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I Want a Bigger Butt
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. Next year the first volume of his long-awaited biography of Charlie Parker will appear.
Efe, Rs Fotos / Zuma Press
A former Miss Argentina died while having plastic surgery to sculpt her buttocks. Stanley Crouch on why white women are suddenly seeking big behinds.
If one is lucky while looking down at the insubstantial, minor men and women made into magnets of attention by our storm of electronic fluff, the truth might roll over and show its ass. That is all one can say about the recent death for a big bottom suffered by Solange Magnano, who had once been Miss Argentina. At 38, Magnano was the mother of two and was married to a guy who didn’t mind her going under the knife for a fashion curve that wasn’t always considered beautiful.
This puts a new perspective on all of the things said in condescending tones by those making fun of Jewish women who, as I once heard it said, had nose surgery in order to “unhook themselves.” We all should know now how many barbs are verbally hurled by those driven to laughter, disgust, or shame when they witness all of the hoops through which black American women will jump in order to supposedly measure up to European beauty standards.
America has come to a point in which white women are not only getting silicone shot into their lips but silicone inserted into their bottoms.
Now it seems that those with white female bodies sometimes seek other bottoms and have decided that they, of course, deserve them if they can be afforded. This was not always the case.
I read many years ago that aggressively large and curved buttocks on arriving African slaves helped convince some whites of their animal origins and were used as other examples of why American slavery was just fine and dandy. Look at that backside, they are obviously less human. Disgusting.
Even so, by the end of the 19th century, the bustle was in full play and was a quite popular “booty mask,” as one black female intellectual said to me during an evening of impassioned revelry near UCLA. This was at a self-segregated 1960s party where the black people made as much fun of whites as they could, whether or not any of them had white friends, lovers, or spouses. That seemed as obligatory for us, as I was learning it was a rule of the ethic game for Jews to satirize Christians to the fullest extent humanly possible. It was not always good clean fun, but it was largely not malicious, just the sort of satire meant to bring the supposedly high and mighty down into a world below those thought lesser, where all things might be judged by the low-down and dirty.
When I was a boy growing up in the 1950s, it was not at all out of the ordinary to hear black people observe that if white people really did not think that brown or dark brown skin was attractive, why in the hell did they break their necks and lay out in the sun so long in order to get the “deepest, richest” tan they could.
At college, when I was sightseeing among white guys and we all pointed out the females we thought looked good. If a fine woman with an “abundant history”—or a lot behind her—was identified, the response startled me until I realized that we saw things differently. These white guys would usually say, “Yes, she has a pretty face and a nice chest, but her ass is just too fat, man.”
As a writer, this intrigued me, and I was frequently startled by the flat backsides of the women chosen for the men’s magazines. In his abominable autobiography, Miles Davis explains why he was reluctant to be interviewed by Playboy, "All they have are blonde women with big tits and flat asses or no asses. So who the fuck wants to see that all the time?" Some black guys would laugh that those blondes in the nude really didn’t have shallow hindquarters but “very long backs,very, very long.”
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. Next year the first volume of his long-awaited biography of Charlie Parker will appear.
What Was Venus Thinking?
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. Next year the first volume of his long-awaited biography of Charlie Parker will appear.
Wake Up, Tavis Smiley
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. Next year the first volume of his long-awaited biography of Charlie Parker will appear.
keepakeeper43
Plastic Surgery is otta control.
Insane.
Too bad we cant nip & tuck our EGOS!
galeso
I need a silicon implant for my brain.
ApresSki
Too bad egos can't be *totally* removed!!
Those are really ugly!!!!
freditor50
Great piece. I have admired Stanley Crouch for years, mostly on our shared jazz grounds, but this piece is a nonpareil. What an astute commentary! Great work, Mr. Couch.
rhondayes
Dying to "look" Black without the stigma of being "Black".
Ass, lips, cheeks, and breasts. Let us not forget the biggy: Tanned skin.
DakLak
I thought women tried to lose the weight in their nether parts?
Whatever, people should be happy with what Nature has given them. Variety is what makes the human race. Only if Nature slips up in a major way should people use surgery.
I live in a country where nether-ends are slim, and very attractive in appearance they are, too.
CaMoJin
did you even read the article?
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Readers
LOL you're just an ignorant dork aren't you Fox?
