Bias Against Dark-Skinned Women
Another attack on Black Women by one of our own! Diddy‘s CIROC Vodka sent out a cattle call looking for and I quote, “White, Hispanic and Light-skinned African American” women to represent his vodka. By specifying the type of Black woman, Diddy’s ad campaign exec has reached back to the racism of the early 1900′s brown paper bag mentality.
The brown paper bag test was for admittance to Black social societies and certain, so-called, upscale parties. If a woman was darker than a brown paper bag, she was not allowed to join certain social groups. This type of segregation within the black race can be seen in old Black movies (usually in black and white). You’ll notice that almost all of the black women in these movies were light-skinned. Diddy’s Dumb Deed shows us that although some progress has been made, real CHANGE has not occurred.
Imagine the anguish Black women have experienced and continue to experience in this industry — Those whose skin color is a shade darker than a brown paper bag hoping that if they wear lighter foundation or bleach their skin they might be able to pass for being light-skinned enough to be selected. Or what about those whose skin color is a few shades darker than a brown paper bag knowing they can’t get the job because they’re just too dark; this easily leads to self-hatred. Conversely, imagine the thought processes in the waiting room with all the White and Hispanic women feeling superior because they are NOT melanin enriched and Black women feeling less confident because they are in doubt about their beauty and worth because of the color of their skin.
Furthermore, what would Diddy and/or his staff do when a dark-skinned woman showed up? Would “they” be rude and angrily reiterate that the requirement was for light-skinned Black women ONLY, and then she’d be shamed and embarrassed in front of the crowd of other women because she was told she wasn’t good enough due to her dark-skin?
What would Diddy do if Halle Berry showed up? She is technically a dark-skinned bi-racial woman. What about the beautiful Gabrielle Union, or modeling pioneers Grace Jones, Beverly Johnson, or Iman? Would they be turned away because their skin was too dark?
And the biggest slap in the face would be the denial of our First Lady, Michelle Obama! She would, too, be turned away because she is not light-skinned, White or Hispanic.
The entertainment industry continues to overtly employ racist policies that are considered taboo in other industries. Are the movies, videos, and TV shows that match Black men (with any useful skills) with non-Black women catalysts for the lack of Black love within the Black race family? This propaganda campaign is using the age-old trick of dividing in order to conquer. How long are we going to fall for the same old tricks???
The only solution is to boycott racism in all forms. This means that under the current conditions with high amounts of single Black woman/mothers, Black women should NEVER support anyone, especially Black men, that want to maintain the status quo. The media and marketing executives will soon learn that to continue to devalue Black women will NOT render them much sought after profits.
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Diddy is wrong for this, but I’m not surprised. Those type of guys have some plantation elitist mentality that lighter skin is more desirable. it is truly a sad day, but thankfully times are changing .We have to educate our children so that they don’t grow up with this self hate syndrome.
I can’t fully agree with your comment. Over half of P Diddy’s girlfriends were dark skinned African American women. Who cares really what he asked for in some commercial. That’s the look he was going for.
I think all of this complaining is useless. There is nothing that you could do for what is perceived to be more marketable. P-Diddy has a dark wife. He knows that strategic marketing will cater to the clientele that he wants buying the drink. Lighter is more marketable than darker. I’m an in-between color but I’d probably be too dark too for high end marketing. I really don’t care. It’s no secret that the masses find lighter skin more attractive. Let’s just stop complaining about it because that doesn’t change matters. If you don’t think it’s fair, then lighten up!
It is an issue with black females more than black males because black males don’t encounter this problem.. “Tall/dark/handsome is a preference for black men, not black women.
