Short Response to 10/5 Readings

I really enjoyed how all four of these reading excerpts were very different, and yet all interconnected. "Why Black Sexual Politics" clearly focuses on African American women and their over-sexualized stereotype; however Douglas discusses this topic as well at one point in her chapter "Sex 'R' Us" when she mentions the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. She describes how "the real hypocrisy was that it was the violation of the 'beloved' sporting event, not the overexposure of an African American woman, that had people howling in outrage" (Douglas 178). Douglas also points out that black women were either the silent, voiceless objects in male rapper's music videos or they chose to profit off their own bodies instead of letting guys do so. Women objectifying themselves for money, however, doesn't seem very different from prostitution to me. Douglas ends her discussion of African American women's stereotypical sexuality by asking the question of whether Missy Elliot was reinforcing the stereotype of the hyper-sexual black woman or achieving control over her own sexuality? She concludes by saying, "damned if she do and damned if she don't" (181). In her article "Tight Jeans and Chania Chorris", Sonia Shah asks a similar question about her boy-crazy, attention craving sister. By clearly expressing her sexuality through wearing tight and revealing clothes, Sonia's feminist college friends told her that her sister was simply objectifying herself and setting herself up to be sexualized in all aspects of her life. What i found really interesting about this article, however, was at the end when Shah ultimately concludes that her sister was actually "seeking an appropriate cultural expression of her sexuality in a society that doesn't recognize anything outside of the monoculture of 'Americanism'" when she returned from India wearing a traditional but very revealing chania chorri. Rebecca Walker also describes how she was very experimental sexually from a young age and craved/needed the attention of boys/men to feel fulfilled and happy. She admits that at first she thought she was happy having a supposed "control" over men by having sex with them; however she soon realized that she wanted more pleasure for herself and more freedom (and decided she deserved and could get both). She emphasizes that sexual self-exploration is blocked by government control or religious tradition; however it is an important part of growing up. Young women, Walker argues, should be able to learn that sex can be more than just "pussy and dick and fucking" and outside of marriage and procreation. Sex can be more sensual, more spiritual and more about communication between two people. Rebecca is what Douglas would have called a "sexpert". She also happens to be an African American woman as well (relating back to "Why Black Sexual Politics").

I really feel like I connected with these readings because they all related so much to each other but in discrete ways. Instead of being stereotypically "feminist" in their writing styles, Walker and Shah concluded that young women should be experimental and sexually explorative. Instead of preaching against things, it really seemed as though these authors acknowledged both sides of the story. Collins recognizes that although Destiny's Child's "Independent Woman" album portrays many of the stereotypical images of black women being overtly sexual, it also encourages young women to seek independence and financial freedom from men. This problem is not simple and has no right or wrong answer and I really liked that all four of the authors acknowledged and took this fact into account.