The Other

In the article, “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance,” Bell Hooks discusses how the primitive race is more sensual than the white race. White men find sleeping with women of color more thrilling than their sexual encounters with white women, because the feeling of sleeping with “the other” is more exciting and pleasurable. They believe non-white people have more life experience and are more sexual because they are different. So when they get “a bit of the other,” it is considered to be a rite of passage where engaging in a sexual encounter with non-white women will change you in some way. As long as white men long for the pleasure with “the other,” they will continue to cross over into other races to fulfill their primitive fantasies.

Hooks also discussed how the curiosities whites have of “the other,” allows the other to be turned into a commodity. When the African American female body is commodified, this allows the dominant race to affirm their power in intimate relations with the other. This can been seen in the interactions Miley Cyrus has with her African American back-up dancers. She sells their bodies when she treats her dancers as objects. During her MTV VMA performance, she put her face in the butt of one of her dancers and proceeded to slap her butt while she sang. She often played with their bodies in sexual manner, given that “within the commodity culture ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture” (p.366). I believe Miley appropriates specific aspects of the hip-hop culture, which is known for its commodification of the African American female body. Their bodies are used to pleasure men and cater to their needs, wants, and desires. Miley uses this specific element of the hip-hop culture because it is what sells in the media. Using the African American female body as a commodity allows Miley to achieve success in her music career, in that she is doing something different and more satisfying.

Do you think Miley commodifies the African American female body as a rite of passage in the hip-hop community? Does she use their bodies in order to borrow the sexual liberation African American women possess?