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    cuaprer a4 Racist Stereotypes and the Embodiment of Blackness Some Narratives of Female Sexuality in Quito JEAN MUTEBA RAHIER Negra, negra bullanguera, eee Tuboca anoche me supo ‘Aun mate de agua surumba, (Negra, negra bullanguera, (Negra, juyunga, cuscunga, Hacé callé tu cadera, Defé tranguila mi vida, ‘Negra, negra bullanguera, Negra, juyunga, cuscunga, Enlacalle cu cadera Se cimbra como escalera, Negra, negra bullanguera, Negra, juyunga, cuscunga, De caderas de pantera, ‘Te voy a hace esta propuesta, Por rebelde y altanera ‘Tengamos los dos un hijo Pa’ que cuando yo me muera ‘Sus putios color de brea Conduzean nuestra bandera. Nelson Estupifin Bass, “Canto Negro para la Luz”* In this chapter, I focus on the way sexuality, a fundamental aspect of iden- tities, has been negotiated and renegotiated by Afro-Ecuadorian women Black woman, loud black woman, Black woman, juyunga, dari woman, ‘Last night your mouth had the caste (Of a surumba herb tea, Black woman, loud black woman, Black woman, juyunga, dark woman, Keep your hips quiet, Allow me tranguillty, Black woman, loud black woman, Black woman, juyunga, dark woman, In the street your hips Stick out ike a stairway. Black woman, loud black woman, Black woman, juyunga, dark woman, With panther hips, Ym gonna make you this proposition ‘Because you're a rebel with pride: Let's you and Ihave a son, Sothat when I die, ls dark fists will hold our flag, thin what I call the Ecuadorian *raca-spatial order" fom the perspective ofthe particular local context of Quito atthe end ofthe rop0s. The premise {that identities are multiple, multifaceted, and nonessential; they are per formed and performed anew within evolving socioeconomic an politcal sit tations following personal or individual preferences and decisions. This requites us t view blackness in terms of personal, socal cultural, poi Cal, and economic processes embedded in particular time-space context, which are constituted within local, regional, national, and transnational dimensions ‘My approach s twofold, First, | examine the reproduction of stereotypical sepresentations of black females as hypersexualized beingsin Ecuadorian o- ciety orn what could be called the Ecuadorian common sense Secon, lan- alse the narratives of sexual ie history tht four Affo-Reuadorian women residing in Quito shared with me between 1997 and 2091, during long con- ‘etsations held in a variety of locations. This examination provies not only the opportunity to appreciate the affects that these racist, stereotypical rep- resentations have halon te lives of these women, it ls allows ws to un- ‘cover the way these four women, as sociopolitical and sexual agents, have developed different strategies for pleasures and positive selFconstruction ‘within a particular racist society. The focus is onthe interface berween the personal and the structural o societal, between self presentation and inter pellation Indesd, the research reveals that dierent individuals o agents Submited to the same socioeconomic and political reality make different choices, which always express an original combination of both resscance and accommodation or adaptation to this realty (See Foucault 1975, 1978; Butler:997), “This research follows the work of various scholars who consider the con- nections between power and sexuality fmporeant because the relation that ‘wehave with ourselves as sexual beings isa fundamental component of mod- «rm identty. Giddens (1992215), for example, wrote, ‘Somehow... sexual ity functions asa malleable feature of lf, prime connecting point between body, selidentity, and social norms.” And before that, Foucsult (978103) Ind already stated that “sexuality isnot she most itractable element in power relations, but rather one of those endowed with the greatest instru ‘mentality, useful forthe greatest aumber of maneuvers and capable of serv ingasa point of suppor, a linckpin, forthe most vated strategies.” ‘The work of Franz Fanon in Black Skin, White Masks (1967), although problematic because of its characteristic peripheral treatment of black ‘women (Bergner 1993), hasbeen conceptually fundamental to chisresearch. For Fanon, sexand sexuality ae not exclusively about personal oringividual pleasures and desits. He approached sexual desires and sexual practies or Racist Stereoypes andthe Embodimentof Blackness = 297 performances as highly responsive to social and historical circumstances, Where other intellectuals such as Freud (e.g., Fuss 1995; Lévi-Strauss 1962; Merieau-Ponty 1962) had theorized about the body in such a way as to stan dardize the wisite male body into the norm with which all other bodies had to be evaluated and imagined, Fanon powerfully introduced the notion of the (nonwhite male) racialized body, the black body, whichis, he asserts, in colonial and “posteolonial” (neocolonial) contexts, an ontological impossi bility (see also Mohanram 1999). Although the former reproduced the West cera tradition that includes “disembodying” the white male by standardizing. his body, Fanon insisted on the opposite: the “embodiment of blackness,” or the fact that blackness is nothing but body. Stereotypes about Black Bodies and Black Sexuality, Stereotypes about blackness, black bodies, and