I am many things: loud, opinionated, competitive, stubborn, hot- headed. But I am not a hypocrite. Some nights I blog because I am not sure what I need to say. Some nights I am unsure of whom I need to say it to. Some nights I blog because I really want to tell someone about themselves and I can't because my razor sharp tongue will fillet you when provoked and I'm trying to be a better person. Tonight is one of those nights.
It started where it usually starts when I get really pissed off- Facebook. (I bemoan the fact that I still have a Facebook. Let's just not talk about it.) I was on Facebook doing what I do and I came across a post. It was a post of a bunch of kids, all under 10, and they were being presented with different dolls. One black, one white. Same mold, same clothes. They were asked which was the "good" doll, "pretty" doll, "bad" doll, "mean" doll etc. Anyone well read can guess the results.
Time and time again the clips were shown of the kids saying that the positive traits were associated with the white dolls and the negative traits were associated with the black dolls. I want to go on record as saying that I have taken enough statistics classes to know that you can make any set of numbers support your theory. Ergo, who knows what clips were edited out. I saw no numbers, just sad clips. But whatever. The reality is that the societal image of beauty does overwhelmingly look one way. Any Black or Brown or Beige girl can tell you that. Said person went on the say, "This is a serious problem."
The thing that pissed me off is that the person that posted this has an affinity for the cultural norm of European beauty. And he is not European (I won't say where he's from but it rhymes with Pafrica, and I ain't talking American Black). Now look- love who you love but be real about it. You can't on one hand say that it's a serious problem that kids value the standard of white European beauty when you also choose that standard. A standard strikingly different from what you happen to be.
It's a double standard.
I am EOE. I was told I am a "connoisseur of all things male" and that is a factual statement. I find beauty in them all. But I am raising a boy and a girl- and we have many conversations about the complexities of race and stereotypes and what the media sells as beauty and what makes a person really beautiful. I try to help them to see that the right person will see their value and they in turn should see beauty in all different flavors. I'm getting off topic....
If said person had not implicitly told me that while they find all women attractive they "really like White women" I wouldn't be angry. I don't begrudge them their choice. I begrudge them the right to appear to reject a stereotype that they buy into. That's asinine.
I really can't stand a hypocrite.
Said person might or might not still read my blog. If you do- well I imagine you're about as pissed off as I was. But seriously- take the post down.
You have no right.
A
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