Exotic, Erotic, and Expendable

Hook's article was shocking, yet informative. At first I thought she was over-analyzing things and took takes a stretch of the imagination to validate the connections she was pointing out between media representations of women and the themes of racism she discusses. However, she backed every point she made so solidly with historical evidence that the truth of her accusations become undeniable, unavoidable. I felt so uneducated about racism reading this article. She did a great job of giving LOTS of examples of simultaneous racist and sexist media representations from various sources, present and past: movies, music (Tina Turner), modeling (Iman), slavery auctions and it's effects, and simple material items on display (chocolate boobs).

Her main premise about black female sexuality is that since slavery, their image has been one of expendability and eroticism that can be taken advantage of whenever and however. She writes, "Just as 19th-centry representations of black female bodies were constructed to emphasize that these bodies were expendable, contemporary images (even those created in black cultural production) give a similar message...//....the Tina Turner story reveals that she was anything but a wild woman; she was fearful of sexuality, abused, humiliated, fucked, and fucked over." (64/67).

I think the genre of media today that most strongly conveys this image of black female sexuality is the music industry. In almost every single rap/hip-hop song that is released today, there is a negative reference to the female body. Even though the women are aware their images are being sexualized, they are unable to break free of this cycle that has suppressed them for over one hundred years! One might argue that there are white women (or Hispanic, in the case of Shakira and Christina Aguilera) who are sexualized in the same way, but it is a much stronger, more prevalent theme in the images of black female musicians.

I think Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks are two of the few popular black female artists that came to mind when thinking of exceptions to this rule. But cultural icons? Chart-topping artists? Beyonce, Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Ciara, Mariah Carey, Eve, Blu Cantrell, Lil Mama, Kelis, and LeToya....just to name a few. Sadly, the list of women who embody this image of balck female sexuality is much, much longer than the former.

"This poem speaks to the desire of black women to construct a sexuality apart from that imposed upon us by a racist/sexist culture, calling attention to the ways we are trapped by conventional notions of sexuality and desirability: ....it's a sex object if you're pretty and no lover or love and no sex if you're fat get back fat black woman be a mother grandmother strong thing but not a woman gameswoman romantic woman love needer man seeker dick eater sweat getter fuck needing love seeking woman" (65). This poem makes my heart hurt because I'm a white woman who has not experienced any type of suppression to this degree. This is the image black women are trying to break free from, the cycle they are struggling to break.