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Ochún’s
Blessing and Curse
- A
mulatta (female) or mulatto (male) is the term used to describe a person of
mixed white and black race, typically with one only white and one only black
parent.
-
In Cuba of the 19th century, mulattas were praised as sexual objects
for white men, adorned for their beauty and sensuality. Gilberto Freyre, a Brazilian
artist of the 1900’s, flaunts that mulattas are the greatest creation in the country
and reprimands them, and other women, by saying, “white women are for marrying,
mulattas are for fornicating, and black women are for working.”
-
Mulattas are said to transcend reality as mythical, exotic, healthy, and young.
Essentially, they are an example of a positive form of racial prejudice,
setting such a high standard for beauty. Sought out as a prized possession, however,
mulattas were also unfortunate to be desired. They were the result of white
males fooling around with their female slaves and impregnating them as a
result; this, in turn, was still the way that some mulattas were treated and
put down.
- Other
mulattas were seen as free colored women.
They were put on a pedestal as a symbol for both wild nature and pure virtue,
the antithesis of the common white woman whose role was merely to be wife and
mother. But the roles of the mulattas were only to be a mistress and a prostitute
for the will of any man. Mulattas were taken advantage of as impure-blooded
women, despite their beauty and praise.
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Harvesting
Exoticism
- Vaudeville
Theater bloomed in 1878 and through to the late 1930’s with stereotypical mulattas
as entertainment wearing tiny, revealing, fitted clothing, almost to the point
of being considered pornographic. They portrayed trouble makers, flirters, and
dancers and performed nightly in cabarets where they would sing, act, dance, and
gradually remove articles of clothing.
- The majority of performances were
raunchy, become more explicit through the eras, and packed with white male
audience members as tourism grew larger in the 1950’s. Mulattas were taken so
far as to be labeled a result of Cuban culture, Cuban music, and Cuban product.
-
The rumba dance became highly associated with mulattas, identified as sexy and elegant
rhythms of movement, just like the women who danced to them.
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On the Journey
Back to the Source
- The
end of the 1950’s did not become the end of the intensity of mulatta shows.
Dancing was more frivolous, listening to music became an all-nighter, theaters
were packed with audiences every night, and the actresses and the audience
became more... integrated (if you know what I mean). The nightlife was erratic!
- In
the 1960’s, a cartoonist by the cover name “Wilson” created characters known as
Las Criollitas, exemplifying the
Cuban perspective on mulatta women with over exaggerated “shapely legs and
thighs, wide hips, small waist, pointed breasts..., miniskirts..., tight
T-shirts..., [and] platform shoes.” They were also drawn explicitly with “sensual
lips, long eyelashes and big eyes.”
-
At the closure of the late 1970’s, Cuban mulatta were having children who were
having children, increasing the racial discrimination about the myth of
impure-blooded women. Some mulattas’ names were changed to butterflies, unfortunately because they and their families were
exiled to welcome younger and fresher mulattas. Not long after, the Cuban
economy slipped into crisis and nightlife began to become more scarce. True prostitution
emerged from former mulattas, though some strived on to become models for
magazines. The crave for exotic women had died down.
Article By: Raquel Mendieta Costa
Translated By: Eduardo Aparicio
Blog Written By: Bretten James
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