black sexuality in particular abound in Ecuador. These stereotypes share many similarities with compa- rable representations of blackness in other national contexts or in the trans- national scene. ‘The expansion of Europe into non-European spaces came along with the COtherization of non-European peoples and their transformation, from a Eu rocentric perspective, into “inferior races." Indeed, since the beginning ofthe eighteenth century, European imperialist discourses of Otherization of non- European people very often used sexuality as a trope. In these discourses, ‘sexuality is manipulated in two different ways, which are related to one an- other. References to sexuality serve to construct brown and black people as savagelike individuals whose characteris denoted by “immoral,” “abnor- ‘mal," and “obsessive” sexual practices or, by contrast, sexuality appears as the very metaphor ofthe imperial enterprises by which white males conquer foreign and faraway lands that are symbolized by available brown and black {female bodies waiting to be penetrated (Schick 1999). As Foucaule(1978:32) ‘wrote, “discourses on sex did not multiply apart from or against power, but inthe very space and as the means ots exercise.” Black and brown women's bodies and sexuality have been construed as directly opposed to the way in which white European women's bodies and sexuality were imagined or reported, idealized and standardized as norms for proper female bodily characteristics and behaviors, For instance, one can recall here the work of Sander Gilman (19852, 198sb) on the tragedy of Sarah Baartman, the so- called Hottentot Venus, and the obsession of Ruropean medical doctors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with her vagina lips—and espe- cially with her so-called vaginal apron —and with her buttocks, which were ‘compared to the same body parts of Italian prostitutes (abnormal or patho- 298: JM Rabie logical white women), before reaching conclusions about the naturally enor- ‘mous sexual appetite of black women in general Blackness and Ecuadorian National Identity “The previous statements briefly present known information about crans- rational, Eurocentric, racist, stereorypic representations of black women's bodies and sexuality: Although many ofthe representations under scrutiny here do share similarities with representations reproduced in other national contexts —at least inthe Americas and in Europe —every national context does present a series of circumstantial particularities related to specific socioeconomic an politcal processes and histories that make of ech one of them and its atendant railized oppressons a singular story that needs tobe approached with respect for its originalities (see Wade 199721; Hall 1992:12-19) ‘To comprehend the situation of Ecuador, one must keepin mind that black ‘women's femininity and sexuality have ben imagined and ideologically con- sxructed in direct elation, if not definitive opposition, tothe femininity and sexuality of two other categories of females: white females (including 50 called white-mestizo females) and indigenous females. For the purpose of this discussion, I could limit the ideological landscape of Ecuadorian femi- ninities to simplified situation in which there ae, without mentioning mas- cline for now, chree fundamental actors: white (and white-mestizo) fe males, indigenous females, and black or Afro-Bcuadorian females. Jn Ecuador, in other Latin American contexts, white and w _tban and national elites have imagined the national identity arou tion of mestisaje (race mixing). These ideology of national ss hat proclaim Despite this hegemonte attempt at racial and ethnic homogenization, the eandovinWcoloy of atonal ent real in rast map of natal modernity, and url areas are considered paces of iil inferior olence, backwardness, savagery, and cultural deprivation. These areas, Foy inhabited by nonwhites or nonwhite mestins, have been viewed by the elites as representing major challenges tothe fal ational development toward the deals of modernity For Ecuador, mestane, as Norman Whiten asi Stereoryper and the Embodiment of Blchness.: 299 explains, does not mean that whites “indianize” themselves, but that, on the ary; Indians whiten themselves “racially and culturally: the offal national ident “fis| an ideology of blanaquea- of mestzae™ Qwhiten, personal In this official imagination of ecuatorianidad ("Ecuadorian-ness"), there is logically no place for blacks: they mustremain peripheral. Afro-Eeuadorians, ‘who represent between § percent and ro percent of the national population, ate the ultimate Other, some sort ofa historical aecident, a noise in the ideo- logical system of nationality, a pollution in the Ecuadorian genetic pool. ‘The best example of noncitizenship, “they are not part of mestizaje,” unlike indigenous peoples (Muratorio 1994). In the logic of the national racial. spatial order, the two traditional regions of blackness (both developed dur- ing the colonial period), the Province of Esmeraldas and the Chote-Mira Val ley, are looked down on by whites and white-mestizos; this is what Peter Wade (1993) calls “cultural topography.” ‘The ideological outsiderness of blacks in the biclogy of national identity is denoted in the discourse about black women's