I appreciate this article so much! I grew up in the era of BET After Dark and BET's Rap City, so I was bombarded with images of the curvy, bodacious chocolate chick- and I was rail thin. So needless to say, I stopped watching it.

However, as I got a bit older and developed more "meat on the bones" I realized that even though those were rap videos , girls(particularly black girls) could see themselves in the shape of those women. Sometimes I do say, that the De Stallions of the world and others are not good "conservative" examples to follow, but after reading your article I can see it from the angle of needing to be seen as attractive and deserving of desire just like any other woman.

Great article!