Magic Mike XXL, the sequel to the widely popular film shedding light on the male entertainment industry, is a film that is geared towards heterosexual women and their viewing pleasure. The audience follows Mike, a male stripper-turned-furniture business owner, as he reunites with his former stripper buddies and travels to Myrtle Beach for a final appearance at a male stripper convention. Delving into the themes of the sexualization of the male body and fulfillment of female pleasure, Magic Mike XXL has created a flurry of dialogue concerning what role it plays in larger discourses of female sexuality and feminism. An aspect that this particular film treats interestingly but rarely appears in most of the conversations surrounding the movie is its depiction of
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There is a distinction to be made between the image of a black woman being serviced from the image of women in general being serviced that has roots in United States socio-cultural history. Crenshaw draws upon Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” in capturing the disparity between how white women are viewed traditionally and how black women are viewed in arguing for a movement that addresses black women differently. “That man over there says women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place anywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman?” (Smith, 2011) While white women have been historically treated as fragile creatures in need of male aid and service, black women have often been treated as unnaturally sturdy and mulish, and not in need of the same service or care (Springer, 2007, p.71). In this scene, the film is empowering in a different way, in its acknowledgement that black women have needs and dedicating a lot of time to the images of black women getting a particular set of needs
There is a distinction to be made between the image of a black woman being serviced from the image of women in general being serviced that has roots in United States socio-cultural history. Crenshaw draws upon Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” in capturing the disparity between how white women are viewed traditionally and how black women are viewed in arguing for a movement that addresses black women differently. “That man over there says women need to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place anywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman?” (Smith, 2011) While white women have been historically treated as fragile creatures in need of male aid and service, black women have often been treated as unnaturally sturdy and mulish, and not in need of the same service or care (Springer, 2007, p.71). In this scene, the film is empowering in a different way, in its acknowledgement that black women have needs and dedicating a lot of time to the images of black women getting a particular set of needs