February Blog Post

         These past few weeks we have covered really interesting topics that I have found interesting to look at more in depth. The quote that stuck out to me is from Harris-Perry's Crooked Room where the author quotes from Bell Hooks book, Black Looks "The very act of looking at individuals from marginal groups is infused with power. To be a person with relative power and privilege viewing a person of less power and privilege is a political act" (p 40).  In context she was speaking of the misrecognition of black women and how they are perceived. But when first reading those sentences I was taken aback with how strong a statement it was.  I wasn't sure how I felt about it, if I agreed or disagreed. It seemed so broad, to be talking about black women and then make a statement for every marginalized group. After re-reading some parts that initially I had glossed over what I started to realize was that I had been putting my own bias, my own perceptions onto her writing. Once I stopped doing that and read it straight from her without trying to think it through on my own first, I started to see things from her point of view and was better able to understand the point of the reading.
         I really enjoyed the perspective the article gave me. Before the reading I was unfamiliar with all of the terms but once they were explained I realized that I was more familiar with them than I had orginally thought, this primarily due to the media's portrayal of black women. Power is such an interesting topic because of its many complexities. And stereotypes hold a great deal of power especially when they are constantly being reinforced and remade by tv and movies as well as music and music videos. When stereotypes such as these get as strong as these are, they begin to limit these women and their lives. You could tell that the women being interviewed were understandably frustrated of the few ways they were seen as black women and not fitting into the pre-made black woman box. Like most stereotypes they are very extreme ways of looking at something/someone and most times people's entirety is not those stereotypes but made up of many different facets of personality. Harris-Perry provided a great piece that hopefully will only help to further the conversation.