A Different Perspective | Angela Bassett

Angela Bassett | Credit:facebook

Actress Angela Bassett is regarded as one of the most talented black actresses of her generation, and over the years she’s been able to consistently secure work because there’s literally no role she can’t bring to life.

It’s one of the many reasons why she’s so respected in the business.

And that’s probably why she’s not afraid to open up and speak her mind in her interviews.

Women often get mixed messages about how to conquer their careers and love lives, and often society encourages women to be submissive and to abstain from s*x as much as possible to have power.

“We had a screening [of the film] the other day, and people were asking, ‘Using s*x…is that viable? Isn’t that a negative for these women?’” Bassett recalls very clearly. “Growing up, I learned that s*x was one of three basic needs of human kind. It’s not just a basic need for men—it’s a basic need for women as well.”

Although the Oscar nominee hasn’t used s*x to get her way (for which her husband could be eternally grateful), she’s not against it, either. “I would be an ad- vocate; I would use it,” Bassett says slowly, in a voice that drips like honey. “I’m a married woman, [and I know] that you can’t get close until you talk things out, get some clarity. I never go to bed angry.”

Warming to her theme, she continues, “Men are usually engaged through their eyes, while women are engaged through their minds and hearts. We need to come to some common ground before we can get passionate; men can get down no matter what,” she adds with a throaty giggle. “They don’t even have to like you.”

That said, she doesn’t believe that a woman’s greatest power is withholding s*x. “It’s her ability to love, to influence, to bring insight to a situation,” she maintains.

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles | urbanbellemag.com/