In her fascinating and frank debut, Butts: A Backstory, journalist Heather Radke ponders why this physique half is so polarizing, the collective cultural obsession so enduring.
As the creator notes in her introduction, “Butts are a bellwether. The feelings we have about butts are almost always indicative of other feelings—feelings about race, gender, and sex.” Radke explores the societal forces that underlie such emotions as she guides readers on an impressively well-researched tour of butts all through historical past, starting with a useful evaluation (hominids and horses take middle stage) and finally alighting within the current (twerking, social media and movie star butts).
Heather Radke shares why now was the proper time for a considerate exploration of this cheeky subject.
In between, Radke considers the persistent, pernicious perspective towards ladies’s our bodies as issues to critique. She shares the story of Sarah Baartman, a South African lady of the Khoe tribe who was successfully enslaved and exhibited in England and France within the early 1800s underneath the guise of scientific inquiry. From there, Radke segues into eugenics and its emphasis on large butts as supposed markers of sexual deviance.
These so-called scientific endeavors have had a ripple impact, Radke explains, influencing media and popular culture, creeping into magnificence requirements and physique picture. She affords examples of butt-obsessed media with constructive posterior impacts, too; a deep dive into the 1992 hip-hop sensation “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot is entertaining and edifying, and Beyoncé’s 2001 hit “Bootylicious” will get a shoutout as properly.
Radke additionally touches on health sensations (“Buns of Steel”) and style developments (Victorian bustles), in addition to her sophisticated emotions about her personal “generous” butt. While she, like so many others, has felt disgrace about her physique form, Radke additionally believes that “a close examination of the parts of ourselves that can feel unbearable . . . can be transformative.” Certainly, Butts can usher readers onto this extra constructive path, due to its top-notch reportage, assured and respectful voice and invitation to butt-centric contemplation.
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