Gender and Colorism

This Wednesday Workshop is the first follow-up to my introductory session on intersectionality. This week I provide some historical context to the specific intersection of gender and colorism and identify how this intersection plays out systemically and interpersonally. I default to the American (United States in particular) context, but as I briefly mention in the recording, this can apply to other cultural contexts as well.

Overarching Systems of Oppression

Color is an intersection of gender. Gender is an intersection of color.

There are three primary systems that apply pressure to this interection:

Patriarchy– A vast system designed to maintain male dominance and power socially, sexually, economically, politically, etc.
Misogyny– Defined as hatred for women, but “hatred” might be too strong a word for many people. Misogyny most often shows up as a negative bias against women and things associated with women, femaleness, or femininity. Quite often, though, misogyny is expressed as outright, explicit hatred. This culture of misogyny sustains patriarchy.
White Supremacy– I don’t bother making a distinction between colorism and white supremacy (though I do distinguish between racism and colorism!). Phenotype is a big factor in classifying who is white and who isn’t.

Historical Roots of How Gender and Colorism Interact

The broad white supremacist and antiblack cultural beliefs that have been entrenched over centuries in many Western or colonized societies are structured as follows:

The human ideal was white (man). The foil used as leverage to support this premise was the positioning of black (woman) as the extreme opposite, as subhuman. So not only, according to the established social hierarchy, were white men positioned as the ideal human, but black women were simultaneously positioned as less than human. At one point in the united states, this was quantified as black people being 3/5 human so that land-owning white men in Southern states could have more political power in government.

White men were positioned as the pinnacle of humanity for their supposedly superior intelligence, civilization, morals, leadership etc. White women were positioned as the pinnacle of female humanity. They were the models of feminine ideals of beauty, morals, purity, virtue, innocence, intelligence, civilization, delicateness, etc.

Black men were seen as unintelligent, uncivilized, amoral, deviant brutes. But the association with brutishness also made them recognized (stereotyped) for their physical dominance, athletic abilities, etc. In contexts where this is prized, we see a high degree of representation and acceptance of dark-skinned black men: sports, security, disciplinarians, etc. However, this stereotype of physical dominance combined with the perception of amoral, deviant, uncivilized brutishness positions black men as the ultimate criminal threat.

Unlike the dichotomy between white men and white women, there was no distinction given between black men and black women. Black women were perceived in exactly the same ways as black men. Therefore they were perceived as masculine, unintelligent, amoral, deviant, criminally inclined, brutish, physically dominant (strong), etc. Therefore, black women are susceptible to the same dangers as black men: higher rates of policing and disciplining, excessively penalized, inequitable punitive measures, etc. However, because they are women, they do not socially benefit from perceptions of masculinity the way dark-skinned men do. The association of dark-skin with masculinity and strength often benefits dark-skinned men socially, but it deeply marginalizes dark-skinned black women, and often makes them the targets of more violence and punishment. It also discourages people from helping black women, from coming to our aid, standing up for us, etc.

This stereotype of dark-skinned black women also makes us less desirable in heteronormative romances and marriages. Dark-skinned black women are less than half as likely to be married compared to white women and light-skinned women (23% vs. 50-55%). For the sake of time, I won’t go into the impact this has on the socioeconomic outcomes of women, but just know that it’s not just a matter of “being chosen.” This lack of interest in dark-skinned black women as romantic or marriage partners coupled with the stereotype that dark-skinned women are stronger, more sexually deviant and available, etc. results in a high degree of sexual exploitation and violence such as rape. Because of the stereotypes, however, it’s often not even perceived as exploitation or violence against us. People are more likely to condone this violence when it is perpetrated against dark-skinned women and girls.

Light-skinned black men and women benefit socially and systemically from perceptions that they are closer to whiteness and therefore more intelligent, professional, moral, etc. than dark-skinned black men and women. We see this manifest in trends of employment, income, schooling, sentencing for crimes, etc. Although many light-skinned men report being negatively stereotyped as not masculine enough, this is only a negative because of our patriarchal and misogynistic culture that demands men be “masculine” and that defines masculinity in such narrow and oppressive ways.

Although light-skinned women benefit in the romance/marriage market, they have also historically been sexually exploited and raped due to the fetishization of both white and black men. A difference, however, is that because light-skinned women are perceived as being softer, more civilized, more feminine, more beautiful, etc. they benefit from receiving more empathy from others.

There’s still far more to say about this topic, but this is where I leave it for now. I will return to it again because gender dynamics in our culture have so much to do with our experiences of colorism. This was an important start, though, and as always, I leave you with homework.

Homework: 1) Take the Harvard Implicit Association Test on Color (and any other topic of interest!). 2) Begin to de-colonize your mind in small ways (consume different images, educate people who use anti-black rhetoric (or distance yourselves from them), etc.

Affirmation: We are capable and powerful enough to bring about meaningful change. Don’t let cynicism hold you back!

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April 8, 2015March 18, 2024

Colorism in Americanah by Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie released her most recent novel, Americanah, in 2013. Although I’m more than a year late reading the book, I think it’s worth writing about the issue of colorism as it appears in the story. Colorism in Americanah doesn’t rely on the standard melodramatic pity party or blame game. Instead the novel has a rather matter-of-fact tone on the issue, one that seems based more on observation than painful memories or emotion. I guess the story itself is so interesting and well-written that the discussion of colorism doesn’t seem forced—it just seems real.

The public has discussed Adichie’s writing in connection to colorism before. People complained and even started a petition when filmmakers decided to cast the very fair skinned actress Thandie Newton in the lead role of Half of a Yellow Sun (the movie version of Adichie’s novel by the same title). Protesters claimed that the casting decision was an instance of colorism because Newton does not resemble the typical Nigerian woman.

I have not found any direct statement from Adichie about her opinion on the casting for that movie or on colorism in general (if you find something let me know!). In the novel Americanah, however, it’s clear that Adichie is familiar with colorism, and she seems to understand it in both an American and a Nigerian context. (Adichie grew up in Nigeria and currently splits her time between Nigeria and the United States.)

The novel is ultimately a love story at heart, but because the two main characters each spend significant time in America or England, issues of race and colorism are frequently brought to their attention as well as the reader’s.

I said earlier that colorism in Americanah is depicted as a realistic part of the story rather than seeming forced or cheesy. Here’s an example of that.

While in school in Nigeria, the main female character Ifemelu has a close friend named Ginika. Ginika is described as “the second most popular girl” in school. She has caramel skin and wavy hair that falls “down to her neck instead of standing Afro-like.” Ginika is voted “Prettiest Girl” in school every year, but she claims it’s only because she’s “half-caste.” Because the students think Ginika is so pretty and popular, they try to match her with the handsome and popular guy Obinze. But Obinze falls for Ifemelu instead.

Adichie allows us to see colorism (people’s biases about skin color and hair texture), but she doesn’t resort to the typical girl fight between the dark skinned Ifemelu and the light skinned Ginika. Instead Adichie shows that close friendships can exist across the color spectrum. Adichie also shows that colorism doesn’t always play out when and how we think it will, because despite what other characters expected and wanted, the dark skinned friend ends up dating the popular guy. And he treats her well.

Adichie also portrays the practice of skin bleaching among some Nigerian women. In describing Ifemelu’s boss, the narrator says, “it was easy to tell that she had not been born with her light complexion, its sheen was too waxy and her knuckles were dark, as though those folds of skin had valiantly resisted her bleaching cream.”

In her American setting, Ifemelu writes a blog post titled: “Why Dark-Skinned Black Women—Both American and Non-American—Love Barack Obama.” In the post, Ifemelu explains how light skin is valued above dark skin in many contexts, but especially in America. So of course the main argument of the post is that dark skinned black women love Obama because he loves a dark skinned black woman. She says, “He knows what the world doesn’t know: that dark black women totally rock.” And in the typical humor of Ifemelu’s writing she tacks on a last sentence that says, “Oh, and dark black women are also for cleaning up Washington and getting out of Iraq and whatnot.”

I appreciate this honest, direct, and explicit statement about colorism. But even in its directness, it’s still an organic part of the story, it’s still true to character, it’s still funny, and it’s still well-written.

The novel contains several other instances similar to the ones I’ve pointed out here, but I recommend reading Americanah yourself to discover what else it has to offer on race, colorism, culture, immigration, love, and more.

May 12, 2014March 18, 2024

Fighting Colorism while Reading Magazines

fighting colorism inside essence magazine

Magazines are one of humanity’s greatest creative/business projects.

My mom used to work at a bank inside of a grocery store. As a girl, I’d grab all the house and home magazines off the shelves to pass the time until she got off work.

Then, in high school I discovered black hair magazines and Essence. I can honestly say that these magazines helped shape my ideas of the world and of myself. It began with the typical impulse to collect pictures and stories of my favorite celebrities at the time, but it soon grew into something more. I came to view magazines differently, and they served a deeper purpose than mere entertainment.

