Gemma Atkinson

Nah, the Pats just had a bad day. You and i know that if New England had a normal game, they would've murdered the Giants.

 

:arrow: I agree LC but 18-1 still looks great to me :!:

 

Does anyone consider TO to be a sex symbol? I mean I'm a straight male so perhaps it ain't for me to judge but other than a great body what does TO have going for him face wise? And what does he have going for him intellectually and personality-wise (based upon interviews and off the court antics). He acts like a petulant six year old. What type of woman finds that attractive?

This is kind of like when some black magazines mentions Don Cheadle or Danny Glover (back in the day) as some of the "sexiest" black men on screen. hey, I love both guys and think they are terrific actors. And surely they have screen charisma that make them "attractive" to audiences. But they aren't sex symbols. Not even amongst everyday, average looking people would they stand out on that front. There's no shame in that; its just the truth. But Hollywood and white America have always been more comfortable whe the leading black men of the big screen have been guys like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. Guys who make you laugh and are non-threats for the most part as sex symbols. And the black community have been too happy to settle for that, which is why there has been like only true black leading man per generation (Billy Dee, Denzel).

In music while you seem to have an overflow of hot black female performers such as Beyonce, Alicia, Rhiana and countless others on the male side you have, what, Kanye West? Okay, maybe there's an Usher or that Chris Bown dude but they are the rare exceptions (and people in the black community still debate whether Usher is actually good-looking).

I recall a few years back when a record company was doing a push for a young black male singer named Ricky Fante. They were doing the same push for him that they successfully did for Nora Jones just a couple of years before. But Fante wasn't embraced by the media, the radio stations and the Starbucks crowd like Nora Jones was. Part of that may be that despite his debut album's critical acclaim it still wasn't nearly as good as Jones'. However I could have told the record company ahead of time it wasn't going to work because 1st of all Fante was a black male singer and that's a type of person no one seems to have any use for. And he sang romantic songs and feel-good songs and again no one wants a black male doing that (they just want black men rapping about negative shit so they can bitch about all the negativity black male musicians are spreading). But most of all he was too pretty, a Sam Cooke look-alike with a voice to match. Now white people may be looking for a white guy with looks and talent; they may be looking for a white Sam Cooke. But they ain't looking for a black one. No, pretty-boy black male singers with the vocal chops to reach deep into one's soul are a threat unless they've been dead and buried for decades (hello, Marvin Gaye!). As far as I'm concerned that's the main reason why Terrence Trent D'Arby's career went south.

No disrespect to Justin Timberlake but there are probably plenty of good looking young black guys out there who can dance better than him and sing better than him too who are dying to have a music career. But they don't have any support, not even from black people in the record industry. It seems that the black community is only interested in promoting the sexiness of black females, and that may be in part for that forever long whine that black female beauty is undervalued, yada, yada, yada. So they go overboard and push these light-skinned black females to the forefront to represent the beauty of black women. Twisted. If Gladys Knight had come along today instead of thirty years ago she would have a difficult time becoming a star because she does not fit the image that they want to promote of black females (thankfully Mary Blige came along around 12 years ago otherwise she would be in the same boat IMO). But for black men the image that has become the standard is the rough, profanity spattering, hard core rapper. How else could Tupac Shakur become the black male sex symbol of music in the 90s? How else could someone like Biggie Smalls even seriously be accepted as being a "playa" in the dating world? Whether you like it or not the sex symbol of a community is supposed to represent the "face" of a community. That may be shallow but all communities do this. Whites, Asians, Arabs, latinos, etc. When they choose a sex symbol for their men (as is the case with their women) they are picking representatives who are setting a standard of beauty that 95% of the world's population can't match. Only African Americans would pick or choose dudes who look just like any other dude. So when I read talks about TO I gotta shake my head and say "you gotta be kidding me".

Look, I've given this rant before and I'm doing it again because it hasn't struck home with some of you. Everything is done for a reason. The NFL is pushed so heavily by white males who run spots talk radio and other media outlets over a league like the NBA because i the NFL you still have the glamour position (quarterback) being dominated mostly by white guys and good number of them are pretty boys. Straight white males have no problem promoting the image of the gorgeous white male to the masses. Deep down they love doing that because its putting their best "face' forward. That's why a bunch of straight white men can make a film like "Troy" and pay very little attention to casting the role of the beautiful Helen who is the cause of the breakout of war; a woman's whose beauty is unrivaled. No, the white guys were more interested in the casting of white-male eye candy and focusing on leering shots of those white men during the movie. The Helen character was an afterthought to them (and the actress wasn’t all that hot). You see much of this in "300" as well. Its all about a promotion of white male beauty for lack of a better term. Tom Brady, hairplugs and all, is simply a modern day warrior whom the media and advertisers can promote to the masses similarly. If a new black male quarterback came along with great looks and a great game I'm not sure he would get the same push. At the very least his sex appeal would be played down and he would be doing ads with children or his momma rather than those old Troy Aikman commercials in which he was playing touch football with some hot country girls in blue jeans.


