by
Black Girl With Long Hair
Last year Victoria’s Secret model Maria Borges made history as the only woman to walk the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway with natural hair.
Her natural hair reveal inspired others, and this year Jourdana Phillips, Harieth Paul and Alanna Arrington joined Borges in rocking natural curls and coils on the Victoria’s Secret runway.
Somehow women’s lifestyle site PopSugar found this… exclusionary to Asian women. In a perplexing video titled, “Why Aren’t Asian Models Included in Victoria’s Secret’s Natural Hair Revolution” the site complains that “despite including a record number of Asian models in this year’s show not one of them walked with their natural hair texture on display.” The video goes on to say that this is an example of Asian Americans being “left out of the race conversation”, and point out that “other women of color are being celebrated for rocking their natural beauty” while, presumably, Asian women are not. The video ends by saying “representation matters for ALL women of color” and encourages viewers to share the video if they “support everyone’s natural beauty.”
You can watch below.
This is one of the most blatant examples of ‘All Lives Matter-ing’ a black movement I’ve seen in a while. And I have… so many questions. Mainly, if the issue at hand is lack of Asian representation in media, why not just make a video about that? Why even mention the natural hair movement at all?
Had the person who created this video done any research, she would have learned that the natural hair movement was built by black women for black women, in part as resistance to the discrimination we still face for simply existing with highly textured hair. We are still losing jobs and being expelled from schools for refusing to straighten or cut off our hair. Just this year it became legal in the United States to discriminate against job candidates and employees with locs. South African schoolgirls, in this day and age, are fighting for the right to wear natural hairstyles. Meanwhile, Asian women — whether they admit this or not — benefit from a culture that normalizes and embraces straight and loosely textured hair.
I have no idea why Victoria’s Secret opted to curl the Asian models’ hair. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it wasn’t a ploy to obscure the beauty of thick, straight hair.
This passive aggressive video tries to conflate black women being proud of their unique beauty with black women being exclusionary. And it chooses to take aim at the natural hair movement instead of an American culture that has established whiteness as a beauty norm, often to the exclusion of everyone else. In trying to shoehorn the ‘apples’ of Asian visibility with the ‘oranges’ of the natural hair movement, PopSugar betrays its own bias against black women, and it is truly shameful.
Luckily many commenters saw through the video’s shoddy logic and were as incredulous as we are, especially given that Asian culture has its own deep issues with colorism.
“I’m a mixed asian, Filipino-Jordanian-Syrian, and almost all videos like this only consider fair skinned, almond-eyed asian women who looks like Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. If a movement should start, it should represent the diversity of the entire Asian continent. Mongolians, Indonesians, Indians, Vietnamese, etc.”
“This is blatant antiblackness & misogynoir. You cannot empower Asian women at the expense of black women. Take this video down, it’s embarrassing”
“No no no. On behalf of the Asian community, I’d like to state that we actually are not angry or even worried about this. Our hair texture is so common, straight or curly, and nothing special. Sometimes I don’t have to do anything to it after a shower. Let the women who are shamed for their natural hair, and the women who were made fun for their natural hair, take a step up. Let them have their victory and feel beautiful. This video is shit. No, we Asians are not hurt by the choice of women with natural hair on the show.”
Check out more comments below.
If there is a silver lining to this, it is that many could see right away why the video is deeply flawed. But we are still over here shaking our heads.
16 Responses
That is a odd attempt to destabilize the natural hair movement specifically for black women. Great comeback to the people who complain about silliness.
Wow I didn’t know this level of ignorance existed. How stupid does one have to be to actually make a video implying that natural Asian hair is not socially accepted???
This reminds me of the “Black-out” during the Oscars. A lot of Whites wanted to remind Blacks that Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans weren’t nominated for Academy Awards either. Of course, every qualified artist from every minority group should be fairly represented on the night of film’s highest honor! However, I’m sure that Hispanics (who outnumber Blacks in this country), Asians and Native Americans are perfectly capable of speaking out on being excluded without Black people parenting their cause. Also, I didn’t notice a lot of non-Black, non-White minorities championing Black actors/writers/directors during the Oscar black out. Same issue with our hair. Do Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans generally/en masse speak out against natural black hair discrimination? Not from my experience. In fact, some (not all) members of these aforementioned groups empower institutionalized racism by degrading black natural hair while they exalt their own hair as superior!
