dmariel, hooks

I have definitely noticed a change in white society towards embracing other races on multiple levels. In the history of America, white supremacy reigned. Not that this is no longer true, but within the melting pot we live in, there is an increasing acceptance today for people of other races. I don’t entirely think that it is a purely sexual acceptance, but the ‘othering’ and commodification of different races has changed the way we view different cultures. Hooks states that “There is pleasure to be found in the acknowledgment and enjoyment of racial difference. The commodification of Otherness has been so successful because it is offered as a new delight, more intense, more satisfying than normal ways of doing and feeling”. I do believe that other cultures offer us a way to share experiences that we may never have had before. Although I do feel almost awkward that hooks presents this in a sexual manner rather than just cultural.
Hooks brings up a very interesting point when he is talking about the boys explaining what types of girls from different races that they want to sleep with. These boys believed they were breaking the barrier of racism, exploring unknown and usually forbidden areas of their sex life. Are they allowing other cultures to be accepted or are they merely reiterating these stereotypes by grouping them by their race? Hooks states “Unlike racist white men who historically violated the bodies of black women/women of color to assert their position as colonizer/conqueror, these young men see themselves as non-racist, who choose to transgress racial boundaries within the sexual realm not to dominate the Other, but rather so that they can be acted upon, so that they can be changed utterly”. Basically, these men see their willingness to accept the other as a way to experience an unknown world to their own advantage...”they believe their desire for contact represents a progressive change in white attitudes towards non-whites”, instead of perpetuating the already existent racism.