To sum it up we do the job of some white folks for them when we suggest that TO represents the sex symbol status of black athletes in the NFL.

By the way this thread has gone off track hasn’t it?

 

Like you said, other than a very well-kept body, I don't understand why anyone would consider him to be a sex symbol...

women (black and white) consider Denzel, at some point in time, to be one of top sexiest guys alive...

of course, I don't think he took the top rank (save that for brad pitt, or johnny depp) in any mainstream "white" magazine, but he has always been considered one of the most handsome guys in the country...

till this day, I do not see what the big deal about Denzel was.. but man... women loved him.. even if he wasn't buff and ripped

 

Why do women love George Clooney?

Maybe he is a cool guy...but I never quite understood that one.

 

Compare and contrast


Henry Simmons

http://www.brendanmckillip.com/blog/images/tv_spartacus.jpg


OR

Brad Pitt

http://www.elflady.com/legolasgreenleaf/orlando/troy/troy-pics/images/troy-68.jpg

 

People Magazine's Sexiest Man of 2007




no surprise there..

will smith and Shemar Moore took 8th and 10th places, respectively..



i would like to know who they (people magazine) poll, to get those results..



I guess we should be happy brothas are getting any spotlight, with sex appeal, at all.. right

:roll:

 

I agree with everything that was said so far,especially about the miedia not wanting to promote black sex appeal that much.But has anyone ever noticed that white boys who do black music (justin timberlake,robin thicke) are more raved about than actual blacks?Is it because they have more of a "pop" appeal?Look at justin timberlake.Dude was a pop singer back in the day,now ever since he hooked up with timberland he sort of changed his style to more of a black r&b style.Now hes more popular than ever.Could it be because alot of white women who dont really listen to black musicians (or music) rave over him because hes a white,blue eyed dude(dudes they are attracted to) thus they like his music and pay attention to him more?There are lots of black male musicians who are better than justim timberlake and who do the same music...why dont they get raved over by same of the same audiences who rave over justin timberlake? I also agree on all those dumb magazines who have the "sexist man of the year" crap.They never have Blacks males on there.Its almost as if the media is trying to hide Black sex appeal among Black males because they dont want to be beat....

 

Training day really sit it off for him with the females.I guess it had to do something with that rugged look.

 

I have been wondering the same thing.

 

I just heard a few white women talking about TO.You're right.Most sistas wouldnt be attracted to him.Other than his body,he has nothing.I guess we need more good looking black qb's in the league to break into mainstream sex appeal more.I also gree that white males purposely make movies to make themselves out to be the ideal male here int he west.You're right,troy was a very good example.

 

Why did Denzel have to play a criminalistic police officer, to get an Oscar..



I know people, women, loved the man before he did Training Day, as a sex icon...

But, yeah, like you said, Training Day helped solidifiy his position, in the pantheon of male sexuality..

I remember some women, at my job, who couldn't stop talkin about how good he looked in the movie, with that leather coat, fresh hair cut and the whole bad boy personality..

 

This has been going on since Elvis.

Check that, its been going on since Frank Sinatra.

Hold up...its been going on since Benny Goodman.

Get the picture? White audiences have always been more welcoming of a more new black music style when its packaged behind a white (Mostly male) face. Its been like that forever.

Of course...curiously (yeah, right :roll: :roll: ) ....its okay for white audience to be more accepting of the style by a black person when its a female. Despite black men creating the artform the most popular blues singers (amongst the white mainstream) during the early 20th century were black women. White males were the most popular male jazz singers but black women were the most popular females even though black men were the creative thrust behind jazz. Black males were the creative forces behind the Motown sound and other soul music of the 50s and 60s but it were the Supremes who had by far the most success of any of the black performers. And of course no white females in any pop music genre came close to the success of the Supremes. But the big male stars of popular music/rock 'n roll during the era were white males.

