by
Black Girl With Long Hair
Portrait of a Black Woman by Buck : Holzemer
*So, a few of you contacted BGLH this morning about the Psychology Today article which states that black women are physically unattractive. I liked reader Deanna’s take on things, so I’ve posted her response. Apparently Psychology Today has taken the article down but, if you care to read (and you might not, trust me), you can find it here.*
Yesterday Psychology Today released an article about how black women are perceived as less attractive than black men (and less attractive than white, Asian and Native American women). And, perhaps to add a, “these-women-are-soooo-delusional” twist, also noted (with mock incredulity) that, still, somehow, black women perceive themselves as attractive, even when others do not. The article also claims that ‘objectively’ (their words, not mine) black women are less/least attractive.
My first reaction was rage. But then I did some digging. The author of the article is Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist (NOT biologist) of Japanese descent who also believes that — as an evolutionary fact — all men prefer blonde women with blue eye. As I did more research I felt relieved to find that many biologists think he is a joke. The fact that he was published in Psychology Today makes me question both the field of psychology and the credibility of Psychology Today.
But this is not the first time that black women have been thrown under the bus by a mainstream institution, and it won’t be the last. From how we raise our children, to our relationships and sex lives, to how we look, black women are scrutinized and picked apart by the media. We’re a ‘hot-button, talking point’ sure to bring in ratings, comments or views. And that is why, one year ago (sparked in large part by the race-baiting joke that is CNN’s “Black in America”), I canceled my cable subscription.
I have given up expecting or hoping that the American mainstream will do right by black women. I think that our brand of beauty is unique and NOT celebrated. And how can it be when the reigning standard is this and this. I’m a beauty isolationist because in this Europhilic culture, and I don’t expect brown skin, full features, highly textured hair and curvy physiques (on black women) to be praised anytime soon.
I don’t consume a lot of mainstream media and I’m very grateful for sites like BGLH that put forth a healthy, attainable and affirming beauty standard.. And it’s kind of crazy to think that we are JUST NOW really uncovering another facet of our beauty — our hair — that we have suppressed (thanks, in great part, to mainstream media) for so long.
I’m through searching mainstream media for a reflection or affirmation of myself. I can find that among my friends, in my parents, at my church and, of course, in the natural hair community. But if I try to find it in mainstream American culture… well, I’m going to be looking for a long time.
Interesting! Ladies, what are your thoughts on all of this; the article, the ‘evolutionary psychologist’ behind it, Deanna’s response?
135 Responses
The irony of it all…google mr. racist reesearcher “Satoshi Kanazawa” and see his pics. This is the male who is calling Black Women fat, ugly, stupid, and genetically mutated. I laughed when I saw his pics. Whatever his issues are, he feels free to direct them at the African-American Black Woman. However he looks, he does not have the right to take and twist someone’s research and present it as “fact” in his so-called “objective” viewpoint and demean an entire racial gender. We need to take our beauty and define it as we see it, not society or some psychology student wannabe. For too long, society (media, etc) has had its grip on the head of the Black Woman forcing us to see beauty from their perspectives. We define our beauty starting with our heads…our minds…our hair. We are 50 Shades Of Brown, we are naturals, and we are proud of it.
He upset because he has a little dick. Yeh, I said it and you know it’s true. 🙂
Hey now, if we don’t want to be judge over our hair then we can’t judge him buy his package. its not always true. I dated an Asian that put most Mandingos to shame. I was shocked.
Betcha a sista broke his heart and instead of revenge porn (yuck) he does revenge research.
When I see crap like this I remind myself of who we are as a people:
Insecure ppl fearful of their own worthiness seek to attack anyone they deem a threat. Insecure ppl who know need to have an underdog to elevate themselves….
God said “I will make your enemies your footstool…”. When they keep trying to crush us & we rebound stronger & more resilient..they get fearful. When they see the playing field getting a little to level they seek to imbalance it.the law no longer allws them to deny us citizenship, rights, a voice so what can they do? Attack the source. Make us GIVE them our power.they can’t TAKE IT anymore so they hope to instil an inferior spirit in us by telling us we are less than.and if we believe it,they’ve won! So when someone says something like this guy I have to smile bc I think “wow! He must really be scared of us…were just doing our thing,minding our lives & he goes on the attack..be he feels threatened!” His insecurities are not my cross 2 bear anymore.my ancestors had 2 put up with that but I don’t so without his permission he can’t hurt me or make me love myself less bc I know who I am.I know my worth…the problem is…he does too and it pisses him off! Someone made him feel bad abt his race or status &he’s pathetic for thinking we’d fall for it! Them days is past. We educate ourselves& we SEE our beauty in all our ancestors & the generations we are briing forth now so his words mean nothing to those of us armed with love & truth. We know better.
Powerful delivery..well said.
Well I’m not fearful at all. I floss it no matter what. Yeah we’ve been made to feel bad for ourselves and what we have achieved and certain people don’t want us to. But its all good, We need to make sure that we instill pride in our children as they grow and let them know that they may look different then their friend Mary in girl scouts or Bobby in baseball, but they are just as important, beautiful and loved.
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mag2-1.jpg[/img]
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/magcover-1.jpg[/img]
Its not the first time that I have seen this either. Below is a local magazine that had the same thing in it, what was a serious gut check was that they had it on the cover with a beautiful little girl on it. I literally cried over that, I would have been fine if it was just some story on the inside, but to have it on the cover was “Whooo”! I remember when I picked it up a few other people buying magazines just stared at me, like I was going to have a fit in public. You know the behavior that we are so known to do, but no other ethnicity does when they are fed up ( which is a dang lie). I just purchased it and went on about my business. Luckily I haven’t really been in the situation of not being seen as attractive, but if they don’t want me then I don’t want you either. A long time ago I told my then boyfriend who is my Hubby now that I had observed that men (NOT ALL MEN) are willing to lay with us, but not commit to us. My husband who is mixed said that he never really noticed because he finds women intoxicating. Fast forward I showed him this cover and he was blown away. All he said is, I’m so sorry that crap like this is out there, but myself and those who have dated you before don’t feel that way. To cheer me up he put on one of my favorite songs Beautiful by Christina Aguilera. I don’t care about those that don’t care about me its a waist of my time and energy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I feel that some maybe cock eyed or cross eyed and are perfectly happy to be that way.
