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Tokira Labady

Mrs.Douglas
English 112
April 3,2017
Understanding an African American

Black women are generally vulnerable to the effects of European standards of beauty

because these standards emphasize skin colors and hair types that exclude

black women, especially those of darker color. In the african American community the natural

hair epidemic is considered a problem.

The term dreads actually is a term coined from Europeans who considered the Africans

hair as dreadful because of its kinkiness. This term derived back several centuries ago and still

has negative connotation. That is why some Blacks prefer the term Locs. Natural hair has been

criticized outside of the African American or Black community for centuries. When a child plays

with a Barbie doll although the skin colors may vary the hair texture stays the same long straight

hair which identifies with a Eurocentric background. Eurocentric sense of beauty for hair has

been instilled in society from a young age so seeing men and women try to expound their choice

is considered ghetto, unprofessional, or nappy. All negative connotation but hair styles

such as flat ironed or perms are encouraged.

Natural hair is a way for Blacks to express creativity and the essence of beauty. This

creativity also conveys a deep heritage. Hair can be showcased in different styles, using

turbans/head wraps, extensions, Bantu knots and many others. There is often backlash against

hair freedom. The freedom of ones hair can be associated with multiple negative stereotypes.

Which Tania Padgett explains in her article Natural hair can Be a kinky topic. She discusses

how natural hair is sensitive how society can be uncomfortable with natural hair.
Other researches on the topic such as Ellen Lienguth perceive the idea of natural hair being

unprofessional a Eurocentric standard of beauty. Which goes on to be conceived as unfair and

oppressing seeing that individuals cannot control the hair they were born with it just as one has

no bearing on the ethnicity they're born.

ThroughasocialperspectivetheseEurocentricstandardsareprimarilyseeninfamily,

peers,themedia,society,andselfperceptionthesearetheprimarysocialgroupsthatcausethe

Europeanstandardstotakeaffect.Whenyouraverageblackwomanisexposedtothese

standardsatayoungagetheywouldstarttodoubttheimportanceofonesowncultureand

eventuallythatdoubtleadstotransformationandconformation.Blackwomensinceayoungage

seeingtheamountofacceptancethattheEuropeancultureisgettingitisonlynaturalthat

eventuallytheywouldwanttochangetheirappearanceliketowhatseemstobemoreaccepting.

TherehasbeenseveralstudiesconductedonhowEurocentricbeautystandards

manipulatetheyoungchildreninsociety.Inrecentyearsthedollexperimentinwhichconducted

inthe1940swhereagroupofscientistgatheryoungchildrenwhichdollwouldtheyratherplay

withbetweenawhitedollandblackdolloversixtypercentchosetoplaywiththewhitedoll.

Thisexperimentwasrecreatedwithallblackchildrenin2009andfortytwopercentchoseblack

andthirtytwochosewhite.Thisisprogressfromthesixtieshoweverthesestudiesshowhow

AfricanAmericanchildrenarestillbeingfeedthatthewhiteroneisthemoreacceptableoneis.

Thousandsofwomenespeciallyblackwomenhavefalselybeentoldthroughouttheir

livesthattheirsocietalvalueinthisworldissolelybasedoffofappearance.Hairandskincolor

havebeenincludedassocialcriterionforsuccessinonesprofessionalandpersonallife.Beauty,

however,mustbeunderstoodassociallyconstructedandanimportantsourceofwomens
oppression.ThisisoppressiononAfricanAmericansandblacksingeneralacrosstheglobe

shouldnotbeaconstantrecurrenceorissueinthe21stcentury.Asansocietythereshouldbe

needstobeonehundredpercentacceptancesofuniquenessinpeople.
Workcited

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Interaction."

OrderNo.3219068CarlosAlbizuUniversity,2005.

ColorBlindIdeologyandtheCulturalAppropriationofHipHopJason

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ContemporaryEthnographyVol35,Issue6,pp.645668

Oney,ChristinaN.,ElizabethR.Cole,andRobertM.Sellers."RacialIdentityand

Genderas

ModeratorsoftheRelationshipbetweenBodyImageandSelfEsteemforAfrican

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Sekayi,Dia."AestheticResistancetoCommercialInfluences:TheImpactofthe

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BeautyStandardonBlackCollegeWomen*."TheJournalofNegroEducation72.4

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