To report friend to FB for photo of her blacked up?

[Greyhound]

I'm really shocked - cousin of mine has pic of herself on Facebook blacked up. She is white. The picture is of her at a fancy dress party - she has covered her face in dark brown stage make up and is wearing an "Afro" wig and Rastafarian style striped hat.

Her husband is also blacked up.

Well, discount that history if you wish, MrsWhiskerson.

It's incredible really

Blackface has a racist background
Response - oooh maybe once upon a time but it wasn't racist then because white people no one thought it was

Blackface has been used in a derogatory way here and in the US
Response - yes but people are sexist too, and what about the Irish, and cheerleaders, and pirates? Whites suffer too you know

Blackface is a way of asserting superiority over black people due to its "comical" connotations
Response - oooh that's what you PC people think, but I know different and I don't agree with you

This seems to me to be the bones of the arguments on here.

slithy, I'm sorry, I misread you. I thought you had written that you can look at someone. Sorry again - will slow down on the !

Magnificent, doesn't something being considered offensive originally come from personal opinion?

I'm not discounting it. If this woman had come dressed as a minstrel, I would understand where you are coming from. She did not. I see a difference.

How on earth can you assert that Mrs? You have no idea if there were deliberate racist undertones or not. I also think we are unaware of why her DH had blacked up as well.

I am working on the basis the woman was racist through ignorance rather than hate.

No, you are discounting it.

I'll say it again: the history of blacking up (white people creating grotesque and comical parodies of black people for their own entertainment) is PRECISELY WHY blacking up, even for fancy dress costumes, is offensive today. It's referencing, directly or indirectly, that horrible trope.

A lot of on this thread.

Isn't racism the belief that one race is superior than another? I'm wondering how you can assume she was being racist without knowing what her beliefs are.

No, prejudice includes any stereotypes, including positive ones. Women are better at housework, Asian children are better at maths, Black people are great dancers. Still all prejudiced and limiting.

I doubt anything offensive was intended by the person in the OP but it's up to us to educate ourselves and behave with sensitivity. I wouldn't call her racist but her actions were culturally insensitive.

There was a thread here recently where someone referred to 'monging out'. She was horrified and apologetic when people pointed out the origin of the phrase and how offensive it is. She was backed up on the thread by others from her area that it was a frequently used phrase where she lived, but acknowledged the potential for offense.

For those of you who haven't heard about some of these issues please take the time to think and educate yourself instead of just dismissing the issues and saying 'I think it's okay".

Racism is not the belief that one race is superior to another. That's far too simplistic

But sometimes things are so inbred within a person they don't realise it is racist.

Paki for example - do you accept that is a racist term? Many people used it when I was a child, some people SIL still do as they are stupid are ignorant and don't realise that something which was once considered acceptable is no longer.

Those people would not have had the forethought to consider the term themselves and realise why it is racist. That is why to me they are racist through ignorance rather than the burning cross type.

Put up your umbrellas, folks - it's raining white privilege here!

MrsT - we're talking about prejudice now, not racism? "The Oxford English dictionary defines prejudice as a “preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience" not sure how that ties in with your idea of what the person in the OP was doing.

Serenity, that's what the definition of racism is. You can check if you like.

slithy however tanned a white person is, they are still white. I don't like the look of orange etc but it isn't offensive because there is no history behind it. People weren't enslaved, segregated or discriminated against for being tanned. People didn't dress up and paint themselves to make fun of people who were naturally less pale. There is a horrible history behind blackface and using something like that, with all those connotations, for a joke will be very uncomfortable for many people, in a way dressing up as someone who hasn't been mocked or discriminated against isn't.

death but is it black face, when a mixed race or black person darkens their skin? Is that not acceptable in the same way as a black person reclaiming the n word?

Yes, however a tanned a white person is, they are still white.

And however dark a non white person is, they are still non white.

Same thing no?

I don't think Emerald was being racist.

MrsW you asked if racism the belief that one race is superior than another? I used the examples to show you that NO it isn't. As with all prejudice, the assumptions can be positive or negative, they are still prejudiced.

The person in the OP is using lazy cultural signposts and blacking up. Yes, it's racist. The person in the OP may not mean it to be, but it is.

MrsT, I think you'll find that is exactly what racism is defined as. I don't see how you can decide that the woman in the OP was being racist (maliciously or otherwise) without knowing what her beliefs are.

Reporting is so passive aggressive. Has OP actually spoken to the offender?

Whether you like it or not, Ms. Pankhurst, lots and lots and lots and lots (etc, etc) of women dress in frilly shit, high heels (positively vertiginous in some cases), hair extensions, mental lashes/brows and have massive fake tits. It is perfectly reasonable, therefore, that a man at a fancy dress party may dress similarly. Wouldn't be much fun if he turned up in dungarees now, would it?

Yes, I can. Racism can be unintentional. MrsW do you really think racism is that simple? It's only racism if someone means to offend and denigrate someone of another race? Because it is much more complicated and pernicious than that. If you are really interested, even Wiki talks about the various thoughts, systems, ideas about racism,

In sociology and psychology, some definitions only include consciously malignant forms of discrimination.[4][5] While some consider any assumption that a person's behavior is tied to their racial categorization is inherently racist, regardless of whether the action is intentionally harmful or pejorative, because stereotyping necessarily subordinates individual identity to group identity.[citation needed] Some definitions of racism also include discriminatory behaviors and beliefs based on cultural, national, ethnic, caste, or religious stereotypes.[2][6] One view holds that racism is best understood as 'prejudice plus power' because without the support of political or economic power, prejudice would not be able to manifest as a pervasive cultural, institutional or social phenomenon.

Underlines are mine.

Mrs whiskerson surely you realise there is more to something than the strict dictionary definition? That's a poor contribution. We can all check the dictionary. Are you telling me if I beat up a black woman whilst screaming the N word you couldn't label me racist because you don't know my beliefs?

Would you argue that the N word isn't racist because you don't think it is? Because you don't know the beliefs of those who use it?