5 Assignment 06

In Bell Hooks’ “Eating the Other”, she explains how western societies have exploited those with cultural differences. They’ve become intensely interested in these different cultures that it has brought up strange desires. In Britain, whenever “the Other” was discussed in conversations, it has always made referenced to those with different sexual desires that deviated from what was considered normal. In modern culture of the United States, they’ve connected the idea of being culturally diverse to having diverse sexual interests. They’re both seen as odd sources of pleasure in  that it is different from what society is usually being exposed to. As a result of the exploitation of “the Other”, western society is seen as usual as being dominant over “the Other”, especially in those who have power.

Another way in which culture is strongly connected to sexual desires, is the idea that it is an “exciting experience”. Hook provides an example of a time where she was walking by Yale University, and she noticed a several white male students discussing how they’ve created a task of having sexual relations with as many women of different racial backgrounds as possible. This example shows us how western society have tried to escape what they’re normally exposed to, and in doing so have sexually exploited “the Other”. They’ve also generalized the idea that women of certain racial backgrounds might be easier or harder to have sexual relations with. Moreover, in establishing this task made by the western society, they are admitting to the fact that they’ve had a white supremacist society for some time by associating other women of different races as weird or interesting.

Hook also describes the idea of imperialist nostalgia, which is the mourning of western societies of their past successes in racial inequality. These societies do not claim responsibility for their actions and even further deny the existence of their ancestors actions. This idea is another way in which exploitation can take form of “the other”.  Hook also says the longing for pleasure is another reason for the desire to westernize and/or take part in other cultures. Additionally, lesser -economically represented groups have been lured into western society with the promise of political change and recognition. In doing so it reinstates the idea of a nationalist society.

In Bell Hook’s essay, “Eating the Other” there is a relationship established between “the other” and everything that isn’t part of that group. Affectionately named, “The Other” this classification of people entails anyone that isn’t white, so to be a part of this group you have to be just dark enough that a person of this group questions your “purity.” What’s important to note, is that throughout my personal experience as well as in class, we have examined that you can also belong to this group as well as “The Other” all at the same time. As there is no realistic barrier of entry for being a part of the white majority, you just need to look enough like them and act enough like them to reap the benefits that being white entails. However, we’re examining the relationships that is shared between whites and non-whites as interpreted by Bell Hooks. The first thing is that there’s obviously some degree of ethnocentrism among  any group of races, regardless of their color. Whites aren’t the first to think of themselves as the all powerful majority and they certainly won’t be the last, either. That doesn’t mean this doesn’t serve as a starting point for interpretation into “how” the white majority views their counterparts. Which is perhaps best described as a tasteful yet cautious curiosity. This intense separation of “Us VS. Them” offers a unique form of appeal between the white majority and anything that isn’t white that’s very unique to any minority group that finds themselves in a position of needing to interact with white people on a daily basis. This perhaps can serve and is suggested by Hooks as the breaking point at which the racial division can crumble, as white people are still people, and their inherent desire to satisfy their curiosity is perhaps far greater than any desire they have of hating a group that hasn’t personally wronged them, I think.

Hooks describes the concept of the others as people who are not of a similar ethnicity as yourself. The introduction of the others was seen as a way to add something interesting to our mundane lives. However, the others were extremally vital to the lives of the whites and white culture. There was a form of cultural taboos about sexuality and desire are disobeyed and was used to help media overwhelm the viewers with a message of difference. Without any ideas based on any white supremacist assumptions. The new form of media had then installed this Idea of fantasies and interest of the others in a fashion of an aspect of white supremacy. Hooks believed that the relationships with the others is good for both parties in order for them to open the thinking and understanding of the side that isn’t the other and for the other half would remove the dreaded status quo that forces out the individuality to remain motionless and allows the racial boundaries to continue. The other relationship that Hooks would describes as a respectable thing due to the fact that this inspires the people to experience more than what they believed to be possible when they have a good relationship. Hooks gives several references and example to showcase her argument of how the other is desired. She writes about a film, Heart Condition. Heart Condition is about a white racist cop, who has a heart transplant and receives a heart from a black man. The white man has been trying to destroy because the black man started to date a woman that the white man loved. Due to his “black heart,” the white man learns to become more seductive and change his attitudes towards people of other races. Hooks see this as a literal dramatization of “eating the Other” and accepting the upright qualities that they bring out to us, which allows us to become better people.

