These advertisements, the first two for a brand of jeans called Apple Bottoms, all fetishize black women’s behinds:
Underneath Beyonce’s name it says: “The body, the booty, the backstabbing.”
In this two-page spread, the body isn’t necessarily black… but it might be an interesting question as to whether the viewers assume, or might be expected to assume, it is.
Text:
MY BUTT is big
and round like the letter c
and ten thousand lunges
have made it rounder
but not smaller
and that’s just fine.
It’s a space heater
for myside of the bed
It’s my ambassador
to those who walk behind me
It’s a border collie
that herds skinny women
away from the best deals
at clothing sales.
My butt is big
and that’s just fine
and those who might scorn it
are invited to kiss it.
I think it’s interesting the way this poem pits “skinny women” against women with a big butt… so valorizing the big butt but only by taking down the skinny (white?) girl.
Divide and conquer.
You might pair these images with this post about a Pilates DVD.
Comments 16
Sociological Images » INTERRACIAL DATING AS TOURISM — July 15, 2008
[...] I have posted previously on the exoticization of the Other through tourism (see especially this post on hula girls in Hawaii). This is part of an exoticization of the Other that occurs within state borders as well as across. bell hooks talks about about how some white people see having sex with a person of color as an exciting adventure, like a trip to an exotic location, in her essay “Eating the Other.” See also Race, Ethnicity and Sexuality by Joane Nagel and Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins. You can see visual representations of it here and here. [...]
Emma — March 8, 2009
The thing that stands out to me about that last ad is that the woman in the photo, presumably supposed to represent someone who "herds skinny women" is not fat.
So the poem is valorizing big butts, but the picture emphasizes that we should only be thinking well of big-butts-on-skinny-girls, not big-butts-on-fat-girls.
Sociological Images » VOGUE PUTS A WOMAN OF COLOR ON THE COVER AND MANAGES TO BE BOTH SEXIST AND RACIST — March 15, 2009
[...] Women of color rarely grace the covers of fashion magazines like Vogue. And yet, for the second time this year, the Vogue cover features a woman of color, Beyonce. Unfortunately, in line with cultural stereotypes, the issue is the “Shape Issue,” contributing to the stereotype of Black women, and Latina women too, as especially curvy. We document the fetishization of black women’s behinds here. [...]
leeha — March 16, 2009
okay let me point out that applebottom jeans are geared towards black women. This advertisement will appear in black magazines, not vogue or elle. This is a celebration of the black standard of beauty. ..Onto the other ad. It doesn't mention skinny white women at all. It said skinny women. To imply the ad is racist against white women is stretching and just trying to claim some sort of reverse racism. There are skinny women of all ethnic groups. And when the comidian Monique popularized the joke, I hate skinny b****, she wasn't referring to white women. She actually pointed to skinny black women in her largely black audience. Also, i can't articulate how frustrated with this post's anger towards the embracing of the black/latin standard of beauty. Women of color have to idolize the bodies of white women all the time. White women are the standard of beauty in this country. I look at movies, magazines, and ads that feature a standard of beauty I will never be able to conform to. I'll never have long hair, or a thin frame, or a light complexion. But yet when features that don't fit america's white norm are seen as sexy, the author has a problem because white women can't fit this standard of beauty. Welcome to my world, but fortunately for u, you don't to visit my world often. This is not black people's fault, its your own white culture's fault. Don't be mad at black people because we find the applebottom girl sexy. Or hanes developed the underwear ad for Essence magazine.
leeha — March 16, 2009
This is "exoticization of the Other" when produced by the other, to be consumed by the other. Applebottom is a black brand and the underwear ad was designed for black magazines. The black booty is embraced in MSM media only because black people embrace it. Because when looking at black beauty, sometimes, only sometimes, they have to look at who and what black people find sexy. And in case u haven't noticed the MSM wants some of those black dollars too, hence the underwear ad. Just like Dove wants some of those 'fat girl' dollars.
Cultural Patterns: One Example At A Time » Sociological Images — September 5, 2009
[...] being fetishized in U.S. culture (that may or may not convince you that this is a pattern) see here, here, here, and here. Leave a Comment Tags: bodies, gender, race/ethnicity: [...]
Jennifer — January 10, 2010
When the people who don't fit the "normal" stereotype you criticized in previous posts go and celebrate parts of their body that are not celebrated but treated as not normal, you go and brand it as fetishization. How terrible for us "not normal" people to be proud of our bodies.
“Normal” Woman’s Body Published in Glamour…and People Like It! » Sociological Images — January 26, 2010
[...] Also see our post about the issue of More with photos of an un-touched-up Jamie Lee Curtis and French Elle’s covers of female stars without makeup and fetishizing Black women’s butts. [...]
West Side Story’s “America” » Sociological Images — February 25, 2010
[...] the exotic Latina. For more examples of this, see our posts on the Hawaiian girl as a tourism draw, the fetishization of black women’s behinds, and more hot Latinas here and [...]
chair cover hire — September 16, 2010
i think itsa true
and proof of this is Nicki minaj
Saturday Share from Cyndi’s Google Reader « curlykidz — September 18, 2010
[...] “Ethnic” and “Curvy” via Sociological Images by gwen on 9/15/10 We’ve noted the fetishization of Black women’s butts before, and the conflation of non-White and curvy (also here). Yes, some non-White women have large [...]
MLK, His Legacy and Oreo Cookies « TimelyDonut — January 16, 2011
[...] the most part we are portrayed in the following stereotypes: hyper-masculine hyper-sexualized hyper-aggressive hyper-entertaining [...]
Matt Page-Lieberman — October 23, 2011
Wow, this post is a fail on so many levels. Leeha hits it out of the park on how much white feminists don't get it and presume to speak about black women and their issues as if they were universally the same. Additionally, it's incredibly sad when academics apply words incorrectly. A fetish is the sexualization of something that is not inherently sexual - not sexual in nature, not commonly/normal found to be sexually appealing in people. A woman's behind, especially a WOC's - particularly a black woman's backside, is undoubtedly something that men find sexually appealing, that arouses them. Whatever advertisers do, they can't sexualize something that people already find sexy.
ricardosanders — August 3, 2018
White people have long lusted for the ample black woman butt and her dark skin vcancer proof skin