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Summary describing bell hooks ideas
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bell hooks is trying to convince her readers that the display of black female bodies in Beyonce’s Lemonade does not aid in shifting or masking the sexist narratives and construction of black female identity (page 3). hooks provides five main premises to support her claim. Her first point is that Lemonade is a commodity, just as the black female body has been a commodity from slavery to present day; therefore, Lemonade was not solely produced for the black female audience (page 1-2). Her second point is that there is a commodification difference in Lemonade because its intent is to challenge the current devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body by way of positively exhibiting diverse images of black female bodies. This commodification …show more content…
Although this claim was made in reference to Lemonade, it is a claim that can be applied to many different scenarios. The idea that one can not gain power through violence is important in reference to the feminist movement, but it is also applicable to other situations involving violence. For this reason, I believe that this is the strongest point because not only does it hold up in hooks’ argument, but it holds up in other disputes as well. It is also logical because, that just as hate can not drive out hate, I believe that the presence of violence will never rid of …show more content…
However, I think that hooks makes her conclusion hard to defend because her premises are all debateable. For instance, in her first point, hooks states that the black female body has been a commodity from slavery to present day and although I agree with this premise, the definition of commodity could be skewed in a way in which someone could argue otherwise, even with historical context. Another potential weak premise is the second point, which underlines the intent of Lemonade. Other than the creators themselves, it is hard for one to claim the specific intent of a product, even if it might seem obvious. If hooks is correct in the identification of the intent, the premise is strong and the argument follows; however, if the intent was misinterpreted, then the entire argument is not
Toni Morrison and bell hooks share the same views on how white America envisions blacks. In bell hooks' essays " Seduction and Betrayal" and " Sorrowful Black Death is Not a Hot Ticket" she focuses in on the portrayal of African Americans on the big screen. In "Seduction and Betrayal" hooks uses Spike Lee's Crooklyn to demonstrate how invaluable the life of a black person is. In " Sorrowful Black Death Is Not a Hot Ticket" she claims the Bodyguard and The Crying Game illustrate the notion that blacks, especially black females, are inferior to whites. In Toni Morrison's introduction to Birth of a Nation'hood , she suggests these same views by looking at the O.J. Simpson case. Through the use of these movies and courtcases, hooks and Morrison suggest that blacks are viewed as worthless, violent criminals, who are subordinate to the white race.
She illuminates the hidden causes of the harsh sexism in rap music lyrics and argues that one needs to look deeper to understand why the misogyny exists and how women in her culture need to respond and also start taking responsibility for its existence in order for changes to begin to take place. In the article “ From Fly -Girls to Bitches and Hos “ the dysfunction of our black men is evident, but somehow it’s seen and admired manliness and success. For example the life of Notorious BIG was one of the rap kings that live a life of jail, sex , drugs and murder that “ the seeming impenetrable wall of sexism in rap music is really the complex mask of American often wear both to hide “ . Joan Morgan was vivid as to show the pain men must be feeling so badly that they had to use disrespectful slurs and hateful comment says their music lyrics. I agree with the fact that in today’s society the "bitches and hos" have become the norm. From my perspective that many guys often believe that is how all women act and that they are all pimps and
On Being Young-A Woman-and Colored an essay by Marita Bonner addresses what it means to be black women in a world of white privilege. Bonner reflects about a time when she was younger, how simple her life was, but as she grows older she is forced to work hard to live a life better than those around her. Ultimately, she is a woman living with the roles that women of all colors have been constrained to. Critics, within the last 20 years, believe that Marita Bonners’ essay primarily focuses on the double consciousness ; while others believe that she is focusing on gender , class , “economic hardships, and discrimination” . I argue that Bonner is writing her essay about the historical context of oppression forcing women into intersectional oppression by explaining the naturality of racial discrimination between black and white, how time and money equate to the American Dream, and lastly how gender discrimination silences women, specifically black women.
... Not only does this provide an example of the ambient racism in this story, but it also relates to the previous statement of how the filmmakers exaggerated the sexual energy of black people.
Davis stated that racism draws strength from the ability to encourage sexual coercion. Black women, who were rape victims, receive little sympathy from law enforcement and judges. Not only because of racism that has grown over time against black men, but black women as well. Since black men were categorized as rapist, black women were suggested to be loose and promiscuous. Since black women were suggested to be whores and sexual immoral, their cries of rape went unheard because they lack legitimacy in a society that believed men were provoked to acted in a natural way. Davis believes that the creation of the black rapist was used as a scapegoat in order to veil the true problem of black women being sexually assaulted by white men. A historical feature of racism is that white men, especially those with money and authority, possess an indisputable right to access a Black woman’s body. Davis also stated that the institution of lynching complimented by the rape of Black women became and essential ingredient of postwar strategy of racism. Lynching and the labeling of black men being rapist and raping black women for being promiscuous, both black men and women were able to be kept in check. By following the mainstream population, people fell into the trap of blaming the victim. Unfortunately a consequence was that blacks has to endure the punishment of lynching and black women were blamed for being victims of sexual
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black women. As hip hop music continues to become more popular, the sexist messages presented in lyrics and music videos are becoming more common to the everyday public, including young black girls developing a self-image. Instead of these girls being exposed to healthy, positive role models who encourage individuality and that there is more to a woman than her body they are given hip hop video models whose only purpose is to look sensual on screen. The strong women that do exist in the hip hop genre are pushed to sexualize themselves or their lyrics to sell records or stay relatively unknown. Although Perry’s arguments are logical, I believe that she is creating a slippery slope of logic. A genre of music cannot destroy the self-image of black women that has existed for generations.
