Is Beyonce betraying her roots/heritage by having blonde hair etc?

[MissyKLo]

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has written an interesting article about Beyonce and the 'impact' her 'look' has on impressionable youngsters.

I am not white myself and would be interested to see what people think about Beyonce's look... is she trying to look more 'European'? Is Yasmin right when she says that:

black celebrities appear to deny their heritage by trying to make themselves look white, I despair for the youngsters who see those images

and she also says:

The answer is that every woman of colour has an important social and cultural history that cannot simply be bleached away or denied by the use of hair straighteners. That?s why I passionately believe that Beyonce?s ignorance of how this betrays her heritage is so insidiously damaging to all peoples of colour

I do think that people should always wear and be however they want to be, but I can't help but feel that Yasmin has made some good points here, especially about young women of colour having strong role models of colour - I embrace my skin colour and would never dye my dark hair blonde because that is my taste, but is there more to Beyonce's new look? Is she betraying her heritage?

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1358119/Beyonce-Knowles-Why-I-believe-betraying-black-Asian-Women.html

why do some black and asian women(predominately) feel the need to lighten their skin?

You don't get really seem to get men with this issue, that's for sure. And where's the proof she hasn't bleached her skin?

one drop qualifies you as black?

then the entire human race is black.

because the human race evolved in africa and light skin is a more recent mutation.

so we all have at least one drop of 'black blood' (what a silly phrase that is) in us.

Some people give far too much of their time to something as meaningless as colour, don't they?

DD is ghostly pallid at the moment. She can go very dark skinned in the summer, but her hair will go blonde. She identifies herself brown like Daddy (even when she is pallid and Daddy is black) and wonders why I am white

yet another stupid article from the DM - quelle surprise

Mumcentreplus I think the title of the thread makes you focus on the hair issue not the skin bleaching.

why do some black and asian women(predominately) feel the need to lighten their skin?
A lot of black men lighten their skin too.

As far as I understand it, mixed race (now sometimes called dual heritage) refers to a person who has parents from different ethnic groups. It has nothing to do with having a white or black ancestor in the past, because if it did, all white people would be mixed race. Mixed race is a cultural term. There is no such thing as 'race' in biological terms for humans.

She's denying her hair roots. As am I otherwise I have too much grey.

Using Beyonce as an example is just a silly populist hook for readers, and as an indidivual women she can do what she likes, but OF COURSE there is a point to be discussed here. But as a white woman, I really don't think is our place to do it.

Blonde hair, light skin, and 'white' features, are massively priviliged in every culture, even those that are majority not-white. African hair and darker skin are not and there are professional and social penalties for darker skinned black womn, and for women who do not choose to confirm by 'relaxing' their hair - a seriously unrelaxing process.

Again I would underline that it is not my place to judge any black women who dies her hair or lightens her skin - I don't judge victim of hostile systems, I judge the system.

But to compare it to 'getting a tan' or 'dying your hair red' is massively ignorant, and overlooks centuries of racist standards about how black woman 'should' look.

young women of colour having strong role models of colour

I see the need for fair representation of all types of people in our culture, but I'm very wary of this argument. You cannot require or expect all black or other minority ethnic women to wander about consciously being role models all the time. (Even assuming we are all of the same attitudes and could agree what cultural and other values they are supposed to be modeling). We also seem to uncritically accept the fact that all young people need role models too. If that were so necessary there would never have been any black pioneers because they wouldn't have had the role models to inspire them.

It's like that other word applied only to black people that would make me reach for my gun if I had one:-'authentic'. No white person is ever troubled by the need or expectation that they they should be 'authentic'.

Are we all to have no autonomy or independence? Do we have no value except to the degree we reflect accepted norms of what 'black' is?

I wear my hair natural, and was walking along the street in London when an African-American man started shouting at me. He was praising me at top volume for 'representing' and having my real hair etc etc. I did feel like shouting back 'Calm down, I'm not righteous, I'm just allergic to relaxer' (true), but managed not to.

I agree charitygirl to some extent but combing proper afro hair is a seriously unrelaxing process as well. For most black women its a matter of practicality. Afro hair is difficult to manage. You cant just run a brush through it, if relaxing my hair means I dont have to be close to tears tugging at my hair for three hours to get it into a sort of style then thats the option I will go for. Has nothing to do with being a victim of hostile systems.