I am in accord with Deanna’s point. First of all, we as consumers of the media have to consume and think critically. Anyone with a degree is an “expert”. An expert in what, though? How does someone’s personal life and bias affect their expertise?
As to validation from mainstream America, I have labelled that a lost cause a long time ago. From so many different angles, I am “other” or “underground.” As an obese, 1st generation Ugandan American, intelligent, dark(er) skinned, natural woman, there are very few positive mainstream images that I can connect with. I do spend my time and I’d rather spend my time looking and supporting “underground” things that validate me, like Awkward Black Girl, or Twitter for people of color, or this website.
I think that part of our collective problem as women AND as Black women is that we are so often forced to copy an unrealistic ideal, and that patriarchal society is dictating our gender and the intersection of our race and gender. We just need to be who we are and to love and accept who we are as Black women.
Whats equally unfair is that bm who are not always good-looking get let off,simply because looks are more important on a women.
I can’t believe that post by Kanazawa. Ill be doing some research on him. but as the writer of this post stated stop looking to the media for validation and approval of what beauty is. we will never find it looking for it in the media, because unfortunately this is a white mans world. Black women and men will always be frowned upon no matter what it is we do. anyways, be encouraged. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL.
Actually Black men are highly desired in Japan. NO LIE! I was kind of surprised. I think its because hip hop and reggae is so big there now. Well and other things, but we won’t discuss that.
I started a pinterest page of videos with this very idea in mind…
https://pinterest.com/sunsetandjive/kill-your-television/
+1 to this whole article.
I know this is old, but since then ‘science’ has discovered the ‘most beautiful’ woman, and (surprise, surprise) she’s white with fair skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. It’s ‘scientifically’ proven that she’s beautiful because of some bullshit formulas that fit the Eurocentric ideal of beauty. I’m so tired of this shit. How can you turn something subjective like preferences and taste into ‘objective’ science? I don’t think she’s that pretty but of course I’mm wrong because ‘science’ says otherwise.
And I’m especially tired of commonly black features being praised on non-black people, which this amazing post touched on. Thanks for the read!
Most people depend on popular culture to tell them what and who to like, so of course there will be people who believe that blondes “have more fun”, should be more desirable and are generally considered superior.
When I was in high school, a long time ago, one of my male teachers brought up the topic and mentioned a study that showed that women with long brown hair were considered the most desirable to men. Red hair, by the way, was considered least attractive. The researchers didn’t simply ask men what they thought was most attractive, they tested their physical responses to photos. The body doesn’t lie. That study’s findings should not be a surprise, since the vast majority of humanity is naturally brunette; blondes come in a distant 2nd and red heads 3rd. The “liberal” media has spent a lot of time and energy over the past 50-60 years pushing a White is right agenda, which is why people will say that blondes are more attractive, even when they don’t personally find them more attractive. There is nothing in the media that is there by accident. They know exactly what they are doing.
I wish I knew where to find that study my teacher discussed. If someone finds it, please, post a link in reply to my post.
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I totally agree with Jamie. My wife cheated on me for six years. She told me after the first year and we did go through counselling and she vowed not to do it again. But six years later I found out she didn’t stop. I am still very very angry at the man with whom she did the affair with, because he is more than double her age and he has married three times before. But he saw that we had problems and took advantage of that. I have told him that I never would like to cross path with him ever physically. He lives in another country they met thru online chat rooms. I have thought of different ways of getting rid of this man. I am a combat trainer myself and I really really hate men who do this kind of thing.
Not that this applies to everyone but, what do minority women most typically want to look like? A white woman. The media has always portrayed that a white woman is the most ideal beauty as well. It’s been the basic thought for so long.
Besides that, what’s the ideal man? Is it the same because I have no clue. Usually it comes down to body type and not race.
Everyone has different standards of beauty and we are all beautiful in our own ways. What everyone should shoot for is wrong because not everyone wants that.
Look your best. Be your best. Don’t try to follow the rest.
I think we should do our very best to fit the standards of physical and social beauty. Doing the reverse creates too many problems and decreases opportunities. Let’s all first start by being the healthiest that we can be and getting ourselves fit.
As controversial as it sounds I agree with your comment-too many times bw try to be different in a world where differences just single you out-
I’m not saying to emulate other race women but I feel and see that non bw take more pride in their appearance ie. she eats well,her hair is always clean,she is down the gym trying to maintain that slim figure,she chooses healthy food etc….
Of course there are many bw that subscribe to this way of living but the fact is the majority do not.
BW are beautiful but because other race women look more like white women(the standard epitome of beauty) then bw do,they get acceptance where bw do not which is unfair because it is those differences that make bw unique.
It’s actually the exact opposite. Most other non white women resemble us. Look around, the only thing other non white women have is straighter hair. But when it comes to most skin tones and eye colors fuller features most races share our traits. Most people in the world are beige to caramel with brown eyes in skin tones that resemble coffee. Most non white women have fuller features and almond shaped eyes.
You have Philippians, Mexicans and many others who share our color and some of our bone structures
Psychology today still has that article up about blondes. First of all, it is not scientific at all. Secondly, what about the obvious bleached blondes what does that show about youth? As my dad used to say being Latin, tall, flat butt, cold white women with blue eyes or “larga flaca” Maybe they should say white men and Arab men prefer blondes but Asian men I have talked to that were born in China find blue eyes and blonde hari “ghoul like and creepy” The problem is people generalize too much. People like different types. I dated white blonde men, Moslem men, Jewish men – married a WASP and a Jewish man because they were intelligent and treated me respectfully. I am attracted to all people if they have that certain something…I don’t go “a hunting” for any type. Intelligence and respect with the other factors are a great turn on.
Psychology today that article generalized so much. Blondes don’t age well either and their breasts are more likely to drop and they are more likely to have stretch marks but then they can move on to the next trophy wife. It is so superficial and makes no sense. I just found the article so stupid. Yeah Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez, Byonce, Naomi Campbell..please they make the accusations against Pyschology in general and emphasize pop psycho of that rag. some men prefer blondes and some women spend fortunes on it.
