A Fertile Mind

This is a big year for Adichie, who will see her “baby” – Half of a Yellow Sun – make its cinematic debut this autumn in a film starring Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It’s slightly odd to hear her rave about Newton, a friend, playing the part of the Igbo Olanna, given that seconds earlier Adichie was decrying the fact that “the black people who are stars in Hollywood are all light-skinned” and saying she gets “very, very” frustrated that black women are so marginalised on the big screen.

“There’s no dark-skinned woman who is a babe. There just isn’t. The dark-skinned woman, she is the Serious One. She is the Friend. She is the Sassy Girl. She is never the person we root for.” (That said, the film is British-financed and the London-born, bi-racial Newton is British.)

Nigerians are in uproar about the decision, which had nothing to do with Adichie, to cast Newton. “They’re like ‘Ohhhhhhh!’” she admits, but brushes aside their qualms that Newton doesn’t look Igbo: “My brother is lighter than she is.” She is sympathetic about Nigerians wanting a local actress but says film-making is about “who’s good, who has been tested, who can do it well”. I want to add: “And who’s marketable,” but I bite my tongue.

The digital appropriation of the Black female body allows consumers of these photos to feel and experience a perceived sexual experience exclusive to the Black female body—without an actual Black woman present.” -@AsiaBrown on Twitter on Forharriet.com

Still, we’re not so good at articulating a language for pleasure, which is crucial for any human being but it plays a critical role in other black women’s issues with which we don’t necessarily make the connection. For example, if we’re talking about black women and the rate of new HIV cases – the percentage of black women among new infections is disproportionately high – but when you look at the prevention, the language is ‘If he doesn’t want to use a condom, tell him to back off’ or, ‘If he really cares about you he’ll use protection.’ The discourse is centered around men’s pleasure.