Entregan
And anyone wanting a flat-butt, flat-chested, vampire-pale, caucasian-male clone with, basically, a wig on it better? That's the reason why there's been a big push to tanning salons and plastic surgeons! They're obvioulsy trying not to look like the darker races. And, no, I'm not saying every white woman is trying to get big butts and dark skin. A commanding percentage is though ... But I will give you credit ... even blacks in America don't want the African body type. The weird thing is that miscegenation has caused blacks in America to look, mostly, nothing like Africans. Except the poorer ones because they have a tendency to stay within their communities. Let's make sure not to have comments on this man's article turn into bashing.
ewycliff
I think you are the one mistaken. If the African body is so undesirable and those black women with gigantic asses and huge lips are so undesirable, then why were so many African women raped by their white slave masters? And why has black culture been so emulated across the globe, after it had been deemed disgusting and even animalistic for so long? Times change bud, and the author made a significant point by noting that attractions and inspirations change with the widening views of society. It is your smugness that is unfounded mr greatgrayfox. The African, rather non-conventional European body traits will continue to be more accepted and loved by everyone without a narrow mind and thick skull.
Truth heals.
Farmatty
Rape is an act of power and control, brought through violence, just like slavery. It has nothing to do with physical attraction.
djanimaequeen
Farmatty
and you know that how? Creep.
Msbeachwood
djanimaequeen, unfortunately, Farmatty is right. It is well documented that rape is more about domination and rage, and not sexual attraction. Rape has been used to humiliate women and the men that care for them for centuries, especially during the time of war. Witness the current situation in the Congo, or what went on in the Balkans in the 90's..
manticore1223
Thirded. Take some psyche courses and come back later to squeal, animegirl.
p4poetic
Msbeachwood,
It is also well documented that many slave-masters took slaves for wives (and of course concubines). Even post slavery, black women were still subjected to sexual favors if they wanted to find work.
http://books.google.com/books?id=3N1g77hHnxkC&pg=PA161#v=onepage&q&f=fal se
[QUOTE]The sexual exploitation of Black women was not always accompanied by violence. White men were able to use economic deprivation of Black women to their sexual advantage. The sexual exploitation of Black women who worked as domestic servants is legendary. Throughout the South, white men were able to sexually
use Black women in the course of the woman's employment, or in the course of their seeking employment. One such example of the white male's economic advantage serving sexual ends is reported by John Howard Griffin. He quoted the following revelations of a white employer:
"He told me how all of the white men in the region crave colored girls. He said he hired a lot of them both for housework and his business. And I guarantee you, I've had it in every one of them before they get on the payroll. "Surely some refuse," I suggested cautiously. "Not if they want to eat-feed their kids," he snorted. "If they don't put out, they don't get the job".[/QUOTE]
djanimaequeen
And yet white women are getting butt implants. The facts seem to fly in the face of your "truth" grayfox. No worries. Now you know how I feel when people accuse me of wanting to be white because I straighten my hair....uh... no.
TheGreatGrayFox
You are beautiful~ No matter what they say~
Hahaha.
Common knowledge is common.
dreaday19
Personally, I think what you call "half-castes" are beautiful because they lack some undesirable Caucasian traits, such as thin lips and pasty skin. And this is coming from a white girl, oh my.
I think he wrote an interesting article, and was pointing out merely how standards of attractiveness can change over time, but in the end, we ought to just love ourselves for who we are. It was well thought out, and absolutely not smug.
If anyone is smug, it's you.
Truth hurts.
sophia5
Everyone wouldn't mind a little "junk in the trunk" . . .
just not a whole warehouse.
Interesting how the cultures are melding.
White women want some "junk,"
while
black women are straightening and
lightening their hair,
although that might be
more "rooted" (pardon the pun) in "fitting in"
due to long held cultural discrimination . . .
or simply put, they just like the way it looks.
p4poetic
White women also straighten and lighten their hair...
orangetrousers
I am a young woman that disagrees with you Fox. I think African women are far prettier than whites. At times, I have found myself wishing my own buttocks was much rounder and my skin was darker and my lips were fuller. I believe many young white woman like me, perhaps are unaware of their own reasons why they tan themselves in many shades of oranges in the attempt to have darker skin. As well as purchasing all of newly hyped "booty jeans" that emulate larger, rounder buttocks.
LTNYPD
get help quick
KateTheGreat
Correction: in Brazil a round heinie has always been attractive...and has nothing to do with trends in the US. Breast augmentation is not nearly as popular in Brazil as it is in Western countries (i.e., USA and Germany). There are differences in what "part" (to put it bluntly) is most sexualized in which culture. Most of the world is not nearly as obsessed with gigantic, round, fake boobs as the US and Germany; for example, in France and many other places an A or barely B is the beauty standard. In Brazil, a perky butt is the beauty ideal (think butt-floss on beaches...) That said, we're talking curves NOT fat...the ideal is a size 0-4 but not flat or pointed from the hip-bones. That's why this poor woman was getting silicone injections, no body-fat = no butt. Vanity...ugh.
