Black Women and Body Issues

Because this is a topic that I find intresting, despite it being talked to death in some areas.

They juts replayed the report of women injecting themselves with silicon and other crap to try to gain 'figures' (read: figures based on women who have been Photoshoped beyond their own figures) and it once again brought to mind how there seems to be two sides to the entire 'body issues' thing; one side everyone knows and talks about; Women in American socity have been more or less FUCKED to think that unless they are a size two, they are nothing....

But its that the ENTIRE story because with this, it just seems to bring up that the 'skinny' trend is not the only way women are destroying their bodies. Of course, we can't forget our old friend boobie implants but what really got me about the story of the injections was how in some forums people were actually EMBRACING it, as if women, especially black and latina women, being so fucking desperate to try to get a nice booty was a good thing because then they would look 'like they were the race they were born in'.

This is what gets me; the fact that people think that there is only one body issue thing that needs to be fought yet there seem to be a lot of young black girls who are told they are inferior because they are slim and thus, they have given into the white norm. Its like 'Wow, way to help me when I'm feeling like shit by telling me I AM shit since I don't look fuckable to you.' I'm not trying to say that the thinspiration thing isn't something to ignore but given the fact that so many young women can be given shit for being naturally thin and expected to take it because 'you're the norm so you have no problems'.

So when I was made fun of for not having tits, I have to take it but the girl who was called out for her thighs gets support and love? When I get called a man because apparently my 'lack' of a booty (I put that in quotes because eye of the beholder it seems) is worthy of getting pointed out, I deserve it yet the person who apparently has enough to get some jack-off wood gets praise? I don't think so; if you're going to be a warrior for body equality, you better have enough room to sit down and listen to EVERYONE who has had body issues, including the women who are slim.

Getting back on topic before I went off on my mini-rant, it sometimes feels like there are some issues about body-size that black women don't want to talk about or are glad to ignore or brush off. Why the fuck did it take this long for something like this to really be discussed even between a small internet group of people? You would think that women trying to pump up their asses with fucking caulk and other shit, especially BLACK WOMEN who have enough things aimed towards us, would be a topic to discuss and tell our young girls about but nope, guess I was thinking wrong, especially when some fucks consider it 'noble' that any black woman would want more tits and ass, to be more 'natural' Of so we're going to play the natural game huh? Well, I guess if we're going to do that, why not bring on the shame that unless every black man on the planet has a huge, throbbing horse cock, they aren't black men?

Oh wait, that hurts and its not true and men shouldn't be shamed into being made to feel inferior . about a stereotype? NEITHER SHOULD WOMEN but I don't hear that many words said about it. :|

So yeah; body issues suck either way. I know the importance of telling girls to love themselves but frankly I don't see enough of it going around for EVERYONE which I think is where my biggest miffs come from because it DOES go both ways. As much as I love to see a big girl holding her head up high and being told she is beautiful the way she is, I would love to see the same support going out to a small sister and being told that she doesn't have to meet up a fake standard to be a woman. Really, is it THAT hard for people to be nice to everyone or is this just one big wanking pitty-party where its not about building self-confidence but rather who is more important based on who makes better fuck material?

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ernst Von Griffel on February 11, 2012 at 8:21pm

According to a 2004 study based on surgeries in the United States, Black women get proportionately fewer breast augmentation surgeries than any other ethnic group. I've also read a lot of literature which concludes that Black women(in the US) have a healthier sense of body image than women of other ethnic groups.

I guess a person can draw any number of conclusions from that study.

I imagine that the typical Black girl growing up would be constantly bombarded with images of female beauty that don't look like her. On the one hand, I can see Black women striving to reach an ideal which is very far out of reach. Many do. On the other hand, I imagine a lot of Black women seeing females that don't look anything like that, and not worry about trying to look like them. For these sisters, the girls they see on TV aren't really their role models. On the flip side of that, White women who do resemble most of the images of female beauty shown in US media are either happy that they look like these women(a small minority), or they are extremely frustrated that they are 'so close, yet so far' from the popular standard of beauty.

For most of the Black women I know, their biggest role model is either their mother, or another close female relative. They tend to base their perceptions of beauty based on their mother, and what they learn from their mother. I think it's because their mothers are so different from most of the women they see on TV they have a more positive sense of body image.

That's not to say that they're completely unaffected by the images in the media. Seeing the way Hip-Hop video models are portrayed has a negative effect on both young black girls or boys. Same as with girls, I think Black boys also try to understand women through the female role models around them, so they can recognize the difference between TV and regular life. Although some people don't understand the fantasy is fantasy. LOTS of girl can look like a celebrity with the right make-up, good photographer and photoshop, but some people are star struck, not even understanding there are attractive women all around them.

The best solution I can think of is present an alternative to the half naked gyrating video vixens...but that would mean actively supporting something different. Easier said than done.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by kifaru on February 11, 2012 at 8:26pm

Post a link to the study.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ernst Von Griffel on February 11, 2012 at 8:52pm

It was in a Black Enterprise magazine. I don't remember the names of the authors of the original study. However they say the same thing in this study

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2837521/

2nd Paragraph under "Results".

"The frequency of breast implant surgery was lower among blacks than the other ethnic groups."

kifaru said:

Post a link to the study.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on February 15, 2012 at 12:26am

"if you're going to be a warrior for body equality, you better have enough room to sit down and listen to EVERYONE who has had body issues, including the women who are slim."

hmm... i encountered this issue of not shaming skinny girls through those thinspiration communities and all the lively debate they caused on the interwebs... a point that stuck out to me was that those girls aren't victims, they're merely taking some semblance of control and proving their strength and discipline to themselves (in their vaguely suicidal way). but, in that sense, i do think women have choices they can make and if what i'd describe as self-destructive is what they'd choose then that's their fucked up choice to make--not mine.

BUT the reason why I bring this up is because it's the philosophical framework with which you can turn the vitriolic double standards of "fat pride activists" back on their asses when and if they try and shame slimmer girls or women who choose to diet/exercise. And really, not everyone else's choices or opinions reflect on us necessarily. Even if the ignorant fat woman or ignorant black man is telling a slim woman that she looks manly--that comment is much more of a reflection on them than on that slim woman.

also, in a strange way, i hope that "academics" (the kind that write blog essays) deconstruct oneal ron morris, because there's something very ... interesting at work there. lots of intersections and action/body modification. fertile ground for interpretation and reinterpretations... etc. the women that went to her/him should've known better tbh.