Imagine bell hooks joins the Combahee River Collective and in a consciousness-raising group reads her article “Straightening Our Hair,” and shows the film clip “A Girl Like Me.”
Based upon your readings for this week, discuss a black feminist perspective to this topic. How would the Collective approach the issue, especially with regard to privilege, interlocking oppressions, “the personal is political,” and a critique of the limitations of dominant feminist and anti-racist approaches to hierarchies of inequality. What new perspectives might they offer? Be creative…imagine you are sitting at the table with them!
I think if this were a discussion with the Collective and bell hooks were there, I think the Collective would preach that the women should still straighten their hair but the old way. In bell hooks story it says that the women would gather around for their own time to do their hair. It was the time the women weren't having to answer to their husbands or children. Now, the women aren't taking the time to do it but instead go and get it done professionally. I think that's something the Collective would push because it's taking away their time together, and they're having to submit to society and go with the flow. Another thing I think the Collective would say is be proud of who you are and where you come from. Don't conform to society, and what they're doing. You can go without straightening your hair. I think that conforming would just show that they're trying to be like white people instead of trying to gain recognition for who they are. I truly think they would encourage African American women to not straighten their hair. Straightening their hair also gives in to the men. Most men prefer the woman's hair to be relaxed, which is conforming to the men instead of doing for themselves.
ReplyDeleteA black feminist would push women to not straighten their hair and to wear it natural. By wearing their hair natural would show that they are proud of who they are and that they respect their culture. Since straightening your hair is seen as "tying to conform with the white race" a black feminist would not want to do anything to conform. If white women have been able to fight and gain new rights in which they aren't forced to conform to men, then black women should do the same. The only difference is that black feminists fight oppressions involved with all women of color and also deal with issues of race, color, and sex.
ReplyDeleteUnlike white feminists, black feminists avoid racism towards other group by a nonhierarchical distibution of power within their group and through their view of a revolutionary society.
If Bell Hooks had an informational meeting with the Combahee River Collective about the topic of "straightening hair" she would probably encourage women to do whatever makes them feel the most beautiful involving their hairstyles. She would encourage black women to return to the hair parlors and to talk with other black women, laugh, and make each other feel good. She would want them to enjoy their visit to the beauty shop because it is a safe place for women to share stories, their hardships, trials and to receive comfort and advice during times of need. This would be her way of organizing black feminists. It would allow women to bond again and to truly understand, love and appreciate their sisters.
Straightening Our Hair is the perfect example of the personal becoming political. It is one of the most intimate parts of our bodies, and making it into something that must be changed to be seen differently in society. As bell hooks began to speak to these women, I think they would join together and throw out a lot of ideas about ways in which black women find little parts of society oppressive. As was said in the article, these things are done with high racist overtones.
ReplyDeleteA dark skinned woman feeling less beautiful than a light skinned black woman is not something that should be okay in society. Everyone should have the opportunity to feel beautiful exactly as they are, skin color and hair included. I think these women would get together and discuss ways that they feel oppressed by both prerequisites that white people put on them along with the men in black society. Something as small as their hair is picked at to the point where black women feel the need to change it.
I think that this is also a perfect example of interlocking oppressions. It is not only because black people are told that they need to be more white to be considered of worth in society, but also because men say that white is more beautiful. It is a double sided oppression on women. It shows how much society needs to change. It shows how much society needs to improve.
I feel like I can’t begin to imagine what these women would talk about because I really have very little insight on how they feel. Other than the readings I have been assigned, I am highly ignorant in how black women feel oppressed. I know that is how they feel, but especially after this week’s readings, I feel l can’t scratch the surface of how these women would feel if they gathered around each other. I imagine they would discuss many things that I don’t know about. I think that they would talk about how straightening their hair is something done because they are told by other black people that their hair is not beautiful as is. I think they would talk about how, as in the clip, they are raised from a very young age to believe that they are not as valuable. They are taught that they should want to be white, or light skinned, and I imagine they would talk about how this is something that is reprehensible of both white and black people.
I imagine they would discuss how it is difficult to break barriers when there are so many to fight for feminism and to fight for anti racism. The limitations are tremendous. Because when they approach the men of their society with antiracist sentiment, they are met with antifeminist sentiment. And the reverse is also the same. I imagine they would discuss the difficulties they face. And I imagine they would discuss how would like to stop oppression.