JustinTimberwolf
Because one woman gets buttocks implants in Brazil, that translates into white people in America now liking large asses? Where's the support for that claim? J-Lo? Are you serious? I really don't know why blacks and hispanics in this country can't just get over the fact that they have different taste in women than white people do (at least for women's bodies -- as you point out, black men are still primarily into black women with highly European features, i.e. Halle Berry, who just looks like a white woman with dark skin, probably because she's as white as she is black).
No, Mr. Crouch, it is not "in" for women to have large asses among white people. Ask a white person of either gender, and if they tell you otherwise, they're just trying to avoid hurting your sense of racial pride. Aren't you a little old to be writing this article, anyway?
RVGrandpa
Old? This man is right on. He knows what he is talking about. White men enjoy a nice-sized ass as much as anyone. My wife is Asian, and her's is perfect. Carry on Stanley, we older guys need to stick together. I just turned 73 and keep lookin.
djanimaequeen
It really is a matter of taste. I think he's trying to say that taste's are becoming more varied not that you MUST like big ass because your white. Calm down it really isn't all that serious.
CaMoJin
I think it is more of a generational thing because trust me white guys LOVE big asses. You older guys aren't into that it seems that's ok. you guys aren't into alot of stuff that we are. But trust me, I'm white and all my firends are and none of us would turn down a woman with big round ass.
JustinTimberwolf
I'm 30, and I think about 5% of the white men I know would prefer women to have larger asses. Most of them go for black or latina women, which is probably why it seems to be popping up (or out) as a trend for Mr. Crouch, a black man: he's probably more likely to encounter that 5% of white men who are into that sort of thing, since he presumably hangs out with mostly minority women.
The reason I think it's a ridiculous claim is that he takes completely anecdotal evidence and tries to turn it into some overarching observation about sexual taste (yes, I realize I'm doing the same thing, but I'm not publishing an article about it).
And to use J-Lo as evidence for this "trend" in 2009 is beyond out of touch -- this is eerily similar to the people who were espousing the lasting power of the Latin pop explosion way back before J-Lo was washed up. White people were latching onto Latino culture in meaningful, lasting ways back then, right? I mean come on, I think all of us white people are counting down the days with bated breath until this year's Latin Grammy awards.
ectoendomezo
Uhhh..Justin? Sorry Little Buddy..but yuor Waaaaay OFF!
have YOU looked in ANY..Mall or Clothing store for Generation Y Bother? The actual..MANIKINS...have a "J-Lo" Shape...
"ASS" becam "IN" for "White Women"..about 10 PLUS Years Ago..and has NOT CHANGED...I guess you have NEVER..been to a CLUB..or even..well..watched one of those GIRLS GONE WILD INFOMERCIALS...because its...ALL....ASS..and its ALMOST...ALL...WHITE CHICKS!
The Uhhh..'African Butt Dance'...the RUMP SHAKER? Seen that? No? okay..but that doesn't mean it isn't basically..."DE-RIGOIR'" for ALL Club Dancing...
Wow! Dude! I gotta say i am surprised that anyone would even..BOTHER to TRY to defend the position that this is some..'Racial Thing'..
Because FRANKLY...the "LACK OF ASS" Fashion trend..WAS AND IS...FAKE! ITS THE..DOWNPLAYING OF THE BUTTOCKS THAT IS..'ARTIFICIAL'...NOT THE REVERSE...
This is not a "NEW" thing..this is a RETURN to NORMALCY...
Sadly..Anyone that is NOT aware of this..simply LACKS..a REAL..knowledge of the HISTOY of "AMERICAN SEXUALITY"...just look at ANY...ANY...ANY...ANY......old 'Porn'...all the way back to the 'French postcards' of the Gold Rush era...ALL..ASS!..ALL..THE..TIME! The BIGGER the BETTER..
There are many examples of the strongest DESIRE on the part of WHITE MALES..for the HIPS and BUTTOCKS of ALL..WOMEN...to believe..that this has ANYTHING to do with "RACE"...by either a 'poster" or The "Author" of the article..actually..exposes a RACIAL IDEOLOGY on THEIR PART...because again.."ASS" is..HYPNOTIC..SUBLIMINALLY HYPNOTIC..to ALL MEN on SOME level..
LORDOSIS POSE for one...and it gets obscure too..ever heard the term.."SCHOOL-MARM"...ummm..APPLIED to a TREE?
