The Daily Mail‘s Yasmin Alibhai-Brown thinks so. Albhai-Brown believes that Beyoncé’s current look of long blonde hair and light skin is ruining what black and Asian women think about themselves. In fact, “Too many black and Asian children grow up understanding the sad truth that to have dark skin is to be somehow inferior,” the author says. Her sentiment isn’t a new one, but what does this have to do with Beyoncé?
One might argue that she’s a grown woman, and can do whatever she wants: “On one level, you might say this altering of appearance is just women enjoying themselves — selecting different colours, shapes and styles to become what they want. But there is more too it than that; precisely because they never make themselves look darker.” Alibhai-Brown believes that Beyoncé is “betraying her heritage”, and compares her to Jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, who she claimed never did so themselves. To the author, Beyoncé is more in line with Tina Turner (in fact, they show great respect for each other, and have performed together as well), who purposefully …
… lightened her hair, and according to Alibhai-Brown, “when she and I once met, her skin looked lighter to me than it once had.”
Beyoncé is a pop superstar. She is not Ella Fitzgerald, or Billie Holiday, and she didn’t come of age during their time. To compare her to some of the greatest Jazz talents of the genre is legitimate only because it was the pop music of its time. These women were legends, but they faced an entirely different set of criticisms than the ones facing women now. Though the unacceptable beauty standards women of color deal with around the globe date far back before the 21st century, they did not face the same pressure to “look white” because no one would have even accepted them as such. Beyoncé has crossed colorlines through her appeal to people of all ethnicities; Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were never fully accepted into society. Trying to look white would have changed nothing. If it had, we cannot realistically claim that it would have substantially better their quality of life.
To put two images side-by-side from the past several years and treat them as a before-and-after looks is disingenuous. Look at either this or this slideshow of Beyoncé’s changing look over the years; she’s an incredible chameleon of an artist. She obviously loves changing her hair and her look often and, depending on the season, she becomes blonder, curlier, paler, or bronzer. I’d argue that Beyoncé is an example of Global beauty — she allows herself to look the way she wishes, and is a trendsetter because of it (just look to her alter-ego, “Sasha Fierce”). Perhaps her current look is sending a strange message to women, young and old alike, but I’m betting it won’t be around for long. When she was appeared in Austin Powers in Goldmember, Beyoncé had a huge, amazing afro that I recall reading that she loved. At the other end of the spectrum, she’s also mentioned her time in Destiny’s Child feeling as being restrictive to the look that was expected of her. She wanted to push the limits, and go blonder. And as far as I’m aware, there is no such thing as safe or effective skin lightening, so the difference in her skin is most likely due to what’s making me pale and pasty: lack of bronzer, not being done up for a concert, and the fact that it’s February.
It’s important that we take the images our children are seeing seriously. Chris Rock’s documentary Good Hair explored the pressure black women feel to have “white hair.” Kathy Peiss’ book Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture showed us how the make-up industry has altered the way women of all races feel about their appearance, often in comparison to each other. Blaming an individual for her specific influence on our children is not only narrow-minded, but unhelpful. Instead, engaging in a dialogue, and asking more interesting questions in interviews with celebrities like Beyoncé, such as how they feel about their hair and skin, might make them think twice about their choices. Attacking them is unlikely to change anything, and who knows? They might surprise us.
inb4 this is gossip, not a feminist issue.
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Actually I think it is, nice try though Lola.
Another reason comparing her to Billie and Ella is inaccurate is that they weren’t visible personalities.
There was no MTV or endorsement deals. Also, they didn’t have access to the type of hair and make up that Beyonce has. Anything they did to make themselves look lighter would’ve just looked silly.
I also find it interesting that this author condemns Beyonce for doing what she needs to do to get ahead in this culture rather than viewing her as a victim of the very thing thing she’s railing against.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is ridiculous. If she needs me to introduce her to some women trying to make themselves darker, I could walk her on down to a tanning salon or to any outdoor venue which gets a fair amount of sun after it reaches about 75 degrees. I’m also pretty sure women dye their hair darker. It happens. I experimented with it once, granted it was just a phase I went through in college, but I identify. And if I could somehow transplant a Japanese woman’s hair onto my head, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Sigh. Their hair is so manageable and hassle-free.
Aren’t we past claiming that beauty is exclusively ‘colored’ as a white/blonde mold? Some of the most beautiful women I see are black, hispanic, asian, or east asian. Even Hollywood promotes that!
Looks like shes taking over Michael Jacksons persona.
Good lord, let the poor woman dye her damn hair! And come on, pretending that lily-white is always the ideal is just stupid; look at all of the white women who tan themselves senseless to get a more “Mediterranean” look.
Why do people get so hung up on heritage anyway? I’m mostly Dutch, but does that honestly matter? Should I feel guilty that I want to dye my hair black next week, or that I’ve dyed my hair red and tan in the summer? I don’t think heritage is nearly as valuable as people want it to be.
Wait wait wait — the Daily Mail have a writer that is NOT white, middle-aged and bitter? Mind. Blown.
Listen, Beyoncé isn’t 100% black, so she is never going to be seriously dark-skinned. My best friend is mixed-race and during winter she has pale skin but in the summer she is very, very tan. I dye my hair red because I prefer it to my Mediterranean brown colour, especially when I look pasty pale in the winter. The fun of it all is playing with your appearance, not thinking you have to stick to a certain black, Asian or European appearance because that is wheat your roots are. Long live £5,99 hair dyes, curling tongs and make up that allow me to play with my appearance and have fun. Jesus these people have a stick up their arse they do.
Hey! Where have you been, lady? We miss you :)
Aww thanks you both! I have been busy at work and swapping countries but I promise I will be posting again :D xx
Yes, we have missed you, Miree!
Are we ready for the nice, clean space break lesson? This is given to us courtesy of Alzaetia’s husband -Mr. Ryan Shadowpants!
Alzaetia, give Ryan a big kiss from all of us, and I am certain that Lola sends her/his love as well.
Simply type in the space where you want the paragraph break.
sigh. Okay. I’ll type it out with spaces in between – just remember – NO spaces!
& n b s p ;
Actually, its ALT255. But if you want to neckbeard and hard code the html, be my guest.
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HERP DERP
You know, you can get that neckbeard waxed.
I mean, you’ll still BE a neckbeard, but to outward appearances, it’ll be gone.
Kind of like your ALT255 thing.
Let me know, I’ll throw in a few bucks towards the waxing.
Somehow I feel that typing ALT255 in the space will cause the abyss to open up and demons to come forth and stuff. So…
ALT255
Did it work? Because if it does, I may have to laugh at lola’s beard.
Awww, no demons rent from the abyss. Damn.
Demons don’t rent, they own. As in your ass. It’s the command ALT 255.
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Blondie.
That’s me!
And if you weren’t hiding behind a bottle of vinegar, we’d know what color your hair was too.
oh, what? I tried using html tags. I didn’t think to use the code without the tags. What a weird website platform.
Me neither Kai.
Beyonce is a symptom of cultural expectations for black women, not the cause. She is a black music artist who has become rich and successful, millions of little girls (of all colors) look up to her as a role model and some people can’t get over the fact that she isn’t black enough? That’s just sad. Maybe some of that outrage and effort should be put into actually changing attitudes where it would count.
And what the hell is up with the writers name?
Is that pronounced Alibi?
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