I don’t label myself as a feminist. I am a person with opinions, whatever. A friend of mine turned me on to a new blog, Feministing. I check it occasionally because the bloggers intelligently cover a lot of interesting topics.
Anyway, I sometimes take notes while looking through websites. A couple of weeks ago, I read this post and the accompanying comments: Sexist/Racist Ad Watch: Skin Whitening Edition. The post displays an ad, supposedly from Singapore, for a skin lightening pill. This sparked comments about racism/ classism. Those comments made me think, and I recently revisited my notes on the topic.
In fairness, there are a lot of other posts on the site that discuss other related issues about body image and negative media attention and the portrayal of what is culturally acceptable. Still, I was thinking about the views expressed in the comment section. Some compared it to tanning in the West, and most acknowledged that the ad was either racist, classist or both. As I sifted through the comments, I kept wondering how many of the people posting dye their hair, wear make-up, cut their hair, wax, shave, style their hair, tan, use acne crème, get manicures, or even pick out pretty clothes? None of those things are necessary for most people.
I like shopping for nice clothes and I wear make-up sometimes because it makes me feel refreshed, even pretty. Is a person in Singapore less capable of making such a decision for herself? Sure, that ad has class and race implications, but so does the fact that people are so quick to criticize it as racist. The corporation is simply making a product that some people might buy. Who should be put out of business for taking advantage of which personal insecurities?
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Feministing is a fun site. They had some discussion on breastfeeding a couple weeks ago. A woman wrote in Atlantic Monthly that breastfeeding is the new housework and cited research (which is questioned by Feministing) that says there is no concrete evidence that breastmilk is better than formula.
ReplyDeleteI know you're not a huge fan of spawn (outside my own), but MomsRising.org has some interesting discussion on family-related legislation and ideas.