Remember that song, "Video" by india arie? I can still remember buying the CD from Coconuts in March of 2001. It was my jam back then, and it still echoes in my head. I atually loved the whole CD. I embraced the song "Brown Skin" as a testament to the beauty of my own brown skin, and the adversity I faced as one of the only dark kids in my family. But, from my original purpose of blogging right now, I digress...
Back to the future, 2004...damn near 2005. I am becoming increasingly more aware of the love affair men share with video girls, a.k.a. video models, b.k.a. eye candy, or the less flattering and totally derogatory, video hoes. Magazines like XXL and Source sell more because of the vixens, and videos are passed across the internet like dirty magazines in middle school classrooms.
As a woman, I am not jealous of these women. I am confident enough to say that they are beautiful. Hell, I will even go further and say that some of them are drop dead gorgeous. Of course men are gonna look at them, that's why they are stategically placed in these videos. Do you think the "Freek-a-Leek" video would have received as much airplay were it not for the voluptuous Esther Baxter? I mean, the song's hot, but Petey Pablo alone wouldn't have climbed the video up the chart.
Ladies, why get mad because your man looks? Buys the magazines? At least he isn't keeping it a secret. If you get angry, perhaps there is something within you that you would like to change. Most of the time when we hear the likes of Melyssa Ford, Vida Guerra, or Miya Granatella referred to as "video hoes", it's by women. Perhaps insecure, maybe envious. Most of the time these women are college students, aspiring actresses, and just overall intelligent. I am not mad at them for making money using their looks, as long as they demand respect, and never compromise their true selves. Everyone has a hustle, at least they aren't on some street corner.
I would never really try to aspire to look like those women. I mean, the cameras play tricks on you, magazines airbrush, and plastic surgery occurs more than we'll ever know. I'm not hating, I'm just saying. The way I see it, everyone has something, no one has everything. No matter what you may think. I mean, I have nice breasts, (so I've been told), but my ass could be better (so I've also been told)...my legs are nice, but my tummy could be flatter. See? I love that I can be confident. If my guy talks about a video girl, more power to him. I work out for myself, not to become a different person for someone else
I know back in the day, I was salivating over D'angelo in that video..y'all know which one. Now that was a quality video. Shoot, truth be told, I still have the video stored on my pc. Why can't they have more male eye candy? Even women's videos like Trina, Lil Kim, etc are full of Ethnicity Models and whatnot. As a marketing major, I know the scheme, it's all about what people wanna see. Image is everything, imagery fuels the imagination, and leads men to watch the videos, browse, or buy the magazines, and form internet message boards to discuss the beauties.
I learned to love myself unconditionally, because I am a queen...
1 comment:
Bravo, babygirl...i love to see that type of self confidence....Being a video girl connoisseur myself and speaking as a man, I have to say you're right....Lookin at these woman, doesn't take anything away from the woman in our life...and by no means are we making comparisons. I would never tell my woman to try and look like any of those women, and I totally would respect if she looked at video men....it's not about comparison or degradation, its about appreciation...
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