et les Lois au Sénégal (GREFELS)âhas found that many African women who lighten their skin do so despite being aware of the risks to their health. In the Our Bodies, Ourselves for French-speaking Africa, GREFELS explicitly challenges skin-whitening practices, drawing special attention to possible cancers caused by bleaching.
The French edition of
Our Bodies, Ourselves
The authors note in the preface that the book aims to provide African women with knowledge to take care of and appreciate their bodies. âAn important part of the book,â they write, âis about the representations men and women have about womenâs bodies, health, and sexuality, about the way womenâs bodies are used, taken care of, dressed, and/or violated.â
While some countries are trying to minimize skin bleaching, specifically by bans on sales, GREFELS believes that a deeper critique of the constellation of factors that influence the health and identity of women and girls in African society is imperative and long overdue.
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Rochelle Ritchie, a reporter for WPTV NewsChannel 5, goes natural during a special report on black womenâs hair. (Screenshot via WPTV.com)
âI LOVE MY NATURAL HAIRâ
Hair relaxers, extensions, and wigs marketed to African-American women and others have many potential dangers, from loss of hair to permanent burn damage. Many of the products can contain significant amounts of carcinogens and allergens such as formaldehyde. The choice for many of us to âgo naturalâ would seem to present a simple solution, but it is a testimony to the embedded white beauty ideals that the choice is fraught with anxiety. Relaxed, long hair is considered professional; wearing our hair in braids or cornrows is not. Black women have received fewer promotions and been fired from jobs (or not hired in the first place) for wearing ethnic styles.
When Rochelle Ritchie, a multimedia journalist for WPTV News Channel 5 in West Palm Beach, Florida, did a special report on going natural, she noted that when she started in TV, she was told she needed hair extensions.
So for six years she chemically straightened and artificially lengthened her hair. But she put an end to all that during her report, letting viewers watch as a stylist chopped off Ritchieâs damaged hair so she could return to her own natural style. Another woman featured in the piece did the same thing, in part because her six-year-old daughter had developed insecurities about her own natural hair. The daughter was thrilled with her momâs new lookâand her own: âI love my natural hair, itâs like my momâs, and itâs beautiful.â 13
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COLORISM, BLACK WOMEN, AND CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATION
Courtney Young (thethirtymilewoman.wordpress.com) writes frequently about the intersection of pop culture, gender, and race.
Colorism is a widely understood yet rarely challenged form of discrimination in which the lightness of oneâs skin tone affords preferential social treatment to one group of people over another. Colorism is so deeply entrenched within the social fabric that there are studies available to prove that lighter-skinned blacks have higher incomes, receive preferential treatment in classroom settings, get hired and promoted at much larger rates within the corporate sphere, more often report the news, andâespecially in the case of womenâstar in more Hollywood films, and even are executed at much lower rates than their darker-skinned counterparts. Though certainly colorism affects men of color, there are particular ways in which it is especially nuanced in the political and social lives of African-American women.
When Michelle Obama took up residence in the White House as first lady in 2009, she brought a new definition of beauty to the world. An extraordinarily accomplished and brilliant woman in her own right, Michelle, to the wide delight of many African-American women, is a
The French edition of
Our Bodies, Ourselves
The authors note in the preface that the book aims to provide African women with knowledge to take care of and appreciate their bodies. âAn important part of the book,â they write, âis about the representations men and women have about womenâs bodies, health, and sexuality, about the way womenâs bodies are used, taken care of, dressed, and/or violated.â
While some countries are trying to minimize skin bleaching, specifically by bans on sales, GREFELS believes that a deeper critique of the constellation of factors that influence the health and identity of women and girls in African society is imperative and long overdue.
----
Rochelle Ritchie, a reporter for WPTV NewsChannel 5, goes natural during a special report on black womenâs hair. (Screenshot via WPTV.com)
âI LOVE MY NATURAL HAIRâ
Hair relaxers, extensions, and wigs marketed to African-American women and others have many potential dangers, from loss of hair to permanent burn damage. Many of the products can contain significant amounts of carcinogens and allergens such as formaldehyde. The choice for many of us to âgo naturalâ would seem to present a simple solution, but it is a testimony to the embedded white beauty ideals that the choice is fraught with anxiety. Relaxed, long hair is considered professional; wearing our hair in braids or cornrows is not. Black women have received fewer promotions and been fired from jobs (or not hired in the first place) for wearing ethnic styles.
When Rochelle Ritchie, a multimedia journalist for WPTV News Channel 5 in West Palm Beach, Florida, did a special report on going natural, she noted that when she started in TV, she was told she needed hair extensions.
So for six years she chemically straightened and artificially lengthened her hair. But she put an end to all that during her report, letting viewers watch as a stylist chopped off Ritchieâs damaged hair so she could return to her own natural style. Another woman featured in the piece did the same thing, in part because her six-year-old daughter had developed insecurities about her own natural hair. The daughter was thrilled with her momâs new lookâand her own: âI love my natural hair, itâs like my momâs, and itâs beautiful.â 13
----
COLORISM, BLACK WOMEN, AND CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATION
Courtney Young (thethirtymilewoman.wordpress.com) writes frequently about the intersection of pop culture, gender, and race.
Colorism is a widely understood yet rarely challenged form of discrimination in which the lightness of oneâs skin tone affords preferential social treatment to one group of people over another. Colorism is so deeply entrenched within the social fabric that there are studies available to prove that lighter-skinned blacks have higher incomes, receive preferential treatment in classroom settings, get hired and promoted at much larger rates within the corporate sphere, more often report the news, andâespecially in the case of womenâstar in more Hollywood films, and even are executed at much lower rates than their darker-skinned counterparts. Though certainly colorism affects men of color, there are particular ways in which it is especially nuanced in the political and social lives of African-American women.
When Michelle Obama took up residence in the White House as first lady in 2009, she brought a new definition of beauty to the world. An extraordinarily accomplished and brilliant woman in her own right, Michelle, to the wide delight of many African-American women, is a
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