Although I do admit those systems do exist.

Charity and Eldridge you both gave really good responses here - thank you

I'm not denying the bigger picture charitygirl just saying I don't think Beyonce should be accused of letting down her heritage etc.

I know that fair skin is valued in many societies. Lead poisoning was rife amongst British gentry many years ago as they put it on their skin for the fashionably pale look. It's only recently that a tan is a sign of wealth in Western culture, previously it marked you out as a labourer.

Plenty of black women not only embrace their heritage but go in the opposite direction to enhance it. Unfortunately this sometimes results in tragic instances like the girl recently who had the botched 'buttock' surgery in America.

When I went to Barbados I looked fantastic in the eyes of Western culture. Tall, slim, toned, blonde hair etc.

Not one of the blokes looked at me LOL. All the curvy, bit bottomed girls were getting all the action.

Although I am from 'mediterranean' background, my hair has a frizz to it and my father's hair is very Afro like so I suspect we have African blood somewhere in our family - my hair is difficult to manage too and by the time I wash it it is like I have had a fight with it as the bathroom is covered in frizzy hair! So I know what you mean! So unrelaxing!

Point definitely taken gysela.

And yy eldritchcleavage - saying young black women should be role models is just a different facet of the racist reality that any individual black person is taken to represent all black people. A responsibility which white people are not asked to take on.

Given that there ARE often penalties for a young black woman choosing to go natural, I'd ask any white person recommeding she does, what she plans to do about easing those penalties.

I just can't believe she would bleach her skin, apart from the fact she looks very natural in all of the pictures I've seen surely it would do detectable damage?

She is of course also utterly stunning - maybe that's what seems to cause some of the more biting remarks from other women? (Not meaning on this thread, I mean more that some women can't seem to do any right - if it's not Beyonce and her hair it's Alexandra Burke and her alleged "thunder thighs" which to me looked perfectly normal and athletic!)

I've not experienced any penalties here, but I gather that happens sometimes in the US.

In my (formal, very suity) job, no one in the UK has ever questioned my very many and varied hairstyles. All I've ever got was 'Oh, I like your new hairstyle. Does it take hours?' But an American cousin once asked me about it.

Apparently there, natural hair would be frowned upon by some employers as seeming too right-on or in your face, as if one was making some sort of political point. That's a horrific attitude. No idea if it is at all widespread though.

Yes, my knowledge about it (really limited) is more US based.

Black people come in different shades fgs. I have black friends and NONE of them wish to be white. Beyonce is a light skinned black women who is married to a black man and is obviously proud of her race.

I like to get a tan and i would love bigger lips, Does this mean that i want to be black.?
The article is a load of bollocks and i am sure that Beyonce will be reallly angry when she reads this utter tosh.

I haven't read this entire thread, but Beyonce does go further than other black 'celebrities' in making herself universally attractive.

She is definitely lighter than she was (for whatever reason, it may just be staying out of the sun). She doesn't just relax and dye her hair, she has worn lace-front wigs. She has had a nose job, if I'm not mistaken. She's a phenomenally b

eautiful woman and I don't think she is denying her heritage - her calling card is that she IS a black singer and (like her husband) it adds credibility to the kind of music she makes. She is just aware of herself as a product, and how that will sell.

Many black female celebrities do the same thing:

Halle Berry: relaxed hair, nose job
Lil Kim: multiple nose jobs, relaxed hair, skin lightening

But they still identify strongly as black. So it's not about being 'black' or 'white', it's about being as accessible to as many people as possible, and thus being as close as possible to what's 'globally attractive'.

I have not experienced any penalties either. Not when my hair was afro and not when its relaxed now. But I live in London where no one bats an eyelid anyway

Hmmm...I wondering who the most "globally attractive" person on the planet is....

I nominate Shilpa Shetty

Wanting lighter skin is not the same necessarily as wanting to look white. Amongst my Gujarati friends you could definitely pick up on the undercurrent that paler was more attractive, but they weren't trying to be white and being Caucasian wasn't seen as desirable. It was more ingrained into their own culture, that paler was more desirable.

Isn't there a book discussing these isues? Blue Eyes I think? Will go google.