Often times in the black community we like to avoid talking about topics that effect us because of the fear of “scaring the community”. Hooks shows the readers of Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery that we shouldn’t be worried about scaring the community and we need to inform the community to prevent them from being ignorant of the issues that are prevelant in the black community. This book allowed me to open my eyes to the issues that all African American women are facing on a day-to-day
She set the theme of the article of expressing that straightening of black people hair is the denial of self acceptance in having the confidence of their individual features. She states “Heterosexual black women talked about the extent to which black men respond more favorably to women with straight or straighten hair” (Hooks 538). She explains how they try to please other people in trying to make themselves more beautiful to others they want to attract. This is a personal opinion. She makes a broad generalization that all black men are attracted to women that have straight hair. This statistic is not efficient because there are different men that are attracted to different styles. The majority of people do not change themselves because they want to appeal to others, but to make themselves feel better about their personal beauty.
Cox’s work is exactly the type of discussion that is needed to move the discourse on black women’s bodies from being regarded as part of a stereotype to being regarded as individuals with beautiful differences. This is not a ‘re-mirroring’ of the ‘un-mirrored,’ but rather a creation of a new image, void of previous misconceptions but filled with individuality. The stereotypes concerning black women’s bodies needs to be abolished, not reinvented like Hobson suggests in “Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture.”
The entire film is covered in stereotypes focused on African Americans that vary from stealing to soul food to skin tone. These stereotypes are so raw, they are very easy to pick up and it makes the film so much more powerful and understandable. For example, African Americans are subconsciously linked to soul food. Although soul food is popular in the African-American culture, we tend to skip over the thought of the food and what it actually is and jump to thinking about fried chicken and collard greens. Its sad that by seeing an image of food, race comes to mind. Another stereotype used a lot is ‘light-skinned is more attractive’ or ‘white is more attractive”. T...
Bell hooks knows about the challenges of race and class, and why some people have a harder time than others in achieving the American Dream. It is normal to feel uncomfortable and awkward arriving at a new school for the first time, but this was something completely different. For bell hooks, walking through the halls with eyes staring at her as if she was an alien, she realized that schooling for her would never be the same. She describes her feelings of inequality a...
We, the audience, are entertained and interested by the interviews, the balls and the featured persons. bell hooks sees audience enjoyment as exploitative and says, "...It is this current trend in producing colorful ethnicity for the white consumer appet...
Ann Perkins, Jones’ character, is supposed to be an ethnically ambiguous person and in reality, Rashida is biracial (Glamour). Leslie Knope, the white protagonist of the series, frequently uses words like ‘exotic’, ‘tropical’, and ‘ethnically ambiguous’ when complimenting Ann. The ‘compliments’ also act as the only instances where race is spoken about in reference to Ann’s character. One would believe that Leslie’s constant complimenting of Ann is beneficial to viewers with a biracial identity, but there are some serious problems with Leslie’s behavior. There has been an historical and recent fascination with ‘mixed’ children. This fascination has crossed over into fetishizatoin of biracial or mixed children and people. Biracial people are seen less as people and more as a kind of spice that bell hooks mentions in her work “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance” (21). They are something that helps liven up the blandness of the pervasive white culture. Another harmful aspect of Ann’s depiction relates to her class. In Edison’s work, she notes that “biracial individuals living in a middle- and upper-class environments are more likely to be perceived as biracial (rather than black) than those living in working- and lower-class environments” and that “‘color blind’ portrayals of middle- and upper-class Black and biracial characters support the notion that race no longer matters (at least for middle- and upper-class people)” (Edison, 302; 304). Ann’s character is a successful college-educated nurse which is not problematic until one realizes that her race is never truly discussed. This feeds into the stereotype that race does not matter and that all people in the U.S. have the same opportunities. Again, the lack of racial representation leaves one character the duty of depicting a whole group of
Deborah White uses various examples of situations regarding these characterizations from other pieces of work such as “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs, interviews, and other historical references. Through these examples, Deborah White is able to effectively relay, through historical context, how these women struggled with the assumption that all black female slaves were “Jezebels” until proven otherwise. Regarded as highly sexual women, those who were categorized as a “Jezebel” woman initially started because of African traditions prior to their enslavement and also excused “miscegenation, the sexual exploitation of black women, and the mulatto population”. Deborah White argues that these women faced a very unique situation because their sexual behavior could result in being treated better or worse, depending on the situation and the master; because population growth was inevitable, white men seemed to believe that this proved their “lewd and licentious behavior”. Also, the conditions in which these women lived “helped imprint the Jezebel image on the white mind” even though this environment was created by these men “which ensured female slave behavior fulfilled their expectations”. In contrast to the “Jezebel” figure, white men also created the “Mammy” figure who was a loyal servant to the white family as well as a surrogate mother for the both black and white children. This position for a black female slave helped “endorse the service of black women in Southern households” (61). Therefore, both of these characterizations were to justify the treatment of black
bell hooks is a woman who does not concern herself with establishing credibility among her audience or critics. What is important to hooks is that she reaches the people who most need to hear what she has to say. As hooks tells us, "It is important that we know who we are speaking to, who we most long to move, motivate, and touch with our words" (90). hooks has, however, established credibility through her many achievements, such as, attending school at Stanford University, teaching at Yale, writing the book Ain't I a Woman: black women and feminism, and by starting a black women's support group. Although these are great accomplishments, no matter what your race or sex, I feel she best establishes her credibility through her character. hooks tells us that while she often may have needed money, she never had the need for new beliefs or values. She shows great strength in her ability to combine her past life with her new "privileged" life. As hooks says, "It was my responsibility to formulate a way of being ...