@Emily Blackwood
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of straightening hair has to do with trying to pleas men and being more appealing. But the question I think also needs to be why is that considered by black men to be more appealing? Why is it not appealing to them for the women in their race to wear their hair as is? That was something that was brought to my attention during this weeks readings.
@Shelby Williams
ReplyDeleteI think that bell hooks would want for black women to gather with each other for their own reasons. I think she would want for them to fellowship with each other but not because they are changing their appearance. I think you are right that she would want them to get together to experience sisterhood.
If the Combahee River Collective heard the stories of bell hooks as well as saw the video “A Girl Like Me,” I would imagine a lot of tears being shed. Tears of anger, hurt, sadness, and fear. I believe that the room in which they would sit in would become a safe place and a circle of trust. The atmosphere would be one of support and encouragement.The women understand the struggles and battles each other goes through on a daily basis, so they are able to listen and really be a shoulder to cry on.
ReplyDeleteBlack women face oppression in a variety of interlocking ways. One example being the need to straighten their kinky hair. They do this, almost unknowingly, in attempt to mold their looks towards those of white women. Also, black men are constantly sending signals that tell the black women that “natural is ugly.” Black women believe that it is a necessity and a part of life to take the hours of hair straightening. The black women are oppressed by the white community racially as well as the black community sexually. They are attacked from all angles, and they are constantly trying to please everyone around them.
Also, black women are comparing themselves to each other by looking at the shade of skin color. Dark is considered less attractive by many of the women, and this is another example of oppression. The lighter skin is considered prettier, but that skin is more like whites. Again, they are being racially oppressed and feel pressure to change their entire persona to look like white women. The video says that some girls would bathe in bleach with the hopes of lightening their skin. Extreme measures are taken by these young girls for the sake of “looking pretty.”
The Combahee would be angered by the extremes that women go to in order to please other women and men. The circle of trust that the women would discuss these oppressions in would be full of women telling each other they are beautiful without the bleaching or the straightening, and they need to be themselves without worrying about others. I think that the Combahee would be very disappointed but understanding at the same time.
The women need each other’s support. Just as they used to value the time they took to straighten their hair as a time to talk and bond and be together, they need to find a way to get that time back. The hair straightening time has become an example of “personal is political.” The time used to be cherished but it has turned into a time to feel bad about the way you naturally look and hope you can change it. The women need that bonding time back in their life, and if they talked with the member of the Combahee River Collective, I believe that that time would be rediscovered.
@Carolyn Churchill
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that after this week's reading, it is impossible for me to pretend that I know what African American women go through on a daily basis in order to appear "less black" for the sake of men and even other women. The skin bleaching and hours upon hours of hair straightening is something I never really paid much real attention to, but now that I hear first hand from actual girls, it is becoming a serious problem to me.
I believe that when African American women straighten their hair it is them conforming to the white race of America. They should accept who they are, and so should the rest of our country. I don't think that the Collective would condone this because black women have done everything a white woman has. They have lived (and continue) living through opression. Why should they straighten their hair to be more like a white woman? I think that they would preach to be proud of their ethnicity. Ethnicity is who you are and where you came from, and without it you are nothing. Also, I think that the Combahee River Collective would see the straightening of hair as folding in to men. Feminist have never given in to what men want, and the Collective would be completely against this.
ReplyDeleteI think that the "social norm" is a a way that a lot of people live by, not only one race but all races. I think that especially women are susceptible to this kind of conformation because often what looks appealing to others, especially men, can become a main concern. That's why I think that the collective would not condone this type of behavior such as african american women straightening their hair. It seems to me that these women are being talked out of their heritage (like the video clip said). That because their hair may look nappy or their skin is dark, they have to change their natural selves and become what society wants these women to look like. I hear of women using skin bleach to make their skin lighter. This is very dangerous for your skin. African American women should not have to go through the struggles of changing who they are for other people's pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI think that if the Collective were to sit down and see the video clip and read bell hooks paper they would definitely disapprove of black women straightening their hair to look more beautiful and appealing. I feel like any black feminist would discourage any kind of outward physical altering black women felt like they needed to do to themselves to make themselves feel more confident and pretty. I also think they would have a lot to say about the doll test that was shown in the video. To me, that was just so sad that a little girl could sit there, say that the black doll was the "bad doll" and then turn around right after saying that and tell the person filming that the "bad doll" looked like her. I can't believe that at such a young age, that little girl is already making herself think that she is different and that it might be a "bad" thing. I really think the Collective would be hurt by the fact that young black children are even noticing differences and oppressions in our society.
