DX: If you’re initially only relying on the physical, do you ever find that when you’re ready to start using your brain people don’t take you seriously?
B: I don’t depend on other people. I depend on me, myself. It doesn’t matter if nobody takes me seriously, because I know I’m serious. The things I’m tryin to do; I’m doing it. So beautiful woman shouldn’t think, “Because I’m beautiful and every man wants to fuck me, I can’t [achieve my goals].” No. That’s because you not applying yourself.

DX: One of the DX reader questions that I did pick is from Mel in Baltimore, Maryland. Mel wants to know: “Have you ever felt uncomfortable at a photo shoot?”
B: No, not really. I’ve only done three music videos, so I can’t really talk a whole lot about videos. I’ve only done three... But in the music videos and the 30 or 40 magazines I’ve done, there’s never been anytime I felt disrespected. When I did the Tony Yayo video or even Juelz Santana, all of them treated me like how I wanted to be treated. There was never no disrespect or “Bitch, I need you to do this!” or any of that, even with me coming from a background of being an exotic dancer—because I know how to handle myself. So this industry has been very very good to me. I wrote an e-book for other models ‘cause I get emails every single day from models asking me questions. And it’s always the same two questions: “How can I get my body like yours?” or “How do I get into the industry and follow in your footsteps?” So I felt like there was a need to write this book and tell people how I did it from beginning up till now. I just put everything that I went through in the past few years into this book. Not one for aspiring models but women in general…I’m doing a lot of stuff with women now because they hit me up about stuff every day. So I’m redoing my site to reach out to my women fans because I’ve been ignoring them. But now I see a lot of women trying to do what I’m doing. So I’ma show them how I did it. I can’t guarantee that they’ll be as successful as me or go through the same things; all I can do is speak on my experience and show them how I did it.

DX: Speaking about women, there’s another reader question in regards to that. Jay in Las Vegas, Nevada wants to know, “Have you ever heard of an African woman named Sara Baartman? And if so, what is your take on the comparison of her life to how so-called video vixens are portrayed?”
B: I’ve heard of the Sara lady, but I don’t remember too much about her. I think she was he lady who was put on display because she had an extremely large buttocks and breasts, right?

DX: Exactly. She was an African woman in the 1800s, exhibited in a cage in a European freak show because of her abnormally large butt, breasts, small waist—she had a very similar build to you actually. She was forced to stand naked while men gawked at her and she was considered “oversexed” and “not normal” so that’s how they justified treating her that way. But even after she died at age 25, her body still wasn’t laid to rest in a respectful manner , instead her body was dissected and preserved in a French museum until I think in 2002 her remains were properly buried. Many consider her to be the “original video vixen” a shapely Black woman who was degraded by being reduced to only her sexuality. she wasn’t a woman, but rather she was just the sum of her body parts : big ass, thick thighs, small waist, big titties…So with you having a similar build to her, and having people draw the comparisons between her exploitation and that of a video vixen or provocative model, what’s your take on that?
B: I’ve never looked at it as a negative thing. That’s what happened in the 1800s; this is 2008 now. I don’t view females in videos as “video hoes” or whatever they call them. But as far as the things I’ve seen in videos; I don’t consider any of that negative.

DX: So for the next generation of Black women coming up, you don’t think it could it could be detrimental to them to see women being objectified?
B: But it’s been like that forever. Men are gonna be men. So a man viewing a woman as a sex object or whatever you wanna call it; I don’t think that’s ever gonna change.

DX: I think one of the things I might need to clarify is the difference between being “sexy” and being a “sex object”. I agree that there is no issue with a woman wanting to be sexy. Everyone wants to be desired. The problem arises when men stop looking at women as thinking, feeling, human beings and just looks at a woman as a walking orifice. As just something to fuck, and that’s it.
B: But that ain't never gonna change. White men, black men, Chinese, old. I don’t think that’s going to change. It’s been like that ever since men and women existed on earth. No, that’s not ever gonna change.

DX: But just because you think something’s been going on forever doesn’t mean we can’t take steps to change that—
B: Who? Me change that? Continued on page 3 »