Somewhere along the way I began selecting magazines with images and messages that affirmed the woman I was becoming. I sought hair magazines that featured natural hair styles and actually started reading magazines like Essence cover to cover. I’d cut out meaningful passages and hang them on my walls, create collages of women and men with locs, and even made a photo book with magazine cutouts and the lyrics to “Black Butterfly.”

I guess what I grew to understand is that we don’t have to accept whatever’s given to us. We can reject, protest, question, or repurpose it to suit our needs.

Fighting colorism demands that we are intentional and proactive with our words and actions every day. It means doing everyday things in a new way–everyday things like tweeting, watching television, listening to music, posting selfies, and reading magazines.

One of the biggest shifts we can make is in media literacy, especially among youth. With this change, we’ll start to see a difference in how the media affects our beliefs about skin color, hair, and facial features.

The benefit to using media literacy to fight colorism is that we can make a difference even if the media doesn’t change. Of course we want to continue pushing for change in the media, but we don’t have to wait for others to act. We can make progress by teaching young people not to be passive viewers, listeners, and readers.

What is Media Literacy?

According to the Media Literacy Project, “Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. Media literate youth and adults are better able to understand the complex messages we receive” through various forms of media.

Media literacy gives us increased knowledge and skills to make more informed interpretations and judgments about what’s in the media. This will help us stop accepting and internalizing messages in the media that reinforce colorism.

Media literacy also gives people the knowledge and skills to find and create alternative media, which can be used to spread a different message.

Fighting Colorism while Reading Magazines

Magazines are notorious for their lack of diversity. This isn’t surprising since many magazines are part of the fashion industry, and the fashion industry is tragically monochromatic. (See here, here, and here.)

As a girl, I quickly noticed the biased pattern in magazines that favored light skin and straight hair. No one had to point it out to me. It was obvious.

But whether we like them or not, magazines are part of everyday life for many people. We see them in lobbies, waiting rooms, grocery store checkout lines, and even the backs of airline seats.

Since getting completely away from magazines is tough to do, we should start to look at them differently. We can engage with them on another level. We can be active rather than passive consumers.

So, I have compiled a few basic ideas that can help us start to look at magazines differently. Although these work for people of any age, I especially want you to share this with the children and young adults in your life.

1) Most popular magazines depict fantasy, not reality.

Why would we open a magazine if it only showed us what we already have and see every day? It’s the fact that magazines allow us to escape into the kind of life we often dream about that continues to make them so appealing.

The typical magazine is in the business of depicting fantasy, not reality; that includes everything from the immaculate kitchens in Better Homes and Gardens, to the splendid dishes in Food & Wine, or the ripped abs in Fitness Magazine.

Every image is staged before, during, and after it’s created. (Watch this.)

But what if we revealed the man behind the curtain, exposed the smoke and mirrors, and told people (especially children and teens) that images in magazines usually don’t show a person as they naturally are? What if we explained the highly involved process of what it takes to get a model or celebrity out of bed in the morning and onto the cover of a magazine? I think that’s a strategy that could reduce the influence of magazine images.

Going back to “that man behind the curtain” (Wizard of Oz reference) we see that people were ruled by the wizard. They worshiped and feared the wizard until they realized that there was no wizard. The would-be wizard was a regular person just like everybody else. And once the people learned this, they were no longer ruled by him; they no longer worshiped or feared him.

When people learn that the images in magazines are mainly illusions, those images lose some of their power. Now, this doesn’t let magazines off the hook. And it certainly won’t fix the problem of unrealistic beauty standards in the media. It just makes us less vulnerable to potentially harmful messages.

2) When we read the text, the images often fade into the background.

I often hear the expression: “looking at a magazine.” Too many people “look at” magazines rather than read them.

If we really want to make a difference in how we’re influenced or not by magazines, we must commit to actually reading every magazine that we open, and only opening those that we intend to read.

Here are the benefits to paying more attention to reading magazines rather than just flipping through them to look at pictures:

improving basic reading skills (especially in children and young adults)
shifting focus (literally) away from the images
gaining useful knowledge or inspiration
valuing substance over shallow imagery
learning that what we see never reveals the whole story

Obviously, reading the entire magazine every time isn’t practical. But maybe there’s at least one article or story that sparks enough interest to read. If it’s the image of a celebrity that sparks interest, then go ahead and enjoy looking at the photo spread, but also read the interview or feature on that person.

3) Have a conversation about the magazine.

Especially if you’re reading a magazine with a young person, it’s important to encourage them to express what they think about the magazine. You can probably come up with good questions that are most appropriate for your specific child, magazine, and situation, but here are a few to get you started.

Why did you choose to read this magazine?
Do you know anyone else who might enjoy the magazine? Why do you think they would enjoy it?
What was your favorite story/article? Why did you like it? What did you learn from it?
Do you think the editors did a good job choosing pictures for the magazine? Why or why not?
What kind of people are shown and not shown in this magazine? Why do you think the magazine editors decided to show these people rather than others?
If you could create a magazine, how would it be similar to, or different from this one?

To make it a real conversation and not a one-sided interview, be sure to share your own thoughts and allow others to ask their own questions.

4) Diversify your magazine selection and go beyond what you can buy at supermarkets.

If you’re into the idea of fighting colorism while reading magazines, you’ll have to invest in a diverse range of magazines and go beyond what’s easily accessible in local stores. I urge you to try these titles that are probably missing from the racks and shelves at your local retailers. Also, continue to discover new and different magazines on your own.

Now you tell us: Do you think magazines are useful in fighting colorism?

April 16, 2014March 18, 2024

For a Brown Girl: who committed suicide when her rainbow wasn’t enough

“& this is for colored girls who have considered suicide / but are movin to the ends of their own rainbows”

—Ntozake Shange

In 1975 the poet Ntozake Shange published For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf. In April 2014, the rainbow proved insufficient for one colored girl, Karyn Washington, creator of the online communities For Brown Girls and The #DarkSkinRedLips Project.

Like most of her fans, I didn’t know Karyn personally, but we exchanged a few tweets and emails about our common interests in colorism, self-love, and empowerment.

I got the news of Karyn’s suicide on Friday afternoon and struggled to fight back tears the rest of the workday.

As a comrade in the battle against colorism, a kindred dark-brown girl, and someone who fights every day to keep the demons of depression at bay, I felt the missing weight of of my beautiful sister’s life. Like a seesaw. It’s easier to manage the ups and downs when there’s someone on the other end. Only when there’s a strong counterbalance can we hope to rise again.

Karyn was reportedly suffering from depression following the death of her mother. She’d lost her counterbalance. And who can replace the weight of a mother?

She started FBG at the young age of 19, and only three years later killed herself at the age of 22.

While I can’t help but imagine the kind of impact she could have made on the world if she’d lived to be an old woman, I’m grateful for the work she left behind and all that she did accomplish.

For many girls and women, Karyn Washington was part of the rainbow, someone who helped them see the whole spectrum of their world and appreciate every shade.

But where did the rainbow fall apart for Karyn? Who could have been there to fill in the gap for her, just as she’d done for others?

In a recent edition of Shange’s book, she says we might think we face the cruelty of this world alone, “but we don’t. We discover that by sharing with each other we find strength to go on.”

At the end of Shange’s For Colored Girls, the seven ladies “enter into a closed tight circle.”

That’s the rainbow.

But for too many of us, that circle isn’t so tight. For too many of us the circle is broken and the rainbow is not enough.

When Karyn lost her mother, she lost a significant part of her rainbow. Perhaps she felt her circle was then too broken to ever be whole again.

Whether we know it or not, we’re all a part of someone else’s rainbow.

Karyn’s suicide makes me feel the urgency of completing and tightening the circle for as many people as possible. That includes helping them find professional help when needed. (We probably all need it at some point.)

Now that Karyn is gone, there’s an important space to fill in the struggle for self-love and empowerment and the ongoing battle against colorism.

So take your places. Shine with the light of your true colors.

If you are considering suicide, call 1-800-273-8255. For additional information, visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

March 3, 2014March 18, 2024

5 Lessons on Colorism from Lupita Nyong’o’s Essence Speech

Lupita_NyongoTIFF2013_(cropped) gdcgraphics The talk continues about Lupita Nyong’o. Over the past few days, however, it’s gotten deeper than just her Hollywood stardom and high fashion domination.

Ever since Lupita’s powerful speech about the effects of colorism at Essence’s Black Women in Hollywood event, more people are weighing in on the issue.

Some, like me, are openly excited about this moment. Some might be a little more skeptical. Others are probably unaware that anything is happening.

Regardless of what we ultimately believe about Lupita’s role in fighting colorism, it’s clear that she’s helping to spark discussion about colorism in ways that very few other celebrities have.

After watching and reading Lupita’s speech, I went back and parsed out six big takeaways to share with you.

1) Images matter a lot.