bodies and sexuality. Emma Cervone (2000) has written on the characteristic masculinity of the Ecuador- fan elites’ voice and imagination of mestizaje. The latter logically leads to the conception of (blond and blue-eyed) white and white-mestizo females and their sexuality as aesthetically and morally ideal. These ideals constitute more or less violent standards that every woman should try to attain at all, costs. This standardization and its attendant construction of Other bodies hhave been encrypted in various aspects ofthe Ecuadorian landscape: every- day vocabulary and conversations, written and visual representations in the ‘media, texts of songs and popular culture, and literature, Elsewhere, Ihave written on the place of blackness in national and other Keuadorian beauty contests, in which black beauty queens altered the color of their eyes as well as the color and consistency of their hair to approximate these standards (Rahier 1998, 19999). In August 1999, on the plane from Miami to Quito, I met an Ecuadorian ‘white-mestize man, an acquaintance of mine whom [had not seen for years. He is an architect who was working atthe time in the office of Quito’ mayor. He explained that he had been traveling in the United States with some of his colleagues to look for funding for one of the mayor’ construction projects. Tewas an evening flight, the plane was half empty, and we had been drinking ‘wine with our dinner. After requesting some more wine from the flight at- tendant, he asked me why was going to Ecuador this time. I responded that [as working on a new research project. He wanted more details and 1 be- ‘gan to explain thatthe project focused on black women's sexuality in Quito, 300: AMLRahier ‘as well as on the ways the racial order was, or was not, # major factor in the shaping of black people's, and inthis specific case, black women’s sexuality. 1 wanted to go further in my explanation when he suddenly Interrupted ‘me to shave his views on the matter. Making an abstraction of my own black ‘ness, he went on to theorize that unlike white people and “Indians,” he said, black people wherever they are found, fail to repress their sexuality; they hhad a mitch freer rapport with their bodies; cheir sexuality and their natural sensuality were important and normal parts oftheir daily ives. That is why they dance the way they dance, with lascivious body movements. “Even the ‘way they walk,” he said, “even the way they walk.” From watching the facial ‘expression he had at that precise moment, his wine glass in his hand, his eyes Jost on the ceiling of the plane's cabin, T wondered if he was daydream- ing about one of his phantasms. For him, ths "sexual permissiveness," as he seemed to suggest, explained the particularity of many of black people's daily behaviors. His authoritative monologue was beginning to irritate me just when one of his colleagues asked him to join his group a few rows away. ‘The relatively quiet violence of his “commonsensical comments" goes to the heart of what I try co accomplish in this chapter. It is notable that just as it has been the case in other Latin American con- texts, ewentieth-century writers from regions associated with blackness have reproduced these stereotypes about black women’s bodies and sexvality in their pooms. That is the case of the Esmeraldian writer, Nelson Estupifién ‘Bass, in the epigraph of this chapter? From the perspective of modern, urban, Ecuadorian society, indige- rows of “Indian” femele bodies and sexuality have been construed as if they exist off to one side of the fundamental opposition described between ‘white women and black women (see Rahier 19998: 108~10). Ifin many ways {indigenous females do unequivocally enter in the category of “women” with the black females, unlike the later, they do not appear in the same position when references to physical attractiveness and exotic sexuality are made. In faet, in the popular iconography, as well as in written texts, indige- nous women very often appear as nonsexual beings who supposedly smell bad; who submissively work all the time to raise their children, work the Fields, and sellin the markets; and who often beg at traffic lights with their most recently born child tied to their backs. Their bodies are usually repre- sented as unattractively small and deprived of the curves that characterize black women’s bodies in the popular imaginary. (An exception should be made here concerning indigenous women from Otavalo and their changing, representations.)* ‘This relative “attractiveness” of black women witen compared with the similar processes of imagination and cultural construction of indigenous fe- Racist Stereotype andthe Embodiment of Blackness + 301 male? femininicy, bodies, and sexuality should not be simplistically inter. preted as a positive feature within the racial order because, as Lola Young (1999:81) wrote, For the black women who have been deemed beautiful and objectified by avwhite masculinist gaze, their distance from the white feminine ideal has not produced unambiguous revulsion ...: rather, thas been a substantial part of their appeal. However, this attraction, based on the exoticism of ‘otherness, is just as problematic as the racism from which ithas emerged, Fragments of Four Narratives of Black Female Sexuality Dominant stereotypical representations led the first woman, Salomé, who ‘was born in Quito, to become obsessed with her virginity and to obtain and preserve respectability. Throughout the years, since her teens, she developed ‘phobia (her own term) for penetration that she had been unable toshed un- til very recently, Two of the other women, Maria and Yesenya, were born {in rural areas and migrated to Quito, where they ended up becoming sexual ‘workers.