What’s, the sense in posting comments, then discover that they’ve only been deleted the next day?…lol…lol That kind of predictable behavior, and attitude only shows that BW are unwilling to hear the truth, about anything…especially themselves! That’s, nothing new! So, since BW desire to keep their minds, and ears closed then they are doing absolutely nothing but admitting by their actions that the article in question speaks as the real truth! And, also that BW choose to remain in their sad, pathetic world of perpetual denial! I guess that’s clearly 45% of all BW in the US will “never marry in their lifetimes”, why 62% have never been married, why 70% are single, and only 29% are married! And, that’s the lowest marriage rate for all races of women today in the US as well. ! You think it’s bad now, just wait in ten years time that figure will be in the 50’s! And, the beat goes on!
You are full of garbage and sound like a petty little Black geek who cannot get a Black woman to give you the time of day because you are so lame,corny, and misogynistic. Go hang out with the fool who wrote that stupid PT article so y’all can compare notes on how it sucks to be a couple of single, frustrated, bitter, pathetic women-repelling losers.
You can sign a petition to stop psychology today from publishing racists and sexists articles please sign here!
https://www.change.org/petitions/psychology-today-stop-publishing-racist-sexist-articles
Um Yeah. I’m So over mainstream media. I’m even MORE over the attack on black women. I’m doing my part by being proud and natural. And HONESTLY, MainStream Media ( in my humble and small circle of experince) does not define what is beautiful. People ACTUALLY Love my Natural hair look BETTER than my straight hair, Full Lace, and weaves. I actually get more attention, “play” & “game” being a nautural sistah, than i did during my conforming days. And this is from black, and non black men/women alike. And i have the often dreaded 4c KINKY hair.
So Eff what that guy says and forget everyone else who agree’s with him, Ignorant people, are not worth my time anyway. -shrugs-
Basically i’m all for being on the isolationist kick and being about the things “I” think/feel makes me beautiful.
I concur with the Ladies who have stated that this article is nonsense. I too have received many compliments, date offers, etc from Men of other races, especially since becoming natural. I think its interesting that this article is coming from a Japanese Psychologist because he comes from a culture where the youth emulate African hair and paint themselves brown. Google “Bombhead” and “Yamanba and manba”. I find that mainstream media is displaying more images of Black Women with natural hair I actually spent some time collecting ads of such when I first went natural https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFyO7ata3i0, but I don’t think there agenda is to affirm our beauty, but rather we are just another “market” to tap into if you will. I love what Deanna said in her response that she has loving people in her life to affirm her and I think that is important, but we should not allow this article to shame us from giving ourselves props too. I love my Black people and think Black Women are beautiful if people want to think I’m delusional then that’s a small price to pay in my book.
Yamanba and manba are actually more extreme versions of Ganguro which are really emulating the California teens with tans and blonde hair. The term means ‘mountain hag’ which is incorporated into the exaggerated ganguro style with wild colors and messy hair. They aren’t trying to paint themselves brown and have African hair, and I’m a little offended you think they look like us! Lol. Also, I googled bombhead and it seems to have been a website about all types of hairstyles on Asians. 😀
Ignorance knows no bounds. We all know how beautiful we are. There will always be attacks on us from so called “experts” and the culture at large. Let us continue to shine and celebrate our beauty.
I totally agree with all you guys. I’m white, lol, but I totally see how ignorant these blond articles are. Let me point out something really true that disproves it–Let’s take all the equator countries for instance. From an evolutionary standpoint, wouldn’t blond women have a lot of trouble surviving there? And wouldn’t dark hair, which was the furthest from white, indicate youth there? So logically, shouldn’t the men who live along the equator prefer dark hair? Blond hair would have never evolved there as a sign of youth and it would not be built into men’s hardwiring. But no, some of these men get influenced by the MEDIA, and that is the only logical explanation of why men who come from countries which don’t have blond hair prefer blondes (or why men who have ancestors from those countries prefer blondes). See, there was is no science behind that article.
I really don’t buy into this ‘black women are unattractive’ nonsense. I live in the UK and am a dark skinned woman. I am constantly, and I mean constantly, being chatted up or asked out by men of all races. They stop me in the street, sometimes pretending to ask for directions, before eventually confessing they just wanted to ask me out. My partner is white and this is a standing joke between us – whenever I leave the house he says “don’t get stolen”. Of course, there are some men out there who do not find black women attractive, but in my experience they are few and far between. I say take no notice of these ridiculous studies and continue to be the strong, beautiful black women we KNOW we are!!
AMEN! In my experience dark skinned Black women do alright in the dating/marrying world. Not saying that this is universally true, but can only speak from my vantage point.
I thought the poster went a little far when she said she canceled cable because of CNN’s BLACK IN AMERICA. WOW. I still have cable and see nothing wrong with how Black women are portrayed. I don’t watch BET and the silly “light skinned only women” music videos. And I didn’t watch BLACK IN AMERICA. LOL.
Amazing. I have also taken an isolationist approach when it comes to society standards. I stopped buying women/fashion magazines over a year ago, don’t listen to the radio and rarely watch TV. There was no point in subscribing to something that never gave me beauty advice for my natural hair texture, or makeup for my skin tone. The lack of diversity in shows + stereotypes perpetuated in black shows (on VH1 and BET)led me to give up TV. And the radio on the music these days has gotten unnecessarily vulgar, misogynistic, and rampant with profanity…..but don’t think for a second that I live under a rock.
I’ve replaced these mediums with fashion/hair blogs (most created by black women), check out new music online and my local music store (why isn’t Janelle Monae, Corinne Bailey Rae, or M.I.A. played on the radio?), watch foreign films and documentaries on Netflix, and read a ton! (currently reading ‘Desert Flower’ by Waris Dirie, heard of the movie years before America started talking). Like the author I don’t believe America is going to look at black women more favorably anytime soon. This joke of a study proves our point.
i swear, i think this is me talking.
i’ve done all of these things –
stopped watchig tv, and got netflix.
stopped buying magazines years ago – when i was a teen.
and i find music i wanna listen to online.
it initially started as a media diet buy i haven’t gone back and i don’t miss it.