Look at Seal, look at the guy who married Kimora Simmons. How many black males would marry a black female their complexion, We keep hearing the same things over again because it continues to happen. I am 62 and I can still remember a guy telling his friend I don’t want nothing that black but a Cadillac when I was about 16 years old. I can still remember people saying when I got older”You’re dark but you’re pretty” and getting upset when I didn’t take it as a compliment. I can still remember going to civil rights meetings where black pride was the theme but during the after parties, white girls were the main attraction. I can remember how shocked my roommate was when I told her I would never marry a dark skinned man as I never wanted my children to go through what I went through. It is only crap when you don’t experience it.
Look at the movies, look at the videos. The primary female love interest is very rarely darker than a brown paper bag. (however the male can be deep blue black.) It has taken me many years to feel good about myself and my color, no thanks to the media, I’m not against lighter skinned females nor am I jealous. I’m for inclusion of all colors from red-boned to dark chocolate.
It is a shame that not only do I have to fight for respect and appreciation from whites but from my own. This is only an abbreviated version of the slights and insults I’ve taken from being “dark-skinned.” And for the record, no I don’t have big lips or a big nose or short hair!.
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Chickie
Why is it the most unattractive men want the opposite of what they are?
Turned away? LOL None of the actresses (Maybe except Halle Berry aka Monster’s Ball sex scene) or the First Lady would lower themselves for such degenerate sickness. “devaluing his own daughters and insulting his own momma!” Not really. No dark woman would be that desperate or dumb to be advertised as sexual fodder for some pathetic drunk. Just imagine our First Lady holding a bottle of that sewer sludge and saying ,” It’s just as good as me if not better.” If that cheesy advertisement or marketing campaign is the best that Pity Diddy can dream up then we as a race are doomed.
I personally like dark skinned people; so does Kimora Simmons, and the model with her dark skinned husband, Seal. Dark skin is rich, like chocolate, smooth and silky. So much definition; whereas light skin is a dime a dozen. Why? because of mixing cultures, so many ranges of color to choose. Diddy should check out the the full package, he’s looking for. I can understand body weight, but the rest of the old days “paper bag” is far too humiliating for us. we have more important issues that worrying about the color of skin. go look at fabrics, as women are being reduced down to material goods.
Beautifully written!!! It’s not to sound as if we are being feminists, but it is the truth when someone highlights this problem and talk about it. I am ashamed to see my fellow black women hating themselves because of the colour of their skin. I am from a multiracial family background, but you will call me a black woman because I am dark skinned. Especially with our young women, they go to the extreme to lighten their skin just to feel accepted and it’s digustingly sad! Black women are some of the most insecure women, not to generalize, but it’s true, based in the society that we live in. But black women need to start loving themselves more and excel in their abilities whatever they may be, and prove that they are worth more than what others think they’re worth.
Beautifully written!!! It’s not to sound as if we are being feminists, but it is the truth when someone highlights this problem and talk about it. I am ashamed to see my fellow black women hating themselves because of the colour of their skin. I am from a multiracial family background, but you will call me a black woman because I am dark skinned. Especially with our young women, they go to the extreme to lighten their skin just to feel accepted and it’s digustingly sad! Black women are some of the most insecure women, not to generalize, but it’s true, based in the society that we live in. But black women need to start loving themselves more and excel in their abilities whatever they may be, and prove that they are worth more than what others think they’re worth.
I am surprised that any famous black male with a publicist, would openly express their dislike for darker skinned black women, fully knowing how it will affect their fanbase, if for nothing else. Most black men that prefer lighter skinned women, just simply date and marry them, they just don’t mention their preference,but to openly say it when searching for models for an ad, shows almost a type of cruelty towards darker skinned women.This disregard for darker skinned females is not a reflection on those beautiful women, it’s a reflection on how he views himself( as a very chocolate gentleman)It really is a shame that things have to be like this, but honestly one simply cannot argue another out of their preferences, but what they can do is see it as exactly what it is horrible self hatred.
No Cynthia, men like the opposite. Darker skin looks less feminine to men. The only men who find darker skin sexy are pale guys.