® Unlike Salomé, they have been, in a way, “capitalizing” on the popularity of stereotypes of black women’s hypersexuality by selling their bodies to multiple penetrations by, mostly, white and white-mestizo men, ‘The fourth woman, Saida, graduated from a university in Ibarra, the capital ‘of Imbabura Province. She lives in Quito and selfidentifies as apolitical ac- tivist engaged in the plight of Afto-Ecuadorians, Salomé: 1 was an attractive adolescent. They called me rompe cora- sones, “heart breaken” I had quite a few white and white-mestizo boys chasing after me, because Iwas born and I grew up among white-mesti- 20s, in Quito, Until adolescence I didn't really have black friends. The only black people around me were my relatives, but they lived far away, in the [Chota] Valley. When walking in unknown white-mestizo neighbor- hoods, I experienced racist aggression. If crossed the street where some ‘white-mestizo male kids were hanging out, they immediately shouted ‘ings like negra rica, “delicious black woman,” “how attractive this black ‘woman is," and things like that. Very often, they emphasized the curves of black women's legs and behind by saying: “That black woman has a nice ‘butt!” I was able to understand that what they were saying was not com> plimentary but rather profoundly disrespectful. That is when Tbegan feel ing my condition as a black woman and as a sexual object. They have so ‘many mottos about the fac that men can cure illnesses by having sex with aor: IM-Rabier black women, like to cure the kidneys. They say that black women have allot of sexual energy... I realized that what they were realy after was my body, they just wanted to have sex with me. It would be quite strange, in fact, to see a white or white-mestizo Ecuadorian man wanting to be ‘with a black woman as a partner for life. (ragment of a 1997 recorded conversation) | met Salomé'® for the fist time in 1996, during a party organized in Quito bya friend we had in common, Thanks to the financial help of her older brother, who was then single and who was working as a government em- ployee, Salomé graduated from a local university with the equivalent of a bachelor of arts degree. She now works for a foreign NGO. She was born in (Quito to working-class parents who migrated from the Chota-Mira Valley. ‘We progressively became good friends, and we meet on numerous occasions ‘every time I visit the country. Puzzled by her insistence to claim a Quiteiio ‘background, I began the very frst interview by asking her to share with me ‘the way she conceived her black identity, how she identifies as a black Qui- tefia and what thar means vis-8-vis the so-called traditional black communi- ‘tes, particularly the Chota-Mira Valley. lam used to spending time with Afro- ‘Eeuadarians involved in political activism who often visit Afto-Esmeraldian and Afro-Chorefio villages, who reproduce a discourse about black identity in which rural black communities appear as the source of “authentic black- ness” and Afro-Eeuadorian traditions. | was, then, surprised by the negative tone Salomé adopted when referring to rural Ecuadorian blacks, who she sees as somehow inferior to her and to the other more educated, urban, ‘young blacls in general Salomé: Thats a fact, we are Afo-Ecuadorians. Our roots are in Aca That where our ancestors came fom... Bu, atte same time, there are ‘two groups here in Ecuador that are located in a specific region: Esmeral- das andthe Chota Valle. I donot identify with any of these two groups Because I grew up in another space, I grew up in another environment, with ocr customs, with another workview, and fundamentally withthe objective of surpassing myself [superarme], with the desir of becoming beter, with the commitment of showing tothe word that black people can also be important. Unfortunately, chere is a consensus out there that black people from Ecuador do nt like to work, Many Ecuadoran backs, ‘cept life withthe ltl they have. They ae notvery ambitious. “IMR Itseems that yourhave lo of negative feelings rovardthe people ofthe valley 5: Ib very simple. wasnt born in thet environment. Therefore, !can- not say that 1 identify with that group. Because there isa tradition out Racist Stereoypesand the Embodiment of Blackness < 303 there that wants us, the black people, to always identify as a unified and homogenous group. I's a fact: was born in another space, in another en. vironment. ...Tdo not feel as a part of that group. 