Hooks tells it like it is...

To be totally honest, I was really taken back by Hooks title and I was dreading reading the article. After I did, I was really glad that I read it and even shared some of Hooks thoughts with my boyfriend. Being black, I don’t think I realized just how much black women specifically are over-sexualized which is kind of ironic but so true. I appreciated how honest Hooks was about how black women are depicted even though it had me sitting at the edge of my seat most of the time. I agreed a lot with Hooks when she was talking about the black “butt” specifically. I have never fully appreciated this fascination and the more and more it’s glorified by the media, the more I cover up or shy away from everything associated with it including the all too common, “black pride.” An example of "butt" pride is below.

I have always been a fan of the underground “love your body” campaign but it seems so hard to do when you’re a black woman. You’re automatically classified in the “she loves her butt” campaign, especially if you have the curves to support what they’re saying, which has always been a personal problem. When Nelly first came out with his “Apple Bottom” jeans, I was really happy that they had begun making jeans for women who are a little curvier on the bottom. I went out to the mall and went into “Against all odds” and tried on a pair of Apple Bottoms. I was disappointed because it over emphasized the behind more than it did accommodate my curviness. As I soon realized, the goal of these jeans was to do just that, over emphasize the glorified “butt.” One of my favorite performers of all time is Beyoncé because I believe she is the ultimate performer, but I must say every now and then I question if she really needs to be “bootylicious” in all her songs. Somehow along with other black female performers, she believes she needs to do as many butt shakes as she can in order for people to like a song. I, particularly, am tired of this and don’t think it’s necessary. Not because I don’t appreciate curvy bodies, but because I think that the mentality behind it is distorted.


It makes me sad that I can’t think of one black female artist who hasn’t over the course of their career been overly sexualized except for people like India Arie. Just look at the array of pictures below. It really is the total distortion of the black female.

Alicia Keys above...and Rhianna below.

How about this surprising picture with Serena Williams as she poses nude in the ESPN magazine. It’s not enough that they highlighted her butt enough during her tennis matches. I’m particularly upset because of this image though because it just seems like a way to put her back in place because she has so many successes. It seems totally unnecessary and for me she just went from hero to complete zero.

I agree with Hooks that we need to come to that place where our system provides new and fresh representations of women’s bodies that aren’t overly sexualized and this may mean crossing traditional boundaries. Yes, we are sexual beings as created by our creator but we’re certainly not objects.