butt why?

in paper magazine’s efforts to “break the internet” this week, kim kardashian graced the magazine’s cover balancing a champagne glass on her behind. while we all know this isn’t kim’s first time flaunting her assets (pun intended), few are aware that the same photographer, jean-paul goude, shot a black woman in similar fashion decades ago. blue telusma writes for black news website the grio that goude was grace jones’ long-time boyfriend and described himself as being fascinated with “ethnic minorities—black girls, prs. i had jungle fever.”  goude’s fascination teeters between interesting, provocative and disturbing — he once photographed grace jones in a cage with raw meat. this history supports the feminist theory that images like those above not only objectify women of color, but also pander to white voyeurism.

for more on mrs. west and the history behind black women’s derrieres being a source of our objectification read blue’s article on the grio.