Born on September 25, 1952, Bell Hooks has written over 30 books. She is an American scholar and activist whose work is incredible. Chapter 4 of One of her books, "Selling Hot Pussy" is one the chapters that talk about how black females are being represented to the audience. The article focuses on revealing the sexual humiliation of black females over the years.
Bell hooks, clearly explain how sexuality among females is shown. He goes to an extent of using examples from various poems, Novels, and films. In the article, he shows how the black woman is underestimated in various incidences. The writer says that the buttock of women in fashion magazines disrupts and challenge nations of black bodies and especially female.
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He gives clear examples of films such as thebutt, Mad max, Turners' video, dreaming rivers, and a film by African American women. In the Mad max film, Beyond the Thunderdome, Turner's character is portrayed where her body is used to seduce and conquer men. Again, in the Turners video, what love got to do with it also highlights the convergence of sexuality and power where the black body is used as a potential weapon.
The poem by Nikki Giovanni describes the status of black women in the woman poem whereas Bell hooks describe the life of a woman as being tied to unhappiness. The poem is a cry of resistance urging those who exploit and oppress black women, objectify and dehumanize them to confront the consequences of their actions.
According to hooks, many of black singers, irrespective of the quality of their voices, have cultivated an image that suggests they are sexually available and licentious. The black female body gains attention only when it is synonymous with accessibility, and availability when it is sexually deviant.
In the woman poem, we get to find that the black woman is associated with a poor class the reason she demands a hearing in order to acknowledge her reality and a change of status. The poem speaks to the desire of black women to construct sexuality apart from that imposed upon them by the racists calling attention to the ways they are trapped by conventional notions of sexuality and desirability.
The writer also speaks on, the native son, a protest novel by Richard Wright, wherein the film version of it, everyone cares about the fate of Mary Dalton, the ruling class white female daughter and no one cares about the fate of Mary Dalton.
The writer gives the challenge that certainly faces black women who must confront the old, painful representation of sexuality. The short film, dreaming rivers by British black Film collective Sankofa, juxtaposes the idealized representation of a black woman as a mother with that of a sexual subject, showing adult children facing their narrow notions of the black female identity of mature black narrow woman which exists apart from her role as mother and caregiver.
The films, by African women filmmakers, also offer the most oppositional images of black female sexuality. It was found out, for a second time, Kathleen Collins's film losing ground. The writer was even impressed by her daring, the way she portrays black female sexuality in a way that is fresh and exists like a passion of remembrance.
The writer uses simple and understandable language while explaining the fate of sexuality to the black woman. He uses short and simple sentences that the reader can understand clearly.
