the writing is fucking hilarious... they clearly have no editor or at least a very uneducated one. i like the issues they discuss, but the grammar mistakes/poor capitalization must end! :)
I haven't commented in like a year...anyway. In 2003, I stopped purchasing magazines. If a Black woman was not prominently featured on the cover or featured sexualized images of Black women, I didn't pick it up. I was left with Essence, Honey, and Vibe Vixen. Two of those magazine are no longer being published.
I love women and I love their bodies. I do think there needs to be a balance. Women can be sexy without being sexualized. At the end of the day these magazines are fantasy, the women are protrayed in an over top representation of femininity. Some men love the butt, I love the it too. What I can't deal with are the cheap clothes, horrible styling and of course the typos. Show magazine does an excellent job with styling, photography, and diversity. And I can appreciate the lack of copy because at the end of the day it's all about the photos. You pay 8 dollars to ogle beautiful women not read articles. If you are going to do cheesecake, do it right.
Also I am glad that more than one person brought up the false idea that Black women have healthy self esteems, I think self acceptance is hard for PEOPLE let alone women.
I just want to point out that eve nthough it would be deemed offensive, it is also offensive to people who identify as Black. And I am sure the use of "Indian" can be taken as super offensive by many First Nation people. Living in the Bronx and traveling to the Dominican Republic, I have interacted with all types of Domnicans some who do identify as Black Dominicans and others that do not sadly for the wrong reasons. I believe "Black" people have a long way to go in terms of having a healthy relationship with self acceptance.
Oh, God, you know the most annoying thing I found about this was the model commandents mis-using "their" for "ther". Where is their copy-editor?
I do feel better about the growing size of my butt and legs due to medication now, though. I will never have skinny legs and have always had a round butt. It's nice to see it has enough market appeal for an entire magazine. ;)
Interesting. I am not facinated at all. I'm used to seeing mags like this in my neighborhood and in stores and I am well aware of the "charms" of women like this because of music videos. Dodai, it seems that you lead a life that is far less...how do I say this...I don't know how to word it, but I think your facination has to do with the fact that you seemingly travel in more diverse circles that a lot of Black folks. I'm not facinated by this at all, I'm irate and disgusted. This isn't a change of pace. This is Black male patriarcal sexist fantasy as opposed to White male patriarcal sexist fantasy. Same sh!t, bigger draws.
For one, many of these women have butt injections and implants. This is simply Hustler's lowbrow Black cousin. I don't see any win in women who would not be allowed to model in traditional settings being featured here. The women in Hustler and Penthouse are too siliconed up for runway, but I have never heard anyone make a case for body acceptance when it comes to them.
The diversity...girl, when have Black men NOT been facinated with women of other races? All these mags seem to be very tolerant of differences in skin color, so long as you have stacked body. Sexism and objectification for all!
Sarah Baartman (the "Venus Hottentot") just did a few 360s in her grave. I weep for my gender and I weep for my gender.
Am I the only one who remembers 2 Live Crew? Why is anyone acting like sexualized images of near-naked black women with long hair and big butts is a refreshing new alternative?
@CHIC NOIR: Hana is saying that this is nothing new. These women are not on the pages of Vogue magazine they are showing there asses to the camera just like Uncle Luke models did back in the day. The only difference between this mag and 2liveCrew videos is that those were pictures in motion this is not. Should we give Uncle Luke a pat on the back for showcasing black women's bodies in the media when white super models reigned supreme. Maybe you will but I will not.
Yes it's cheesy for me to think this, and yes the magazine is quite objectifying......but Ms. Ashley Logan has measurements and height very similar to my own that are being celebrated for their sexiness and beauty. This makes me smile. It also makes me reconsider my belief that models in mags and ads don't have any effect on my (terrible) body image. If I opened up Vogue and it was full of women who look like me, I bet I would feel a lot less shitty about myself. I used to think my eating disorder/body dysmorphia was totally unaffected by this stuff, but damn, seeing diverse women in a magazine is uplifting and comforting.
@The HappyHydrozoan is learning to deal: I agree that it's affirming to see images of beauty that look like oneself, but the flipside of this is that there are black women who are made to feel bad for not looking like this. More and more images of women as sexual objects for the male gaze(while the men featured are fully clothed artists) just reinforce for girls and women that we are our bodies, we are our usefulness to men.
Dodai's comparison to Vogue is a strange one, too. Toccara's apperance in Italian Vogue showed a larger black woman looking natural in a high fashion setting. Straight Stuntin' looks like a standard image of black women from porn and hip hop videos dating back a long way.
Nope, I hate magazines/picture like this. Just like I hate magazines that show only a certain kind of thin female. I watch young black girls everyday that try to be exactly what they see in these type of magazines. And that disturbs me because there is just not enough balance in the black community to have this kind of f*ckery around.
Also, Jezebel praises this photo spread, because it is of a different body type. Well you know what? Black girls that don't have this body type do horrible things to get it. Just like a white girl would starve herself to be thin. Well a black woman will shoot illegal/poisonous silicone into her butt to get an ass like the ones that are shown in this spread. Because they think that if you don't have a huge levitating ass, you are nothing.
There is absolutely nothing remarkable/amazing or intriguing about this.
@CHIC NOIR: Her captions seem more or less positive, complimenting the magazine on many things, and in a comment below, she agrees with a person who takes it as a positive that black women are being objectified instead of white women.
