For those of you who feel you've "got the biggest one..."

31 Flavors of Bootyliciousness...
The first time I heard "Destiny's Child" Bills, Bills, Bills, I remember thinking to myself, hotdamn! These girls got what it takes to go platinum. The message of watered down feminism for the hip hop generation packaged a little edgier than the Spice Girls, with enough good old fashioned curvaceous southern charms..ehh hemm..and they and above average singers, too?

Intellectually, I'm appalled, of course (but amused) by the clever wit of our friendly corporate record company executives.

And although on a moral basis I highly object to the commodification of Black women into thighs, butts and all things chicken, I have to say I think the appeal of Destiny's Child (which could've ended up being another chick band) was that emphasis on southern charm, independence, and salacious selling of black standards of beauty, re: Beyonce.

Remember that Beyonce came of age when Jennifer Lopez was still hiding her butt from the zoom lens, and Janet had just finished starving herself to prove she was sexy. To be honest the bootylicious boom was a sleeper for me.

It wasn't till by friend said, "Hey, I think it is cute that Beyonce has thunder thighs", and I was like "What the heck are you talking about?" that I realized how weight obsessed we really are.

When a 5'6 140 woman is considered her own personal liberation movement we are in twilight zone territory. Still, even I have let a little of my self righteous arrogance go when I thought about a sista out there representing all the big hipped, big legged, and yes, well endowed in multiple area sistas.

Which left me conflicted, because how can you argue against commodification, and yet be tempted by the product? That's like eating cocaine covered brownies with Rick James and telling yourself it is just powdered sugar.

You know what the sad thing about the whole big butt video hoe phenomenon is? It is one of the few places where Black women's beauty is presented as desirable. It takes us back to that sad time on that action block when we were cast as jezebels seducing white men with our feminine, yet inhuman wiles. It makes you want to tie black women down and make us read Beloved 100 times.

And yet, Juvenile's back that thing up video was one of the few videos where normal looking black girls got props. In our need to be accepted for who we are, have black women sold ourselves out to the highest bidder?

I know this is a no-win argument, because we are much more than our money makers, or having the dubious distinction of having "the biggest one"-- but it is as they used to say on public television, is is “One to grow on.”