History tells us that white society has been somewhat comfortable with having their white girls have black female role models to emulate in music but that their white boys could/should only have white male role models. The way that those who studied social behaviour used to put that is like this: its okay to invite the black woman in the house but not the black male. Because inviting black men into the home that way could lead not to only their boys immitating black men but also to their white girls sexually fantasizing about them.

I read an article about some white parents in the suburbs who objected to freakin' Huey and the Blowfish music being listened to by their "daughters". The article suggested racism was at play here but it didn't get to the TRUE point: if their daughters could admire the music and singing ability of the lead singer (who was black) then they could admire other things and qualities about him. This humanizes him and makes him less alien. And perhaps, as happened countless times over the past century, that could translate in terms of how they dealt with black people in the real world down the road. And maybe their daughters could ::gasp:: consider dating a black man too.

 

It also helped that he showed he had a "dick" in the movie. He wasn't some Sidney Poitier type who acted as if he was indifferent to sex. Instead through his scenes with Eve Mendez (hope she gets well btw) he was able to demonstrate some rare sexuality, something that white actors take for granted because they get ass in virtually every film.

 

Jamal now that i think about it,you're right.Whites int his country have always been like that.Back in the day they wouldnt purchase black musicians cd's...only white musicians who did black music.Today we see a trend of this as well,especially with the older groups (parents and etc).If they their daughters watching a white male r&b group like nysync or backstreet boys they probably wouldnt say anything,but if they saw a group like 112,or jagged edge or day26(male making the band 4) group on t.v,they wouldnt probably tell them to turn it off.It all boils down to them worying about their kidsgetting "corrupt" or "brainwashed" and they worry that their daughters will seoon start getting into black guys and eventually dating them.I do believe that some of the newer generation white girls hype up white dudes lik justin timberlake more than he deserves.

 

good point, homie..

eva mendez was a cutie in the movie..

and yes.. the white men ALWAYS gets ass in a movie...lol..

just watched Hitman, and even tho he didn't have sex with his jawn, that ass was on tap, if he wanted it

:wink:

 

It is all like I said manipulation that no one sees, except here obviously.
You all hit the nail right on the head. Especially with the whole justin timberlake phenomenom. Im sorry but he is even more proof that the medi wants who they want to be male sexiness, etc. of america and it is not black men. Because we all know that if you compare justin to usher, ne-yo, ginuwine, and mario...
they got way more moves(and has natural rhythm to boot.), way better voice, way better songs about love, and if you look at it a lot of them have what the ladies like a better body. So what is putting justin over them so much when it comes to fame, publicity, etc.
The media and they have been doing it for a long time. They manipulate people by giving most of the white guys the more publicity and throwing it in people's face of what beauty, sex appeal, etc. is which to them is a white man. Like I said it is so obvious all you have to do is think about for one second and you'll see everything, you don't even have to go dig up things like that. It is right infront of our face, because they bury you in publicity about these stars so you could very easily see that the only brotha to get that "Sexiest man alive" "TITLE" was denzel if you remember back then and so on.

Will Smith is the only one they couldn't stop get by them. (Because of his box office success.) Because if you look around he has no one (BM) behind him like taye diggs, morris chestnut, mehcad brooks, etc.
They saw the way Will Smith got by, by box office success, so now they know to let it happen again which is why along with Denzel, Will Smith is the only big budget big box office brothas out there. While you have Matt damon, Matthew Mcconahey(or however you pronounce it.), Mark Walhberg, Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, etc.

It is a shame in america that so many women are manipulated by this too, because I have heard plenty of of these female JT fans that agreed with some magazine that tried to compare him to marvin gaye or al green I think it was. I was like to myself "Who told you that?"

 

Nothing agaisnt JT, but it is a shame career wise of other artist out there that are way better than him, get the less props and publicity. Out of all those black artist who had sex appeal in their videos as soon as he comes out with a song called "Im bringing sexy back" all it took was the media to hype it up and now all of a sudden he is now the man who brought sexy back. Out of all those black artist who came out a year or months before that song who had sex appeal in their videos. It is like Prince said sexy never left.

 

Thats what im saying.There were black artist before him that were doing their thing.As soon as he jumps on the "black r&b" bandwagon,he gets hyped up more.

 

What about the "soul singer" Amy Winehouse? A few albums and the media labeled her a singer of r&b. She is no Joss Stone and the only thing black she ever said is of her white boyfriend who was in jail after she won a Grammy or two.