Emma Thurman Light Skinned Women

If a black woman had dark skin she would resemble a man, therefore making her ugly in society’s standards. This pressures black women to constantly be "compatible with the white female standard of beauty" (Ashe 580) in order to be socially accepted in society. Intuitively black women understood that in order to be considered desirable, the less black they had to look. This unfortunate perception of beauty stems from a long pattern of "sociohistorical racial injustices" (Bealer 312) towards darker skinned African Americans. Maria Racine states in her review that since slavery black people who approximated closer to whites were sexually sought after by black slave men and white plantation owners and were considered to live a somewhat "easy coexistence" because of their appearance (Racine 283). Since it’s start, colorism laid the pathway of racial prejudice towards dark skinned individuals. The result of treating dark African Americans as subhuman beings led to the altering of the black psyche by creating a "pervasive hierarchy" of beauty that black woman constantly combated or were forced to accept. (Bealer 312).

Near the middle of her article, Perry argues that even though statistics show black girls having the highest self-esteem of their physical appearances, the rate will fall as they “move into adolescence and their bodies come under scrutiny” (138).

McLaurin caught interest in a girl named Charlotte Humphries who had been a schoolmate of his since the first grade. Blue eyes, blonde hair, having the complexion of a white girl, he was impressed and did not think pursuing wanting to date her would be a problem. However, regardless of his feelings, his mother disagreed and insisted that Charlotte would not be a good idea for him. McLaurin’s grandmother began to explain to him that he “just shouldn’t” pursue her, mentioning that the story behind it all goes back a long time ago. She explained that Charlotte’s great-grandmother was someone who was a “mulatto nigra”. Some mulattos pass as white, even though they are not, if they are light enough and that is what happened with Charlotte’s great-grandmother. Even though Charlotte was blue eyed blond hair, McLaurin could not pursue her simply because black ancestry was in her blood.

Many times blacks who are of a lighter complexion are seen as “prettier or more desireable” towards other blacks today, and as stated previously, were offered better employment opportunities. However sometimes they are shunned by whites and blacks alike and are treated as outcasts by the community due to their inability to conform to a certain ethnicity. In the book “The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man,” James Weldon Johnson depicts the fictional life of a biracial man living in the post-reconstruction era of America in the nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. In his early childhood days, the narrator frequently struggled with his personal identity after he was told to stand with the rest of his African American classmates during somewhat of an analyzation of the gender percentages by a certain staff member. “I wish all of the white scholars to stand for a moment. ‘I rose with the others, the teacher looked down at me and said ‘ You sit down for the present, and rise with the others. ‘I sat down dazed… A few of the white boys jeered me saying:’ Oh you’re a nigger too! ‘I heard some of the black children say,’ Oh, we knew he was colored, Shiny would say; ‘Come along don’t tease him, and thereby winning my undying gratitude.’” (Weldon 11) Before he was seemingly outed

In the beginning of the novel, Black introduces the concept of beauty, or lack thereof, through Emma Jean’s childhood. Emma Jean’s mother, Mae Helen clearly has a set image of what a beautiful black child should look like. Mae Helen believes that two of her three daughters are beautiful, but believes that Emma Jean is not and wishes that she would have named Emma Jean “Nobody” (20). She calls Emma Jean ugly directly to her faces and proceeds to mentally and physically abuse her throughout her childhood. To add insult to the abuse, Emma Jean watches as her sisters, who her mother believes are more beautiful, get treated with love and respect. The root Mae Helen’s hatred for Emma Jean is her skin tone. Mae Helen chose her male suitors based on the lightness of their skin, and once Emma Jean was not as white as her father Mae Helen instantly disliked her. Black is commenting on the societal ideal that whiteness is equitable to beauty. This preference is displayed when Emma Jean is thinking about why her mother

By the end of Wallace Thurman’s novel, “The Blacker the Berry,” the main character Emma Lou has a revelation about herself. Her whole life she thought her dark skin color prevented her from good opportunities. She was hyper-sensitive towards her color and tried to make up for it by fitting in with the right type of people. She has economic freedom and have fit in with the right type of people. Emma was desperate to fit in with type of people that treated her inferiorly, but once she came to terms with the strength of her African American background, she is able to identify with who she is, a black woman.

Several years, society has created an ideology that white and Europeans descent people have more acceptable, attractive and beautiful features than a someone who is African American or has African descent. Society has held a standard of “white beauty” and African Americans have been and still to this day, find themselves partaking in the standard. In the “white beauty” standard, slim waist, petite, long haired, tall women were prone to be more attractive than others (Patton 26, 30). African American women and men were created with all unique shapes, sizes, and skin complexions and would never be able to meet the standard. Many white women could not even meet up the standard, so they used things such as corsets, Botox, or surgery to do so (31).