1 do not identify with the people of the valley, of of Esmeraldas. I identify as an Ecuadorian | feel Ecuadorian, and T like to be an Ecuadorian. It infuriates me that people do not believe... or accept that | am from Quito. Why isi that if youre black you atttomatically must be from Chota or from Esmeraldas? Although she recognizes the existence of racism, which she says she has experienced since the age of tenor twelve, she nevertheless claims that most of the negative ideas about back people in Ecuador (see Rahier 1999b), and particularly the negative images of black women, are justified. Salomé: Icis very hard to fee! racism, when young white and white-mes- tizo men denigrate you in the sreets or segregate you just because you're black. it hurts. Bu think thatthe people wino act that way do so because they are ignorant, chey don'tknow any better. Bur, [think that these racist things are also happening because of the people of my race. Because we hhave to acknowledge that what they say is tre. Although we are a rela- tively small portion of the Feuadorian population, the number of black men who are involved in delinquent acs is quite high. Black people have always been seen as violent and dangerous people. Even myself asa black. ‘woman, am sometimes afraid to get too close to them, particularly when Lam alone. On the basis of my personal experience, I cannot say that its a lie that baclepeople are lazy, that they don't doa thing, and that they only ‘think about leisure, that they are vulgar and disrespectful that one has to be afraid of them. Ibis true because Ihave lived it. Unfortunately, because of the bad economic situation of the country, the majority ofthe sexual ‘workers are indeed black women. JMR: The majority? ': Yes, [think that it’ the majority. That’ whet I was able to observe in the streets of the city. Perhaps its not the majority, but atleast many of them are, Ofcourse, there are many social and cultural easons that have brought people to characterize black women as women who are preoceu- pied by sexwal satisfaction. Unfortunately, they don’tsay this or that other ‘woman. They simply say “black women!” And this isnot true! And al oF us, black women, we sufer from these images. Usually, when Iwaitfr the Dus inthe street, it does not matter if Ihave a skirt that goes from the bele down to my shoes, white and white-mestizo men approach me and ask how much I charge for sexual services. They think that all black women. are prostitutes or potential prostitutes who have children like rabbits, one after the other, from adolescence on 304 SM Rahier ‘Salomé has clearly been influenced profoundly by the racist, stereotypical representations of black people in Ecuadorian society to the point that she “obviously contradicts herself. On the one hand, she accepts the stereotypical representations at face value and reaffirms their validity, while on the other hand, she wants to insis that not all black women fit the stereotype. ‘She explained how, for hes, sexuality, and especially sexual penetration, has always been something very special that she wished to reserve for the ‘man who would be her partner for life. She also explained that she had sev- eral boyfriends (mostly whites and white-mestizos) with whom she always refused to give the so-called dltima prueba del amor (the ultimate proof of Jove), that is to say vaginal penetration. She always kept in mind that she needed to educate herself, that she would not have children before finishing her education and before finding the right man with whom to found a fam- fly. She explained, referring to specific experiences she had, that she did not like either Affo-Ecuadorian men or Ecuadorian white and white-mestizo ‘men because of theit machista and their lack of respect for women in gen- eral, and particularly black women. She explained how she had grown up preferring European and North American men because, she said, they ate ‘more respectful of black women than are Ecuadorian men. She believes that ‘hey have mare respect for blacks because in Burope and North America itis ‘normal to find respectable black women and men ina middle-class position, as professionals. She sees me as a good example of that. She stared that the depreciative comments of white and white-mestizo women concerning black females are hurtful” ‘She also explained that she had reached her thirty second birthday with- ‘out losing her virginity thanks to the practice of masturbation. She had also developed, along with a clitoridean sexuality, a real phobia for penetration ‘that seems to relate to her aspiration for respectability. As she puts it herself: First, being a virgin, I always thought of sexual intercourse as something very special, healthy, as something that is not dirty. On the contrary, 1 ‘think about it as something very special that one shares with somebody special. think of (clitoridean] masturbation in the same way, asa search, aan encounter with one’s own body. Because ifto seratch your nose when ‘you have been bitby an insect gives you personal satisfaction, why not do itwith the rest of your body? And all that crap about the fact that mastur- bation isa sin, [don’tbelieve in it. Thave masturbated since the beginning of my sexual awareness. Sometimes I masturbate a lot. think that itis the ‘most natural way to let off the steam of one's own sexual energy without needing the presence of a man. 1 discovered that something was wrong with me, that each time T Racie Stereotypes andthe Embodiment ofslakness + 305 ‘wanted to offer my body for penetration, 1 was invaded by a tremendous ppanie, like a trauma, a phobia