In “Eating The Other”, Bell Hooks uses the term “the other” as the race which you are not.  The other is basically about people who are not white because the term was used mostly by white people who are looking down other races as inferior. In this piece, she explains the relationship between white people and “the other”. To begin with, she brings up white boys who had sexual interaction with non white girls, but they are interacted by them just because they are not white. White people were thought to be absolutely superior to the others at that time.  For them, they were thought to be inferior, but they thought it would be a different and interesting experience. This is because the boys thought they are more sexually active and experienced just because of non white people’s culture are though to be behind and they were looking for excitement with the others that white girls don’t have. It was obviously just for fun, but as the more they intact with non white girls, the more they understand non white cultures and they started thinking as the old norm, that white people have interaction with white people, is old and few steps behind to them. In this case, she thinks it is a productive relationship to “Otherness” because they went over the racial boundary because they used to think non white people are superior to “the other”, but it was an opportunity for them to think about racial equality. It was not the idea that could threaten white supremacy, but it could add “flavor” to the idea of diversity. I think why she called it productive is even though the first intention was irrelevant which they thought sexual interaction with non white females would be better because they should be more experienced, the outcome of that action was positive because they no longer see them as inferior.

In Hook’s essay, “Eating the Other”, she uses the phrase ‘the other’ to symbolize something. In this case the usage of this word by her meant, ‘something different’. She describes differences as the other because, everything considered as the other is somehow taboo or something unknown that everyone is scared to get to know. The way she utilized the phrase, made it more obvious for the readers to really understand how everyone really looks at differences in the world, which is in a very degrading way. But she was also able to point out how people were staring to considerate a new side to everything that would be different and new. She describes how the relationship to “the other” was something productive. it opened people’s choices to new things and allowed them to use it to better themselves as people too. In most cases, society has started to use the other to their advantage, where they are starting to get some type of personal or professional benefit from it. Like many advertisements do today. These companies have taken the acknowledgment of difference, to make their brand more appealing to everyone in the public. They would collect data that would inform them who is more likely to buy certain brands of soda, as they found that black people are more likely to buy Pepsi, so they include more people of color to their commercials which would attract even more people to their brand. The recognition of the other allows for a more positive relationship to develop in our society. Whether it is about sexuality or race, “the other” will always be that side of the spectrum that most people are afraid to address because they don’t really know much about it. But once we acknowledge it, change will occur for the better.

When analyzing bell hooks’s “Eating the other,” at first, I thought the identity of the specter of the “other” was obvious: it was anyone who doesn’t conform to the ideals of straight white heteropatriarchy—from the unfortunate Native American girl who had to fend off the advances of those blond white jocks on Page 368 to the queer, brown English major writing this essay. However, as hooks advances her discourse on the “consumption” of the other, I felt as if I was slowly but surely gaining insight into her interpretation of “consumption.” In this case, the other is exotified and seen as something beautiful and glorious to behold, something to be appreciated and observed, something to be immersed into and commodified for the sake of its foreignness compared to the heteropatriarchal white norm—which is a vast difference from the colonialist structures that sought to subdue the other in the name of religious or racial domination. Rather than destroy us or change us into their image, the “non-other” (a.k.a. the white man) wishes to commodify and consume us for the following: 1) to cross an “imaginary boundary into an exotic land” by interacting with our non-whiteness to come out the other side “changed” by the experience 2) to, as hooks says on page 380, be offered up and consumed to add flavor to the mayonnaise-laden palate of white mediocrity and 3) to strip our cultural artifacts of their meanings, both ethnically and politically significant, in the name of perpetuating hegemonic white dominance.

