Don't Walk Into the Light

In the world today, beauty tends to be limitless and extremely different among various cultures, countries, and races. For example, in certain tribes in Africa, beauty among women is heavily determined by the weight of the woman. The bigger you are, the more beautiful you are. In a certain tribe in Malaysia, the native women place rings around their necks causing them to extend in length over time. The longer your neck is, the more beautiful you are. Along with those, come many others, beauty is measured so differently worldwide. In my opinion, however, the dominant measure of beauty among women within the United States is very degrading and sad. Women in the United States measure their place of beauty heavily on the skinnier they are and the lighter they are. Many women in the US have subjected themselves to binging, starvation, and anorexia all causing huge health and safety issues all to just stay thin. This is more than likely because many of the models and women featured in magazines and the entertainment industry are strikingly thin and beautiful. Being that these women are being featured in magazines and among the eyes of million of men, thousands of women have dedicated their lives to fitting this "desire".

Among African Americans, usually lighter skin is a huge factor in what makes a woman more desirable. This is because lighter African American women usually possess the "whiter" and more innocent looking features. Many times you will see problems arise among light and dark skins black women because of mere jealously. Usually darker skinned women hang together while lighter skins do the same among themselves. When featured in magazines, African American women are usually lightened and seen as close to being "white" as possible. Not necessarily because they want this but because this is what American society desires. Blacks are being enhanced and depicted as something that they are not. The idea of dark skin is losing is value which is becoming a huge issue among the African American community. If their real skin color is not being shown in these magazines, these black women should not be featured as something that they are not. It is cruel and degrading.

Self Assessment

In regards to my blog, I believe I have done a very good job of making it as consistent and informative as possible. The issue of African Americans losing their natural identities and falling into the stereotypical mold of what society has deemed as "beautiful" has become more and more abundant with each on coming year. African Americans are either trying to be something they are not, or simply boxing themselves into stereotypes of what society has built for them. Many of us have begun to lose our sense of beauty from what our ancestors had cherished. By making this blog, I believe I have opened the opportunity for African Americans to become aware of an issue that has commonly been unnoticed or simply ignored for years. With the research I have found, along with my added opinion, I strongly believe my point is strongly affective into finding a solution. But rather than a solution, I simply just want the majority of African Americans to become aware and educated on this issue. With the videos, pictures, and links I have posted on the blog, I can honestly say that new media has been a very beneficial source in the fulfillment of my goal. Alot of times, people would rather watch videos or look at pictures rather than read texts which is what I have provided and available. In terms of improvement to my blog, I can probably add more personal references to help support my claim. Showing people's personal experiences about issues to others makes the problem seem much more real and attracts people simply through emotions. I want my blog viewers to have a sense of emotional attachment to my blog and the issue it presents to others about African Americans. My notable strengths would be that, me being an African American, I can better relate to my blog posts and theme helping make the issue even more believable. I want my readers to have the same attachment as I do. My only weakness may be my lack of substances and emotional connection between blog and readers. I need to appeal more to the emotions. However, I am very proud of what I have come up with so far, in terms of my blog, and am excited to see the end result.

A Girl Like Me

This video is simply a small reminder and reality check of how our race has managed to deteriorate and belittle ourselves over simple appearances.

I Am Not My Hair

Hair for an African American women can arguably be her most cared-about feature. Let's take a look at how is has changed through the years...

 

1619-1863

African American slave women probably had the most less-desirable and mismanaged hair off all time. Working 18-hour shifts in hot fields will do that to a women. When looking at photos, you will probably see slave women's hair being wrapped up or very short. This is probably because hair was such a small concern and matter of importance in relation to work that needed to get done on a daily basis. Alot of times hair was simply cornrowed. The desire to appear attractive or desirable was a small matter to African American back then given that most did not have much of a social life. Link

1920's

The period of the 1920's was a time in which the true beauty of African American Women started to emerge and become recognized by the rest of society. The creation of relaxers and certain hair products began to emerged making hair much more manageable and appealing. Women began to style their hair much more elegantly in pin-up fashions in relation to the white women of the time. The "whiter" the hair, the better. Link

1930's-50's

Through the years of the 1930-50's much of the hair styles stayed in much of close relation to that of white women. Anytime white women would create a new hair style, black women would follow in pursuit. During this time also, the creation of wigs was introduced the the world. Because African American women were never known to hair long and silky hair like the white women, wigs were the closest thing they had and they became extremely desirable. Though they were not the exact same as the white women, they were the closet thing they had. Link

1960's - 70's

During this time, the forever famous afro was introduces into popular society. Though many other hairstyles were worn at the time, the afro-puff surged throughout the United States. Almost everywhere you went you would see African Americans rocking their afros. The bigger the fro, the more attractive. During this time, dreads also began to gain their popularity.

