The readings and the class discussion from this Wednesday really made me think about representations of blacks in our culture. One of the images I see over and over again is that of black women with straight hair. Some of the most famous black women in this country like Oprah, Michelle Obama, and Beyonce have straightened hair. In class we discussed how the media has the ability to shape how we feel about ourselves. I think that images of black women in entertainment and in advertisements plays a large part in how black women feel about their hair and what society tells them is beautiful.
The new Chris Rock documentary, Good Hair explores the lengths that black women will go to in order to straighten their hair.
I think that racism and a fear of black people is what causes these anglicized images of blacks to be so popular in the media. Perhaps if more images of natural black hair became popular there would be more than one definition of beauty (white beauty) in American culture, and non-white people would feel beautiful as they are.
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