Even with the concept race not being genetic, discrimination has prevalent in society and in the society Una Marson lived in where she writes “ I like me black face And me kinky hair. I like me black face. And me kinky hair. But nobody loves dem I jes tink it’s fair.” Marson describes an instance where she loves who she is, from her dark skin to her kinky hair but no one else does. Her constant instance that she loves her features, in some ways makes the reader believe that she only recently come to accept herself for who she was. A problem many people face growing up, but the feeling of not living up to a fair skinned and haired standard is common among many ethnic communities. With women who have darker being told they were ugly and being rejected the opposite sex who wanted light skinned or white women so there children come out pretty (Newmany). Although she know feels confident in with herself and her identity, she knows that due to other racist beliefs they won’t like her because her skin is dark and her is kinky. It’s not fair and in 2016, it’s still not

Through the segregation within slavery and the expectations we put on each other, as seen in the documentaries Light Girls and Dark Girls, as well as my own experiences; we see that history has created a false sense of “authentic” culture. One example of this formation is the segregation of slaves into two classes; the house slaves and the field slaves. As the two groups were split up there were certain expectations that one formed about the other. The house slaves looked down on the field slaves for being dirty and coarse while the field slaves associated the house slaves with credulous and unsullied work with the master. This would later evolve as certain “expectations” would arise about how a dark skinned person should be and how a light skinned person should be. In turn, this type of mindset has created an authentic, albeit stereotypical cultural template that many people still follow today. In the documentary, Dark Girls, one woman states “Why is it they think I’m so beautiful, and my own people don’t see any beauty in me at all” (Dark). Expectations begin to form based on the hue of your skin. In this case, the individual’s community associates those with lighter complexions with more value. While darker complexions are more sexualized and associated with being unattractive. We assign

A Girl Like Me Colorism is a social issue that exists in the African –American Communities. People with lighter skin competition are treated more positively than those with darker skin complexion. As I watched the documentary “A Girl Like Me” it resonated with me how society’s perception of a dark skinned African American within their race can adversely affect equality and self- perception. Structural functional theory sees society as a groups whose parts work together to promote solidary and stability.

To the African American male, a lighter skinned female may be able to bear better-looking children with white features. They are also seen as easier to get along with. The continued success of the light skinned African Americans has created a prejudice against lighter skinned individuals in the culture. Dark skinned males and females are raged because of the fact that they get hired for good jobs. Dark skinned females are mad at lighter skinned females because they are not approached as much as they are. This is a real issue because it is causing bitterness towards one another I the African American culture. The simple fact is that no matter whether one is light skinned or dark skinned, they are still African American. However, because of the features in which a light skinned individual processes, helps them get more ahead, therefore, light skinned African Americans have easier lives than dark skinned African Americans.

In an effort to explain the impact of colorism in black communities, Rita B. Dandridge once stated, “In African American culture, class bias is the handmaiden of intraracial prejudice that privileges the near-white or light-complexioned person over the darker-hued.” These privileges include more desirable jobs, houses in more prestigious neighborhoods, and better educational opportunities based on one having a lighter skin complexion. Since whites have more privileges in society simply based on the color of their skin, it is common for blacks to want to be white or be able to at least pass as white. In the short story, “Sweetness” by the author Toni Morrison, the character Sweetness faces the struggles of raising a dark skin girl during

Participants in the study reported feelings of inadequacy in comparison to their lighter skinned counterparts in everything from school competitions to mate selection. These feelings of inadequacy remained prevalent from childhood through adulthood. Media also plays a key role in how the skin tone bias is perpetuated. Rap and Hip-Hop music videos often portray lighter skinned women as the love interest of the main character or the woman the male finds sexually desirable (Wallace, Townsend, Glasgow, & Ojie, 2011). Movies and television programs targeted towards African Americans may also have a light skinned woman as the successful, attractive character with a juxtaposing character who is darker, loud, obnoxious, and often fits into the “sassy sidekick” trope. A popular Black situational comedy in the 1990s, Martin, was a prime example of this (Walter et al., 1992). The main character’s girlfriend Gina, was a successful, beautiful lighter skinned woman and her best friend, Pam, was dark skinned and often the recipient of Martin’s jokes about her appearance. Exposure to these repeated stereotypes for Black women only furthers the notion that light skin is somehow superior to dark skin. This could mean that for African American women, having darker skin is a risk factor for developing body dissatisfaction.

Being a woman this heightens my social awareness as how others perceive me. Society dictates ‘the body beautiful’. Magazines, Bill-boards, TV and newspapers constantly suggest the need to have a perfect complexion. This influences

In “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” by Junot Diaz, the story highlights common stereotypes that the narrator picks out about girls that he is attempting to date. Stereotypes are often the first impression before the first impression, and can influence a man’s decision on how he is going to treat a girl based on her race and ethnicity. Diaz suggests that