Hooks and McIntosh

McIntosh brings up a point that is hard to face, but very true. She makes a statement that I have thought of myself several times, but not for a long time and not in great detail. When I was five years old, I remember, I was coloring with a "flesh-tone" colored pencil and noticed that this name was for a light toned pencil, which matched my own skin tone. This, I realized promptly, was not fair. I remember clearly wondering about this phenomenon and being quite upset. However, McIntosh brings up other, more convenient subjects, such as the standard band-aid color (lets all just buy dinosaur band-aids!).
One statement that she considered a privilege for her as a white female (like me), I considered somewhat untrue. She states, "I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial"(19). I feel that when I speak to any male group, powerful or not, I may not be putting my race on trial, but rather my gender. There have been occasions in which my beliefs have been judged based on my gender. Besides that there is always my "Germanness" that makes people uncomfortable with my opinions. Some people have seemed to simply think, "oh, she thinks like that 'cuz she's German." I have been asked, "is that because your German?" Sometimes I'll simply use my "Germanness" as an excuse for when people seem to think that I am saying or doing strange things.

I looked at Bell's cultural criticism of "Madonna," "Rap Music," and "Transformation."
Rap music has generally been offensive to me ever since I started to become independent of my sibling's influences (we used to watch MTV together and we used to listen to Rap all the time). Therefore I enjoyed listening to Hooks' criticism very much. I found that it's degrading, not only towards women, but also black men. I've made numerous attempts to convince others (even some teachers, as well as my own siblings) that the lyrics and music videos are damaging to the female image and the black male's image. Rap Music strengthens negative stereotypes that are already created elsewhere in the media, such as movies and advertisements. However, Rap is not the only music filled with derogatory words. Women are unpleasantly spoken of in many other music styles as well. Also, rap is not only derogatory. There are many positive rappers out there, such as Nas. However, these rappers are, unfortunately, not as popular.