ReplyDeleteI also think the Collective would also have something to say with how straightening hair has become such a cultural tradition for black females. To me, that is kind of a result of interlocking oppressions and what it has done to these girls at such a young age. Hook talks about how she would tell some of her friends that when their children look up to their mothers and see them dying and straightening their hair, they are already telling them that its not okay to look how they do naturally. This is the sort of thing that starts girls to be unhappy with the way they look at such a young age. Every little girl looks up to her mother and thinks she is the most amazing thing God could have ever created. So when they see their mothers trying to "fix" themselves to look more beautiful, they automatically want to do it too.
Were bell hooks and the Combine ever to sit down and discuss the black beauty rituals of yesteryear, the chemical straightening and skin bleaching of today, and the overall conforming of African American women to white cultural beauty standards, there would be a lot of discussion on whether it was okay to straighten your hair. This would branch out into the questions of why would they even need to straighten their hair, and from there into a deeper discussion- why are they being told they aren't beautiful the way they are?
ReplyDeleteWhile I was watching the video I was deeply saddened. If this is the way I feel, as a 21st century white female, I cannot imagine the deep sadness they would feel. This disassembling of the natural way a race looks is symbolic of the tearing down of the race itself.
The comments made by @Carolyn Churchill are spot on; I cold never imagine every single thing they would discuss. But I know that they would not approve of the excessive beauty rituals and the results of the "doll experiment" recreated in the video.
I think that black women should leave their hair natural to show that they are proud of whom they are and that they will not change who they are to please the people. Black feminist fight many more oppressions than white feminist. Black feminist fight racial and sexual oppression and they have more to fight against. For them to straighten there is an act of conformity toward white customs and I think that black women should wear their hair natural and in my opinion show a strong sense of pride. Why conform to ideals that you fight against? They don’t need to show that they need to change themselves to feel more confident because it makes them look weak when they are fighting their causes. There is a social norm for women to straighten their hair but that is for white, black women need to separate themselves from that norm. These women are not white they are strong black women who fight oppression from all sides of society and deal with and come out on top. As a guy I really do not know what all goes into straightening hair but black women do not need to waste their time. Leave the hair natural.
ReplyDeleteI think the Collective would agree with many of hooks’ statements, such as that straightening your hair in the traditional manner with your mother and sisters allowed for “the images being constructed as barriers between one’s self and the world [to be] briefly let go…” (hooks 238) However, as hooks is careful to mention, segregation makes ignoring or refusing to acknowledge relationships between forms of oppression and the ways in which they affect people effortless. Oppressions are interlocking, and they will be regardless of how careful society is to keep each group separated and blocked off from the others. The connection between straightening your hair and white supremacy does not have to be visible to exist. This, of course, reinforces the ultimate privilege: the privilege to be unaware of your privileges.
ReplyDeleteThe Collective would also highly approve of hooks’ decision to not exercise her freedom to straighten her hair because, though it would be “just for fun,” it would also cause her to be seen as less than fully committed to fighting racism and sexism. Both the Collective and hooks demonstrate their belief that the personal must be political. The Collective argues “that the most profound and potentially the most radical politics come directly out of our own identity,” and hooks encourages “us to examine issues of race and beauty, our personal choices, from a political standpoint” (Combahee River Collective 348 and hooks 245). This is because the effects of our choices are often far more clear than our reasons behind them. If hooks had straightened her hair, any young girls present in her life would only see that. They would think that they had to straighten their hair to be pretty and accepted, particularly if they noticed that hooks was treated differently after she did so. However, they may not see that this is not hooks’ motivation, that she is choosing to do this for herself. Such misconceptions lead to this act of freedom becoming part of that which reinforces oppression and combines with other things to create the mindsets of the girls depicted in “A Girl Like Me” and those like them.