I am surprised that any famous black male with a publicist, would openly express their dislike for darker skinned black women, fully knowing how it will affect their fanbase, if for nothing else. Most black men that prefer lighter skinned women, just simply date and marry them, they just don’t mention their preference,but to openly say it when searching for models for an ad, shows almost a type of cruelty towards darker skinned women.This disregard for darker skinned females is not a reflection on those beautiful women, it’s a reflection on how he views himself( as a very chocolate gentleman)It really is a shame that things have to be like this, but honestly one simply cannot argue another out of their preferences, but what they can do is see it as exactly what it is horrible self hatred.
One more reason for me to hate Sean “coon” Combs. I will never buy his crap.
One more reason for me to hate Sean “coon” Combs. I will never buy his crap.
oh yeah! black music is the best.~:”
oh yeah! black music is the best.~:”
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The legend of the existence of so-called ‘Brown Paper Bag’
Tests; ‘Blue Vein’ Societies; ‘Fine-Toothed Comb’ Tests; etc.
– have been PROVEN by multiple historians to have been
(very much like the infamous so-called ‘Willie Lynch Letter /
Speech’ HOAX and the myth of a Light-Skin ‘House’ / Dark-Skin
‘Field’ chattel=slave “hierarchy) nothing more than a series of
‘Urban Myths’ and ‘Urban Legends’ created in order to incite
unmerited hostility toward people of Multiracial Lineage.
Write to me at [email protected] and I can provide you
to bibliography, links and other sources which prove that
that these urban myths and legends are unfair and true.
.
.
The legend of the existence of so-called ‘Brown Paper Bag’
Tests; ‘Blue Vein’ Societies; ‘Fine-Toothed Comb’ Tests; etc.
– have been PROVEN by multiple historians to have been
(very much like the infamous so-called ‘Willie Lynch Letter /
Speech’ HOAX and the myth of a Light-Skin ‘House’ / Dark-Skin
‘Field’ chattel=slave “hierarchy) nothing more than a series of
‘Urban Myths’ and ‘Urban Legends’ created in order to incite
unmerited hostility toward people of Multiracial Lineage.
Write to me at [email protected] and I can provide you
to bibliography, links and other sources which prove that
that these urban myths and legends are unfair and true.
.
I do not know what your level of education is but there is no such term as “in-average”. At any rate, Black women are more confident with themselves than any other race of women which is the reason why weak Black need the affirmation of women outside of their race to feel adequate in face of the high levels of confidence that Black women possess. Furthermore, way before WW2, white men were having unconsensual sex with their Black female slaves which produced the much of the beauty that you see in women that you think are White but many have Black plantation blood in them. It is so hilarious to me when I read and hear comments like yours because as a beautiful Black woman, I never feel less than to see the admiration that Puffy, Kanye, Kobe, Lamar Odom, or any other Black male celebrity or business man gives to non-Black women because witnessing this foolishness all of my life, it makes those men not attractive to me and has made me insure that I never will have to rely on the love, attention, or money on those Black men who really have a dislike for their own looks to feel a success in life. What men like you and them need to think about is not how women like me feel but how they are messing up the self-esteem of the daughters that they have?
True!!!!
Black women are not more confident. They lie about it…if they were more confident, we wouldn’t have thousands of blogs and articles such as this one. Black women need to wake up and just accept that their look is not preferred. Life goes on…and if they were as stable and as sure of themselves they would have no problem holding this mentality. But they cry scream and pout out of insecurity.
I do not know what your level of education is but there is no such term as “in-average”. At any rate, Black women are more confident with themselves than any other race of women which is the reason why weak Black need the affirmation of women outside of their race to feel adequate in face of the high levels of confidence that Black women possess. Furthermore, way before WW2, white men were having unconsensual sex with their Black female slaves which produced the much of the beauty that you see in women that you think are White but many have Black plantation blood in them. It is so hilarious to me when I read and hear comments like yours because as a beautiful Black woman, I never feel less than to see the admiration that Puffy, Kanye, Kobe, Lamar Odom, or any other Black male celebrity or business man gives to non-Black women because witnessing this foolishness all of my life, it makes those men not attractive to me and has made me insure that I never will have to rely on the love, attention, or money on those Black men who really have a dislike for their own looks to feel a success in life. What men like you and them need to think about is not how women like me feel but how they are messing up the self-esteem of the daughters that they have?