“And then Alek Wek came on the international scene. A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was. . . . a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside of me. When I saw Alek I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty. . . . I could never have guessed that my first job out of school would be so powerful in and of itself and that it would propel me to be such an image of hope in the same way that the women of The Color Purple were to me.”

I’m not going to say too much here, because I think you get it.

2) It helps to admit that colorism affects us in deeply personal ways.

“I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. . . . I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. . . . And when I was a teenager my self-hate grew worse, as you can imagine happens with adolescence.”

It’s refreshing to hear a celebrity open up about their personal struggles, past or present, especially when so many claim they’ve never struggled with self-love. It helps people who are currently struggling to see that there’s hope and that they can live a brilliant life despite the difficulties.

For us as individuals, we can’t really heal if we pretend we’ve never been hurt. We have to start by admitting it to ourselves. But when we reach a point where we can admit it openly and publically, to those we know and love, and to others, we release an even greater burden.

It takes courage, but the first step to healing is acknowledging the pain.

3) A loving parent’s affirmations aren’t always enough.

“My mother reminded me often that she thought that I was beautiful, but that was no consolation: She’s my mother, of course she’s supposed to think I am beautiful.”

I’ve written before about the mistake that many parents make in thinking that merely telling their daughter she’s beautiful means she should have no self-image issues.

The truth is, even if parents tell their children several times every day how gorgeous they are, the rest of the world may be saying something very different. Parents must acknowledge this outside influence and realize that they have to be more proactive in building a positive self-image in their children.

4) Colorism isn’t just about the media.

“but around me the preference for light skin prevailed. To the beholders that I thought mattered, I was still unbeautiful.”

256px-Gabourey_Sidibe_2010 greg hernandez Although we often focus on the media as a force that perpetuates colorism, many of us, including me, first experience colorism from the everyday people around us. The media is an easy target because if we focus on the media, we don’t have to face our daily reality, relationships, and interactions with people in real life.

If we focus on the media’s role in keeping colorism alive, we don’t have to confront our parent, aunt, best friend, or coworker whose words and actions continue the cycle of colorism.

Even when people in the media, like Lupita Nyong’o or Gabourey Sidibe, present a change from the norm, many people don’t accept them. They reject the alternative image because it goes against what they’ve really believed all their lives.

It’s not enough just to demand change in the media. We must also demand it from ourselves and the people around us.

5) Colorism can use celebrity spokespeople just like any other cause.

“And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey.”

Many celebrities use their influence to campaign for special causes and to bring attention to issues that would get very little attention otherwise. Over the past several decades those causes have included HIV/AIDS, poverty, cancer, racism, gay rights, women’s rights, war, child abuse, domestic violence, human trafficking, immigration reform, visual and performing arts, literacy, employment, prison reform, climate change and the list goes on.

It’s time for colorism to be added to that list.

But one person, celebrity or not, can’t make change on their own. We must continue to be the everyday spokespeople every day.

Will you join us in speaking out about colorism?

December 1, 2013March 31, 2024

Colorism in Relationships: Preference or Prejudice?

dark brown man in green shirt hunging dark brown woman with pink shirt holding a boquet of flowers looking back and smiling at the man. colorism in relationships preference or prejudice

Why do we date who we date? What’s really behind our choice of marriage partners? Is love truly blind? And more to the point of this post, is there colorism in relationships? How can we discern if it’s a matter of preference or prejudice?

Watch LIVE: Dr. Webb Elaborates on Colorism in Relationships and Preference vs. Prejudice (or Scroll to Continue Reading).

If there is colorism in relationships, how can we tell the difference between a person who coincidentally falls for someone of a certain skin tone versus someone who is color struck?

Here I present one perspective on this matter. Of course there are other viewpoints out there. If you’re new to this issue, I encourage you to explore those as well, after you’ve considered the following.

Is there Colorism in Relationships?

Yes. As Kola Boof says in this video, we can control who we love. As a society and as individuals, we make conscious choices about who’s loved and who’s rejected. We must not be satisfied with an uncritical acceptance of our beauty standards. We have to be willing to examine why we have preferences and realize that “preference” isn’t merely biological, physical, harmless attraction. Our preferences are shaped, molded, and conditioned by our environment. There’s no doubt in my mind that colorism plays a huge role in romantic relationships, but perhaps there’s some doubt in yours. So here’s why I’m so sure that colorism exists in relationships.

Because Racism Exists

As long as racism exists, and as long as that racism is internalized by various groups of people, colorism will also exist. That’s because racism causes colorism, like an offshoot.

If you believe that the world has evolved to a point where racism is no longer an everyday problem, then you might not recognize colorism as a problem either.

Because of the Research

In a 2002 article, “Race and the Politics of Personal Relationships: Focus on Black Canadian Women,” Evangelia Tastsoglou, explains how it’s not surprising that some blacks have adopted “society’s color complex” because of all the racism, white supremacy, and stereotypes that saturate everyday culture.

Tastsoglous also summarizes a lot of historical research on the issue by writing, “Even in the Black community, the fair-skinned Black woman who most nearly resembled White women was seen as the lady and placed on a pedestal, whereas darker-skinned Black women were viewed as b****** and whores.”

Christopher A. D. Charles, who focuses on Jamaican culture in the article “Skin Bleaching and the Prestige Complexion of Sexual Attraction,” explains that many Jamaicans who bleach their skin do so to be more attractive to potential mates.

Charles also makes the very important statement that, “some of these people choose a browning [light skin] partner to have light skin children.”

Although there’s more research, I’ll close this section by referring to the writings of Darrick Hamilton, Arthur H. Goldsmith, and William Darity, who co-wrote “Shedding ‘light’ on marriage: The influence of skin shade on marriage for black females.” In that article, the writers refer to prior research that’s provided “ample evidence that greater social status is ascribed to black women with lighter skin shade in the U.S.”

However, in their own research, they establish further evidence of this, specifically for women under the age of 30. They report that “as skin shade lightens the incidence of marriage rises.” More specifically, they report general percentages as follows: “55 percent of light skinned black females had been married, but only 30 percent of those with medium skin shade and 23 percent of the dark skinned females had ever been married. The ever married rate for young whitewomen, 50 percent, is slightly less than the rate for young light skin blackwomen…”

Because of Lived Experiences

In the short film, “Fair? – A documentary about skin colour in India,” several people report on the pervasive culture of colorism in India.

The first woman to speak, who’s not really dark by world standards, admits that throughout her childhood people had told her: “You are dark, so you will never get married.”

Other testimonies in the documentary discuss how weddings have been cancelled because the bride was too dark, that photos used in marriage proposals are lightened and the women are made to wear powder to appear fairer, that local ads specifically request fair skinned marriage partners, and many more instances of day-to-day colorism in relationships.

Academy Award winning actress Lupita Nyong’o was told by a teacher while growing up in Kenya that she wouldn’t be able to find a husband because she was so dark.

In my own experiences living in the United States, I’ve heard many people explicitly say that they only date people with a certain skin tone. Beyond only dating men or women with a certain complexion, some people even go so far as to taunt, harass, belittle, and demean people who don’t meet their standards for skin tone. In some cases, men admit that they’ll sleep with women of any complexion, but will only date or marry women with light skin.

I’ve witnessed this kind of discrimination firsthand, and have observed it in numerous movies, TV shows, and song lyrics. If you have not, then consider yourself lucky, but don’t consider it proof that colorism in relationships must be a myth.

Preference or Prejudice?

I acknowledge that many relationship choices are controlled by subconscious programming, both biological and sociological. However, there are some clear signs that a person isn’t innocently falling for whomever destiny has chosen for them.

Predetermined Attraction

If physical attraction is supposed to be biological and instinctual, then predetermining the skin color of a future partner is a clear warning sign that a person is color struck.

Saying, “I only date ___ skinned girls/guys” exposes the colorism behind a person’s choice of partners.

Also, predetermining who you will partner with based on their skin color is NOT the same as preferring a certain personality, work ethic, or sense of humor. Skin color has no substantive effect on the quality of a relationship, whereas other sorts of personal qualities often do.

If a person is really just reacting to pure physical attraction rather than superficial societal standards, they would not be able to predetermine who they will or will not be attracted to based solely on skin color because not all dark/brown/light skinned people look alike.

And just because lots of people have similar superficial prejudices against other physical features, doesn’t make colorism in relationships okay.

Fetishes or Stereotypes about Complexion

A second warning sign that a person is color struck is that they make excessive comments about skin color. The comments may be positive or negative, and they may be about the person they’re currently in a relationship with or a total stranger.

The real giveaway is whether the comment contains over-generalizations, fetishizing language, and stereotypes (“dark/light skinned girls be like…”). If a person’s choice is really just “preference” based purely on biological physical attraction and not socially conditioned prejudice, then there would be no need for fetishizing and stereotyping. If you can’t express your so called “preference” without demeaning other people, then it’s not merely a “preference,” it’s actually prejudice. If racist stereotypes aren’t cool with you, then colorist stereotypes shouldn’t be either. And it does not matter if the person claims it’s “just a joke.” It’s still colorism.

