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reading_giraffe 's review for:
Butts: A Backstory
by Heather Radke
This was pretty interesting but I found myself disappointed by the fact that this did not add anything new to the conversation (from my POV). All this book did was contribute a white voice to a conversation that Black women (and other WOC) have been having and thinking on for ages. The author was respectful and gave credit where those were due. I learned a lot, especially at the beginning and was able to endure most of the book without getting mad.
Ultimately, I felt the book fell flat because of its Western understanding and focus solely on the Western (American, and briefly, European) gaze on the butt. Nowhere is this more obvious than the fact that they start the history of "our" obsession with butts with the story of Sarah Bartman. While this is obviously a key point of history, it ignores lots of what came before and lots that came after. I was not expecting a comprehensive, singularly focused history, but this felt too anemic. It feels like if someone started a history of Rock 'n' Roll with Elvis Presley. To talk about America's obsession with J. Lo's butt without engaging meaningfully with the thoughts of Hispanic Americans is insulting. To discuss Beyonce and DC's Bootylicious without looking at any of the other big butted Black women who existed concurrently is shortsighted. To then pivot into parroting Twitter talking points about the "most famous butt in the world" (Kim Kardarsian) and giving perhaps the most comprehensive biography of anyone mentioned in the book, just plays into the same culturally appropriative problems the book attempts to point out.
Not to go on a mini rant but the United States of America is not the world. Like Rock 'n' Roll or even Hip Hop (which the author credits a lot for our modern appreciation for the butt), butts (and an appreciation of them) existed before the Western gaze. Just call your book Butts: An American perspective and don't waste my time.
PS. I had way more feelings about this book then I originally thought. But I stand by my rating. the author is eloquent and did quite a lot of research so I did actually really enjoy the book. It was not until the J. Lo chapter that I began to get angry and only after I finished it that I started to have all these other thoughts. I did also get viscerally angry when the author all but labelled Black people as a monolith who just appreciate seeing any Black person in media, but I powered through that.
Ultimately, I felt the book fell flat because of its Western understanding and focus solely on the Western (American, and briefly, European) gaze on the butt. Nowhere is this more obvious than the fact that they start the history of "our" obsession with butts with the story of Sarah Bartman. While this is obviously a key point of history, it ignores lots of what came before and lots that came after. I was not expecting a comprehensive, singularly focused history, but this felt too anemic. It feels like if someone started a history of Rock 'n' Roll with Elvis Presley. To talk about America's obsession with J. Lo's butt without engaging meaningfully with the thoughts of Hispanic Americans is insulting. To discuss Beyonce and DC's Bootylicious without looking at any of the other big butted Black women who existed concurrently is shortsighted. To then pivot into parroting Twitter talking points about the "most famous butt in the world" (Kim Kardarsian) and giving perhaps the most comprehensive biography of anyone mentioned in the book, just plays into the same culturally appropriative problems the book attempts to point out.
Not to go on a mini rant but the United States of America is not the world. Like Rock 'n' Roll or even Hip Hop (which the author credits a lot for our modern appreciation for the butt), butts (and an appreciation of them) existed before the Western gaze. Just call your book Butts: An American perspective and don't waste my time.
PS. I had way more feelings about this book then I originally thought. But I stand by my rating. the author is eloquent and did quite a lot of research so I did actually really enjoy the book. It was not until the J. Lo chapter that I began to get angry and only after I finished it that I started to have all these other thoughts. I did also get viscerally angry when the author all but labelled Black people as a monolith who just appreciate seeing any Black person in media, but I powered through that.