"Young Hollywood": White and Thin

I saw this article online and it upset me a great deal to know that as far as we have come, beauty standards have not budged, rather they have become increasingly hegemonic, and I am sure they continue to implode the self-esteem of young girls of color and girls that are not a size 2.

What does "Young Hollywood" look like? According to Vanity Fair, it's pretty, thin, female and white.

Amanda Seyfried, Anna Kendrick, Kristen Stewart, Carey Mulligan, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Emma Stone, Mia Wasikowska, Evan Rachel Wood: There's not a single woman of color on the cover of Vanity Fair's "Young Hollywood" issue. Two of the ladies — Kristen Stewart and Amanda Seyfried — were already on the August 2008 "Hollywood's New Wave." issue. There were two women of color — Zoe Saldana, America Ferrara — on the cover of 2008's "Hollywood Issue," but apparently the next decade is not about diversity.

VF's "Young Hollywood" is much like the golden age of Hollywood: There was a fetishization of the lithe, gorgeous, virginal ingenue, whose virtues and ambitions were pure, and therefore desirable. You either wanted to be her or sleep with her. She was the photographed wearing white, and her "All-American" good looks meant that she was a WASP or a fresh-faced farmgirl. Certainly not black, definitely not fat, and never both. Looking at the March 2010 issue, has anything changed? Even Evgenia Peretz's descriptions of the actresses — "Ivory-soap-girl features," "patrician looks" "dewy, wide-eyed loveliness" — reinforce the idea that a successful actress is a pretty, aristocratic-looking (read: white) actress.

It's hard to say if fault lies with the editors of the magazine, or with Hollywood itself — trying to come up with some projects employing new, young Asian, black or Latin actors and actresses is a tough exercise. The few names which come to mind — Jaden Smith (The Pursuit Of Happiness, The Kung-Fu Kid), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Julian Schnabel's Miral, Woody Allen's next film), Gianna Jun (Blood: The Last Vampire, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) — are up-and-comers with just a few roles under their belts. The Hurt Locker's Anthony Mackie recently did a Q&A with VF.

Gabourey Sidibe — cover girl for the March issue of Ebony — is an obvious choice, though she admits in the accompanying interview:

"I don't try to live up to the standards of Hollywood or any of that – I know that I'm different and I celebrate it. In a weird way, I kind of really, really love being the alien in the room. I dig it."

And it's good that Gabby doesn't care about living up to Hollywood standards. Because judging from the VF cover, the "Hollywood" standards need to change.

Touche. So unfortunate that Hollywood still refuses to acknoledge some talented actress because of their deviation from the white standard of beauty. Where are the Freida Pinto's, the Jurnee Smollett's, Zoe Saldana's, America Ferrara's? Well, you get the point.

But, anywho, who really reads Vanity Fair anyways?

Who's Loving Black Women Now...

Lately I've been stumbling across blogs dedicated to the beauty of black women. Nothing new there. But what is interesting to me is who is writing these blogs. There seems to be a whole community out there of white men who are genuinely appreciative of brown, dark-skinned women! I mean I knew they were out there--I've had a few white dudes holla at this on several occasions--but I guess I didn't appreciate how genuine white men were about their love for black women.

Half the time I'm not sure whether to be uncomfortable by the sheer adulation that could seem borderline slave-master love or whether to be flattered and feel validated that some non black men appreciate and covet black beauty. I think though that I will go with the latter.

Whether it be jungle fever or serious attraction, it most likely depends on each man.

Love Stevie....

We are Still Brainwashed

In today's society, you only have to look as far as a magazine to see what American media has deemed beautiful. Magazines, t.v., and film are saturated with images of thin, light-skinned, straight haired women who sell sex and beauty to the public. All we have to do is observe what is the first thing that comes to mind when we hear the phrase "All-American girl". Most likely someone blond, blue-eyed, thin and young came to mind. Someone white.

I'm becoming ever-increasingly exasperated with people who have difficulty realizing the simple fact that we equate white with American, and have normalized white as beautiful. Beauty is on a spectrum where thin and white is on one end and everything and everyone else is on the other end.

Too many people buy into this standard without realizing it. Every time a black woman buys a hair relaxer to straighten her naptural away or a a child gets ridiculed because he/she is "too dark" or a guy says he prefers his girl with straight hair but can't really give a reason as to why, they are stating that their natural is not enough and that they prefer to move closer on the spectrum to white.

The saddest part is these people refuse to allow the veil to be lifted. For every reason you give them as to why they have a whitened standard of beauty, they will give you a defensive excuse as to why they do the things and think the way they do. Always. Each and every time.

This is too huge and complicated a topic to cover in one post, so you can be sure there will be more posts about this one, but for now, I just want to say this is not simply a black and white problem.

Slip of the Tongue

Obama Sparks Controversy with his Comments on Arrested Harvard Professor

While reading a little news today, I came across a story that had me shaking my head; it's a shame some of the things that still happen in our country today.

According to CNN, President Obama made a comment about the Cambridge police department "acting stupidly" in their arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., a prominent African American Harvard professor. As we know, being arrested for doing nothing wrong is every black man's nightmare and it happened to Gates in his own home! The big debate is whether President Obama should have expressed his opinion about an incident where he admits he did not know all the facts.

"Arresting officer Sgt. James Crowley -- who handcuffed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week --said he was dismayed that the president....would opine on the issue without all the details".

Gates is a personal friend of Obama , so Obama did admit that he was biased. According to the news article:

"Crowley, in the police report about the incident, said Gates refused to cooperate with him and repeatedly accusing him of racism when he went to Gates' home following a report of a possible break-in July 16.

Crowley said he tried to determine whether there was someone else at the home and wanted to ensure Gates' safety.

Gates, however, told him "that I had no idea who I was 'messing' with" and was being so loud that he could not give pertinent information to the department when he was calling in, the sergeant said.

Authorities have said they may release tapes of the officer calling in, in which Gates is heard in the background

Crowley's report said that when he asked to speak with Gates outside, the professor at one point responded, "I'll speak with your mama outside."

Gates' attorney, Charles Ogletree, said the professor never made such a remark.

The full story will show that Gates did nothing wrong -- and that Crowley did not identify himself at first, Ogletree said."

Lol at "I'll speak with your mama outside". From a Harvard professor?!

President Obama was surprised by the controversy surrounding his comments, and frankly, I am too. I know he is the President of the United States , hence all public comments will be criticized more harshly, but it seems as though this public outrage is a little much. President Obama was simply commenting on a friend's unfortunate and disgraceful ordeal at the hands of Cambridge police.

The professor was arrested after he had already proven that he was indeed in his own home. Police need to keep their anger in check when dealing with the public and stop always trying to cover up their racial prejudice. There is NO way this man would have been arrested in his home if he had been white. The police officer would have approached him in a different way and the outcome certainly would have been different. It's like Kim Coleman, a Washington radio host said, "There's a reason we don't here about prominent white people arrested in their homes: it doesn't happen".

If a department has not had a racially motivated incident in some time, it does not mean racism has been abolished(as much as we would all like that), it could simply signify that police officers are doing a better job of suppressing their prejudices. The problem with suppression is that those instincts and prejudices almost always bubble to the surface and explode.

Cambridge Police Department needs to check itself.