1980's -90's

This is the time when African American hair began to expand and become extremely versatile. At the start of the 80's the Jheri Curl was a very popular popular hair style making hair appear to have a natural seek and silky curl. However, this ended quickly as women began to color their hair and use better quality relaxers. Black women began to get their hair bone straight just like white women. The straighter the hair the better. Weaves were also introduced around this time which began a worldwide epidemic over night. African American flocked to the idea of being able to make their hair inches longer over night (though it wasn't actually theirs). Braids also were given a much more fashionable and desire appeal during this time. 

Today


In today's society, the fashion of hair really has no limits. Whether hair is long, short, curly, straight, colored, highlighted, real, fake, natural, relaxed, it is all fashionable. As long as your hair looks good on you, it will always be complimented. Hair in today's world has no restrictions. 

Stereotype Her

Stereotypes have been acknowledged in society for many years and will more than likely continue to thrive until the worlds end. Whether they be good or bad, people will always be judged based on their ethnicity, race, sex, religion, and sexual orientation. Here are some common stereotypes of African American women, according to hellobeautiful.com, and my personal views regarding each:

1. We don't take care of our bodies

More than often, anytime that you leave your home, or are driving to work or a given destination, you will see joggers on the sidewalks who will more than likely be white. Rarely will you see an African American jogging in the early morning hours or out walking their dogs like u see white people do on a regular basis. Even if you go the gym you will surely see African American men working out but rarely will you see a women. Additionally, African American women have never been known to make it a habit of eating healthy on a regular basis. Maybe this is because within the African American culture, women are more desirable when they are thicker in the hips and chest areas. Black men usually make it known that they prefer their women to have some meat on their bodies in substantial places causing women to not go out of their way to stay skinny like the desirably skinny white women. However, this fact does not necessarily apply to all African American women.

2. We don't like to listen to our men

It is very true that African American women are very strong minded. They dont take no s#@* from anyone especially other women. Maybe this is because for so many years we were not given a voice being that we earned our rights far after African American men. Now that African American women have the freedom to speak their mind they like to show their power through stubbornness and lack of listening abilities. Alot of times this come from lack of trust.

3. Our hair defines us

This one I might just have to agree on. Hair for African American women is usually their pride and glory. Unlike women of other races, African American women have a history of having hair that is hard to manage and does not usually grow to be very long. Despite this however, African American women have broke these stereotypical boundaries with the creation of relaxers, weave, and even hair dye. I can say with all confidence that African American have the most versatile hair styles of all races on earth. Short, long, colored, non-colored, braided, dreaded, twisted, oily, straight, curly, fro-ed, finger-waved, relaxed, or natural, black women have broke the hair barriers that society has placed on them for many years. Indeed, African American women take much pride in their hair.

4. We like to argue and fight

This is probably the most common stereotype towards black women of them all. Thought I can not direct this to ALL African American women, I can direct it to most. Adding onto the strong-mindedness mentioned above, black women do not take crap from anyone. It can probably be considered a defense mechanism to help promote their strength and status in society, however it is strongly frowned upon. I would not say that they are all mean and rude, I believe that it is simply them trying to protect themselves against a world that is not always kind to them.

5. We are gold diggers

This, I believe, can be said to women of all races. Every women would like a man with money who could easily support her and their future children together. Additionally, all women like to be spoiled. This is not just a black thing.

http://hellobeautiful.com/hellobeautiful-original/yeahshesaidit/9-stereotypes-of-black-women-that-arent-always-true/

Milk Chocolate vs. Dark Chocolate

Since the beginning of slavery, the perception and treatment of blacks has always been a issue simply based on the separation of skin color within blacks. The "light-skinnded" blacks were often used as house negroes who usually got the easier and much more generous workload while the "dark-skinnded" were usually the ones doing the hard labor in the fields. The lighter-skinned house negroes were more than often the offspring of master and slave, resulting in lighter skin, who usually ate better, often got taught to read and write, and enjoyed liberties that many slaves could only dream of. The darker-skinned field negroes were usually stuck working 18-hour shifts in the hot sun doing hard manual labor and being whipped for any discretion against the master. Though it has died down exponentially, this separation within the black community still remains in society today. The anger over the separation has never quite gone away.

In society today, lighter-skinned blacks are usually viewed as better, more polished, and more privileged than the darks. No matter how hard they may try to avoid it, the dark-skin hue of certain African Americans would be their resume in certain areas of life. Usually within the entertainment media, and many other social aspects in society, lighter-skinned blacks are usually represented as they are seen to be more desirable in societies eyes. Many times you will hear rappers talk about "red bones" or "yellow bone" girls in their lyrics which are slang terms for light-skins. Even in music videos and movies, most of the time you will see light-skinned girls being used as cast members rather than darks simply because they are more preferable and desirable in society. Maybe this is because they are closer in looks and relation to whites (being that most of them are mixed of some sort of Caucasian decent). Or even because they are known to have more beautiful features including, longer hair, prettier eyes, and even prettier skin than the darker African Americans. Whatever the reason is, there is no rule in society saying that light-skin blacks are better than darks. Society needs to demolish their desire to surround themselves with people who look more like them and be more open to the acknowledgement of something and someone different than themselves.

http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/01/11/the-ugly-roots-of-the-light-skin-dark-skin-divide.html