If you can’t express your so called “preference” without fetishizing complexion, then it’s not a “preference,” but a sickness. It’s one thing to find someone’s complexion, hair, and features attractive. It’s another thing entirely to fetishize those traits.

Hypocritical Stance on Discrimination

Someone says they would never date outside of their race, and you call them racist. Someone says they’d never date a dark skinned girl, and you shrug and say it’s just “preference.” Those who insist that race should not matter in who a person loves, should, by their own logic, also insist that skin tone should not matter. Instead, those who “go to bat” to defend black men who choose to date/marry non-black women, saying it’s wrong to discriminate based on race, are completely silent and perfectly okay with black men (and women) discriminating based on skin tone. They support skin tone discrimination by saying, “it’s just preference,” but will call other people racist if they choose to only date within their race.

The ugly truth is that this double standard plays into the hands of colorism and white supremacy: Fight for the right to marry white/light (an effort founded on the perceived superiority of whiteness) and cosign anti-blackness.

Why Does it Matter?

These harmful beliefs don’t just affect who dates whom. These negative ideas permeate other important aspects of our lives like employment and health.
Marriage or partnership in general has a significant impact on the socioeconomic status of women.
Colorism in dating and marriage choices upholds white supremacy and racism.
Anti-black prejudice is wrong. Period.

Recognition is Only the Beginning

Some people really struggle to admit their prejudices (and perhaps never will), while others boast about their colorism. I don’t go out crusading to change these people’s attitudes and actions. I merely focus on awareness. It’s not my goal to make a color struck adult see the beauty in all skin tones. But by focusing on awareness, and acknowledging that the problem of colorism in relationships is real, perhaps we can impact younger/future generations and open up lanes of healing.

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

Learn More

Contact Me

November 14, 2013March 18, 2024

Colorism in Hip Hop: Keeping it Real

The phrase ‘keeping it real” was coined by the hip hop world, a genre of music I’ve been known to enjoy. But many of the biggest names in hip hop are consistently guilty of NOT keeping it real. This applies to many aspects of hip hop, but for our purposes, we’re going to examine colorism in hip hop. The following are eight aspects of colorism in hip hop that we must be “real” and honest about.

Listen to Dr. Webb read this post or scroll to continue reading.

1) Colorism in hip hop does exist.

There’s debate about whether or not colorism exists in general, so we can expect controversy when discussing whether or not colorism exists in hip hop. Many have argued that it’s merely a preference rather than a prejudice. Defenders of all things hip hop would have us believe that it’s merely coincidence that so many rap lyrics glorify light skinned women and diminish dark skinned women, that it’s mere coincidence that so many rap videos exclude dark skinned women altogether, or that so many rappers choose to partner with light-skinned or non-black women exclusively and openly brag about it.

Well, as Huck said on a recent episode of Scandal, “Two things make a coincidence. Three things make a conspiracy.” Colorism in the music industry and elsewhere is a sign that the conspiracy of white supremacy has been fairly successful thus far. The pattern of positioning light skin and european features as the standard of feminine beauty is too pervasive to not be seen as something more insidious than “coincidence” or “marketing” or “crossover appeal.”

But, in case anyone still has doubts, just remember that hip hop stars have explicitly expressed their colorism. They can’t argue “coincidence” when rappers are blatant about their prejudice against dark skinned women.

2) Colorism in hip hop is another product of our long history of white supremacy.

I read recently that colorism exists partly because all cultures tend to favor the “exotic.” If this alone could explain colorism in our world today, we would see more dark skinned or mixed race people in European fashion shows. But we don’t. It’s hard to find even lighter skinned women of color on runways around the world. The exotic argument is related to the idea that colorism is nothing more than trivial preference or coincidence.

Really, there is a carefully built system that’s been strategically maintained (though weakening with time) which allows certain people to monopolize various forms of power. When you can convince an entire group of people that they are inferior to you, there are less obstacles to gaining and maintaining your power. And while that group is preoccupied with destroying itself by self-segregation and infighting, you’ll have a lot less competition. You can pull the wool over their eyes because they’re focused on their “inadequacies” rather than your injustice.

3) Colorism in hip hop has a negative effect on society.

Colorism affects us all, no matter how light or dark our skin is, because it’s an element of the racism that undermines every society. It reinforces racist stereotypes that have substantive effects in people’s lives, including employment opportunities, criminal convictions and prison sentences, marriage prospects, harassment and abuse, and more.

While hip hop is not solely responsible for perpetuating these stereotypes, it currently has one of the most significant roles in doing so. Hip hop spreads its colorist message around the globe, and it’s heavily marketed to highly impressionable youth, which leads me to the issue of low self-esteem in girls.

Some might argue that girls shouldn’t expect the media to build their self-esteem, that self-esteem should be built at home, or that girls should build their own confidence. That’s no excuse, however, to ignore direct attacks against the image of an entire group of people. If we don’t accept hip hop as a vehicle for building self-esteem, we most certainly should not accept it as a vehicle for tearing down self-esteem.

4) Artists have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

There may be varying levels of power based on how long an artist has been in the industry or how important an artist is to a particular company. However, there are countless instances of artists in all genres exercising creative license in their videos, influencing the direction of their videos, and sometimes generating the entire idea themselves.

The idea that hip hop artists can’t do anything about casting in their videos is not only false, it also perpetuates the sense of helplessness that’s plagued our communities for far too long.

Kendrick Lamar By Jørund Føreland Pedersen

Here are a few examples of rappers who have directly affected the casting in their videos. Please note that this list does not represent an endorsement of the artists, their songs, or their videos. It merely illustrates the level of control rappers can have over their work. It also shows that rappers themselves are also aware of the level of colorism in the industry.

British Rapper Tinie Tempah said he choose all of the models for his video “Trampoline.”

2Chainz Colorism in Hip Hop Keeping it Real — 2Chainz by WealthRangers

Kendrick Lamar made a last minute switch for the casting of the leading lady in his “Poetic Justice Video.” And he directly stated that his intent was to represent more dark skinned women.

2 Chainz was also outspoken on more than one occasion about purposely choosing to feature darker skinned models in one of his videos. He even pointed to the fact that his mom was dark skinned, suggesting that he has a reason to appreciate dark skinned beauty.

Finally, there’s no excuse for what rappers say in their music. While it may be easy to blame casting directors for the lack of diversity in video models, who can they blame for the colorism in their lyrics? If anyone has the power to stop perpetuating colorism through lyrics, it’s the artists themeselves.

5) Fans have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

For us fans, it all comes down to money and support. If we stop spending money on them and stop supporting them, rappers will quickly learn that colorism shouldn’t be profitable.

6) Most don’t do anything about colorism in hip hop because they’ve been conditioned by white supremacy.

When people have power but don’t use it, it’s for one of two reasons: they don’t know they have any power, or they simply don’t want to use their power. When it comes to hip hop and colorism, most people, fans and members of the industry included, are complacent because they believe lighter and whiter is better. They don’t protest the existence of colorism because many of them agree with it. It’s a hard reality, but we won’t make progress on the issue of colorism unless we admit that our communities are filled with people who think it’s okay to privilege one shade of skin over another. We have to know where we stand. If a fan agrees that light skin is better, of course they’re going to attack you on twitter in defense of racist rappers.

7) Colorism is not just in Hip Hop.

Colorism leaks from the society at large into every genre of music that we create. It’s just more obvious in hip hop because the majority of the artists in that genre are people of color.

R&B has gotten away with a lot of colorism because the genre as a whole has less of an image problem, but it exists there too.

I point this out not to let hip hop off the hook, but to make sure we’re considering the issue holistically as well. We must address the issues in hip hop, but we must also address the issues in homes, schools, runways, churches, movie screens, magazines, boardrooms, and wherever else it needs addressing.

8) Although colorism in hip hop may seem overwhelming, we must continue to speak and act against it.

Social progress through out history shows us that change is slow, painful, and contentious. Some of us may not live long enough to see the full fruits of our labor, but we must labor anyhow.

Let’s be critical consumers and spread media literacy. Let’s create and and appreciate more constructive images of diversity. We don’t have to ban hip hop altogether, but let’s be real about the problems that exist within its culture.

October 1, 2013March 18, 2024

8 Tips for Dealing with Colorism in Families

colorism in families a fair skinned girl and dark skinned boy

Sibling rivalries. Estranged parents. Favoritism. Neglect. Abuse. Family should be the place where everyone can experience unconditional love and acceptance. Unfortunately, a lot of folks feel anything but that. Trouble at home can arise for many reasons—one of them is the existence of colorism in families. As Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman (2013) says, “In families, love is present, but … what love looks like may depend, in part, on what you look like” (p. 14). While many families of color around the world think it’s common place to hear casual comments or jokes about skin color, hair, or other features, there are far too many instances where colorism goes beyond mere words and results in outright neglect or abuse.