I’ve done some more research…and found this from a blog called Encefalus. Kanazawa is sick and does things like this to piss off people on purpose. He’s self-hating. He even said dropping bombs on Hiroshima was an act of compassion, and that although men control basically everything…women are in control of men because of their boobs. Whatever.
From Encefalus ( ) on Kanazawa and Evolutionary Psychology:
QUOTE: “Of course, not everything in evolutionary psychology is right, like you may have suspected I believe by this article. Check this blog out for example in Psychology Today Blogs: The Scientific Fundamentalist. This guy is Satoshi Kanazawa, who has written why ‘Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters’. ”
“Satoshi Kanazawa has a tendency to make extravagant claims and create various evolutionary theories about everything. He also has a tendency to disturb people. While evolutionary psychology itself has a tendency to disturb people, I think that mr. Kanazawa does this on purpose. If you remember we had written in Encefalus about a post of his in the past: The biggest crap I’ve ever read: The road to freedom of expression? where he tried to convince us that throwing atomic bombs in Japan during the second world war was an act of compassion. Just reading this sentence makes me want to kill myself.”
‘While many of his theories are valid, others are extreme unscientific claims about all kinds of controversial issues, with the only purpose to piss off people.”
Encefalus (Biggest Crap Read Road Freedom Expression)
https://encefalus.com/sociopolitical/biggest-crap-read-road-freedom-expression/
Encefalus (What’s Going on with Evolutionary Psychology)
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://encefalus.com/philosophical/evolutionary-psychology/
Douchehound of the Day: Satoshi Kanazawa (2009)
https://kateharding.net/2009/08/06/douchehound-of-the-day-satoshi-kanazawa/
Satoshi Kanazawa is a douchebag and Psychology Today pays him for it (2010)
https://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2010/02/satoshi-kanazawa-is-douchebag-and.html
Meet Satoshi Kanazawa the F##kwitted moron:
The thing about ‘tenure’ (or the UK equivalent, which is not quite the same, as I understand it) is that you can’t then easily be removed from your position even if you later go off the deep end professionally. Tenure is based on your early career (first 5-7 years or so). His offensive publications didn’t start until later (going by the list on the LSE site). The quotes on his website suggest that he relishes this negative response to his warped views and probably sees it as evidence of his being right. Best to ignore him and not feed his ego, methinks.
Check out his credentials. He is a paid prof. at the London School of Economics. I kid you not. This article (along w/his previous “works”) and his tenure should raise a lot of questions, and people really need to start digging.
I’ve dug around in American History, and the history of racism/ racialized thinking. It is my opinion that people like him are paid to make up crap so that it filters down to the “masses” and causes decisions w/in our country (U.S.A) and others. Just another tool in “Divide and conquer.” It is not a grand conspiracy (in strict terms) against black women, but there definitely is a political element (national unity, and self respect). Our politics and our national unity effects our currency (and where are those markets located btw?) A small island nation, (that is way more in debt than our own) without much many natural resources, or manufacturing, needs to control something (when one thinks control equals power), so they try to control the markets, the set the terms and the limits of the debate.
So in that way it makes sense that he is arguing (and being paid to argue) that the inbred are more attractive (this is an old argument by the way). Follow the money (and I would even wonder if the magazine wasn’t paid to post the article). And that the less genetic diversity one has the more society (global society) should seek to elevate that person onto a pedestal.
These forces seek (and ultimately lose) to control the terms of the debate, and they abhor democracy in all forms (political and social), for when more people of democratic ways of thinking, then less people will slavishly follow, elite/aristocratic “attitudes” and they lose their power. When there is a meritocracy, these people can not compete.
This again, is the conclusion I’ve come to, and I think everyone owes it to themselves to start reading up more about the Civil War (start w/ “Indian” Removal). In the U.S. the Civil War was about slavery, however internationally it was about other things (democracy, and economic might). Heck, at the very least, look into what was happening in Mexico. Every time, we have had political crisis in this country, there are things that have occurred on an international stage as well.
The odd thing about that is that Britain has far more interracial marriage than the US. I think this writer is just very, very self-hating, and wants to spread that around. (He has also argued in favor of the bombing of Hiroshima — a Japanese man! Arguing this!)
I’ve been avoiding Women’s Magazines for 10 years because of the unattainable standard of beauty they promote. I stopped listening to the radio 3 years ago because of the disrespectul lyrics and don’t miss it. I learn about new music online and buy if it is worth listening too. The mainstream media doesn’t give a damn about black women which is why so many of us have turned to the internet for our media.
I havent read the article and I don’t plan to… I make it my business to not entertain nonsense like this and continue being as beautiful as I am, loving myself… Sad thing is that there are so many black women that will forever be stuck in the mainstream ideals of “true beauty” … I’ll pass
The only way these types of issues grow at such magnitude is because we feed into them with our thoughts and opinions when in all actuality, this BS does not deserve even a little of our attention.
I recommend that this site really should ignore this kind of topic. Many people have commented on that train of thought and I agree. Sometimes I come on bglh and leave feeling worse about myself because of a topic posted that reassured an insecurity. I don’t think it is as important for us to know every detail of how the “enemy” thinks about how we look and who we are as it is for us to keep it positive. We already know how it is, we grew up in the world, we know the history, we’ve already heard it all before.
Love what you have to say here and agree with you. Lets not give this any more attention xx
It really upsets me to see crazy artical like this given attentiion on OUR sites… This is not the first time I have seen issues like this talked about in forums….. and to give that kind of crap a voice..make me so angry. Black women beautiful period and we don’t need anyone to comfirm that us ! If I felt the way some of these “experts” told me how I should feel … I would never leave the house. White women get cheated on disrespected and relationships fall apart just like evryone else….they have no secret power LOL .. they are women just like we are… and All women have the power
It’s funny to me that after all these years of oppression – we (black women) are still being attacked. It really makes you think- “why attack a group of people that you already believe are below you, unless you feel threatened by that group” – I’m just saying, I think a lot of people (unfortunately even some black men) feel threatened by black women, therefore they have the need to try to attack us. But like someone said above, if you are looking for this world to validate us – forget it- you have to validate yourself and give yourself your kudos. You have to look in the mirror everyday and tell yourself you are beautiful, worthy, and amazing. Because the world is too sick and polluted to tell you. I didn’t need to read the article, because it’s just another person who is scared of me being the best that I am. If anything, it continues to light my fire to spread the love to other black women, and young girls and let them (all of us) know they, we are BEAUTIFUL!!! 🙂
I am fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s sight(Ps 134 v 14). He created me and if you chose to hate me – how I look, how I act, everything about me, well thats your problem!!!