Together, the Collective and hooks would realize that black women cannot just aid other fights and hope to win their battles, for far too many white feminists and black men fighting against racism do not understand or even acknowledge the added forms of oppression that this group must deal with. They may slightly disagree on the issue of lesbian separatism, though. The Collective does not see it as necessary because it is such a narrow group and, in their view, disregarded all forms of oppression other than heterosexism. Ultimately, I don’t believe bell hooks would agree with lesbian separatism either, but unlike the Collective (at least in “A Black Feminist Statement”), she acknowledges that lesbians have different experiences. Many lesbians do not straighten their hair, which rightfully causes her to question whether the perceived need to straighten your hair is really just because of racism. Their experiences, combined with her own, lead her to believe that though this need may be primarily because of racism, male privilege and heterosexism influence it greatly as well. She would encourage the group to look to others’ experiences as well as their own, for only if this occurs can all the forms of oppression combining to oppress people in a given situation be clearly identified.
I believe that if the Collective were to sit down and read bell hooks article and watch the video clip there would be disapproval of a few things. Straightening their hair to make themselves look prettier would definitely be disapproved of. I honestly think that any African American feminist would say to leave their hair natural and to embrace what they were born with. It is clear to me that African American feminist fight many more oppressions more than white feminist. They have to fight sexual and racial oppression. When African American women straighten their hair I think they are showing they are trying to be what the white women race does. I personally think the Collective would never agree wit this because African American women fight so much for their own race and what they believe in. If they straighten their hair and bleach their own skin they are saying they do not like who they are and just want to be someone else. Being who you are is something one should embrace and not hide from. I also believe that the Collective would never want African American women to conform to society and what everyone else is doing. African American women should never have to feel like they have to change. Straightening their hair also gives into men and what they prefer. As feminists, they should never conform to what men want, after all feminist would never give in to what men want.
ReplyDeleteThe collective approach would start by saying that as a black woman of society they do not have to change their appearance to get want they want in life. This whole thing of changing hair styles and changing skin color is a bit ridiculous. Having privilege in this world in not because someone is either black or white, privilege is all about being a hard worker and what someone can bring to the table. I hate that in this day in age and being 2011, that people still judge gender and racial status. Yes black people are blessed with the big butt and nice “ups” on the basketball court and volleyball courts, and white people are jealous and want those characteristics. So this whole interlocking oppression goes both ways. I could write forever on the wants of both racial group but it all comes down to privilege and respect black women are wanting in this world. Getting the feeling that white women are more dominate in society and have better jobs is correct to some, but for others like myself, I have come into contact with so many bright wonderful black women who can do so much for this world. Like look at the bus boycott, Rosa Parks…she spoke up for herself when a white man told her to get out of her seat and she didn’t. Black people look up to those dominate women in history and know they do have so much power and so much to offer. I think it is stupid that this world is like it is now. We all know someone takes a look at the outward appearance of someone and make objectives on that person before even knowing what they truly have to offer to the table. Once given a chance these wonderful women of society are a huge asset and we see in the past those that have stood their ground and you see where they are now. Successful.
ReplyDeleteIf Bell Hooks and the Collective were to have a discussion concerning the readings and the video, they could pick out several things that desperately need to be changed. Our society making white mean "good" and black mean "bad" is so true, yet absurd and discriminating. This is done in movies, stories, and TV shows. Good is always represented by light colors, whereas bad is represented by dark colors. I had never thought of this being a problem before I realized that we unconsciously can apply this concept to people as well. It doesn't help that our society sees whites and light blacks as being more beautiful than darker skin colors. It is sad that the darkness of one's skin can dictate such a thing as beauty. I agree with @Carolyn Churchill in saying that I do not know much about a black woman's experience besides just a few readings. I guess I have used the "white privilege" of being allowed to stay oblivious to other races' experiences and struggles (not saying this is a good thing at all). I am amazed at the struggles I have read about though and surprised by the standards society puts on them. As far as straightening hair, the discussion group would probably encourage black women to not straighten their hair in order to not conform. They would say to be comfortable with themselves naturally.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I disagree with what I, and several others, have said the group would say. I am white, and I straighten my hair sometimes because it is curly. I do not straighten it to conform to what is considered "beautiful" or to impress men, but it is simply easier to deal with. When hair is really frizzy and curly, there is not much you can do with it, and it looks ungroomed. Therefore, if I need to look nice or just want to be able to handle it better, I straighten it. So, I think black girls have every right and reason to straighten their hair as white girls do. The underlying meanings behind straightening hair seem a bit too ridiculous. I do not straighten my hair symbolizing I am transitioning into womanhood or to impress guys...my hair is simply easier to do stuff with when straight.
