I hardly watch TV (aka no listening to news), I once in a blue moon buy a magazine, and I never weight myself.I think as a black woman there is a trinity of topics that the media uses just to mess with our minds. Weight and race are just two of them.
I tuned back into Racelicious after a long break from all the race news and watched a little bit of a documentary about black models in the industry. But after a while, I couldn’t finish it (since it was so depressing) and when I looked through the comments, I had to leave that as well because so many people were commenting on their feelings od lack that have been generated by the media. I’m don’t like swearing on this blog but seriously, but F*CK media/fashion industry and the system!
They *AREN'T* there to make you feel good!
Capitalism feeds on a society's feelings of lack and it's best child--the media--literally eats away at self esteem. “True beauty” is self acceptance. Of course, I have my days where I just don’t want to get out the house because X or Y of me isn’t good enough (most of the time it’s hair issues) but then I remember a week of uni when I tried to change my train of thoughts to positivity by thinking of myself as number out of ten then adding a 0 to the end of it. [i.e. if I feel like a 4 that day then I add 0 to make it 40 out of 10].
The fashion world is dominated by gay white men who want to see boyish looking girls and think that black people aren’t their target audience (aka think that we don’t have the bills to pay their bills), TV is no one’s friend, the news loves sensationalism and the scale is a heavy crapper itself.
****ALL OF THESE ARE A**HOLES WHO DON'T MATTER!!!!!!!!****
Speaking as a woman who has been bullied as an adolescent and still works on self esteem issues, I think that the concept of swag attracted me the most because: “it’s working with what you have to be the best you.”
No one can do it like you can!I feel like an R & B song from the 90s but still. I think that there are a lot of systems set up to keep people down but then again who says that you have to work within the system. The publishing world also lightens models or thinks that black models don’t sell mainstream books. I went online and discovered niche markets where they *are* using black models—girls who look like me and my characters. I think that as long as there are people in the systems (whether it’s media, fashion etc) willing to stick to their rules and accept themselves as unworthy then it will last. But if you work the system in your favor, you can last! Then when the Matrix finally discovers that you can live and thrive without it then... that’s when the real change happens.Now here is an “insanely handsome” spoken word artist, Rafael Casal, to cuss the media out for me. Check out more of his videos. HE IS SO SMART/TRUTHFUL/PASSIONATE!
No one can do it like you can!I feel like an R & B song from the 90s but still. I think that there are a lot of systems set up to keep people down but then again who says that you have to work within the system. The publishing world also lightens models or thinks that black models don’t sell mainstream books. I went online and discovered niche markets where they *are* using black models—girls who look like me and my characters. I think that as long as there are people in the systems (whether it’s media, fashion etc) willing to stick to their rules and accept themselves as unworthy then it will last. But if you work the system in your favor, you can last! Then when the Matrix finally discovers that you can live and thrive without it then... that’s when the real change happens.Now here is an “insanely handsome” spoken word artist, Rafael Casal, to cuss the media out for me. Check out more of his videos. HE IS SO SMART/TRUTHFUL/PASSIONATE!
this is so true!!! the industry needs to change soon.
ReplyDeleteIt seriously needs to change. Ah.
ReplyDeleteYou are 100% right. Fu** the industry!
ReplyDeleteBlack is beautiful