Ladies believe it “Bad talk is progress!!!” They wonder and whisper about us and they still can’t understand so they try to break us down because they can’t figure us out!!!!
Hey guys,
Just my 2pence on the subject . . . . . I have not read the article and I wont because it isnt worth my time and I refuse to have other people make me doubt myself and that is what this man is trying to do. He (and quite a few others) want us to feel inferior. Black women are continuously dissed because well, some of us keep walking with our heads up high – thats not part of their plan. But also because they often see the reaction they want from some of us, hollering and shouting, going out bleaching ourselves etc etc. Yes lets discuss it and yes put a letter foward to the paper about how we do not accept this nonsense because we are far more than capable of doing so (there are some amazing writers on this forum!) but let this make US stronger as a group (including black men). Stop letting them define us! Only we should be doing that. Let one of us write an article for the paper, we can define ourself just fine, we know our true worth. And that worth is not justified by having to put down no other race in the process.
Shoot we so fly I think if I werent black I would hate us too 😛
Stay wonderful ladies and gents xx
I saw this quote in the comments on a forum and I think it sums up the answer to this question perfectly:
“Her beauty cannot be measured with standards of a colonized mind.”
-Michelle NdegeOcello
I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!!!
ditto:)
+1 As this is the REAL issue-
A more appropriate research article would have been: The socioculutural construction of beauty: The effects of operant and classical conditioning on the Western collective mind.
I just think of this as a person with an opinion. An idiot can have one, stupid as it may be. It might be published in a magazine, website or whatever but that really means nothing. I mean, it is sad when ignorance and racism is passed off as “science” or “fact” but this type of stuff is done on a daily basis. Just turn on the news. I think so many people are irate because they think that an academic journal (which needs to be peer-reviewed before publication) actually accepted this. As far as I can see, this is not the case. The way I feel about it, it has as much weight as a National Enquirer tabloid or a Cosmo magazine.
We’re beautiful and we know it. I personally think we are making a mountain out of an ant hill with this one ladies. Not to say sweep it under the rug and pretend like it doesn’t exist by any means…but questioning the whole field of pyschology b/c one idiot with an outrageous opinion is a bit extreme I think.
Look at how many people said and did things to promote slavery and uphold segregation in the name of Christianity. I’m willing to bet few people have wiped their hands of the religion because of a few extremists.
For some reason, after reading that article and taking a long hard look in the mirror, I am shocked at how incredibly beautiful I am. I am not cute (meaning sweet and adorable looking), I have never claimed to be, but I am beautiful, in a striking, breathtaking kind of way. But the funny thing is, I won’t take everyone’s breath away, just the people who my beauty appeals to (which is why I don’t find every man attractive, just the one’s that appeal to my idea of handsomeness). We are all that way, individually beautiful. It’s not just a cheesy thing that people put on cards; it’s a fact. Everyone is uniquely beautiful and that’s why we all have our own idea of beauty/attractiveness. As a matter of fact, spend a few minutes tomorrow people watching and you will see how difficult it is to find someone that is truly ugly/entirely unattractive.
Have a lovely night ladies and don’t let bullshit get you down. Own your beauty!! It is yours and only yours!! People can only take your self-love if you let them.
Stay beautiful and keep it moving…
I was on my way to bed when I read this non-sense. I knew I would not be able to sleep until I shared my thoughts on Mr. Kanazawa’s article.
As a black man, the father of a black daughter, son of black mother, the brother of black sister and the soul mate to a black woman, I find Mr. Kanazawa’s article and the fact that Psychology Today published it both highly offensive.
As I write this, everything in me is trying not to spew my thoughts on what I think of the “attractiveness” of Asian woman, for that would serve no purpose. I will not match stupidity with Mr. Kanazawa by bashing an entire ethic group of woman. Suffice it to say, however, that no other ethnic group of women, especially Asian women, can hold a candle to the physical beauty and physique of the black woman. If this were not the case, why would women of other ethic groups spend billions of dollars per year trying to obtain features that black women are born with by tanning, getting collagen injections for fuller lips and purchasing butt pads to augment their obvious deficiency. Just as there are white men threatened by an intelligent black man, there are others, male and female, who are equally threatened and intimidated by the beauty of the black woman. I am convinced, after reading his article, that Mr. Kanazawa is one such individual.
I have met men like Mr. Kanazawa before, in the business context—those paralyzed by their own insecurities and deficiencies. Truth be told, I suspect that, like men of any ethic group, Mr. Kanazawa finds black women quite attractive. However, I would wager that black women do not find him equally attractive and it is this rejection by either a particular black woman or black women in general that is the impetus behind Mr. Kanazawa’s article. He just tried to hide it under the guise of statistical analysis. I would also wager that Mr. Kanazawa wrote the overly incendiary article for the same reason that Donald Trump toyed with the media with the joke of his presidency—publicity.
Black women, you are the most beautiful women on the planet. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Nice comment!!
Am I angry? No. I’m flipping amused. Why? Because we’re supposed to be so unattractive and ugly, etc, yet he and other ‘experts’ can’t stop flapping their gums and writing about us to their peers. If we’re so ‘sub-human’, then why all this attention? What, see something you like and can’t understand why you do?
Also, yes. I do believe that it’s high time we took an isolationist approach to our beauty, our health and our wellness. We’ll be waiting in vain if we expect mainstream society to do so; we need to do it ourselves. My Tumblr dashboard is filled with fresh photos of beautiful black women of all shapes, shades, hair textures and sizes every single day, and it’s a joy for me to see and share. As long as we have each other, we don’t need nor do we need to be bothered by these narrow-minded outsiders bent of destroying what refuses to yield to their view of the world.