The old time Woodsmen..loggers...Ranchers...Miners...etc..well..IN ORDER TO...FACILITATE THEIR ONANISTIC FANTASIES..THEY WOULD FIND A TREE..THAT 'SPLIT' INTO TWO TREES..OR..TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY..A TREE..THAT BASICALLY..LOOKED LIKE A WOMAN PLANTED UPSIDE-DOWN IN THE GROUND..WITH HER LEGS UP IN THE AIR...YUP! ITS TRUE..THE "SCHOOL-MARM"...
AND THE LESS I SAY ABOUT "STUMP-BROKE-MULES"...PROBABLY THE BETTER...
READ....READ BOOKS AMIGO...THIS ISN'T ABOUT "RACE"...THIS IS ABOUT 40,000 YEARS OF SEXUAL ATTRACTION AND MATING....SORRY..BUT..ARROGANT AS IT SOUNDS...THATS A FACT!
p4poetic
Halle Berry looks like a white woman with dark skin? LOL. Give me a break. There are plenty of non half white black women who have similar looks to Halle Berry. The term "European features" is so stupid. And people over use it to the point where they give the most left field examples. I remember when people claimed Iman looked like a "White woman with dark skin" and she is a Somalian woman from Africa! Guess what, black folks come in a variety of looks.
athenacom
interesting historical notes, but dumb article.
turns out women of all skin colors can have big butts. yes, even white women. even latino women.
it's likely less about discriminating against african-americans (dumb theme in this case) than it is that the western beauty ideal for women's bodies, particularly the hip/butt area, at some point became all about the silhouette of young adolescent, hipless, small-butt boys.
ohys123
Yes this mysterious point you speak of is when homosexual men took over the fashion industry.
Fentro
Nicely written article Stanley. It was an interesting stroll through recent history of human vanity. Agreed, we need to get beyond our obsession with the superficial. What I find interesting is WHY are we like this? The Golden Ratio (phi) is found in what are generally regarded as 'beautiful' features. Why? Because phi is one of those transcendental numbers that define our universe. But the human taste in beauty has shifted, some say due to mass marketing (what was beautiful 100 years ago has no bearing on what is beautiful today). But I return to WHY are we like this? Where does that leave the 'un-beautiful'? We seemingly don't appreciate intelligence any more, thus, the current obsession with plastic surgery.
We are a shallow species.
BTW, Stanley - I'm a whitey cracker-ass, and my dad turned me on to you 30 years ago. Thanks for your contribution to our 'culture'
Genni2002
Your cheeky writing style is pure pleasure to read!
Hey, it is about a baby bear just right specification: not toooo dark (the tanning booth), not tooo big (butts) although with breasts there doesn't seem to be a too big size? Maybe they can find plastic surgery for enlarging the brain? Now that would be something.
ardeth
I thought the fur hag J Lo started the big butt trend, and she's Latina. Be that as it may, never thought I'd see the day when my big (white) butt would be fashionable. Too bad I'm beyond the age when it would really do me some good!
djanimaequeen
No it was actually Sir-mix-a-lot's song "baby got back" that brought big butts to the mainstream.
medic209
AMEN, sista.................................
apositt
Pretty sad that Mr. Crouch has to use this medical mishap gone deadly to coddle his sexual psyche - and then try to turn it into a historical-anthropological theory. A might insecure, wouldn't you say, Mr. Crouch.
ThinkAgain
Is this good for evolution? If everyone can buy their looks, other traits will take on more importance in the natural selection process but will brain/personality enhancements be next?
roadhunter
Man has greatly slowed evolution through natural selection with the advent of modern medicine. The appendix will always be with us because people who have acute appendicitis are now rushed to the hospital to have this vestigial organ removed. Therefore, they live to pass their genes on to the next generation. This was not the case 100-200 years ago.
One goal of medicine is to ensure that children with physical and mental defects are cared for to the point they reach child bearing age. The side effect is that they pass these traits on to their offspring, resulting in what some cleverly call "devolution".
I don't care, though, as I won't be here to see much of an evolutionary change in human beings. Nor do I care if our species evolves to become more intelligent, or if it devolves to become more ape like.
camfield
I've never been particularly obsessed with either breasts or bottoms . . . or lips in women. Gravity eventually becomes pretty much of an equalizer (same with men).
I would, however, be interested in a study of which ethnic groups have a genetic pre-disposition toward obesity.
roadhunter
There is no shortage of such studies. In the USA, African Americans are the leading group when it comes to obesity. Whether this is truly due to the genetics of how their bodies work, or due to the fact that more of them live in poverty and therefore do not have as healthy a diet as other groups remains to be seen.
