Ridicule and Celebration: Black Women as Symbols in the Rearticulation of Race

And It’ll Come Back Real Baby Fine: Black Women’s Experiences With Hair Loss and Regrowth After Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Treatment

“…For black women hair’s texture is often conceived of as an important marker of prestige and class; a concept that is problematic because one’s hair texture is biological (Banks, 2000; Craig, 2002; Weitz, 2010). Historically, straight and loosely curled hair textures have been conceived of as the most desirable and socially acceptable for black women (Byrd & Tharps, 2014; Craig, 2002). Colloquially, the term good hair distinguishes these socially desirable textures from kinkier hair.…”

“…This concept of good hair refers to more than just completely straight hair textures, but also includes textures that can be described as being soft and loosely curled. Good hair can also imply long hair as women with these textures tend to have longer hair 1 than black women with more tightly-coiled textures (Banks, 2000; Craig, 2002). Long hair is considered an attractive feature because women with longer hair lengths are able to do the notorious hair flip .…”

Should We Genetically Select for the Beauty Norm of Fair Skin?

“…This is not to say all women in these contexts are subject to the norm or have a desire for fair skin, nor that women of colour are non-agential. For instance, black women (and judges) in beauty contests who aligned themselves to the Black Power Movement in the 1960 s and the politics of Black Is Beautiful would not subscribe to the norm [ 14 ]. Likewise, Indian women who are part of the current Dark is Beautiful campaign by Women of Worth which launched in 2009 do not [ 42 , 66 ].…”

“… 5 The norm extends to other places. This includes, but is by no means limited to, South Asian women in India [ 16 , 38 , 47 ], African-American women in the US [ 10 , 11 , 14 , 30 ], black and brown women in Jamaica [ 12 ], African women in Nigeria [ 46 ], Tanzania [ 37 ] and Ghana [ 48 ], African and Indian women in South Africa [ 18 ], and Southeast Asian women in Japan [ 62 ], Korea [ 38 ] and Malaysia [ 26 ]. …”

“…Given that there are no pressing reasons for the trend to go the other way—as some have suggested that disproportionate sex selection for boys would go given the eventual imbalance of girls to boys [ 54 ]—in racist or colourist societies, I am sceptical this would occur. Even if it did not correct itself, those with darker skin who are fewer in number might be more valuable but, in racist or colourist contexts (it is not clear these contexts would change), they might also be regarded as a commodity or as fetished, in the way darker skin has tended to be [ 7 , 14 ]. This is similar to Neil Levy’s [ 36 ] claim that fewer women in sexist societies because of selection might be regarded as commodities rather than valued per se.…”