After reading the article I’d like to note that there is no genetic difference among races. You can’t look at DNA and determine if the individual is black, white, etc. Race is a social construction. Also, it has been established that Africa is the most genetically diverse continent (genetic diversity is GOOD for a population) due to the fact that humans have been there the longest, but genetic diversity does NOT equal detrimental genetic mutations, so trying to measure attractiveness “caused” by “mutations” makes no sense to me. He also doesn’t differentiate between the different ethnic groups that black women belong to, but compares them to other ethnic groups. On top of that, judging attractiveness by comparing BMIs also doesn’t make sense because depending on the region of the world (and whether or not food is abundant or not) your study would probably garner different results. This article is WAY more offensive to me on an intellectual level than anything else. How dare you come up with some half-baked study and present it as fact. Show me some real empirical evidence, then we’ll talk, loser.
Though I haven’t read it, I probably will take a look and then file it under the nonsensical bile that I’ve heard/read/seen/experienced. What I am immediately disturbed about is that Psychology Today would publish an article by a person who’s credibility and work is in question. As someone who occasionally picks up PT and has considered subscribing, it certainly doesn’t make them look good.
I SO agree with nearly everyones’ comments. Another thing I also want to add is: how can ALL black women be “ugly” when we all look SO vastly different? Even my sister and I look different! We come in different shapes, sizes, colors… just like many women of other “races”. That’s why studies like this are complete BS. Because every human is different looking and acting, and everyone’s perception of beauty is different.
snd i’ve had a guy like me & think i’m attractive from pretty much every “race” there is. thanks.
[img]https://bglhonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/tumblr_llb9rsnCiZ1qzo0zoo1_500.jpg[/img]
LOVE this! I find it funny that we are suppose to be ugly, a non issue and unworthy in their eyes but it seems like they are obsessed with us. Or look to us for something to steal and claim as their own. I say screw whoever wrote this bs and this publicatiion. Like your voice and money speak for you and protest and boycott. Keep ya head up sistahs
LOVE IT!!!!
Leila, it would be great if you posted on the main page –
Please call Psychology Today and speak to someone/leave a message about this heinous article.
*PRIORITY*
Jo Coleman, CEO (646) 600-9151 or (212) 260-7210 X219
Please make it known to Coleman that you find the longstanding professional support of Kanazawa by Kaja Perina, Editor in Chief of PT, completely abhorrent.
In his 2007 book, “Why beautiful people have more daughters”, Satoshi Kanazawa (co-author) writes, “My dear friend Kaja Perina, current editor in chief of PT, has been a truly unfailing supporter of me, my career, and this book project.”
It’s unacceptable that the Editor in Chief of such a popular website should so enthusiastically endorse Kanazawa’s pseudoscience. Please contact Perina’s boss, Jo Coleman, and make him aware of your dissatisfaction with the professional closeness between PT and “the great idiot of social science,” as he was dubbed by a colleague.
source
*ADDITIONAL CONTACT INFO*
John Thomas
jo********@*************ay.com
Associate Publisher
(646) 763-6360
Kaja Perina
ka**@*************ay.com
Editor in Chief
212.260.7210 ext 234
Great research
I want to put something positive out there!
LOVE YOURSELVES SISTERS! YOU KNOW WE ARE QUEENS! EVERY TYPE OF PERSON IS BEAUTIFUL WE KNOW THIS SHIT IS JUST BECAUSE OF RACISM! LET US HOLD OUR HEADS UP AND PUT MORE THINGS LIKE BGLH OUT THERE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE. WE CAN DEFINE and CHANGE THE WORLD BY PROJECTING OUR SELF LOVE!
Yes, that researcher is completely whacko. It is should be reassuring that many scientists dislike him and the bad name he brings to science and psychology.
I do also agree that mainstream media is not necessarily (not at all?) rooting for our team.
One last things in regards to this comment:
“I don’t expect brown skin, full features, highly textured hair and curvy physiques (on black women) to be praised anytime soon.”
I just thought I would note how seeing “curvy physiques” made me feel: I have wanted a curvy physique since, well since I can remember! I think curves are beautiful. However my figure just doesn’t work that way. I have wide shoulders and carry my weight in my mid-section. When I read or hear things that depict black women as being curvy and full-figured…I don’t know, I’m working on not feeling inadequate or less because of my lack of those gorgeous curves, but than can be quite hard. (Just saying)
Ladies, why get upset about something like this? I look at it this way – does Toyota get upset when all the other sub-par car companies try to point out its flaws? No, they don’t, because they know that they are targeted because of the envy of their competitors. As a result, when I see things like this, I’m not surprised, because I sincerely believe that most others are envious of the characteristics of black women. Either that or I’m overly self-confident, think that black women are superiorily attractive and couldn’t imagine being any other race. Either way, topics like this are not worth emotional aggravation.
This kind of stuff has started to wear on me over the years. It’s bigger than just this article, small things piled up can start to get heavy.
“You’re pretty…for a black girl”; television series talking about how we are desparate for a man but can’t get one; movies that like to showcase desparate, angry, stereotypical black women (Precious, Tyler Perry’s crap, Monster’s Ball, etc); abortion ads blasting black women like we are single-handedly destroying our race with no regards to the wellbeing of our children; celebrity men publicly calling black women dark and ugly, nappy, difficult; and then articles like this.
Pile that on top of the anti-black sentiment from politicians (our country’s leaders!!)and their consituents, the “otherness” factor, statistics, our unemployment rates are the highest, dropout rates are the highest, prison rates are the highest. Then comes the “welfare queen” stereotype, ghetto=black, fix your crazy hair, you all look like men, you’re all fat, you all talk too loud, black names, high rate of STD’s, “You’re better off here in America because the entirety of Africa is a shithole run by black people who can’t do anything, as usual”; “You only got the acceptance letter/scholarship/job because you are black not because you deserved it…because black people don’t deserve anything they earn it’s all just handouts”…
Sometimes you have to isolate yourself for a while to maintain your sanity. Luckily black is resilient. If my forbears could handle it with dignity and self-love then damnit I will too. And I’m about to look GOOD while doing so, regardless of what some bogus article says 😀
in addition, I think self-love is more valuable than affirmation from others. In the end, you are all you’ve got.
