Subjects of Desire explores the cultural shift in North American beauty standards
towards embracing Black female aesthetics and features while exposing the deliberate
and often dangerous portrayals of Black women in the media. From society’s new fixation on the ‘booty’, fuller lips, the dramatic rise of spray tanned skin, ethnic hairstyles, and athletic bodies, some argue that Black women are having a beauty moment.  But others, primarily Black women, argue that traditional Black features and attributes are seen as more desirable when they are on White women.  
 
Told from the POV of women who aren’t afraid to challenge conventional beauty
standards, the film is partially set at the 50th Anniversary of the Miss Black America
Pageant, a beauty pageant that was created as a political protest.  

Subjects of Desire is a culturally significant, provocative film that deconstructs what we
understand about race and the power behind beauty.