Sander L.Gilman's "Black Bodies, White Bodies"

Black and White are very different, but noone can exist without them both. We are so different and so same! We try to find the main problem of person if we dislike them, but we can't figure it out that it is our problem in perception of the world!

Sander L.Gilman’s work was written a very interesting and fascinating manner. While reading, I discovered a lot of interesting and new information. The main idea is slipping out of focus at first, but by the end of the work it is becoming clearer and clearer. The main question in the work in my opinion is :is the lifestyle of a person harmful for his physiology, or it is physiology that has an effect on a person’s lifestyle? Of course, it is difficult to answer this question unambiguously. Black people are often presented in the paintings of the late 19th century. The author places great emphasis on the fact that black people are usually depicted with sexual overtones. The author draws parallels between the various sectors of society and classes, showing how it can be seen in the history of art.

The starting point for the author are the Hottentots - an ethnic group in southern Africa. They are very different physiologically from other races. Slow growth, thinness, and significant deposits of fat on the buttocks and thighs in women and sometimes men. Also, the deformation of reproductive organs in women. Hottentots has been regarded as a degraded race for a long time, and it is still being studied by scientists. Of course because of the unusual shape of the body they caused a rapid interest. It should also be noted that  they had a special  sexuality that emphasizes the great importance of the parallels from European to African women. In addition, author pays a special attention to consideration of the issue of prostitution, and shows how to find the similarities between prostitutes and the Hottentots, thereby trying to say that prostitutes are initially physiologically prone to immoral things, which shows their degradation. The work also presents photographs of women involved in prostitution and drawings of artists from different corners of the earth. Indeed,  one can see a lot of similarities there. However, there is still a doubt remaining: perhaps it just a coincidence? After all, there is no doubt that, women who enter prostitution rarely do it by choice, and often are forced to choose this way because of financial status, poor education and improper priorities in life.                                                                                                                          

I was rather surprised reading about the Hottentots having interesting thoughts on today's pop stars. After all, there is no doubt that in the descriptions of these ethnic groups, we can see a dozen of today's pop stars. This fact gives us an understanding of this ethnic group and points to the fact that it is not degraded or lower. Indeed, how may it be lower of those whom we adore and lift up to the stars.

A lot of conclusions come to mind. One of the key ones which I have identified is that one should not judge a person by what they look like, by the color of skin or eye color, or by their profession. After all, a person is not born a prostitute, it is a hard life driving person to this way, and if we see some deviation, it is our society that created it. Yes, we have special physiological aspiration since childhood, but if we make a clear statement what is good or bad, we can maintain the necessary harmony in society.