of penetration. I was invaded by the sensa- ‘on thae was going to be badly damaged. And sometimes, Leven wished that ir would be good in a way if one day someone would rape me, so that the fear that was in my head would go away. ‘Then she referced to specitic occasions when she had tied to “give the ul- timate proof oflove” wa (European) boyfriend and was, athe very last mo- rent, unable to let it happea. She emotionally explained how much that “phobia” had hurther and made the possibility ofa stable relationship with ‘4 man unreachable. She expressed her felings of inadequacy about her ‘womanhood. Through the years, Salome developed a cyst around her uterus that progressively provoked unbearable pain to che point at which she de- ded to see. doctor. Two gynecologists who examined her diagnosed a psy. chosomatic ailment and expressed their surprise at a woman of her age who ‘was sila virgin. For more than a year, she tried to avoid the cost ofa surgi cal operation by visitng curanderas (healers) to no aval. Her est wns Surg cally removed in 1999. year after the operation, she foreed herself to lose her virginity wth the young uropean man with whom she was involved at the time, without telling him anything about her condition. To her great sur- prise, as she says, she did not fel anything: no pain, no pleasure! This feel ing continued during the following penetrations she experienced with him and with one otter lover This lack of vaginal pleasure has been for her a steat disillusion: For me, Ihad had orgasms atthe level ofthe clitoris, but Pve never hada similar or comparable explosion asthe result ofa penetration, and that hhas been quit frustrating 1 know that we women are very different from ‘one another. But I dit expec tobe a woman who is exclusively lio- dean, who doesnt get pleasure from vaginal penetration. Iwas left with ‘profound deception. arin Ate listening to the story of Salomé, amazed by what [interpreted as the profound impact of the racial-spatial order, I decided to work on narratives of sexual history from Ecuadorian black women living in Quito. Salomé’s ob- session with respectability and her will to prove she does not fit the stereo- «types of black womens sexuality, ed me almost automatically to ty o gather similar information from black women involved in sexual work, because T thought that their relationship to these stereotypes would provide good ma- terial for comparison. I expected them to be directly inverted to Salomés re- lationship with the same stereotypes. 308 + LMRahier I met Maria through a friend, a white-mestizo woman who, as a social ‘worker, had worked with the Association of Sexual Workers ofthe Province of Pichincha. She introduced me tothe president ofthe association, who put ze in contact with Maria, one ofthe association's black members.® Marfa was born in Quitoto ablack woman from the Chota-Mira Valley and ‘awhite-mestizo father who she never met. She believes that hr father must be the last employer of her mother in Quito. Indeed, not long after Marie's birth, her mother mioved rom Quito Ibarra to take on another job as ado rmesticemployee. in 1999, her mother, who was sixty years old, was still ado rmestic employee ina white-mestizo home of Ibarra. ‘Ac the moment of our interactions in 1999, Maria was thirty-eight years old. She had not finished primary school and had married —both legally and ecclesiastcally—a black man from the Chota-Mira Valle ata very young ‘age. They lived in Ibarra and had six children, Her husband was abusive and often drank. He sometimes beat het. One day, because she refused to give him money she had earned herself, he burned allofher clothes. Thatis when she decided to leave him, She went to Quito with her children. Life in Quito ‘was a struggle for her. Looking for a place to live, she found a big room (four brik walls witha aine roof) that was to be used by the night guard (gua. chimdn) of a garage. After negotiations, the owner of the garage allowed her to.se the space free of charge in exchange for taking care ofthe place after ‘hours; she just had to pay for the electricity and the water (she still lives ‘here). She had different jobs as a domestic employee, ‘es, where I was working before, l experienced racism. Racism is strong. in Quito, People say things like: “dirty nigger!” and “lazy nigge” When I ‘worked in a family of rich people, they were sometimes saying negra de mierda, “shitey nigger,” but not co my face, behind my back, and I was hearing it. But was making out as if Thadn't heard it. But once Lreacted and lost my job. This was when I was working in the house of [white :mestizo] people living in the Gonzélez Suarez (an exclusive street with ‘expensive high-rise apartment buildings in Quito). ‘One day, while on the bus on her way to work, she overheard a conver- sation between two other women (a black woman and a white-mestiza). (One of them was explaining to the other that she had engaged in sexual ‘work, that it was not so bad because the money came in every day in greater ‘quantity than with any other job one could think of. The money to be made «did not compare with the salary of a domestic employee. After hearing that conversation, Marla decided ta become a sexual worker. She has been doing 0 in three different bar-brothels