Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch: Essays on Race and Sexuality

Reflections on the ways discriminatory hiring practices and racist ad campaigns seep into American life

Why hate Abercrombie? In a world rife with human cruelty and oppression, why waste your scorn on a popular clothing retailer? The rationale, Dwight A. McBride argues, lies in "the banality of evil," or the quiet way discriminatory hiring practices and racist ad campaigns seep into and reflect malevolent undertones in American culture.

McBride maintains that issues of race and sexuality are often subtle and always messy, and his compelling new book does not offer simple answers. Instead, in a collection of essays about such diverse topics as biased marketing strategies, black gay media representations, the role of African American studies in higher education, gay personal ads, and pornography, he offers the evolving insights of one black gay male scholar.

As adept at analyzing affirmative action as dissecting Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, McBride employs a range of academic, journalistic, and autobiographical writing styles. Each chapter speaks a version of the truth about black gay male life, African American studies, and the black community. Original and astute, Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch is a powerful vision of a rapidly changing social landscape.

Author: Dwight McBride
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 02/01/2005
Pages: 251
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.96h x 6.02w x 0.72d
ISBN: 9780814756867

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 12/20/2004 pg. 46
Booklist 12/15/2004 pg. 720

About the Author
McBride, Dwight: - Dwight A. McBride is Daniel Hale Williams Professor of African American Studies, English, & Performance Studies at Northwestern University where he also serves as Dean of The Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate Education. He is the author of several groundbreaking works in African American Studies, including Impossible Witnesses and Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch.