Twin Booty is a Thing of Beauty

Once in a while an academic decides to take hair dresser and barber shop conversation and turn it into a topic worth of discussion. As someone who's taking a fair share of Media and African and African American Studies courses, I am well versed in the art of turning something you said at dinner into the most superfluous paper or article ever read. Sociologists and Anthropologists do not seem to be interested in stopping this practice soon, but it is always nice to know that there is some legitimacy to the arguments you and your friends have been having for years.

In one of the better pieces I've yet to see on the significance of the behind in today's culture, Myra Mendible puts together a decent summary of the place the buttocks has had in society. (http://www.alternet.org/sex/117518/?page=entire) It reiterates a lot of popular discussion, places some emphasis on the similarities in the Hispanic and Black behinds.

---Okay, I can't keep the farce up for much longer. Body issues really aren't my realm of intellectual discussion. Really the first thing that came to mind when a friend sent me this peace was the "Twin booty is a thing of beauty," rap by Cold Dog (played by the one and only Flex Alexander) on an episode of Sister Sister....and then Sir Mix -a-lot and then Venus Hottentot. Apparently my mind works it's way up the cultural ladder and also backwards historically.

The conclusion leaves me a little uneasy. While we have seen slight progression in terms of body types and acceptance in the USA, I don't see a movement. Also, of all the "ethnic" features the but tends to be one of the most celebrated and the one that "ethnic" people have little issue with is their butts. Beyond the brazilian butt lifts casually referenced in the articles, there was a huge craze of Jamaican women eating animal feed in an effort to increase their buttocks size.

I have no conclusion to this piece. It's not that I don't have a dream for female equality, it's that some conversations are better left for the dinner table and Sociologists. I'll just be around to nod, object and insert a personal reference and pop culture moment.

If you walk out that do', don't come back no mo'


HAUL,
The Queen

ps thanks to nai for the link.