in the 24 de Mayo Avenue neighborhood since 1995. Recis Stereotypesand the Enbodiment of Blackness: 307 ‘en hear ertng” th pin of sri i eh ig creer sure inp Then went antherbar cree problems wht owmer a histone sta rnb, ara Renveenahuniedand wo nndred thousand acese mest Togets ne ado mate tes, ur ovary oe equine ‘twenty to thirty thousand sucres per day. This was not bad at all at the time. Today [1999}, one fiche is twenty-five thousand sucres [one Us, dole wit ove ber Ihe pepe wom oe cbs wee Tha been working are workers [trabajadores}; they are not executives, The people with more money go into the clubs of the north of the city. ‘Marfa is proud that she has been working in the bar where I first met her, E] Paraiso de Mujeres, the Paradise of Women, for more than three years, ‘With Salomé's story in mind, Lasked her what she thought of the stereotypes about black women's sexuality, if and how they had been hurtful to her. She enthusiastically responded, with a touch of pride: ‘They say that black women are hot, that they are hotter than white ‘women, or white-mestizo women. They are hotter and they can satisfy ‘men. They can have sex without getting tired of i; they have a good ap- petite. I'm like that, and my husband? became used to me and my sexual appetite; and he is white but he cannot get enough, we are the same, that is why we get along wel in sex. We are good friends. ‘Talking about her condition as a black sexual worker working mostly among mestizo and white mestizo colleagues and clients, she indicates that black sexual workers who workin the same bar usually stick together: There are always fights among women during which, whatever the intial problem ‘was, “race” becomes very quickly the principal issue. ‘There are [mestizo and white-mestizo] clients who prefer to be with a black woman. In my case, 'm notin rush, Pm not demanding them to go fast to finish, and they prefer me because I take my time and I doit well. ‘Twant them to tall well about me, so that they come back and make me ‘a good reputation. I have my clients. Identify as a black woman. I have ‘black blood and this will be like chat until die. I have had black clients, African clients. They are nice people. The only thing is that they don't like to talk a lot. They come to do what they want and that’ it. : ‘With Yesenya in mind (see the next interview), I asked Marfa if she ever refused to have sex with black liens. No, not at all. There are black men who prefer white women, there are other black men who prefer mulatto women, that’s how itis. [have no 308: LM Rahler problem with black men. Anyway, they are fewer than the mestizos and ‘white-mestizos, There are some white-mestizo colleagues who do not like black men because they say that they have big penises and that they make love fortoolong, thatithurts, and soon, Forme, allmen are equals. 1don't have this prejudice, but I know that black men have bigger penises, par- ticularly African men. White men have penises of all sizes, many have it small, skinny, long and tiny, but others have a bigger one. But the major- ity are the same, an erected penis is an erected penis; it will get inside of you as deep as it can, that’s all. ‘Many clients like to go with a black woman to have anal sex, because they say that black women have nice buttocks (lindas nalgas). Personally, | don't like anal sex, other women do, not me. To avoid it, aska prohibi- tive price that Iknow they will not be able to pay Every woman does what she wants. One day, Il Teave that job. I can sew! [can cook! ‘Yesenya was bom in 1969 in Esmeraldas to Afro-Esmeraldian parents. Unlike Marfa, sheis very dark. 1met her in the exclusive strip cub and brothel in the north of Quito where she works. Seeking to interview a black woman involved in high-scale prostitution, I went to her club, El Rineén de Placeres, the Comer of Pleasures, with @ white-mestizo male friend of mine. To ap- proach her, I had to behave like any normal client would. invited her to my table, offered her a drink, and engaged in a conversation. To be able to keep her at my table for an hour and a half, Ihad to pay her US. $50.00 (around 500,000 sticres in 1999). Although reticent to talk with me a first, she pro- igressively fet at ease and accepted my invitation to meet outside ofthe club during the day. I visited her home several times and met her two “mulatto ‘wins” (ris gemelos mulato). ‘When she was two years old, her parents divorced and she went to live ‘with her father in San Lorenzo, where he became a schoolteacher, She lived San Lorenzo until she was twenty years old. After graduating asa bachiler {high school diploma) in accounting, she left San Lorenzo because of @ con- flice with her father's new wife. She worked for awhile as asecretary ina law office in Santo Domingo de los Colorados, where she met the man who be- came her husband and the twins father. Asked to tall about her youth and the stereotypes of black women’s sexuality she said: ‘When was nota prostitute, before got married, as ahigh school student, {Thad to go to the library. I wore short skirts and wherever ! walked, cars ‘would beep and people talked to me as if were a prostitute. This has hap- ‘pened to me in various places in Ecuador. Ecuador is a backward country Racist Stereonpes