Patricia Hill Collins "Get Your Freak On"

    

     Patricia Hill Collins is a social theorist, and a University Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is well known for her being the author of the book 'Black Feminist Thought'. Her work primarily surrounds issues of around feminism and gender within the African American community.

      Patricia Hill Collins speaks about the term ‘freak’ and how it is used today in the

book “the politics of women’s bodies” by Rose Weitz. She speaks about the popular

song by Missy Elliot named ‘get your freak on’ in the chapter titled “get your freak on”( page 143-154), and on the different meanings freak and where it originated from. Collins explains that when Elliot says ‘get your freak on’, she is speaking about women who enjoy having sex and like kinky behavior in the bedroom. Collins explains that in the 19^th century, the

term freak was used to describe humans with oddities exhibited by circuses and

sideshows. Individuals who were not considered normal (midgets, giants) were

exhibited as “freaks of nature”( page 144). These people were used for entertainment based on their abnormalities.

Picture of Missy Elliot from " Get Your Freak On" Music Video

     Collins speaks about how Black women’s bodies become objectified in Black male

Hip Hop artists music videos. She gives examples of music videos such as Sir Mix A " 

lot’s “ Baby Got Back” and 2LiveCrew’s “ Pop That Coochie” all focus on the buttocks

of these females. She goes into detail explaining that “all focused attention is on

women’s behinds, Black women’s behinds in particular” and how “ being able to shake

the booty is a sign of authentic blackness, with the Black women who is shaking the

biggest butt being the most authentic Black woman” (Collins,pg 149).

Pictures From The Music Video of Popular Hip Hop Song " Baby Got Back" By Sir Mix A Lot

     These two quantitative examples from Collins readings reveal how freaks were labeled in the 19^th century and how many women of color's bodies were objectified. The label of being a freak can relate to the story of Sarah Baartman, the African American woman whose body

was exhibited as a freak show attraction based on her large buttocks. The example of

how women’s bodies are being objectified in music videos is the attention the buttocks

receives. When they refer to the Black woman shaking the biggest butt being the most

authentic, reveals how much credit women of color receive for having a large buttocks, and

shows that if you are a Black woman without a large buttocks to shake to your

 favorite Hip Hop song, you are not seen as truly authentic. This example can reveal

the pressures women of color deal with to fit the expected standard of being a Black

women, and why receiving butt augmentation surgery will help them to achieve that

 authentic look. In today’s society, African American women are risking their lives and

paying money to have their buttocks look rounder and larger. African American men

are praising and bragging about women who have these assets, which reveals how much

times have changed; seeing how having a large buttocks comparable to Sarah Baartman

is no longer seen as abnormal, and is recognized as amusement for the audience in the Hip Hop industry ( black male artists, music videos) instead of amusement and laughter for Caucasian people.

Example of what an "authentic" Black woman looks like .....