FAMU Sex Tape Perpetuates Black College Student Stereotypes

Journalistic ethics and personal morality won’t allow me to link to the video here, but like most things, a simple search or question on Twitter will likely lead you to the underwhelming flesh romp that humiliates a few, and degrades the concept of student life at HBCUs.

Clearly, FAMU isn’t the only place where a co-ed sex tape can be filmed, and it’s clear that HBCUs aren’t the only cinematic breeding grounds for a case study on the clash of drinking and promiscuity. But the *alleged FAMU sextape*, like the black college sextapes that have preceded it and will follow it, doesn’t live in the same wonderland that sextapes from other colleges live in. When sextapes surface from other institutions, they are just examples of a couple of horny kids out of the 30,000-plus horny kids on campus, just dumb enough to put it on film.

When a FAMU sextape, or any other black college sextape is released, it’s a couple of horny kids out of three or four thousand; many of which have accusing eyes, stifled laughs, and judging neck rolls for the budding adult film actors when they make their way through the yard. These students’ judgement, however irresponsible and immature the moments may have been, will follow them for the rest of their college careers, and personal lives.

They will have a totally new existence on campus. They will be known as “those guys,” “those girls.” In the time it took for thousands of students to watch and laugh at the footage, most of their professional opportunities and chances and meaningful romantic relationships immediately took a trip out onto a tight rope, a tight rope tethered to thousands, and possibly millions of laptops around the country.

And the viewers won’t consider the jeopardy that these students have placed themselves in, or the embarrassment to family and friends, or the stinging spiritual toll that will be felt. Kids on FAMU’s campus, and at other college campuses will only shake their heads at the wild and crazy kids that do wild and crazy things on black college campuses. They’ll only remark at the validation of stereotypes among black college students; oversexed, intoxicated, low on common sense and decency.

And for those kids, for those moments, the stereotype was true. For the gentleman that posted it and those brothers involved, it was a significant lapse in character, chivalry and respect. For the sisters involved, it will be an immediate future of misguided characterizations and assassinations on their femininity and sexuality.

For everybody on the tape, they will be the bearers of what so many already believe black college students to be. Their actions deserve the burden; their futures, however, do not. And neither does the future of countless other students who don’t engage in this kind of behavior, or are at least smart enough to check for cameras.

And with all of this, the hill for HBCU students to climb towards greater self-dignity and self-respect becomes that much harder to climb. And just think, black college weekend is yet to come.

*UPDATE* – Thanks to outstanding investigative work from the commenter below, we now know that the FAMU sextape was a complete farce. But the point remains for the stereotypes that surrounds incidents like this.

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