A lot of anti-colorism advocates focus on external pressures in the media as the primary source of colorism and low self-esteem. But many people tell a different story about how their own mothers, fathers, and other family members were the first to make them feel insecure about their skin color, hair, or facial features. Before a child is influenced by the media, they simply feel the love or lack of love and affection from their family. Research suggests that, “racialized dynamics within [families] can compromise subjective well-being in ways that are more devastating than structural inequality” (Hordge-Freeman, 2013, p. 14). The pain you feel when your own family rejects you can be far worse than how you feel about any images you may see in the media or any issues you may face outside of the home. Images in the media and negative reactions from non-family members are often just reminders and reinforcers of what we’ve learned about ourselves at home from our families. That’s not always the case, but too often it is.

If you’re tired of colorism in your family and colorism in general, I want to share with you some practical tips for dealing with colorism in families. My main goal for providing these tips is to help us protect the young people and the children in our families, but these tips could also provide relief for other adults or even for ourselves.

Watch, Listen, or Read More Below

1. Be COURAGEOUS.

It will take a lot of courage to stand up to family when you witness acts of colorism. Often times you’ll be criticized for being too uptight or for being a party pooper. Family may start to whisper about you, and some may even start to avoid you. You’ll get eye rolls and deep sighs (Oh! Here she goes again!). Prepare yourself for the backlash (because there will be backlash). But be encouraged by the fact that as uncomfortable as you might feel when you speak out in your family, it’s not as bad as children being made to feel uncomfortable in their own skin.

2. Know the perpetrators of colorism in families.

Because it’s difficult to always be vigilant (I mean, family is the one place where we should be able to let our guard down sometimes, even if just a little), it helps to know which family members are perpetrators of colorism. That way, you can prepare yourself when you’re around them, and be more relaxed when you’re not.

3. Don’t let “jokes” about skin tone go unaddressed.

People often disguise their hatred with humor. They know it’s unacceptable to state their negative opinions directly, so they turn them into jokes. That way they can say what they really feel, and if anyone tries to call them out on it, they can defend themselves by saying “it’s just a joke.”

But we’re too clever to believe that. Don’t laugh at such “jokes.” You can simply respond by saying, “Jokes are supposed to be funny, and that isn’t funny.” Or you can reaffirm the opposite of what the joke suggests. If the joke suggests that a certain skin color, hair type, or facial feature is unattractive, merely respond by saying that it is, in fact, just as attractive as any other.

4. Spread the love.

One of the most common manifestations of colorism in families is merely gushing over the looks of one particular individual (usually a child). If a baby or a child is light skinned with straight or loosely curled hair, certain family members can’t seem to help themselves. They make much ado about how pretty the child is and they like to show them off to other family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers. The lack of such attention and appreciation to other children in the family with darker skin and more Afrocentric features is obvious. People may not think it’s obvious, but it is.

Spread the love. Make sure every child in the room hears something positive about how they look and who they are.

5. Be aware.

In cases where colorism escalates from casual remarks to actual neglect and abuse, families should care enough to notice and do something about it. A lot of times we refuse to see what’s going on because we’re afraid of what we’re obligated to do if we know, or because we want to believe that our relatives could never be capable of such things. But if we ignore the mistreatment, then we’re complicit.

6. Be a mentor.

Sometimes it’s more effective to deal with people one-on-one. If you suspect that a younger person in your family is insecure about how they look, spend extra time with them. Have conversations and do activities that reaffirm their beauty and worth. Let them know that you understand what they’re going through and that they can talk to you about how they feel.

Similarly, if you know that a family member is a frequent perpetrator of colorism, pull them aside and let them know how their comments or actions are hurting the family.

7. Check yourself.

You know what Micheal Jackson said (I’m starting with the man in the mirror) and what Gandhi said (be the change you want to see in the world) and what Mathew 7:5 says (first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye). This goes for all of us, including me as a write this post and manage this blog. We must all watch our own attitudes, comments, and reactions if we’re going to be the role models in our families and call the people we love to a higher standard of love.

8. Be consistent.

Too often, we try something once and then give up when we don’t see full results right away. Resist the urge to say, Well, I tried to tell them, but nothing’s changed, so I give up. I’m just not going to say anything anymore. You may not see the payoff right away, but one day your young son or daughter, niece or nephew, brother or sister, will tell you how you impacted their lives by standing up for them when others were putting them down.

Can we do it? Can we create change with one person, one family at a time? I think we can if we all commit to it and support each other. What’s your experience with colorism in families?

Hordge-Freeman, E. (2013, May). What’s love got to do with it?: racial features, stigma and socialization in Afro-Brazilian families. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1-17.

September 23, 2013March 18, 2024

What can We Do about Skin Bleaching around the World?

And it all comes down to this question. Now that I’ve given an overview of skin bleaching around the world (and perhaps prompted you to continue your own research), I want to dedicate an entire post to exploring possible solutions to the skin bleaching culture around the world, which I call an epidermal epidemic. ColorismHealing.org reports on the current state of things, but we’re always looking forward and focusing on progress, what we can do to evolve beyond the status quo.

I don’t want to make this sound easy. It’s colossal. Our fight will be a long, challenging fight. The solutions may sound obvious, but their effectiveness does not require newness; it merely requires commitment.

Skin bleaching around the world has taken root and embedded itself in the very fabric of many people’s lives. It’s a global phenomenon propagated by multiple forces, many of them subtle and covert, and thus practically invisible. For this reason, it takes multiple tactics working in tandem to really bring down the global skin bleaching infrastructure.

Education

Spread information about skin bleaching around the world.

We must share the dangers of skin bleaching, the history of it, current practices, demographic and geographical profiles, the manufacturing and distribution of products, and chemical breakdowns of common products. Again, many people have been sharing this information for years. One source of information I recommend is The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 4, no. 4, June 2011, which is a special issue dedicated to skin bleaching. We must continue and expand the effort to get this information to the world.

Focus on media literacy.

Skin bleaching as an epidemic is commonly spread through advertisements and various media such as billboards, commercials, and magazines. Therefore, it’s important to teach people how to recognize the the manipulation (“persuasive techniques”) of the media. The Dark is Beautiful campaign, for example, hosts media literacy workshops. Of course, merely knowing the media’s strategies doesn’t make us immune to them. However when we’re educated, we can be more critical consumers and not be blindly persuaded.

Promote education in general.

As an educator, and someone who’s passionate about education, I just believe that this should always be a part of the solution to social problems. We must promote quantity as well as quality of education. By quantity I mean more people and more education. By quality I mean that education should be rigorous, and it should develop the entire person to live up to their positive potential and to be a productive global-citizen.

Empowerment

I’m using empowerment here to mean a kind of internal energy and drive within an individual and/or community. I also like to call it self-awareness and self-esteem. I’ll use a quote from from an earlier post on the difference between racism and colorism:

“Colorism among people of the same race is also considered a form of internalized racism. After centuries of being conditioned to view white/european as superior and their own race and culture as inferior, many people were broken and eventually believed in and acted according to that dichotomy….

If we internalize racism, we lose our will and our ability to fight the external system of racism. If we don’t value, respect, and love ourselves, why would we put up a fight when others don’t either. If we believe that white people are superior, then we won’t bat an eye at the disparities in education and wealth.”

Like I said before, we must attack colorism and skin bleaching on multiple fronts simultaneously. The work that it takes to change people’s attitudes about race and skin color is just as important (and equally challenging) as any other aspect of what we do. This takes commitment. Our psyches weren’t damaged overnight, and they won’t be rebuilt overnight either.

Economics

In the global system of capitalism, corporations seem like Goliaths that are impossible to defeat. But the best way to send them a message and affect their practices is to affect their sales. Mind you, I’m not an economist, but I use models of what’s been effective before.

National and local governments can act.

Some governments have banned the sale of certain products, which is a good start. We also need them to ban the manufacturing of such products, because we know that in places like the EU mercury soap is banned from sale, but can be manufactured there as long as it’s exported (Glenn, 2008, p. 285). Finally, local authorities have to enforce the bans and intercept smuggling.

The people have power.

Other traditional ways of bringing about change include boycotts, petitions, and peaceful demonstrations. It’s a foundational concept in business that if the people stop buying, then the company has to change or it will bleed money.

But boycotts are especially tricky, especially if they’re not organized in a transnational way. If one city or country effectively boycotts a company that promotes fair skin as the ideal, that company may be able to stay afloat because of their other international markets. Multinational companies often disguise themselves by operating under different names in various countries, but a little digging will always lead back to the parent company.

