Racist or not?

[claw3]

At our local train station at the weekend with ds 12, he was looking at news stand, while i was getting train tickets.

Anyhow at news stand there was a section which had black magazines ie black hair, black beauty, black music etc, etc. Ds asked me why do black people have their own mags and would it be racist if white people had their own magazines ie white hair, white beauty etc etc.

Your thoughts, would it??

not that I can see Hoochie LOL.

www.ukblackpride.org.uk/

Are white transgenders, different?

Hoochie - I stand corrected then, black music magazine has been published since the 80s.

Some thought i was making it up.

well it was on the news stands at the weekend

I don't know anything at all about music. I don't even have a radio but I thought that black music was a recognised genre, like welsh male voice choirs or chinese opera or mongolian throat singers. You don't have to be welsh to enjoy welsh singing, or chinese to go to chinese opera. Why do you think that non black people are forbidden from buying a black music magazine? They are certainly not forbidden from performing it.

FAQ, black music?

not the same as - need a product for black skin or black hair which is specific and niche

its music - black and white ears - the same.

White transgenders often do face different issues from black transgenders imo.

yes I'd say they were as in general the "White" world is a lot more accepting of bi/gay/transgender issues than the groups mentioned on that website are.

I'd say it's just an off shoot of Gay Pride, except focussing on those gropus whose cultural background probably means that they're much less "accepted" among their local community than Joe Bloggs down the street is.

yes it's a recognised genre of music as I mentioned earlier, Black, Folk, Classical, etc etc.

Of coures these days the "lines" are much more blurred, but in the past they were very distinct, andd I guess in our Western Culture it would be hard to notice any difference. But go back not that many years and jst like the differences were much more noticable.

It's music of black origin, so someone interested in that would buy the magazine,

Just like someone interested in Folk music would buy "The Living Tradition"

right so in the context of MUSIC 'Black' refers to african american influence - rather than being music for black people...i geddit.

Right im off - whats good for the goose is good for the gander, so to speak

yep that's the one custardy

nah its not a genre, its not rock, classical...BLACK.

thats bolleaux sorry,

black - cultural influence i'll grant but not a genre in itself

yea well most of this modern stuff has all merged into one anyhow so it's not really quite so obvious these days. You have to go back to when they made proper music to see the distinct diferences

"But i fail to see why black/white in a title are the total opposite, one is considered racist, the other isn't"

If you really cannot see why, despite all our combined efforts to explain, then I suggest you let your ds read this thread, because he might get it.

I used to edit a pregnancy magazine. If you flicked through it, you'd have seen very few Black faces. Real-life stories - would use anyone with a good tale to tell although fewer Black/Asian readers got in touch because there are fewer of them in the general population (never occurred to me to check what the ratio was, though). I was always glad when we did have a Black/Asian case study because I was aware there were very few Black faces.

The main problem was models. There are only a minority of models who work during late pregnancy (we needed people with mahoosive bumps, the bigger the better) so we didn't have much choice in the first place. (Modelling is tiring and hard work for anyone heavily pregnant - all that standing around for hours on end etc. etc.) The small list of heavily-pregnant models rarely included anyone Black or Asian, as far as my art editor let on.

Even if there had been a gorgeous, heavily pregnant Black model, I don't think we'd have put her on the cover. For fear of alienating the mass of readers and encouraging them to go off and buy one of our rivals. With women's mags, you are trying to pick someone who your readers can identify with - and many more people can identify with a white model.

Italian Vogue's Black issue was fab but they have far more clout and ability to be different than ordinary magazines - and a devoted core readership. With pregnancy magazines your readership is always turning over. If I had tried to put a Black model on the cover, I'm 100 per cent sure my publisher would have over-ruled me.

It's not something I feel very happy about, but I think it does show why specialist publications that cater for a Black or ethnic minority audiences are valid. Because, as everyone has said, those readers just aren't going to be catered for to the same degree in mainstream mags.

Saadia - Your reasoning has been black people can use black as a descriptive word because they are in the minority. White cannot be used as a descriptive word because it is the majority, thereby making it racist.

How is this equality?. I doubt my son would understand it, he sees people as people regardless.

thanks, Hoochie.

I can't quite get your argument Claw. Genuinely. Are you being devils advocate for the sake of it or do you actually have a perspective on this that is all your own. I'd be interested to hear it.

"Saadia - Your reasoning has been black people can use black as a descriptive word because they are in the minority."

Not quite. People selling things to black people can use the word black to help sell stuff. To black people.

"White cannot be used as a descriptive word because it is the majority, thereby making it racist."

Not quite - it's because it is the majority, thereby making it pointless.

FFS.

Black gay men do struggle more when it comes to being gay and coming out. It was not that long ago that is was illegal in Jamaica to basically be gay I think it may still be illegal to take it up the batty so to say.

My very good friend is Jamaican and gay his family don't even know if they did they would disown him on his recent visit to Jamaica he had to pretend to be straight. He can't even go to Black club nights because he is that scared of being beaten up so yes black pride should exist

I agree with ManIFeelLikeAwoman I don't think using the title White hair for instance would be racist but it would be pretty pointless

Monkeytrousers - Good morning, my op was to ask people whether they thought putting white into a title would be racist. It seems that most would find it offensive. Personally i dont think white should be used in a title as there is no need. I also dont think there is a need to put black in a title either.

Im finding peoples reasoning for not using white in a title quite conflicting. To suggest that its ok to use black in a title because thats who the magazine is aimed at, is ridiculous, if white cant be used because its offensive. Since when has using white as a descriptive word become racist by default regardless of contents.