True!!!!
I understand some of the points this article is making, but most of this article bleeds of a black woman’s insecurities. For starters, Spike Lee’s movie was originally a book authored by someone other than him. Secondly, the movie was not promoting that black men should be with white women, and only an insecure woman could get that from that movie. The movie was about black soldiers in WW2, and believe it or not, black soldiers did sleep with some of the women in those countries. I see hypocrisy in this whole dark skin vs. light skin women controversy. The dark skin women are only upset because they’re not the average beauty standard in America and light skin women are the average beauty standard. If they were the average American beauty standard they wouldn’t be jealous of dark skinned women. Just because you’re not the average beauty doesn’t mean that you’re not beautiful. You have to embrace your in-average features and be confidant with yourself.
This is for carmen and jamel I am a dark complexion women and I know I am very nice looking… I never knew that American beauty standard is light skin… if that is true that is very stupid since the darker complexion was the first skin to hit this planet… I will never be jealous any light skin person…the only thing true you have spoken… is that a lot of dark skin women are not average at all…
I understand some of the points this article is making, but most of this article bleeds of a black woman’s insecurities. For starters, Spike Lee’s movie was originally a book authored by someone other than him. Secondly, the movie was not promoting that black men should be with white women, and only an insecure woman could get that from that movie. The movie was about black soldiers in WW2, and believe it or not, black soldiers did sleep with some of the women in those countries. I see hypocrisy in this whole dark skin vs. light skin women controversy. The dark skin women are only upset because they’re not the average beauty standard in America and light skin women are the average beauty standard. If they were the average American beauty standard they wouldn’t be jealous of dark skinned women. Just because you’re not the average beauty doesn’t mean that you’re not beautiful. You have to embrace your in-average features and be confidant with yourself.
This is for carmen and jamel I am a dark complexion women and I know I am very nice looking… I never knew that American beauty standard is light skin… if that is true that is very stupid since the darker complexion was the first skin to hit this planet… I will never be jealous any light skin person…the only thing true you have spoken… is that a lot of dark skin women are not average at all…
Well, I’d just like to say that this type of color obsession has been going on for years. I think it’s sad that music videos of today and the majority of athletes prefer “other” women. If Diddy truly was looking to cast “fair skinned” beauties, it’s sad. There are so many lovely shades to black. There are too many “baby mama’s” today not wives. The black men tend to marry white women.
Just look around–Terrence Howard, Taye Diggs, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tiger Woods, Seal, Jermaine Jackson, Randy Jackson, James Brown, John Amos, Wesley (Asian only) Snipes, Quincy Jones, Dr. Dre, O.J., Harold Perrineau, Terrell Owens, just to name a few. It’s painful so ppl don’t like to talk about it, but there are many racist black ppl out her too.
.-= Carmen´s last blog ..Threadless Tshirt Giveaway at jaypeeonline.net =-.
Sorry, y’all, Mrs. Obama is BROWN-skinned, she’s not really dark.
People are gonna want what they want – you cannot force black people (or anyone else) to date/marry someone darker than them if it isn’t what they want. It simply is what it is.
Sorry, y’all, Mrs. Obama is BROWN-skinned, she’s not really dark.
People are gonna want what they want – you cannot force black people (or anyone else) to date/marry someone darker than them if it isn’t what they want. It simply is what it is.
Lets not forget the plight of the Asian Man.
Lets not forget the plight of the Asian Man.
Will someone explain why Black folks continue to push the color issue?