Conclusion

As Evelyn Glenn (2008) writes:

“One often-proposed solution to the problem is reeducation that stresses the diversity of types of beauty and desirability and that valorizes darker skin shades, so that lightness/whiteness is dislodged as the dominant standard…. Focusing only on individual consciousness and motives distracts attention from the very powerful economic forces that help create a yearning for lightness and that offer to fulfill that yearning at a steep price.” (p. 298)

I know I’m repeating myself when I say that we must commit to all of these efforts (and more) simultaneously and for the long haul. There’s no need for those of us who care about this issue to paralyze the movement by bickering about what should be done first.

I propose that we assemble international committees devoted to various strategies, but all working toward a common goal. We do not have to amalgamate and become one organization, but we can ban together like a sort of UN or NATO working to abolish the practice of skin bleaching around the world.

Just imagine…

Then act.

September 18, 2013March 18, 2024

The Epidemic of Skin Bleaching Around the World

Personal preferences. Individual lifestyle choices. Freedom… Those are some of the things people call upon to explain and justify their indifference about the things other people do. When we talk about something like skin bleaching around the world, they say it’s no different than pale people getting tans. Well, they’re right about that. Tanning and bleaching are very similar in that both can be deadly, especially for those who can’t afford vetted, high-quality bleaches. Of course most people survive these practices, but not without long-term damage to their skin and overall health. There’s also the literal cost of skin bleaching. People continue to exploit colorism and racism for profit. So, I ask: Fair skin at what cost?

Harmful Effects of Skin Bleaching

The source of danger when tanning, of course, is overexposure to UV rays. The source of danger when bleaching is overexposure to certain chemicals.

Throughout history, among different groups of people, and in various places around the globe, people have created a myriad of concoctions that supposedly lighten the skin. In Europe, certain whitening cosmetics once contained white lead which could cause symptoms as serious as blindness or paralysis (Blay, 2011, p. 21). In addition to lead, many skin whiteners around the world use corticosteroids, hydroquinone, and mercury. Extended exposure to these chemicals (like lathering it on one’s skin on a daily basis) can have harmful effects such as neurological damage, kidney disease, ochronosis, eczema, bacterial and fungal infections, skin atrophy, and Cushing’s Syndrome (Glenn, 2008, p. 285).

What’s worse? Once exposed to some of these chemicals, the body forms a type of dependency, making it difficult to stop using the product because of adverse reactions when you do. Afua Hirsch (2012) quotes Dr Fatou Fall, a dermatologist from the Institute of Social Hygiene in Dakar: “Even when they discover the side-effects and want to stop using the creams, they find they cannot stop. It’s only when you stop that the skin changes and begins to become completely burned” (para. 12).

Artificially fair skin is costing people their health, but in many cases it also costs them the very thing they were so desperate to attain—confidence.

You might shrug it off. So what if they want to engage in self-destructive behavior? So what if a few people choose to take the risk of doing permanent damage to themselves?

Well, it’s a whole lot more than a few, and it’s not just “those people.”

Fair Skin has Another Cost

Large numbers of people in every region of the world use some type of skin lightning product. Some countries may not have much use for the stuff, but they’re nonetheless in the business of manufacturing it. The issue of skin bleaching, therefore, is not about “them.” It’s about us.

With the rise of the internet, the world players in the skin bleaching market have become even more connected. Companies have new inroads for marketing and distribution, and consumers have greater access to information and products (Glenn, 2008, p. 283). This is one reason why I’m such an advocate for using the internet as a means of counteracting, the obsession with lighter skin. Hence this blog and others like Dark is Beautiful, which is based in India.

Evelyn Glenn (2008) writes about how skin lightening is “interwoven into the world economic system and its transnational circuits of products, capital, culture, and people” and about the “media and messages, cultural themes and symbols, used to create the desire for skin lightening products” (p. 282). These products are manufactured in some countries and exported or smuggled into others. The media messages are conceived and created by a few individuals and are projected throughout the world. In fact, Distribution of mercury soap has been illegal in the EU since 1989, but it’s manufacture has remained legal as long as the product is exported” (p. 285).

To be blunt, I interpret this type of legislation as race- or ethnicity-based capitalism. If it were merely capitalism, then they would allow the mercury soap to be sold anywhere, including Europe. However, the governments and the manufacturers in those countries know the dangers of mercury and want to protect their own people, but are quite willing to make a profit at the expense of people’s health in other nations.

According to Glenn (2008), “the desire for lighter skin and the use of skin bleaches is accelerating in places where modernization and the influence of western capitalism and culture are most prominent” (p. 295).

And so, the new face of imperialism can be seen in magazines, on billboards, and on Movie, TV, and computer screens around the globe. The skin bleaching market is similar to colonialism in that the promotion of white superiority allows a few powerful and wealthy groups to become increasingly wealthy and powerful at the cost of masses of other people.

In 2012, Indians reportedly consumed an estimated 233 tonnes of bleaching products (Rajesh, 2013), and in terms of sheer numbers, Indians make up the largest skin bleaching market. In some African cities, as many as 52-77% of women use skin lighteners. A Synovate market survey in 2004 showed that 50% of respondents in the Philippines reported using skin lighteners. In places like Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea, global surveys report that 20-50% of the of respondents had used skin bleaches and that 20-50% would use more if they could afford it. Mercury laden creams are still widely available in parts of Latin America, and in the U.S. women of all races, including Europeans and whites, have long legacies of skin whitening or lightening. (Glenn, 2008, pp. 284-295). And these indicators probably underestimate the practice of skin bleaching around the globe.

I present this information for people who might’ve thought skin bleaching was an isolated, marginal problem in limited places. It’s not. I reiterate that skin bleaching is a global issue with well-known roots.

The Roots of Skin Bleaching Around the World

One piece of research that shifted the way I think about white supremacy in general and skin bleaching in particular is that the practice actually began in Europe among the Europeans themselves (as opposed to immigrants from Southern nations). According to Dr. Yaba Blay (2011), “much of the history of European aesthetic practices is a history of whitening skin” (p. 20). Because of Queen Elizabeth I’s efforts to make her skin appear ghostly white, nearly transparent, extremely pale skin became known as the “Elizabethan ideal of beauty.” This ideal and practice of skin whitening was carried over to the Americas by female European settlers (p. 21).

This information supports the idea that skin bleaching is an issue that affects everyone. It shows that white supremacy even negatively affects white people. It shows that any ideal of physical beauty is arbitrary, unattainable, and downright foolish. But back to the history of it all.

The most basic and effective propaganda was founded on the dichotomy of white vs. black and light vs. dark, probably because they were and still are viewed as pure opposites in many cultures. Glenn (2008) explains that, “In Southern Africa, colorism is just one of the negative inheritances of European colonialism. The ideology of white supremacy that European colonists brought included the association of blackness with primitiveness, lack of civilization, unrestrained sexuality, pollution, and dirt” (p. 284). This was an effective type of messaging against black people around the world, but also effective for any group of darker skinned or brown people.

In desperate attempts to escape these negative associations, to escape various forms of discrimination, and to escape other concrete forms of oppression, people try to attain “light-skinned priviliege” in various ways, skin bleaching being one of them (p. 282).Blay (2011) lists the most common reasons that Ghanian and Tanzanian women give for using skin lighteners, including:

to remove blemishes and imperfections and to counteract effects of the sun
to appear and feel clean
to appear white, European, and “beautiful”
to please a partner, grab attention, or attract potential mates
to impress peers, appear sophisticated and modern, and gain economic and social mobility. (p. 22)

Among some African American women who participate in internet forums, the goal is to have light skin not white skin. They also state the desire to even out skin tone, remove blemishes, or to be two or three shades lighter like many American celebrities such as Halle Berry or Beyonce (Glenn, 2008, p. 288).

Young Filipinas who participate in such internet forums are similar in that they don’t look to white Europeans and Americans as the ideal. They see Japanese and Koreans as having the desirable skin tone, or “Spanish- or Chinese-appearing (and light-skinned) Filipina celebrities, such as Michelle Reis, Sharon Kuneta, or Claudine Baretto” (Glenn, 2008, p. 291).

As I stated before, imperialism continues in a more high-tech and glamorous fashion, but it’s still the basic practice of presenting one thing as the ideal, so that you can capitalize off of people trying to attain that ideal.

Historians and anthropologists have disagreed about whether world cultures favored lighter skin tones before European colonialism, but the obvious source of large scale skin bleaching around the world today is a form of global capitalism that exploits the historic ideology of white superiority.

References

Blay, Y. A. (2011, June). Skin Bleaching and Global White Supremacy:By Way of Introduction. The Journal of Pan African Studies, 4(4), 4-46.

Glenn, E. N. (2008, April). Yearning for Lightness Transnational Circuits in the Marketing and Consumption of Skin Lighteners. Gender & Society, 22(3), 281-302.

Hirsch, A. (2012). The Guardian.

Rajesh, M. (2013). The Guardian.

September 10, 2013March 31, 2024

Colorism vs. Racism: What’s the Difference?

