Bell Hooks’ “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance” describes the relationship between white persons and the “Other”. The “Other” is anyone racially or sexually different. This includes minorities ranging from Native Americans and Africans to Asians and Hispanics. Hooks describes the relationship between whites and the “Others” as pure fascination. The others are seen as different and rare – as unexplored grounds . Hooks describes an encounter where young white males discussed their intentions to have sex with as many girls as they could before graduation – but they had to be other ethnic groups. Non-white girls were seen to be more experienced and sexual based on the sole factor of being non-white. These young women added a sense of excitement and deficiency to white adolescents life. This admiration on the surface seems productive and legitimate as they are breaking “social norms” and integrating and associating themselves with people of color. They see themselves progressing from their ancestors practices of discrimination and white supremacy. In their perspective they are rebelling against the wishes of their past generations that longed to be superior. This desire prevented them from ever willingly integrating or involving themselves in interracial relationships. They do not recognize that their want and sexually desire for the “Others” is only perpetuating racism. These women of color are seen as trophies to add onto the white mans showcase. The youthful boys do not want a long lasting relationship with the girls, the just merely want sex. The white males attraction could be seen as productive as they are, in a sense, “equating” themselves to the women of color by having intimate relationships with them. These young men are not aware that their ideology is withholding the women from truly advancing. They are oblivious to their desire to only want colored women to advance their own agenda of sexual experience.
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