Black women ain't your fucking monolith.

Black women are more than just a naked body to wrap yourself around, or your shoulder to cry on when the world is rough and beats up on you. Black women are more than your bed wench or your bitch in the kitchen cooking your dinner.

I say this because these are some of the images we see most often associated with black women. Black women are far too often hypersexualized and reduced to their bodies, and their usefulness to us. There seems to be a new movement in black art, of photographing black women, naked, in the arms of a quote-unquote "strong black king," usually a black man with grown out natural hair, possibly starting to dread from slight neglect. You may be familiar with artists such as Markus Prime or Kristoff Brown, who somehow gained popularity from creating art in these styles. Artists like these gained recognition from portraying black women as monolithic beings; monolithic meaning that they fall within a strict set of rules and parameters that can absolutely not be deviated from.

But the truth is that this art is extremely problematic. It's true that the nude female form is one of the oldest subjects in art, and there's nothing inherently wrong with admiring black women in this style. The problem, however, is that images and works like this comprises entire catalogs that depict black women as monoliths; beings that are only worthy of love under a set of strict guidelines. That they are not complex, or multifaceted; that they only exist to be shown as angry on television, or naked in photographs, or to hold up their "strong black king."

Black women are usually only shown as one of a handful of specific archetypes in media, whether it's television or film or news broadcasts or radio. Black women are either shown as loud and sassy or meek and quiet; angry and violent or easily abused; hot and oversexed or conventionally "unsexy." These depictions are unrealistic. One might say that it's "just TV and movies," or say that the number of archetypes shows diversity, but in reality, these are narrow roles and depictions of black women, and TV and movies are shaping elements of our culture, which in turn shape our worldview. The truth is, black women are often shown in all forms of art as being one dimensional.

But black women aren't a monolith, as anyone with a black mother can attest to. Black women are multifaceted, and complex; they have their own lives and issues and likes and concerns to deal with outside of holding us up when we're too weak to hold ourselves. We as a community have no problem acknowledging that black men are complex, or even taking up the causes of black men. Police brutality and criminal justice reforms are hot button issues and are most often framed around the way they effect black men. However not only do these effect black women as well, they have issues that effect them in harsh ways as well. Women's rights matters, including access to reproductive healthcare and the wage gap, which effects black men, but hits black women even harder.

But our women are more than their issues too. Black women are the most educated demographic in America; they're also the largest growing group of business owners. Women like Janice Bryant Howroyd, Tina Wells, Lisa Price and Leanna Archer are just a few examples of black women making strides in business. Black women are making strides in the art world as well, with women like Ava DuVernay challenging traditionally white male-dominated fields like directing. The campaign to increase diversity at the Academy Awards, #OscarsSoWhite was started by a black woman, April Reign.

None of this is anything new though! Black women have been magical throughout history; where would we be without women like Ida B. Wells or Fannie Lou Hamer or Ruby Bridges or Dorothy Height or Shirley Chisholm or the millions of others who held us down and fought for their rights and ours? Women like Madam CJ Walker, Marie Van Brittan Brown, and Mary Kenner, who made inventions and innovations that were revolutionary for their time?

Black women are more than the one dimensional images that often get pushed out through art and media. Black women hold us down, sure, but they're so much more than that, and so much more than their sexuality. It's time for us to lift up and celebrate black women for more than their bodies, and more than their contributions to our lives as black men. It's time we champion their issues and exclaim their successes the way they do ours. It's beyond time we put some respect on their names!