Because many people have not heard of colorism and may be unclear about how it relates to racism, I want to explore the particular definitions and the relationship of colorism vs. racism.

Defining Colorism and Racism

Colorism- prejudiced attitudes and/or discriminatory acts against people based on the color (shade or tone) of their skin

Racism- prejudiced attitudes and/or discriminatory acts against people based on their actual or perceived racial status

I want to highlight the fact that people of different races may have the same skin tone. See the three women below.

sonam kapoor racism vs. colorism difference between racism and colorism — Sonam Kapoor via Muckster

alyssa milano racism vs. colorism difference between racism and colorism — Sonam Kapoor via Muckster

And people of the same race may have different skin tones. See the two women below.

nicole ari parker colorism vs. racism difference between colorism and racism — Nicole Ari Parker via Sharon Graphics

rutina wesley colorism vs. racism difference between colorism and racism — Nicole Ari Parker via Sharon Graphics

In cases of racism, two people of different races but identical skin colors will be treated differently. In the movie Pinky, for example, Pinky is a black woman who looks white. Despite her white skin color, Pinky is still mistreated and discriminated against just like the other blacks in her community.

In cases of colorism, two people of the same race but different skin colors will be treated differently.

This is how each operates on a fundamental level. Of course there are additional factors that may complicate each case, for example, other group identifications that could trump race or color in specific situations such as family, nationality, gender, occupation, or wealth, etc.

The Relationship Between Colorism and Racism

The relationship between colorism and racism has been explored by others before. The consensus is usually that colorism is a product or symptom of racism.

Societies with widespread issues of colorism also have long histories of colonization and influence by european countries. In these societies, european features such as white skin, straight hair, and light colored eyes were overtly promoted as the standard of civilized existence, intelligence, beauty, wealth, and power. In these societies, rights and privileges were also restricted to people of european decent. In places like the United States, one’s european bloodline had to be “pure,” meaning not mixed with any other races, in order to retain the rights and privileges reserved strictly for whites.

In contrast, those of other races were often forced into servitude or slavery, denied citizenship and protection under the law, classified as property along with inanimate objects and animals, labeled subhuman (3/5 human in the U.S.), denied education, barred from public places and certain jobs, and abused in any number of ways.

Colorism among people of the same race is also considered a form of internalized racism. After centuries of being conditioned to view white/european as superior and their own race and culture as inferior, many people were broken and eventually believed in and acted according to that dichotomy.

It’s under those conditions that people of varying races came to view european ancestry and european phenotypes as superior to all else and as a means to a better life. People try to acquire more european features and traits and encourage their children to “improve the race” (mejorando la raza) by marrying people who are as light or lighter and producing offspring with increasingly european phenotypes.

Colorism is a manifestation of the idea that even if one isn’t white, their worth may be determined by how closely they resemble a white person.

The woman at the beginning of the video “Negro: Colorism and Mejorando La Raza” makes the controversial yet not uncommon argument that internalized racism is more harmful and thus a more urgent concern than outside racism. Others are outraged at the idea. They call it a case of blaming the victim and insist that we can’t overcome internalized racism until we defeat external racism.

I think the battles are one in the same. If we internalize racism, we lose our will and our ability to fight the external system of racism. If we don’t value, respect, and love ourselves, why would we put up a fight when others don’t either. If we believe that white people are superior, then we won’t bat an eye at the disparities in education and wealth. However, it’s the external system of racism that teaches and enforces white supremacy, and there’s a strong case for arguing that dismantling that system would curb the level of internalized racism.

So what is the difference between colorism vs. racism? Is one issue more important than the other?

Many disagree, but I say that there is no difference. Internalized racism (colorism) and external racism are so interwoven at this point that we can’t attempt to extract one without addressing the other.

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

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September 3, 2013March 18, 2024

Is Phenotype Your Ticket to a Better Life?

Phenotype is a fancy word for how a person looks. It refers to all of a person’s physical traits that can be seen with the naked eye, such as hair, eyes, nose, lips, and skin color.

In the video Wide Angle: Brazil in Black and White, a secret panel evaluates pictures of potential students and classifies them into racial categories (black or white) based on how they look. This is to determine who qualifies to apply to the University of Brasilia through the new quota system (black) and which students had to apply as part of the general population (white). This is obviously a slippery slope, as proven by the fact that identical twins were placed in different racial categories. One twin was deemed black. The other twin was deemed white.

The relationship to phenotype and race and colorism is a very important one. Associating phenotype with race in societies where class, social status, power, and privilege correspond to race, means that people may gain more opportunities, status, power, and privilege based on how look, regardless of their actual lineage. It’s in those societies where colorism really takes root.

In the U.S. this is most acute in the practice of passing, which is when a person of one race chooses to live in the world as a person of another race. Historically these people have mostly been documented as blacks who pass for white based on their phenotype. The most commercially famous study of this phenomenon are the two versions of Imitation of Life, a film in which a young black woman essentially disowns her black mother, moves away, and lives life as a white woman.

What the film also reveals about passing in the United States, especially historically, is the constant fear of being found out, because in the U.S. phenotype does NOT determine race, at least not on paper. No matter how much people may look white, if it’s known that they have black ancestry, then they are treated like black people. That’s why the character in Imitation of Life and the countless people in the real world were forced to disown their families and everyone who knew them in the past out of the need to hide their racial ancestry.

The case of the twins in Brasilia and passing in the U.S. prove that it’s nearly impossible to rely on phenotype to determine race.

But the reason for talking about passing is to show how people believe that lighter skin, lighter eyes, straighter hair, and more European facial features is the ticket to a better life, and in many cases they have been right (depending on how one defines “better life.”) This belief is the historical root of colorism in many cultures. Colorism isn’t arbitrary.

In other countries with historically less rigid classifications of race, such as Brazil, the balance of power is still based on a hierarchy of phenotypes. Many have reported the persistent discrimination against darker skinned people in Central and South America. The University of Brasilia (and other businesses and institutions) began using a quota system because activists protested about disparities in the enrollment of such institutions. Prior to the quota system, the student body at the University of Brasilia had been up to 98% white (phenotype not necessarily race). In the case of this particular quota system, a “black” phenotype might actually open the gate to opportunity for some students, a reversal of what’s typically and historically the case.

This post isn’t to argue for or against the use of quotas. I simply use the film as a great example of how, even without rigid racial classification, even with a long history of racial mixing, colorism prevails. The skin bleaching and marriage preferences in more racially homogeneous countries is further proof. As long as the balance of opportunity, wealth, power, and privilege is decidedly tipped in favor of one race or one shade, colorism will continue to exist, and people will continue to see phenotype as their ticket to a better life.

One of my favorite speeches by Malcolm X explains that people come to hate their phenotype because of how others react to it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with how anyone looks. If we’re unhappy with how we look, it’s because of the way people have historically used our physical appearance to decide if we’re slave or free, rejected or admitted, turned away or offered service, profiled or let off the hook, guilty or innocent, ignorant or intelligent, ugly or beautiful, dangerous or safe, and on and on and on.

Perhaps this would not be the case if everyone merely had their “preferences.” But it’s more than that. There’s a national, even global system in place that takes the notion of preference out of the equation by conditioning our “preferences” through propaganda and social norms and in many cases predetermining our “preferences” through laws. In fact, this structure is so ingrained and so ubiquitous that it’s invisible to most people in most situations. When we do see the structure, we also become aware of how difficult the structure is to dismantle, like trying to extract the flour from a loaf of bread that’s already been baked.

Thus, many people prefer to change themselves rather than change the system. Many people find it easier to demand something else of themselves rather than of the system. Many people decide that if they can’t fight the system, they have to find a way to survive within it. Colorism.

If you’re reading this, I hope that you reject the notion that we as people are flawed and recognize that it’s the system that’s deficient and needs changing. In the current structure of many societies today, phenotype IS a ticket to a “better life,” but with continued work, we can see to it that everyone can own such a ticket regardless of how they look.

August 12, 2013March 18, 2024

Colorism in Social Media: What Can We Do?

cropped phone screen with multiple social icons colorism in media technology social media

Colorism in social media can be seen as merely a reflection of what goes on in the world at large; however, the very nature of social media has actually transformed the ways in which we experience colorism in modern society.

Listen to Dr. Webb read this blog post or scroll to continue reading.

Throughout history, colorism has always been perpetuated in large part through various forms of media, from ancient stories and texts that equated dark with evil and light with good, to prejudicial casting in Hollywood films.

But social media has a few characteristics that make it unique from other, older forms of media. Social media:

allows people to be anonymous or create personas, therefore allowing them to say things they might have never voiced otherwise.
allows people to organize around common interests and easily connect with like-minded people.
creates a false sense of importance that prompts us to publicize all of our thoughts as if each one is breaking news being fed to an eager audience of adoring fans or concerned citizens.
keeps a record of what we say, tracks our online behavior, and informs us of what’s trending in certain areas.
is searchable, making it easy to find people and what they’re saying on any given topic.
is a more accessible form of media, a forum where more people can be seen and heard.
makes the world seem smaller by providing access to more people than ever before and by facilitating connections across societal and geographic borders.

