Questions And Topics We Can Help You To Answer

“Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player who is ranked No. 1 in women's singles tennis. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has ranked her world No. 1 in singles on six separate occasions. …. Williams is regarded by some commentators, sports writers, current and former players as the greatest female tennis player of all time.” (Wikipedia)
Despite her ultimate success, Serena Williams, and her older sister Venus as well, have constantly been the subject of scrutiny for their body type. Some of these countless incidents are as follows:
In 2001, an American radio personality Sid Rosenberg commented that Venus and Serena Williams were too masculine. “I can’t even watch them play anymore,” he said, “I find it disgusting. They’re just too muscular. They’re boys” He then went on to say that Venus Williams was an “animal”' and declared that the sisters had a better chance at posing nude for National Geographic than Playboy.
In 2011, another professional tennis player Andy Roddick, impersonated Serena during an exhibition match by stuffing bulky towels down in his butt, to ridicule her size. 
Same thing was repeated by Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki in 2012 while she also came out to the court dancing to Rihanna with towels in her sports bra and tennis skirt. 
In 2013, tennis broadcaster Annabel Croft reportedly stated that Serena had a huge backside and her dresses were very carefully designed to hide her bulk. 
Last year, tennis chief and Olympic committee member Shamil Tarpischev was fined by WTA for bullying Serena and her older sister Venus by referring to them as “The Williams brothers” and saying “It’s frightening when you look at them”.
Quite recently, an article by Ben Rothenberg which appeared on New York Times stirred up a lot of controversy on social media for body-shaming Serena. Here is this recent article and you can see some of the reactions here. 
Besides these snarky remarks, it is also reported by Forbes that Serena Williams earns considerably less in endorsements as compared to her opponent Maria Sharapova. (See here for details)
bell hooks writes that, “[r]epresentation of black female bodies in contemporary popular culture rarely subvert or critique images of black female sexuality which were part of the cultural apparatus of 19th -century racism and which still shape perceptions today”. hooks also states that oppositional images of black female sexuality – outside that of the colonized erotic context where black bodies are on display for the racist/sexist imagination – is important “to make new and different representations of black female sexuality as they appear everywhere, especially in popular culture” 

QUESTION: Take these persistent remarks and debates on Serena Williams’ body as a case study to elaborate on the quote above by bell hooks. Refer to your readings and discussions in the first three weeks of this class. Try to expand equally on the discussions of sex/gender as well as race and class. External sources are allowed but not necessary. 

Guidelines: 
In general a short analytical essay should have at most one or two key points that organize and sustain the argument. The paper should NOT be a simple summary or presentation of the author’s arguments (as in a book report), but should be organized by your argument and analysis. The stronger your organization and thematic line, the stronger the paper. There is no “correct” answer. The key is the strength and clarity of your argument.  In general, you want to build a framework for your paper, organize your sub-arguments, and use source materials to illustrate your point using quotes, citations, and so forth. Do not forget to title your essay. Rewriting is always necessary: go over your first draft, and reorganize and edit in order to make it as clear and forceful as possible. Also please spell-check and proofread your paper as many times as necessary. Upload your paper to the assigned Turnitin page on Blackboard by the deadline. 
Format:
2 double-spaced pages (excluding references), one-inch margins, Times New Roman font, and size 12.  You may use footnotes or in-text citation and bibliography to indicate sources; in either case be sure to list author, title, and where possible a page of citations. Be very careful not to plagiarize—and this includes patch-writing, i.e. use of multiple small snippets of text from multiple sources.