So if we are “delusional” to think we are beautiful when other people supposedly do not, then so be it, I would rather be delusional than look to others for validation.
Wow. You’ve just summed up the modern day equivalent of the hard labour burdens blacks were laden with during ‘official’ slavery days. Well said.
This man is trippin’, black women are beautiful. There are bust downs in every race so why do other races always say Black people are ugly as if all whites and asians look good.
Please.
I don’t know what it is… why are Black people such a threat?!? Why do people constantly feel the need to tear us down? I just dont get it.
I’ve learned not to look to mainstream to show us Black women love as well. I know my worth and it is in Christ. So if anyone doesnt like the way I look, it’s not my problem.
“I don’t know what it is… why are Black people such a threat?!? Why do people constantly feel the need to tear us down? I just dont get it.”
That’s what I’d like to know too! If we’re ‘inferior’, then why all this attention? What has them so flipping fascinated/obsessed with us?
Hmm… As far as I can tell, Psychology today is not an academic journal. I found it described as a periodical for the lay person. It is also described on at least one database as not being a peer-reviewed journal. This means that articles are not vetted by academic peers in the field before being accepted for publication. I am an academic scientist and this is not science. One look at the website was enough to suggest to me that this periodical is more entertainment that information. This would never have been published after peer-review. It probably would have been returned by the editor without even being sent for peer review. Putting this forth as even pseudoscience is an insult to psychology professionals who do rigorous statistical analyses before coming to any kind of conclusion regarding a hypothesis — whether that hypothesis is proven or disproven. And even then, a real scientist tries to poke holes in their own work to see that their conclusions are robust. This author had an opinion to put forward and wasn’t going to let anything stop him — and clearly the editors at Psych Today aren’t terribly concerned with what ends up in their online periodical.
The author of the article is an academic, and has tenure at a “prestigious” University.
I not only read the article, I read a lot of the comments that came after it on the web site to which Deanna’s link went. One of them was from someone else in the field of evo psych. Even that person dismisses Kanazawa and his work and made it clear that the rest of the top people in that field dismiss Kanazawa also, forbidding his presence at their conferences because of his shenanigans. If the people in his own field don’t accept him or his work, then clearly we don’t need to accept it, either.
The thing about it all that disturbs me, however, is that while most of us know, whether scientifically, intrinsically, experientially, intellectually, or by any other means that this is all BS, there are those who, lacking some sense and thinking that Psychology Today is a reputable publication because they buy it from the “regular” mag rack rather than the tabloid section, will read this or hear about it, and, according to their mentality, co-sign with it, allow themselves to be lowered by it, or merely swallow it hook, line, and sinker. It’s unfortunate, really.
I can’t understand why we would be enraged and shocked by this article? I’ve known for years, (without some wanna be brainwashed asian) writing some piece of crap information. I mean whites, and other races have thought this for years, without actually saying it. This dude obviously does not think asian women are attractive either….when he hails and upholds the beauty of the white, blonde, blue-eyed woman over his own race of women! Yes sisters, I can’t help admit that I was incensed by reading this article as well. Not only was our beauty and features attacked, but our intelligence as well. But we have to keep (keeping) on as they used to say. I will never allow racist bullcrap/ consensus of non-black opinions to break my confidence, or cause me to not hold my head high. I am beautiful, with my full lips, brown skin, and my kinky hair. I don’t give a damn who doesn’t like it! It just goes to show, all the sisters out there who are entrenched in wearing relaxers, blow-outs and weaves. It doesn’t matter if your hair is straight, or kinky. They believe we all are ugly, and you can blonde your hair and wear fake contacts and the whole nine. You are BLACK, and that’s all they see. Before you even open your mouth to speak, they see negativity, and images ingrained in stereotypes of black people/women that will never die. It’s sad, and I doubt it will ever change.
Keep being strong out there to ALL sisters! 🙂
I wholeheartedly agree. I also want to add that evolutionary psychology is often viewed as a dubious field of study by many scientists of different stripes, mainly because evo psych often turns out to be pure conjecture. Sure, we can make educated guesses about the behaviours and thoughts of our pre-literate ancestors, but you can never really know.
The original article is badly written, lacks documentation and citations (i.e the writer is just throwing out his own assumptions without backing it up with SCIENCE/FACT) and is honestly just a twisted opinion piece at best. “There are many biological and genetic differences between the races.” HA! Not true at all.
Makes me wonder how this nimrod got published. I had to do so much fact checking and source citing for my research paper, yet he got away with publishing his opinion as fact? Wow.
the article can be read on curlynikki. the author is a racist and one of his collegues is quoted as calling him “the great idiot of social science”. my psych proffessors say that Psychology Today has never been taken seriously, its garbage. pretty much ALL his research is racist garbage, like the bell curve version 2.0.
It pisses me off that we can’t seem to catch a break anywhere. society constantly screams at us “how DARE you love yourself! NOBODY loves you!” I agree with you, I dont think our beauty on US will be validated any time soon. everything about us is beautiful on EVERYONE ELSE. I’m so tired of minorities buying into these ideals as well, it frustrates me to no end!
its sooo ironic that in reguards to men, asians are in the same boat as us, but opposite! asian men are considered the most “feminine” and “least desireable” out of all men by society. look at the pot calling the kettle black! I bet he’s never done “research” on THAT.
What’s being stated about black women doesn’t really bother me because it doesn’t apply…However, I roll my eyes at the fact that time was even wasted on such a “STUDY”. It’s another thing that psychologists get to label and put in a box. It makes me question their credibility! Why would they even waste time, ink, and energy on something like this?
I do believe in studying the root of a problem to get to the solution…Maybe that’s the aim??????????? Who knows!
Everytime an attack on Black women is launched, there’s always somebody (or “somebodies”) saying: Who cares? It doesn’t apply to me.
Nappy headed hoes? Who cares? It’s not me.
Michelle Obama is related to primates? Who cares? It’s not me.
Black women are scientifically proven to look like a$$? Who cares? That’s not me.
Apathy for every attack.
Thank goodness we, as a people, didn’t feel this way 50 years ago. B/c we all could’ve said, “Emmit Till isn’t me…who cares?”. An attack (or more accurately, a barrage of attacks) is an attack whether it’s verbal or physical, 20th century or 21st century.
