall social discourse that was the main topic of the paper.