bell hooks

I think that it is possible for filmmakers to portray women in cinematically transformative ways. When involved in sex work, as bell hooks mentions, it's problematic if filmmakers portray these women as victims. Victimizing the consciousness of personal sexuality only leads to more idealized themes. It's as if they treat sexuality like a disease or syndrome female characters can't help but have.

A good example that bell hooks uses when noting a success in the depiction of female sexuality comes from Spike Lee's Girl 6. Rather than rendering her as a stereotypical, naive girl punished by harsh reality, Lee gives her a bit of power in her situation. She must reveal her breasts to Quentin Tarantino's director character, only to run off and abandon the job. When she won't pose nude for other jobs, she isn't hired.

Her sexuality becomes an obligation in this case, meaning that she must be more open to fully exposing herself if she wants to reach the level of stardom she desires. Many films might falter at this point and try to gain sympathy for the character. Lee, on the other hand, gives Girl 6 a great edge that lifts it above any stereotypes. The main character can't find jobs because she withholds her sexuality, so instead of backing down or giving in, she takes a job as a phone sex operator, where the sexually natured conversations really are just acts like the movies she dreams to star in. Each call is an opportunity at a new role and she takes it, mimicking the vulgarity that Tarantino's character wanted.

I think this is a great example because it makes the character a lot more dynamic than many depictions of sex addicts, strippers, porn stars or prostitutes, or any other women involved in sexual professions. This woman is not a quitter nor is she weak at all. This character is intelligent and conscious of what she must do in order to survive. She is conscious of her sexuality, and conscious that sometimes it can be used in order to make money. In that vain, to me this character is intriguing. She takes what other characters claim as obligations and alters them in her own way to try and survive.