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Assignment 6

In Bell Hook’s essay “Eating the Other” she explains the relationship of “the Other” and why many white people are fascinated by them. According to Hook, the British use the slang “the Other” when referring to having sexual intercourse as appose to how Americans use the term “the other” which represents race, ethnicity, and skin-color. For Americans racial differences marks a person as “the Other”. The Other are minority group and the reason why white people are fascinated by them is because they’re viewed as having more culture and being more interesting to whites. Young white males were interested in having sexual intercourse with anyone that fit the category of “the other” because by being with someone of a different racial background they sort of enter the world of experience. It’s sort of a way of them rebelling against the norm and what is expected of them. They considered being with “the other” as a rite of passage for themselves. The other was different because they were considered to have more life experience, they were sensual, more worldly and were sexual. For many of these young white males being with “the other” was just adding a notch of their belt, it was a achieve, something to check off their list of things to do. Some people considered the idea of “the other” as a huge progressive change in the way whites view nonwhites. The relationship of “the other” is considered to be productive and a progressive change because of how different times are now compare to how they were back then. Any interracial relationship back then was frown upon and sort of forbidden. Nowadays interracial relationship aren’t considered to be a big thing. Being with “the other” increases diversity among whites and nonwhites and in a way brings integration among all races.