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Shaikhah Alhomaizi – Assignment 6

In this response I will attempt to explain the relationship to “the other” that bell hooks describe. In addition to Who or what is “the Other”, and what characterizes the relationship to “otherness” as productive.

In “Eating the Other”, Bell Hook discusses the “other” and how they are treated. I believe that the term “other” is used to reference the other/different races and cultures compared to the whites, and their relationship to different races, specifically how the “others” accommodate the whites (men). Hook portrayed the “other” as a commodity that the white’s want to experience. By consuming the commodity, the white’s become dominant group. These consumers believed that the “Others” were more experienced sexually because they came from a different culture, making them more experienced. This “rite of passage” experience would provide them both transformation and experience. (Hook, 368). The “Others” are seen as commodities through advertisements, where they have to appeal to all backgrounds and attract the white “normal” crowd.

What is usually associated with experience to these men is sexual experiences with the opposite race, because they consider the “other’s” (black’s) culture to be highly sexualized and experienced. By sexually encountering these different races, these men are entering new worlds of sexuality (entering the world as different man). From a white male supremacy perspective this threatens them through the pleasure one can experience from the “other”. Having a relationship with the “other” can show weakness towards their history and dominance dynamic. Thus by using commercialized venues such as movies, they are able to promote the value of a white person to the “other’s” life, while asserting their dominant position and enforcing the image of  others as a mean of pleasure.

In my opinion, the relationship to the “other” is considered productive because it exposes people to the division of races and cultures rather than exploit them.