That being said, why does hooks call this interaction of “non-other” to “other” productive? I believe it is because within this modern context of multiculturalism and openness to other identities, that otherness is no longer seen as a deviant identity but as something to be explored and connected with, which flies directly in the face of hegemonic white patriarchal dominance. That being said, those of the dominant group (a.k.a. yet again, white people) or anyone outside of a given group should tread carefully and realize that cultural exploration can easily be transformed into cultural appropriation without intentionality and a willingness to listen to others within the non-dominant group.

Bell Hooks often uses the term “the other” in her essay. For many years there has been a need of superiority within races and sex. As discovery of other races there needed to be a comprehension of how to handle the diversity and possibly the need to be in power. Anything that was not a white male was considered to be different and this difference impacted the modern society. Commodity culture in the United States took advantage of the orthodox concept of race, gender and sexual desire through racial difference and racial sexual encounters (Hooks:367).

Anything that was not white and male was different and was considered to be called “the other”. According to Hooks, during her time teaching at Yale university, the white boys would shop for women the same way you would shop for classes (Hooks:368). Race was a key role on ranking these females. Black was top priority along with Asians. Hispanics would not be seriously considered because there was not a significant number of them in the area. Hooks further develops why these men felt strongly having sexual relations with women from other races. By doing so, these men would no longer feel restricted in one universe. Instead, race was visualized as experience. Women from other races were as exotic and they wanted to enhance their experience. Color in this sense was not negative but productive because it contributed to being sexually experienced.

The relationship “the other” that Hooks is describing is not supposed to be bad but a way of escaping from a small-minded world and experience. Sex just happened to play a major role on that. “The other” would become gain superiority in a sense when it came to the modern times because white men wanted to know what it was to be a part of other races and sex was an easy way to grasp that.

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.

In “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance” by Bell Hooks she goes into the meaning of the other and the relationship it has with people primarily white people. Hooks starts off with how the other is someone that is racial different from a white person. That the other is something new to add excitement to a dull life, white culture is the example that Hooks gives. Bell then dives into the topic of the other being used and exploited to maintain a status quo and how that the other is shifting over to be something that is pleasurable and desired. The way the other is seen as desirable in the United States is that the other consists of minorities of different racial background from a white perceptive and adds something new to the previously stated dull white culture. Hooks says that relationships with the other is good for both parties as to opens up the thinking and understanding of one part of the relationship and for the other half it removes the dreaded status quo that forces identity to remain static and for racial boundaries to remain. The other that Hooks describes as good thing that encourages people to experience more than what they thought possible when they have a good relationship. Hooks gives an example of how the other is desired with an experience of listening to a group of white boys talk about how they wanted to have sex with as many racial different women as they can. Hooks described this as a good thing because of what it meant that these boys were throwing away old white supremacist ideas and accepting a more culturally diverse social life. That desire, if old ideas of supremacy remained would have been secret and seen as shameful but is a sign of a progressive change of the perspective of whites to non-whites.

In Bell Hook’s chapter, “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance”, she talks about “the other”. The other is pretty much everyone that isn’t white, you can be anything from Asian to Hispanic and you would be classified as “the other”. Hook talks about how people had an ethnocentric mindset judging the culture of the others based on what he or she believes is right. From the eyes of the white, the other are inferior yet exotic being able to bring a little spice into their lives. Hook brings up the example of three white boys who intends on having an sexual interaction with as many other girls as possible, thinking that by doing so it would make make their life a little less boring and a little bit better. These boys had the mindset that having sex with a non white girl would be a different experience. They assumed that it was going to be magical and extremely pleasurable as oppose to having sex with a white girl. Hook explains how by interacting with the other, they can also in a way demonstrate and assert their  power over the minorities.

The idea of the other or otherness is in a way considered a good thing by Hooks as she explains that the way the otherness is shown, it sheds light on different cultures making them much more appealing to the whites. People are led by their curiosity to learn more about the other and understand their ways. They also get a sense of pleasure in knowing and understanding the cultures of the other. I think Hook is trying to say that by adding a bit of the other it makes the whole better. Hook brings up white two rappers who understand what the African American community has gone through ans urges them to move forward with understanding and without hate.