Asking why black women are being exclusionary while the very movement we represent is BECAUSE we are excluded… ?
Makes sense.
Why do bw have to include EVERY other race at our own expense. It just seems like this world is so ANTI-BLACK WOMAN!
Everybody else must piggyback off our struggles! Not today hunty! Not today!
Those replies to the PopSugar article gave me life! How could the issues for Asian women and Black women possibly be same??? I mean Black hair is Black hair. I remember walking into a salon 6 years ago with my natural hair that was shoulder length wanting to get it trimmed and the hairstylist wouldn’t even touch my hair without it being straightened or permed. I might be mixed but I never would have understood and appreciated my hair and its connection to my African heritage without the help of this movement. It is unacceptable to systematically erase the symbol of the everyday struggles of black women. To go there is like stepping on a social-media land mime.
1st-As a black woman I have every right to be exclusionary and will continue to do so. You know why? Because other female minority groups unapologetically exclude me as a black woman and have never felt the need to include me. That is their right and it’s human nature to elevate your own.
2nd-Asian women are not discriminated against because of their hair. In fact, they are so celebrated for it that it’s imported into this country and sold at a very high price.
3rd-If Asian women have societal issues they are looking to overcome I’m pretty sure they’re capable of creating their own movement. From the looks of this show, modeling agencies still seem to have an issue with colorism as it relates to Asian cultures because I’m absolutely sure that Asians come in various skin tones. The creator of this video TOTALLY missed the mark and picked the wrong fight.
4th-The author is an example of those idiots who believe that black women are sacrificial lambs and should suffer for everyone else’s cause. NOT..HERE..FOR..IT!
5th-Most importantly, the celebration of my black womanhood isn’t done at the expense of another woman’s identity. This has NOT been reciprocated throughout history for black women and this video is a perfect example.
I know there are Asian who are darker with more kinky hair but you never see them and most people don’t know about them.Honestly I’m not sure they are even aware of the natural hair movement.
If this ain’t thinly veiled white racism, I don’t know what is!!! And a white femaile commentator sounding like Tomi Lahren and asking in a pathetically whiny voice, “Why aren’t Asian women allowed to rock their natural hair….?” I cannot…I simply cannot! Do they want Black people to come for them or what?! Since when do white people care about Asians????
And the worst part? PopSugar, while spreading this misogynoir, is blissfully ignorant of these facts. They don’t even recognize that so much of their very existence is based on bias, they defend it under the guise of attempted inclusiveness.
I’m half Asian and have plenty of friends who are Asian and quite honestly we do not feel left out of the natural hair movement. Don’t let articles like popsugars fool you all. I think it’s just another ploy to start drama between people.
I don’t even know where to start about this madness.. So I won’t even go there.
this is why i dont understand when people come to us, black folks, and be like “well, why dont yall talk about (insert minority here) rights?” uhhh….with all the anti-blackness floating around in said communities, I THINK THE FUCK NOT.
prime example of anti-blackness that’s prevalent in other minority communities in America. Yes, there were a few in the comments not with the madness, but the exceptions are not the rule.
This is crazy!!! Can’t we have something?
My best friend in the whole world is Asian, and she told me point blank that the ONE thing she has NEVER felt insecure about is her hair. And because she is fair-skinned Chinese, she also explained that she never had to endure the subtle mockery that other South East Asians have to deal with in their own respective community.
PopSugar is clearly in the wrong here. Only people who have natural hair would understand the societal struggles that are associated with natural hair on a daily basis. Both spoken, and unspoken.
same here my friend is Bangladeshi with hair down to her waist. Se has never said anything about it being a problem she Also Encouraged me to wear my Afro and we are out together when I have my fro rocking ou diverse beauties lol. I know every ethnicity wants to be represented but not at the expense of any other.