Straelbora
Certain groups which started from a very small population, including Native Americans and Pacific Islanders, may have a genetic propensity towards obesity. As 'roadhunter' below notes, it's not known if high obesity levels among African-Americans is more a product of genetics or culture. In the case of Pacific Islanders, the thinking is that the modern populations are descendants of those few who didn't starve to death (hence, genetically good at storing fat) in the long, long voyages to populate the Pacific islands.
OldJoe
Having raised girls, I often feel sorry for them. In childhood their natural grace and energy is like a ray of sunshine, but then as they enter adolescence that "gift" can go haywire as many of them feel the need to compete to "look good" according to the fickle tastes of culture; to go to the extremes of surgery is usually such a foolish act of, what(?), it can't be desperation can it? Some can go to the mirror looking for every sign of imperfection and what is seen as perfect is rather a perfect skew.
roadhunter
It's not just girls. I'm pretty screwed up in the head due to years of rejection throughout my school years due to my physical appearance.
OldJoe
Of course, anyone can feel the weight of "transient aesthetics" observed by "a herd". I didn't like being stuck in a school room in any event and though it pains me literally, my stage of life doesn't usually hold such concerns I'm glad to say. Those afflicted by such problems might consider such as the words of Plotinus (3rd century AD) when asked if he wanted a drawing of himself: "why should I want an image of an image."
JustinTimberwolf
I think you have a very valid point, which I largely agree with; HOWEVER, we have still not found a middle ground between "you're beautiful no matter what" and the obesity epidemic that has swept our country over the last 25 years or so. This problem is killing us and our children, and I think we're afraid to talk about it for fear of eating disorders. Sadly, obesity and its related problems, like diabetes, hit black and hispanic Americans at MUCH higher rates than white Americans, who are not exactly lean and mean anymore themselves. And it's also breaking the bank in terms of health care costs, most wastefully in preventable illnesses.
If we keep claiming that this bigger-is-better aesthetic (and that's what it is, an aesthetic, one that is just as superficial as its opposing view), our obesity problems are going to keep snowballing.
brownjackson
Yes and no, pear-shaped women usually have little visceral (belly) fat than a normal women even when they're extremely obese. Visceral fat is the most metabolicaly active and likely to cause diabetes, heart disease. The yes stems from the fact that people trying to be physically bigger to look better (men and women) who dont have genetics to hold the extra weight. Some hispanics and black women dont have pear shapes and gain weight all over. THIS IS UNHEALTHY. E.g. my mother is built like an apple, her sister is a pear. Same parents and yet different body-types. My mother has metabolic syndrome, her sister doesn't and is BIGGER than my mother. However, on average, black AMERICANS (dont know about africans) can be heavier than the norm (average american) and be perfectly healthy.
But with that said, I know personally on average, WHITE women are pear-shaped like african women. The difference is that african women tend to have rounder buttocks and narrower hips, white women have wider hips. For proof, go to any town or city except new york and LA. The women are curvy and buxom. The starlets and models who flock to cities are intentionally trying to make themselves thinner in order to fit in with the cosmopolitan air. Your personal preferrence is your own. But if you want to talk genetics, with the exception of some chinese and japanese women. Most women's genetics are designed for wide hips and around a c-cup breast, with a small waist. (Have you ever seen or dated a nordic woman? They're usually 5'9" with about as much ass as Serena, and no I dont date swedes exclusively)
OldJoe
I can't help respond when someone responds to me...
It's a hard road for some, accepting their "genetic predispositions" (below), but the "obesity problem": the animal instinct to gorge can run amuck when we are provided so much with so little effort and the "tongue to stomach" beast can take control. Old yoga trick, put the tongue on the roof of the mouth, let it set there and breath until it is subdued; easier said than done, no doubt, for myself as well though a lifetime neurotic tendency to exercise has curbed some evidence of oral excess. I see it as an existential tactic of avoidance: life can appear miserable and food provides some comfort, hence one can only learn to set with the "barren field of being" and perhaps other, more fruitful pursuits will present themselves (i.e. find something else to do with one's time besides eat); again, easier said than done, but it is the doing which is key.
beej1094
Article recapitulates the tongue-in-cheek (no pun intended) Sir Mix-a-lot aesthetic and adds, to the discussion's detriment, a cultural agenda. Myself, I've always found sensuality -- and beauty -- to be in the eye of the beholder -- usually depending on how many drinks one's had.
sqribbler
It turns out everyone wants to be just like me after all! What? They don't? Then let me write an article about how they do... The human race is wonderful in its variety and beauty, big butts, small butts, tall, short, black, white, yellow, brown. What is fashionable this year is less fashionable next year. The rest is just filigree.
Thank you.
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