andthe Embodiment ofBladness + 309 when you consider the issue of racism against blacks. They think that be ‘cause one is black one has to be atthe bottom, as if we were still in the colonial period, as if we were still slaves of white people. When I was younger, [was very attractive and alot of men were interested in me, Thad to go out without my mother knowing my whereabouts. She absolutely ‘wanted me to finish my studies and not be distracted. I didn’t make love ‘with the men; we just kissed. We caressed one another but without doing anything more, When they asked for la prueba del amor, I rejected them saying that they were nor serious. ‘She wasa virgin when she met the man who was to become her husband. He took her virginity by raping her: He was bor in Ecuador, from Australian parents. He has the face of @ ‘gringo, and his eyes have a nice honey color, just like gringos. His hair is light brown and his skin very white. He was a traveling salesman of home appliances. He passed by Santo Domingo a lot. When I first made love, ‘twas with him, although we were not married at the time. We went on a trip to Quito. We stayed in a hotel after dinner, in a room with wo beds — cone for me and one for him. At midnight, while | was sleeping, he came {nto my bed and, although he knew that I was a virgin, he penetrated me atonce. screamed because I wassleeping. Itwas horrible! ma very good sleeper, but my body was hurting so much. When I went tothe bathroom, ‘twas painful to walle it was horrible, Ay! Ldon’t want to remember this. He apologized. I slapped him several times. Then we went back to Santo Domingo. He said chat he wanted to live with me, and thar he laved me, {Told him that if he really wanted to do that, we had to get married. He accepted and we got married. This marriage was more for my dignity ‘and not so much for love. Then, we had the twins. I lived with him for years. ‘She explained about her life in Santo Domingo. He continued to travel for bis business and returned as often as he could; he was very jealous. She di ‘ot have to work and even had a domestic employee for almost two years (e back woman from the Chota Valley). Her husband became inressingly Jeslous. He was twenty-four years older than she was. At one point, his eal ‘usy got out of contol and he began o lok her up in their hows. She ré= volted and had aig fight with him. They later solved the confi by moving ‘to Quito, where she also was a housewife and received help from a domestic employee. Her husband was often drunk, sometimes for entire three-day pe- tlods. One night, wo years after the birth of the twins, while drunk, he flew: into a violent burst of jealousy and threatened her with big teen knife; to: LM-Rabier “that’s when J told him that would never see him again, and until this day 1 haven't.” he left her house with her sister, who was living with them, and her ‘wins, They went through tough times fora while. At fist, they found refuge in the house of an Esmeraldian friend who was also living in Quito. The first job she found was as a cook in a restaurant. ‘When I got my first paycheck, it was only five hundred thousand sueres. I bought milk for my children and then I rented a room. Almost all of the ‘money was gone, We all went there. We spent the first night on the floor covered with newspapers and towels. A friend of mine took my children. Her name is Alicla, She let the kids sleep in her bed while she slept on the floor. Alicia is from Ibarra, She is black as wel. ‘Then she left the restaurant, She was ashamed to work inthe restaurant ‘asa cook, after having lived in many ways the life of alady for years. She en- listed in an agency for temporary work, but they only wanted to give her jobs ‘asa domestic employee Here, to be able to be an accountant, I had to show my documents. They id not recognize my diploma from San Lorenzo. They wanted me to take computing classes. In Ecuador, ifyou are black, they won't let you live like they lec the whites live, All of that because youtre black! Thats why Ecua- dor is a mediocre country, because of racism. It will never get better! She then worked as a domestic employee in the house of a white-mestizo medical doctor fora few weeks, _Bverything was going fine until the doctor began to look at meas awoman and notas an employee. He was talking to me in the ear. He was taking me by the waist and saying things such as “Let me tell you, you are quite at- sractive!” When his wife wasnt there, he wanted to go to Ibarra with me. ‘He was very much after me all the time, He was saying that I was suggest- ing sexuality just by being looked at. One day, he wanted me to work dur- ing the weekend and I went very well dressed. I also wanted to go well dressed because I very much liked a guy from the Galpagos who was liv- ing in Quito and I was hoping that he would see me. 1 wore a miniskirt. ‘The doctor saw me dressed that way and told me that he would love to rentan apartment for me, That is when I decided to leave that job, ‘A few days later she was approached inthe street by a middle-aged white- ‘mestizo man who lured her into becoming, ashe said, a masseuse in aspa for older people. He said that the beginning salary was very good (seven hun-

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