NONFICTION _Hung: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id=790090&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=www.powells.com/biblio/61-0385510020 -0) by Scott Poulson-Bryant
_http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id= 790090&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=www.powells.com%2Fbiblio%2F61-0385510020-0_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id=7 90090&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=www.powells.com/biblio/61-0385510020-0) Synopsis A cultural critic asks just how well black men measure up. Review In Hung, Vibe founder and Spin columnist _Scott Poulson-Bryant_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id=790090&listin g_id=LISTING_ID&url=www.ruhung.com) confronts the roles black men play in today's pop culture by taking on the myth of penis size. The author traces his obsession back to the time he slept with his first white girl, in college. When she told him she thought he'd be bigger because he was black, he responded, "So did I." That's a tight spot for Poulson-Bryant to be in — intellectually he understands the social and cultural implications of the black penis. He hears _echoes of lynching_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id=790090&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=www.albany.edu/ws/j ournal/2004/cooley.html) in the idea of "being hung." Those who would locate that painful legacy in the unpleasant past need only remember the 1997 NYPD sodomy attack on _Abner Louima_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id=790090&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=www.thesmokin ggun.com/torture/torture.html) to realize that the past is never dead. This double-edged sword eats away at Poulson-Bryant: "I don't want anything to do with that ugly American history, the stereotypes that have been created to control me — do I? Hell yeah, my inner ear tells me, I do." The book opens with a letter to the late _Emmett Till_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id=790090&listing_id=LIST ING_ID&url=www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/) — a horrifying and well-documented case of a of a black man's being punished for his penis. With anecdotes and interviews both appalling and hilarious, Poulson-Bryant proceeds to rip apart façade of modern equality. He introduces us to folks like Ty, or, rather, the "_Eracist_ (http://sublit.com/ad/func/ct.php?mail_list_id=22&job_id=582935&subscriber_id=790090&listing_id=LISTING_ID&url=movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movi e.html?v_id=315353) ." Like white basketball fans who mimic moves on their own courts, Ty wants to be black enough to reap the so-called rewards but quietly rejects being black. The stakes of black male virility are similar: the black man must be black in all his pseudo-glory without achieving the real glory of self-ownership. As Poulson-Bryant puts it, "The black athlete will submit to ascribed rules that are set up: you be black and do what black guys do (be virile, be strong, be worshipped), while I'll be white and do what white guys do (be worshipful, be deferential, yet always be more powerful)." The question is no longer who's watched and who's watching but, rather, who's performing and who's actually owning. - Linda Chavers AOL has been bouncing many of its clients. If bounced, please use my alternate email: carole.mcdonnell (at) gmail (dot)com Carole McDonnell "Then said I, 'Here am I; send me.'"_ www.geocities.com/scifiwritir/OreoBlues.html_ (http://www.geocities.com/scifiwritir/OreoBlues.html) _ [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Life without art & music? Keep the arts alive today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/7zgKlB/dnQLAA/Zx0JAA/LRMolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