“Within the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, the social and political context in which the custom of black folks straightening our hair emerges, it represents an imitation of the dominate white group’s appearance and often indicates internalized racism, self-hatred , and/or low self esteem.”
ReplyDelete“She does not like her features and feels that the hairstyle transforms her.”
“Although they did not say straighten your hair, they were suggesting that I change my hairstyle so that it would most resemble theirs, so that it would indicate a certain conformity.”
“There are times when I think of straightening my hair just to change my style, just for fun. Then I remind myself that even though such a gesture could be simply playful on my part, and individual expression of desire, I know that such a gesture would carry other implications beyond my control. “
“The reality is….. that impresses upon black people and especially black women, that we are not acceptable as we are, that we are not beautiful.”
“Caught up in fantasy, completely given over to the realm of make-believe, for most of my childhood I neither noticed nor cared that the dolls I played with did not look like me.”
“Dolls in particular invite children to replicate them, to imagine themselves in their dolls images”
“Barbie is not simply a child’s toy or just a teenage fashion doll; she is an icon- perhaps the icon- of true white womanhood and femininity, a symbol of the far from innocent ideological stuff of which the (Miss) American dream and other mystiques of race and gender are made.”
All of these things I found that I can simply say, reverse it.
I think as a woman you should be able to express yourself in many ways: your words, your actions, your clothes, and something near and dear to my heart, my hair. Since the first reading was on the topic of hair, I cannot wear my hair natural, not because I don’t think it looks good, but because I think it looks dirty. I love playing with my hair, I don’t do it because society says that I should. I color my hair, I’ve gone from beach blonde to reddish brown, from really short to really long. I have head bands and hair clips that I love to play with. I don’t dye my hair blonde because I see that as a sign that society tells me that’s what makes and American White woman desirable. I dye my hair and do so many different things with it because I feel like it rejuvenates me or expresses how I feel that day. I think there are so many things that these readings didn’t point-out that maybe some white women are envious of African American hair. I think to say that to straighten your hair for a job interview because the school would find that it fit in a “certain conformity” is a false accusation, I read that and I heard is as, “make sure you are well put together.”As a white woman I think black women are just as beautiful, I’m almost envious because most black women I know are strong willed individuals and I think more women in every race should be that way.
As for Barbie Dolls, I never thought of a Barbie as being someone I wanted to be. I did have a my sized Barbie, not because I wanted to look like her ,but because I thought Barbie had the coolest clothes! As a child in my make-believe world I just thought Barbie was the neatest thing to make up my own stories, but aren’t we as humans supposed to make up our own lives, we dream and wonder and our actions create our future. I don’t think dolls are made to make children want to look like the object they are playing with, but yet a way to get a child to have an imagination, and to be more creative, even guys have dolls. (I.E. GI Joe) I think the iconic American woman is a woman who has accomplished something in her lifetime. A woman who got a higher education, overcome a hardship, did something that makes her feel good about herself , her life and where she has been and where she is going to go.
As an African American I straighten my hair. I don't do it to look more appealing to men and I definitely don't do it to look more white or to fit in. I wish someone would try to tell me I can't straighten my hair because I'm black! That's a big NO NO. I do it because my hair is more manageable when it is straightened. I believe a black feminist perspective on this topic would be to get more black women to be proud of their heritage and culture, to wear their hair natural. I am very proud to be African American, but I also know my hair needs. So if I feel I have to straighten my hair to make it more manageable, then that's what I'm going to do and it should not make me any less of a black female. I also believe a black feminist would also express the need for women to do what makes them feel more beautiful and comfortable for themselves and not try to impress anyone by changing their appearence to fit into society. All black women choose to straighten their hair for different reasons, but whatever the reason maybe it does not always mean that an African American female is not proud of her culture.
ReplyDeleteThe Collective would probably imbrace the fact that black women should be proud of where they come from and do not have to live up to the standards of trying to look more white. Being Black is beautiful no matter what shade or hair texture. Depending upon the reason of why a black female would like to alter her appearance does not make her less of an African American or unproud of her culture. If a black female changes her appearance as a reason to fit into a more white profile then she has issues within herself and low self-esteem. She has not accepted her roots of where her ancestors have come from. I personally believe a woman should be able to express herself however she feels, but of course everyone may not agree with this. Some people may feel a black woman should only do things that are part of the African American culture and others may feel the same as I do. At the end of the day, we are who we are and no one can change anyone elses beliefs or alter decisions about what someone else chooses to do.
