Desire or Design: The Body Politics Behind the BBL Era and the Black Female Body
As a Black woman, Iâve been reflecting on the growing obsession with body shape, especially the glorification of having a âbig butt.â And I had to ask myself: Do I actually want a big butt, or do I want a body that simply honors my natural shape?
That question opened the door to something deeperâsomething historical, something painful.
Most people donât know the story of Saartjie Baartman, a South African woman from the 1800s whose naturally curvy body was put on display in European freak shows. Her buttocks, a result of a genetic condition called steatopygia, was exoticized and dehumanized. She became a spectacleânot a person. Her story laid the foundation for how Black womenâs bodies have been hypersexualized ever since.
And whatâs wild is that weâre still living with the aftershocks today.
The BBLâBrazilian Butt Liftâhas become a trend. A symbol of desirability. But hereâs the part nobody talks about: the contradictions within the trend. Itâs a double-edged sword.
Women who are naturally fullerâespecially heavier Black womenâare often shamed or dehumanized when their curves are perceived as too much or too real. Theyâre sexualized in public, objectified in silence, and made to feel like they canât exist without being seen as a sexual commodity.
But thenâon the flip sideâpetite women, like me, are praised for getting BBLs. The same body parts that are shamed on one woman are celebrated on another, so long as it fits a âpalatableâ frame. Thatâs not empowermentâthatâs performance.
Weâve created a culture where having a big butt is only acceptable if it comes on a small, sculpted frame. If youâre bigger? Itâs a threat. Itâs âtoo sexual.â Itâs âtoo much.â Youâre told to hide it, shrink it, or apologize for it.
So the truth is: many women donât feel safe in their own bodies, regardless of size. Whether youâre curvy, thick, or slim, the body becomes something to be managed for someone elseâs comfort, someone elseâs pleasure.
This is why I believe so many of us are just trying to find peace in a body weâve never been taught to honorâbecause what weâre chasing often has nothing to do with us. Itâs the conditioning. The history. The gaze. The system.
But what if we stopped running?
What if we let our bodies be, without the pressure to shrink, shape, or sexualize?
What if we realized that the problem was never our bodiesâbut the systems that told us how to feel about them?
This is the unlearning. This is the healing. And Iâm here for every Black woman learning to love her body on her own termsânot for the gaze, not for the trendâbut for the truth.
Audio version available here:
In this heartfelt audio reflection, I unpack the complex layers of body image, desirability, and historical conditioningâespecially as they
















