So I've mentioned White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack before (as always worth a read if you've never read it/heard of it). But a few interesting discussions I wanted to link to. Snarkysmachine's Black Women Need Not Apply (thanks SKM) where she discusses racism on dating boards. But I thought her statement was pretty profound:
There is a huge chasm between white women who frame their experience in terms of feeling pressure to live up to a harsh set of standards versus women who live on the margins yet are still expected to adhere to the same standards that do not even recognize their existence. The former often focuses on specific traits such as blondness, thinness without much critical examination, with the expectation that intersectionality should have no bearing on the discourse.
Go ahead and read that twice. It took me a few times. Yes it's one thing to be irritated at being held up to standards for female beauty. But then to realize that these standards are inherently racist is another. Than struggling with the idea of not being thin enough or blonde enough is such a huge leap above not even being seen in the same terms. Having an appearance that is "other" and so the standards that define you do not even recognize you. Also brilliant is this piece, What If Black Women Were White Women?
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