@Hana Maru: THANK YOU! I am coming at the other commenters more than Dodai here, but people who are just glowing about how beautiful and stunning these women are (with their silicone asses and Barbie doll weaves) are pissing me off. I'm also annoyed yet again at how suprised people are that certain "Black things" exist.
As someone who has seen 11 year old girls replicate the poses in this magazine, I dont find it facinating or charming at ALL.
@Sister Toldja: Oh man, I was one of those 11 year old girls, watching and learning from rap videos, because that's what men want, right? Especially because they were brown skinned girls, I thought that's how it's gotta be for me. My mother threw out a pair of shorts that I cut off up to crotch level before I ever wore them. I think that was from a Snoop album cover?
As far as this magazine shows women who are "thicker", have big butts, scars, etc...I'm going to assume a lot of you have never seen any porno mags outside of the mainstream [playboy, penthouse]?
I used to have friends that worked at Tower Records and they would bring me all the freaky and gay porno mags that were getting thrown away. Surprisingly those mags may have objectified women but they showed REAL women of all colors, shapes, sizes, with cellulite, saggy boobs, bad dye jobs, scars whatever....They were still shown as HOT to whoever it was that was buying the magazine.
I honestly think men are a lot more forgiving, in general, than women think they are when it comes to what women look like.
Perhaps they would all love to be with Pam Anderson but wouldn't most women love to be with Johnny Depp?
Doesn't mean you think everyone in real life should look like that.
@veronykah: that was my first thought; people who are 'fascinated' and 'intrigued' by this haven't seen much pornography in their day.
actors/models in adult films/publications are very diverse; they have to be. people are turned on by different things and regardless of what that is, someone somewhere will capitalize on it.
@Rosaxé: It probably means Dominican and African-American . . . Not sure you want to go the island and start calling Dominicans "black." Lots of cultural bias.
And even to that point, how is it different from folks saying Asian-American, Mexican-American, etc?
Can someone enlighten me? Why are magazines like this bad? Besides re-enforcing unreal standards (which this one doesn't, really). I mean, porn videos and images are a part of life and society. Just because they are not for me doesn't mean I find them offensive. I've always considered myself a feminist, because I'm all about choosing. So why should I disrespect these girls for modeling, the men who read this for liking porn, and the people who make it for seeing a business opportunity?
07/01/09
07/01/09
07/01/09
I love women and I love their bodies. I do think there needs to be a balance. Women can be sexy without being sexualized. At the end of the day these magazines are fantasy, the women are protrayed in an over top representation of femininity. Some men love the butt, I love the it too. What I can't deal with are the cheap clothes, horrible styling and of course the typos. Show magazine does an excellent job with styling, photography, and diversity. And I can appreciate the lack of copy because at the end of the day it's all about the photos. You pay 8 dollars to ogle beautiful women not read articles. If you are going to do cheesecake, do it right.
Also I am glad that more than one person brought up the false idea that Black women have healthy self esteems, I think self acceptance is hard for PEOPLE let alone women.
07/01/09
07/01/09
07/01/09
I do feel better about the growing size of my butt and legs due to medication now, though. I will never have skinny legs and have always had a round butt. It's nice to see it has enough market appeal for an entire magazine. ;)
06/30/09
06/30/09
For one, many of these women have butt injections and implants. This is simply Hustler's lowbrow Black cousin. I don't see any win in women who would not be allowed to model in traditional settings being featured here. The women in Hustler and Penthouse are too siliconed up for runway, but I have never heard anyone make a case for body acceptance when it comes to them.
The diversity...girl, when have Black men NOT been facinated with women of other races? All these mags seem to be very tolerant of differences in skin color, so long as you have stacked body. Sexism and objectification for all!
Sarah Baartman (the "Venus Hottentot") just did a few 360s in her grave. I weep for my gender and I weep for my gender.
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
07/01/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
Dodai's comparison to Vogue is a strange one, too. Toccara's apperance in Italian Vogue showed a larger black woman looking natural in a high fashion setting. Straight Stuntin' looks like a standard image of black women from porn and hip hop videos dating back a long way.
06/30/09
Also, Jezebel praises this photo spread, because it is of a different body type. Well you know what? Black girls that don't have this body type do horrible things to get it. Just like a white girl would starve herself to be thin. Well a black woman will shoot illegal/poisonous silicone into her butt to get an ass like the ones that are shown in this spread. Because they think that if you don't have a huge levitating ass, you are nothing.
There is absolutely nothing remarkable/amazing or intriguing about this.
06/30/09
Dodai din't praise this photo spread.
06/30/09
06/30/09
As someone who has seen 11 year old girls replicate the poses in this magazine, I dont find it facinating or charming at ALL.
07/01/09
06/30/09
I used to have friends that worked at Tower Records and they would bring me all the freaky and gay porno mags that were getting thrown away. Surprisingly those mags may have objectified women but they showed REAL women of all colors, shapes, sizes, with cellulite, saggy boobs, bad dye jobs, scars whatever....They were still shown as HOT to whoever it was that was buying the magazine.
I honestly think men are a lot more forgiving, in general, than women think they are when it comes to what women look like.
Perhaps they would all love to be with Pam Anderson but wouldn't most women love to be with Johnny Depp?
Doesn't mean you think everyone in real life should look like that.
07/01/09
actors/models in adult films/publications are very diverse; they have to be. people are turned on by different things and regardless of what that is, someone somewhere will capitalize on it.
06/30/09
06/30/09
And even to that point, how is it different from folks saying Asian-American, Mexican-American, etc?
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
06/30/09
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