I believe that Bell Hooks and The Collective would want African American women to keep their hair natural to keep touch with their heritage. But I do not think that we as African American women we straighten our hair to keep up with a standards of society and I do not think that we straighten our hair to please others. I believe we do it because our hair is a little bit more manageable if it is straighten out rather than it is natural. I think that it should not matter if African American women straighten their hair or not because hair does not make a person. It gives them character. Based on my experience my hair looks better straighten out rather if it’s natural. I fell that I am cute when I get my hair straighten. In the video A Girl Like Me, I could relate to those girls because growing up I have always heard that if you are of lighter skinned then you are more likely to be accepted, and that being darker skinned is wrong. The children in the video really amazed me how they chose the white doll over the black doll and they said that the white doll was better and the black doll was bad. That shows how we need to explain to the children that black is beautiful and that it comes in different shades and to embrace it.
ReplyDelete@Morgan G.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the oppression going both ways. I definitely agree that white people are picked last for sports teams or some guys prefer a little more junk in the trunk. However, the majority of jeans are made for my body and not the more curvaceous type. I can almost always walk into a store and find my size of jeans because stores anticipate the smaller butt. It's unfair to black girls because they may have to go up in the waist size in order to accommodate for other regions.
@S. Terrell:
ReplyDeleteI agree that in today's world it is more acceptable for African American women to straighten their hair. We are now in a "phase" that we are almost passed looking into the minor details (such as straightening hair) and now more into the "physical" side of things (not political).
@ Raven Carr:
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you brought up the children in the video and their comments on the black doll and white doll. I thought the same as you. I feel as if it's the medias fault for portraying the "typical" woman as a white female, not African American. Therefore, kids see the same.
@Morgan G.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with your belief that "privilege is all about being a hard worker and what someone can bring to the table" rather than race. I think this is what we WISH privilege was based on, but our society is not at a point where this is true yet. Even looking at the rest of your posting shows this because privilege is partly based upon stereotypes. Though African-Americans may often be prized for their sports abilities, assuming that all African-Americans are great at sports alienates those who are not good at sports and can cause even those who are to feel as if they will be judged by a higher standard simply because of the color of their skin.
However, I definitely agree with you that respect is one of the major things black women are lacking. You mention that white women being more dominant in society or more successful in their job is only true for some black women. I think this is an instance where "the personal is political" can be taken too far, though. Our personal experiences should help us recognize greater societal problems, but I think we have to be cautious of allowing it to work in reverse by using our personal experiences, which may be exceptions, to overlook greater issues. Experience teaches, but our own experience is limited and so we have to take others' experiences into account as well.
@demilamb:
ReplyDeleteI, too, think "the Collective would be hurt by the fact that young black children are even noticing differences and oppressions in our society," but I don't think it's just the fact that they noticed that would make them feel that way. Noticing differences and oppressions is necessary before you can combat them, and if that's all they were doing, I think the Collective would rejoice. However, they're noticing them and seeing them as normal and perfectly acceptable, as if this is just the way the world is and will always be. That is where the real issue lies - that they see the problem but don't recognize it as such. I think the Collective would encourage women to stop straightening their hair and sending these messages to their children, but I think that they would also encourage these women to use it as a conversation-starter with their children if at all possible. So, instead of simply stopping one day, having a conversation about it with their children to help them to understand that personal freedom is good but embracing culture is as well. If you're going to do something that could be seen as a rejection of your culture, you have to be doing it because you really want to not because you feel like it will make you more desirable or more accepted in society. Even if you choose to exercise your freedom in this way, you have to be willing to accept the consequences (as with all actions), which in this case are the effects it can have on those around you and the messages it sends.
@Carolyn Churchill
ReplyDeleteAfter this week’s reading, I find it hard for myself to pretend that I know what an African American goes through everyday in order to appear less like them. I could not imagine, if I was an African American woman, wanting to bleach my skin to look less like who I am. I personally tan all the time to look less pale and darker. I also cannot believe how much African American women have to go through with straightening their hair and all other things they do with their hair. Hearing all this from women in my life really upsets me and makes me think more about what they go through. I wish every woman would just embrace herself for who they are!
