"What do BRAINS have to do with it?"

Hooks’ article explained the dismembered body image that is placed upon black females today. Defined by their thick lips and full buttocks, black women are stereotypes as hyper-sexualized, savage beings that are good for one thing only (sex obviously).

Hooks focuses on a few mediated texts like the book, turned movie, The Native Son. Hooks’ analysis of the movie uncovered the lack of value that white people place on the bodies of black females. In the movie, the black character’s (Bessie) body is quickly discarded and expendable, especially when compared to that of the white character’s body. Hooks explains that this image is a “pornographic fantasy” where the black female is seen a “wild sexual savage emerged from the impact of a white patriarchal controlled media shaping its perceptions of reality, (67)” is either passively absorbed by black females or actively resisted. Those who absorb and take pride in this degrading image are the black females found in rap or hip-hop videos.

The women found within the video, the “Thong Song” is subjected to nothing more than moving body parts. In some scenes, the face of the “hip-hop model” is even cut out of the shot. These “hip-hop models” actively support this degrading depiction as it makes them successful within the black community

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHVuWuv5ZFQ

(for some reason, it embedding was disabled, we probably all remember the video anyways)

As the idea that successful black males are either rappers or athletes continues to be reinforced by society, these “hip-hop models” will continue to find satisfaction and fulfillment in what they do. Like the black female characters mentioned in the film, Passion of Remembrance, they see “pleasure and delight with themselves,” as they make it big with the other members of their society.