In the early years of the 1970s cult genre known as black exploitation film, women were often sexualized and put in subordinate positions to the male pimps, dope dealers and detectives in charge.

But Morehouse assistant English professor Stephane Dunn asserts there is more to the genre than that in her new book, “Baad Bitches & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films” (University of Illinois Press, $20).

Black heroines ultimately emerged in the genre that initially was credited for empowering African-American men, she said.

Blaxploitation movies such as “Cleopatra Jones,” “Coffy” and “Foxy Brown” are examined through gender and racial prisms in her book, which alternates between academic and colloquial tones to create something that is both intellectually stimulating and immediately accessible.

Q: What inspired you to write this book now?

A: Back in 2001, I believe, I answered a call for a collection of essays about women in 1970s popular culture, and I immediately thought of my favorite film and TV characters —- Christy Love, Foxy Brown, etc. So this piece I did —- “Foxy Brown on my Mind” —- was accepted as a chapter in “Disco Divas” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003)]. After that, I found myself unwilling to leave that era and wanting to do more with exploring and uncovering that film culture and the few iconic female characters. I had long been struck by how “contemporary” the culture is because it’s recycled or sampled so much in hip-hop’s rap music scene, films, music, etc.

Q: You narrowed the focus of your book to “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song,” “The Spook Who Sat By the Door,” “Coffy,” “Foxy Brown” and “Cleopatra Jones.” What made you choose those films?

A: Well, one of my regrets is that I would have liked to offer an even wider scope of the female figures and films with more treatment of sisters like Gloria Hendry [first black Bond Girl, Black Belt Jones] and the movies in general because so many of these vehicles were made over a short period of time. But I also wanted to deal with both the film that sort of was the shot that started it all [“Sweetback”] and the major supermama vehicles —- “Cleopatra Jones” and “Foxy Brown.” They are some of the best among some very technically limited, quickly made films.

Q: One of the most impressive aspects of the book is how it challenges what feels like a reflexive love of blaxploitation —- especially among white male hipsters, who often overlook the sexist aspects of the genre.

A: Oh yeah, for me it’s a critical mad love that I have —- appreciate the political and cultural significance given the moment they came out of and what they meant to tons of black moviegoers hungry for empowered, cool heroes and reflections of black culture on the big screen, but deal with the racist and sexist subtexts that shaped the imagery and the themes, too. Though lots of folks, including some actors and players from that film genre, understandably reject that term “blaxploitation,” it is apt if we use it to signify … [the] disturbing politics in the mix —- the cheapening of the Black Power political dynamism, pornographic treatment of women, and so on.

Q: You hint at this with references to director Quentin Tarantino and the “young white voyeur” and what you call the “spectatorial responses” to the film. What do you think of Tarantino’s treatment of African-American characters in “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown.”

A: [Laughter.] I did an article … on blaxploitation a couple of years ago in “Screening Noir” called “Quentin Tarantino’s Phallic Fantasies: A White Boy’s ‘Baadasssss’ Yearnings” that was exactly on Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” and “Kill Bill.” I read his longtime erotic fascination with blaxploitation culture and that iconic Foxy Brown-type black female sexualization with the way he sort of exemplifies that white-boy erotic fascination with so-called ’70s black ghetto culture. He acts it all out with the Sam Jackson/Jackie Brown characters and the casting of [Pam] Grier —- not that it’s a neat replica or anything of Foxy Brown. There is a white man fixated on her in “Jackie Brown,” too —- isn’t there? [Laughter.] I love Tarantino with mad critical love!

Q: When you showed these films to peers and relatives, they had a slightly more negative reaction to the sexist aspects of the genre. Do you worry that people lose some of their objectivity about this due to nostalgia and/or the groundbreaking or novel aspects of blaxploitation?

A: Well, actually I think the women, especially the ones from about 30 years old and up, tended to be pretty savvy about checking the excessive sexuality and nudity, the language aimed at women, etc., amid their affection for the genre and the actresses/actors who became prominent through them. Some of those among the current generation of hip-hop youth, [like] Lil Kim fans and others, not so much; they’re more likely to borrow the fashions and cool personas of say a Shaft or Superfly or Foxy Brown.

Q: Is that to say that they co-opt the persona without appreciating the genre’s cultural or sociopolitical context of that persona? In other words, they embrace the flash over the substance?

A: You got it. Not in every instance, but generally, the flash, the cultural style it spawned, is co-opted without getting the political roots that set the stage for the persona to emerge.

Q: You seem to have a particular fondness for “Cleopatra Jones.” What do you admire most about her?

A: Man, part of my mad love for “Cleopatra Jones” is really about Tamara Dobson and the way she translated physically and persona-wise on the big screen. I’m also sensitive to the fact that she was sort of forgotten and that Hollywood didn’t have enough imagination to offer more to her post-“Cleopatra” and the death of the genre. Some of the credit certainly goes to both the era’s feminist noisemakers and the Black Power era and Angela Davis persona being on the cultural radar.

Q: What black heroines have you most enjoyed in recent years and why?

A: You know that’s a tough question since there are not a lot of true examples in recent history. Tia Dalma [Naomi Harris], the black female character who whips up the sea in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” is entertaining but not radical by a long shot. And though my favorite badass superhero is Storm [Halle Berry, in the “X-Men” movies], the movies didn’t do her justice. Probably … she hasn’t been introduced yet!