britticisms:

Whenever I see photos like the one above, a part of me is led to believe that young white photographers are desperately consumed with acknowledging and representing their sexual, intimate lives in a way that many young people of other races do not (or do not appear to do). Meaning, when I see a photo of this, the two individuals almost always look like the two individuals in any of the other hundreds of thousands of photos that show two young people kissing or having sex. It is an apparent aesthetic that I have to wrap my head around but one that I can’t help but think about because I see it everywhere, all of the time, especially on Tumblr.

If we are increasingly becoming a visual culture, what does it mean when the aesthetics of these images are used to represent what it means to be young and sexual? There is a freedom inherent in these photographs that I can’t identify with, yet I yearn to do so. They remind me of the alternative, yet aspirational youth in many of Ryan McGinley’s photographs.

They also remind me of the sexual issues that I face as a young Black woman. Unlike women my age of other races, the number one killer of African-American women ages 25-34 is HIV/AIDS, and I have to largely consider whether or not my sexual choices will turn me into another statistic or if I will be able to live another day HIV/AIDS-free. This differs from many of my white female friends who more frequently admit to a fear of pregnancy than a life-threatening STD. There is, not entirely but significantly, a presence of weariness that comes to being young and sexual and Black and female. That is not to say that the “bliss” of such photos can’t be achieved by people with HIV/AIDS. Rather, I wonder what thoughts would arise in me if the figures in these photos were altered. Would I still think of “the beauty of youth,” or “freedom,” or “healthy sexual relationship” if the woman was Black, or if both the woman and the man were Black?

(Photo by Martien Mulder, a Dutch photographer based in New York. From Dossier)