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Light Skinned Privilege Essay

Decent Essays

Jonathans work and romantic experiences are examples of light skinned privilege because he may “blend in”. Chameleoning himself as he calls it, only boast that someone with European features get a pass regardless of which culture they decide to mesh with. Through the eyes of many light skin is perceived as less threatening and more beautiful or attractive. However, Jonathan was not able to choose the color of his skin. The systemic of preference for individuals of color who have lighter skin is as old as slavery. Lighter skin aids in helping Jonathan overcome the stigma and stereotypes that come with being dark skinned and African American.
In addition to Jonathan’s insight on light skin privilege, He also discussed trying to blend in culturally. …show more content…

In his past there may have been a time where he was surrounded by African American women with coarse hair textures that were not flattering. As a result, the exposure to a finer hair texture reassured Johnathan that there are other options besides that of his own race who have hair that is more tamed. Often, people make decisions at a young age and they hold on to that predisposition instead of looking for variety. One may outcast the love that they had for such things because of the scars received along the way. In Johnathan’s case these were mental scars, the image of African American women whose hair may have been unpresentable was a complete turn off. This ties into him “preferring” sleeker hair and the package by providing evidence supporting the fact that Johnathan’s preference really wasn’t a preference at all, one may call it a bias because not once did he mention the beauty of an African American women. He constantly implied that he preferred women with attributes parallel to that of non-ethnic women. However, Johnathan stated that he would marry an African American woman but it wasn’t for her beauty it was solely for the understanding of one’s own culture. Lastly, the knowledge received from Johnathan lecture gave great insight on light skin privilege and dating as a black

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