Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Subject becoming the spectator


The subject of stereotypes is often also aware of their own desire to embrace and transmit a different acceptance of the stereotype. Black men have found that they often depend on the "coolness" of their masculinity as being a transforming device that makes other men yearn to embody it. This embrace has 2 meanings:
1.) The subject, the black man,  is being degraded by a phobic action. There is a fear of the masculinity that they now have control over.
2.) The subject is therefore being typecast as a caution to the dangers of masculinity. This also means that their masculinity is no longer theirs. It is something that is depicted as a "controlled"
aquisition. 
The embodying of  black masculinity is thus emulated through white boys who are later known as "wiggers": often an offensive word due to the proximity it has to previous racial slurs. It is seen as a borrowing of the black man identity while having the option to recall white privilege when necessary. It is therefore a false embodying...a desire to be "cool". It is not about identity at all.

 
Home Email Display Clock Web Home Email Display Clock Web Web