I've been following the discussion about gurlesque and valley girls at Johannes Göransson's blog with extra interest, because here in north county San Diego I live closer to the origin of valley girls than I ever have. I kind of enjoy being mistaken for just another blonde local. People have been asking me if I'm from California my whole life.
Ironically reclaiming / using the valley girl stereotype in poetry could be interesting, but it also could be boring--I suppose for me it depends on how the poem does that and if it has any insight into the stereotypes it's performing. I suppose I'll have to read Minnis' book now.
In the mid 90s in Washington, DC, "baby got back " was something that men would say to me on the street, usually something like "Aw, yeahhh, baby got back" when I was walking home from a club early in the morning. Obviously it was unpleasant, but since I was (and still am) a very white girl who knew pretty much nothing about hip-hop, I figured it was a comment on my butt, but beyond that I didn't get it.
What a total idiot I was to be wandering around DC in club gear early in the morning.
Anyway, today, I realized that "baby got back" is a reference to a hip-hop song from the early 90s called, duh, "Baby Got Back." You've all heard it. The song begins with two valley girls talking, in valley-girl speak, about the size of a girl's butt and how her but makes her look black.
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