Recently, Cardi B admitted to previously getting butt injections from an illegal clinic for $800. She got these injections to get back at her former boyfriend who left her for a different girl because that girl had a "bigger ass". Coincidently, this news fits perfectly with this week's readings about Jennifer and her well-known butt. Negron-Muntaner makes several compelling points when discussing Jennifer's butt which we can connect to Cardi B's story as well. "It was precisely the body, however, particularly the curves (or in less poetic Puerto Rican street language, the culo), that proved to be the most compelling way that Lopez and others found to speak about how "Latinas" are constituted as racialized bodies, what kind of cultural capital is associated with these bodies, and how the body surfaces as a site of pleasure, produced by intersections of power, but not entirely under its own control." The dispute of Jennifer playing Selena despite the fact that she was Puerto Rican caused her body, her butt in specific, to become a popular subject of argumentation. Her curvy body became the way how "Latinas" were labeled as racialized bodies, and what kind of "cultural capitals" these types of bodies were associated with. However, despite these associations, Jennifer changed the meaning of her curvy butt to imply a "kiss my ass" type of attitude towards these people. "I would take Jennifer's praise of the ass further, and propose it as a way of popularizing an 'attitude' in relation to dominant culture, more like 'kiss my ass' after having one's 'ass kicked' for being Puerto Rican and / or Latino." Jennifer's "showing ass" became an identity and pride as a form of payback to those who have perviously been racist to her. The item that was once used against her, she shifted and turned against everyone else. Now, people strive to get a butt like Jennifer's because she became a model for these people. Just like Jennifer, Cardi B got her butt done to tell her ex-boyfriend to "kiss her ass". Yes, we shouldn't condone illegal clinics because they're dangerous, but it's safe to say Cardi's form of payback did work after all. "In gendered terms, the big rear end acts both as an identification site for Latinas to reclaim their beauty and a 'compensatory fantasy' for a whole community." Jennifer's butt resembles a more ample trope for cultural belonging, allowing those who were once discriminated feel belonged. Now, people gladly watch Jennifer show off her behind because it symbolizes pride and confidence.
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