I think this has been the first reading for this class in which I really have not been able to understand where the author is coming from. I actually adore Bell Hooks and can get behind everything she says but I feel that many of her grievances and criticisms belonged, not just to the female black community but were women’s issues. They did not simply apply to black women. On page 71 of the first hand-out listed in the syllabus (sorry Kevin, I can’t bring myself to write out the name) Hooks says, “Often black female models appear in portraits that make them look less like humans and more like mannequins or robots.” This made me stop and think awhile. That’s not just black models, it’s models period. Models, in a high fashion context, are made to seem inhuman on purpose. It makes them more “desirable” to the masses. This is why you see women of ridiculous height and impossible proportion modeling. It’s not an exclusive issue the way Hooks makes it sound.

Hooks goes on to talk about Vanessa Williams who won Miss America and was then subjected to harsh public criticism which eventually resulted in the subsequent loss of her crown. This would have happened to ANY Miss America. Look at the media hell that Carrie Prejean recently went through for her foolish statement about same-sex marriage. She lost her place as Miss California because of it. I do understand what Hooks is trying to convey here but parts of it are lost on me. “Unmasked by a virtuous white public, she assumed (according their standards) the rightful erotic place set aside for black women in the popular imagination.” This sounds incredibly negative. I do understand Hooks concept of an appropriated “place for black women” in media. But it also sounds to me like Hooks is copping out, making the generalization that “a virtuous white public” was just waiting for this woman to fall. I might be completely off-base in these interpretations but I was caught off guard by this reading.