These aspects of social media impact our experience of colorism in three basic ways:

Increased Conversation
Greater Alliances
More Control

Increased Conversation

Most of what people tend to discuss when talking about colorism in social media are the destructive conversations. Many folks post negative and stereotypical comments about people with certain skin tones, they brag about their prejudices, and they promote activities that perpetuate division and competition. Because I want this particular site to be as free of the negativity as possible, I’ve decided not to do the typical screen capture of some of these destructive social media posts, but if you’re curious or feel like you need to “see it to believe it,” a simple Google or twitter search will get you there.

But through social media, we’ve also had more constructive conversations about colorism, mainly to talk directly about stopping it, healing from it, acknowledging the detrimental effects, and affirming one another. On twitter, I’ve started a list that I call “Anti-Colorism Advocates.”

This is what’s beautiful about social media to me. People can reach out to one another in love, even to people they’ve never met. I want to encourage all of us to post, retweet, share, like, or pin more of the constructive conversations.

Greater Alliances

You might have heard of “alliances” like #teamdarkskin and #teamlightskin, which have seemed to create more division on the whole. However, social media does make it more simple to form constructive alliances. It’s relatively quick and easy to reach out to someone and receive instantaneous feedback. There’s potential for, and already much foundation being laid, for a global coalition against colorism (which I first mentioned in this post). This is the kind of alliance that could change the world for the better.

It wouldn’t be the kind of league that pits “us against them” in a battle against humanity. Quite the opposite. It would be a coalition of humanity working to dismantle the harmful ideology or white and light.

These constructive alliances also go a long way in letting young people know that they are not alone in their hurt and struggle, that there are others enduring the same thing, that there are others who’ve overcome it, and that there are others willing to help them do the same.

More Control

The mere fact that this site and others like it even exist and the fact that people like you are reading them is a testament to the more democratic and accessible nature of the internet.

This benefits us as we work for change because we can seek out, create, and disseminate content that heals us and others. Part of healing the world from colorism is letting people of color know that just like we have control over how we design our profiles, who we follow or friend, and what we post on our social media accounts, we also have control over our healing. We can be proactive in nurturing the best in ourselves. We have the power to undo any self-defeating patterns we may have. We are not helpless and hopeless in the face of a long legacy of racism and colorism around the world because we also have a long legacy of triumph. And social media is the new tool that can help us sculpt a better world.

Let’s put out enough love and affirmation that we nullify the existence of colorism in social media.

August 6, 2013March 18, 2024

Who Says Colorism Doesn’t Exist? And What Should We Say To Them?

In our efforts to combat colorism, there’s pushback from people who flat out deny that colorism is real. They claim that colorism doesn’t exist, that it’s just a make-believe issue, just jealousy, just a coincidence, etc. So just who are these people that would make such an outrageous claim?

Who says colorism doesn’t exist?

Scholars too blinded by “the research” to see what’s really happening

I witnessed this kind of denial when Soledad O’Brien’s Who is Black in America? aired on CNN. A couple of prominent black American scholars pointed to the lack of historical evidence to prove that things like the paper bag test ever existed, and so they totally berated the entire discussion of colorism.

Although there’s lots of evidence to suggest that these practices did indeed go on, it doesn’t matter. As I tweeted to one of these infuriated scholars: How can you listen to and watch young children express such disdain for dark skin, many of whom are dark, and not acknowledge the problem? How can you listen to and watch children express that light skin is more worthy simply because it’s close to white, and not acknowledge that there’s a problem?

Attention All Scholars: No matter the historical research, there’s plenty of empirical evidence that proves colorism is a contemporary problem around the globe.

People who think their experience is universal or have to “see it to believe it”

A few years back when I first ventured into open conversation about colorism, a dark skinned girl I knew in high school got ticked off with me. She cited her own experience as a dark skinned woman as the reason she doesn’t believe colorism exists. According to her, she’d never been treated differently, and people like me are simply looking for something to be angry about.

People make the same arguments for why racism in general is made up. They say, “Well I’ve never been discriminated against” or “I’ve never witnessed discrimination” as proof that it isn’t real.

Well, I can think of all sorts of bad things I’ve never experienced or witnessed (kidnapping, for example), yet I’d be pretty misguided to assume that those things are made up.

Those who refuse to own up to their complicity or give up their privilege

I never realized it until I was talking with someone who was conducting research on colorism for her doctorate. After telling her about the people who get angry when we talk about colorism, or who flat out deny it exists, she explained that those people usually benefit in some way from the existence of colorism, and so they block any conversations about it to maintain the status quo. It is probably often a subconscious thing, but it makes sense because most humans do this when we feel like our relative power is being threatened. And the people who directly or indirectly benefit aren’t always who you’d first suspect.

Dark skinned people who don’t want to be cast as the victim

Again, this is a similar form of denial that people express about racism in general. They see any talk of colorism as an “excuse” that holds people back. They put all the burden on the individual to “just get over it,” and they refuse to acknowledge the role of any structural, institutional, or social factors. Usually these types have achieved some level of relative success and think that if they’ve “made it” then it must be the individuals who are defective and not the society.

Folks who lack the courage to be honest

We may be brave in one aspect and cowardly in another. We all have a seed of cowardice and a seed of courage within us, and it’s up to us which one we nurture.

There are many people who are actually afraid to talk about race and colorism. It makes people uncomfortable and even angry, and the people-pleasers don’t want to upset anyone or lose any friends.

Regardless of what they really feel and think on an instinctual level, they’ll act like everything’s fine. They simply want to fit in, and that means not having controversial opinions.

What should we say to them?

Nothing.

That’s right. I wrote this entire post just to say that we should say nothing to those people who are willfully ignorant. We should be spending our energy where it counts: helping each other heal and stopping colorism from being passed on to future generations.

We should say nothing to them because actions speak louder than words. We say all that we need to say by continuing our conversations on colorism in very public and global forums. They throw verbal fire at us to get us to shut up, so by not shutting up, by continuing to speak on the things that upset them, we’re essentially saying: Colorism does exist, and despite your attacks, the anti-colorism movement presses forward.

Overarching Systems of Oppression

Historical Roots of How Gender and Colorism Interact

Watch and Listen:

What is Media Literacy?

Fighting Colorism while Reading Magazines

1) Most popular magazines depict fantasy, not reality.

2) When we read the text, the images often fade into the background.

3) Have a conversation about the magazine.

4) Diversify your magazine selection and go beyond what you can buy at supermarkets.

1) Images matter a lot.

2) It helps to admit that colorism affects us in deeply personal ways.

3) A loving parent’s affirmations aren’t always enough.

4) Colorism isn’t just about the media.

5) Colorism can use celebrity spokespeople just like any other cause.

Watch LIVE: Dr. Webb Elaborates on Colorism in Relationships and Preference vs. Prejudice (or Scroll to Continue Reading).

Is there Colorism in Relationships?

Because Racism Exists

Because of the Research

Because of Lived Experiences

Preference or Prejudice?

Predetermined Attraction

Fetishes or Stereotypes about Complexion

Hypocritical Stance on Discrimination

Why Does it Matter?

Recognition is Only the Beginning

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

1) Colorism in hip hop does exist.

2) Colorism in hip hop is another product of our long history of white supremacy.

3) Colorism in hip hop has a negative effect on society.

4) Artists have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

5) Fans have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

6) Most don’t do anything about colorism in hip hop because they’ve been conditioned by white supremacy.

7) Colorism is not just in Hip Hop.

8) Although colorism in hip hop may seem overwhelming, we must continue to speak and act against it.

Watch, Listen, or Read More Below

1. Be COURAGEOUS.

2. Know the perpetrators of colorism in families.

3. Don’t let “jokes” about skin tone go unaddressed.

4. Spread the love.

5. Be aware.

6. Be a mentor.

7. Check yourself.

8. Be consistent.

Education

Spread information about skin bleaching around the world.

Focus on media literacy.

Promote education in general.

Empowerment

Economics

National and local governments can act.

The people have power.

Conclusion

Harmful Effects of Skin Bleaching

Join the Colorism Healing Mailing List

Fair Skin has Another Cost

The Roots of Skin Bleaching Around the World

Defining Colorism and Racism

The Relationship Between Colorism and Racism

So what is the difference between colorism vs. racism? Is one issue more important than the other?

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

Increased Conversation

Greater Alliances

More Control

Who says colorism doesn’t exist?

Scholars too blinded by “the research” to see what’s really happening

People who think their experience is universal or have to “see it to believe it”

Those who refuse to own up to their complicity or give up their privilege

Dark skinned people who don’t want to be cast as the victim

Folks who lack the courage to be honest

What should we say to them?