@Emily Blackwood
ReplyDeleteI believe women straighten their hair to please men because the ideal picture to a man is straight, meaning straight hair and a thin body. Men believe that is more appealing so it pressures women to do these things. I question why African American men think that women should straighten their hair because I always think they like the natural, real woman look. I wish more men in this world would accept each woman for the way she is and not feel this everyday pressure to be perfect, it is exhausting and emotionally draining for most females!
@Emily Blackwood
ReplyDeleteEven though I personally said that the collective wouldn't approve of the behavior of straightening hair I did however like how you said that if african american women straightened their hair they should do it the old fashion way when it was just a tradition and time that women came together to gossip and look pretty. That it was a social even more than a conformation to look like white women.
@Raven Carr
ReplyDeleteI agree with your first few sentences. I can see that african american women would like to have natural hair to keep in touch with their heritage but also that some genuinely like their hair straightened. I think that it might have been assumed that african american women were trying to copy the look of white women when really maybe they just like their hair straightened and neat.
@J K Howard
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you...I would be so sad if that was said about me and my race. I wouldn't know how to react.
If the Combahee Collective were to sit down with Bell Hooks to talk, fellowship, and watch the short documentary "A Girl Like Me," I believe that they would remember their childhood (the past) and be both proud and hurt at the present. However, I believe that they would still have hope for the future. Black feminist (and black women in general) have struggled and fought for so much and they would be able to see how their battles and teachings have so profoundly influenced the present generations and ones to come to think critically and not blatantly accept where they are as their destiny.
ReplyDeleteIt was some Saturday mornings or nights, but mostly Sunday mornings when we got our hair pressed or straightened with a hot comb. For us it was not a form or symbol of oppression, but in agreement with Hooks, it was a time of bonding between the females in our family. It was also a time to learn about the history of your family and learn about being true to yourself. Someone would end up saying “Oh, you have really good hair” and that meant that it was naturally curly or fine, not rough and tangled. The Collective and Hooks would see and feel the hurt of black dolls being connected to being bad people. The black children who picked the black doll because it looked bad, but also said that same doll looked like them. What are our children learning or rather what are we teaching them? I believe that they would begin to brainstorm and for me to sit at the table with them would be an honor to learn and critically question: “How can we, the current generation set the positive, productive atmosphere for our future generations to stand and do the same until we have created a peaceful, perfect, and equal eternity?” Now to set it in action…
@Kaylyn Johnson
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment to demilamb. It is very hurtful to see our children realizing the problem, but not recognizing it as a problem. They see it as normal, a mindset that needs to be challenged, permanently damaged, and forever changed. How else can you truly teach and give understanding to a child (or anyone for that matter)if you only give them an order or instruction, but never explain to them the reason for the instruction. Yes straightening "our" hair as black women can be seen as a symbol for oppression, but what about the people who are learning and accepting who they are and are learning not to be anyone else other than themselves? Yes stay true to your culture, but be who you are and not confined to a specific category. If people can freely live knowing where they've come from (heritage), give honor to it,but still be who they are then I think it's okay. Check the motives...
@ Raven Carr
ReplyDeleteIt really saddens me to hear that if you have darker skin that it is considered bad. I agree with you that it should be taught to your children that it is beautiful no matter what.
@ Alysia Nailor
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that by having your hair pressed was a time for the females to get together. I would see that as something women would not want to give up. I mean let's face it, what woman doesn't like to talk to other women? I feel like that's one thing that shouldn't be changed!
After this weeks reading I have learned much about the courage and fight the African American women have shown in the past years. The hard work has sent a huge message across the world to all races. The African American women have have worked years and have had pressure on them daily just because of their color. Overall, I believe that the women should be proud of who they are because of the determation their past ancestors have shown. The courage they showed caught the eye not only of this nation, yet across the globe.
ReplyDeleteComing from a black male’s perspective and living with my mother for 18 years, a black female, I visualize and understand the troubles that black women go through every day, especially with their hair. It’s not easy being a woman in American especially not a black woman, I feel as males we look at our woman as minorities, take advantage of them and do not give them enough credit. Hopefully now we can see the hassle and struggle that they go through and change.
ReplyDelete@ NMillard
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what you said, 100%. As people we never take the time to see how life looks through someone else's eyes and what they go through on a daily basis. Just think about it and put ourselves in that black woman’s shoes. How would we feel?