Are darker skinned Black females jealous of lighter skinned folks/females because it seems to be an issue with Black females more than Black males.
Why do some of us continue to wallow in the old "paper bag", "light skin/dark skin" crap?
We are the ones who keep the negatives going. We read/hear the same things over and over again.
As for MJ. He is not a child molester. He does not want to be white.
Black folk, stop the madness!
Will someone explain why Black folks continue to push the color issue?
Are darker skinned Black females jealous of lighter skinned folks/females because it seems to be an issue with Black females more than Black males.
Why do some of us continue to wallow in the old "paper bag", "light skin/dark skin" crap?
We are the ones who keep the negatives going. We read/hear the same things over and over again.
As for MJ. He is not a child molester. He does not want to be white.
Black folk, stop the madness!
No we are not jealous of lighter skinned females. I love being dark skinned and futhermore stop casting this issue aside as if it is not important because it is. There as been a problem in this country with darker skinned people since its existence. Darker skinned people have been purposely and systematically financially, physically and emotionally oppressed. It is a double for women who are dark because in this country to be respected and valued as a woman you need to be light and that is not right.
I was with you until you hit the Michael Jackson discussion, where this disintegrated into crazy talk. How did you win all of those journalistic awards without acknowledging that MJ's decline in popularity is attributable in large part to the attributions of child molestation? Do you really think that UK concert goers bought tickets because they cared (or even knew) that he attended JB's funeral or JJ's birthday party? As for the rumor that he was going to marry a "Black African female," that's a new one (i.e., I am one step away from saying that you made that up), unless you're talking about that 20-year-old nonsense about the multi-culti chick from "The Way You Make Me Feel," which she now denies, and which would hardly have had any bearing on ticket sales after 2000.
Also? "Seven Pounds" sucked because it was grim and boring, not because Will Smith ended up with Rosario Dawson (and check yourself here, seriously, because it's not up to you to decide who defines themselves how, ethnically). I've been a fan for a long time, but I'm not feeling where you're starting to float.
I was with you until you hit the Michael Jackson discussion, where this disintegrated into crazy talk. How did you win all of those journalistic awards without acknowledging that MJ's decline in popularity is attributable in large part to the attributions of child molestation? Do you really think that UK concert goers bought tickets because they cared (or even knew) that he attended JB's funeral or JJ's birthday party? As for the rumor that he was going to marry a "Black African female," that's a new one (i.e., I am one step away from saying that you made that up), unless you're talking about that 20-year-old nonsense about the multi-culti chick from "The Way You Make Me Feel," which she now denies, and which would hardly have had any bearing on ticket sales after 2000.
Also? "Seven Pounds" sucked because it was grim and boring, not because Will Smith ended up with Rosario Dawson (and check yourself here, seriously, because it's not up to you to decide who defines themselves how, ethnically). I've been a fan for a long time, but I'm not feeling where you're starting to float.
Although it is 2009 and much of the past racism have not been as apparent, it completely surprised me to see the term 'light skinned African American.' That type of blatant discrimination is not acceptable. The list of notable 'dark skinned' African Americans really drove the point home very well.
Another interesting point that I noticed in the cattle call for the ad was no mention of Asian Americans. If we were to be progressing forward from racism, all must be included, including Asians.
Although it is 2009 and much of the past racism have not been as apparent, it completely surprised me to see the term 'light skinned African American.' That type of blatant discrimination is not acceptable. The list of notable 'dark skinned' African Americans really drove the point home very well.
Another interesting point that I noticed in the cattle call for the ad was no mention of Asian Americans. If we were to be progressing forward from racism, all must be included, including Asians.
Awesome! Black Women are no longer taking this which was evidenced by the response CIROC issued following the outcry. The game has changed and self hating Blacks need to realize it.
Awesome! Black Women are no longer taking this which was evidenced by the response CIROC issued following the outcry. The game has changed and self hating Blacks need to realize it.