Thank you M.J…and let me add that this is the reason why black people are always the butt of jokes
I must admit that I was immediately enraged. In fact, I looked the guy up and he’s pretty much a cook.
But something my boyfriend (who is white) said after his disgust really struck me. He said that really by even bothering to read this article, posting it on our hair sites (our meaning his too, because I spend hours a day at his side reading blogs and explaining hair things, lol)is just introducing negative energy and giving him unnecessary publicity. So I propose that maybe we just ignore it, him, and society as we move on in our natural hair journeys with our heads held high and our afros flying to the sky… yea i ended with a rhyme lol
But honestly, although these things are hard to hear, a part of me feels that we need to hear them. Even though BGLH is an oasis, damn a UTOPIA for us naturals, we have to understand that it is a website. Leila is pulling stories from women all over the country to create an artificial (in the sense that it is digital and not geographical) community. The article by whatever-his-name-is is closer to the reality that some of us live in.
I went to a conservative, Christian pretty much all-white school, and I knew quite a few “Christians” who felt that THEOLOGICALLY black people were a “cursed race”. As one prior commenter noted, there are people who will bend psychology, religion and science to justify their racism, sexism, self-hatred and hatred of the other.
Articles like this keep me AWARE of what is out there and remind me that it is important to fortify not just myself, but other black women. It might be easy for me to shake this off as written by a loon… but it might not be as easy for others.
“He said that really by even bothering to read this article, posting it on our hair sites (our meaning his too, because I spend hours a day at his side reading blogs and explaining hair things, lol)is just introducing negative energy and giving him unnecessary publicity.”
I would tell your boyfriend, that for some (if not a lot) of black women, this is not just a “study” in a magazine that you can fold up and throw away, but a on-going experience. No group of women has to wake up in the morning and read the articles, surveys, opinion pieces floating around on mainstream news networks and online social networks about how they are lonely, unmarried, unnattractive, broke, disease transmitting, carrying dangerous wombs, with an added dose of, “why don’t they wear their own hair…” etc, etc. Are we supposed to forget that only months ago you could find an image of a primate with M. Obama’s face on a GOOGLE search? Our first black First Lady?! No other group of women gets called out the way we do, and sadly a substantial portion is internalized and perpetuated by black people (and other ethnic minority groups).
That’s not a woe-is-us testimony, but a point to prove that the article is not *random* race-bait, but rather continuing an old, tired trend. We of all people should not get *so* jaded. People, like your boyfriend don’t have to bear the brunt, so it’s okay for them to do so.
I think it’s okay for black women to discuss these issues, especially if it’s done with perspective and productively.
Rosie, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
I agree that other groups of women do not have to deal with this constant negative onslaught and that this is an opportunity and a safe space for us to vent.
I read the aricle and looked at the “bar graphs.”
I call “BS.”
Most of the readings are ALL “3.4 – 3.7”
I don’t see how that’s “significant” or worthy of an entire article saying that “Black Women Are Less Attractive.” :insert eyeroll here:
Me thinks the author of the article had some sort of personal agenda(his black girlfriend left him for someone with a bigger d!ck) and since he lacked the scientific data to back up his feelings(black women are less attractive) he had to bastardize this article with a title that states his own thoughts and a grossly inaccurate graph.
“When you love yourself, there’s always gon’ be haters.” – Beauty Within by Dead Prez.
‘Nuff said.
I read the article. His main point were that we black women are unintelligent, overweight, and masculine.
The problem I have with his “science” is that he was basing his entire research under a premise that is subjective.
Premise being: Black women are unattractive
Now I am black, with full lips, high cheekbones, and a very coke bottlesque shape. In other words, Negroid as the captors of the days of old would say.
In my lifetime I have been pursued by Black men, Asian men, White American men, Turkish men, Algerian men and I had to take out a restraining order against a Native American man (we’re cool now)
And I know I am not alone. My sistas are beautiful and whether we want to own it or not is another story.
This was a specious premise to work under for this guy to build a hypothesis based on black women’s attractiveness.
What I took from this article is something I discovered when I first began my natural journey and that is :If you are looking to this world to validate you in any way….you are one lost soul.
To answer the question posed, yes….Black women may have to take an isolationist approach for the simple fact that our own racist history here in the US has indoctrinated this society into believing black women are louthmouthed, chicken-eating workhorses (check the plantation records where we after we gave birth to our children we got one week to nurse and it was back to the field with the baby laying at the end of the row of cotton)
Arm yourselves sistas…Its a war going on outside…
I agree with Deanna. I’m over it. At this point I care more about my opinion of myself than others’ opinion of me.
The fact that an Asian man can sit there and say blond hair and blue eyes is more beautiful really sickens me and makes me disregard anything else he has to say. If you can’t appreciate your own beauty how can you appreciate anyone else’s?
The only thing that did brighten me up a bit is that the “study” showed that black women still found themselves “very attractive” and that’s something to celebrate.
“The only thing that did brighten me up a bit is that the “study” showed that black women still found themselves “very attractive” and that’s something to celebrate.” Exactly! The world can go kick itself!
As for this scientists, he’s no prize winner himself so I don’t know where he gets off telling an entire race of women that we’re ‘manly’ and ‘unattractive’.
Simply unbelievable. Think about the time it took him to write all this bullshit. Maybe he is just looking for some kind of attention.
I am totally for an isolationist approach to beauty. I just hate when hypocritical magazines like Vogue are making a “special edition” for black women as if we were some kind of exotic animals. They are the one who are in power in the fashion industry so if they were genuinely interested in having more black women in magazines we would have noticed that for a long time. And I don’t even mention the constant representation of submissive tall skinny ladies by these type of medias. All these mainstream magazines are just sick and since I stop reading them I feel so much better!
White beauty standards are so entrenched in the popular consciousness that nobody would criticize you for saying that long and straight hair are better than short and kinky hair. It’s an evidence for people! Even my own mother – who is white – when talking about a black woman she finds beautiful will innocently say things like “she is beautiful, she doesn’t have African facial features at all”. I am taking this example just to show that even people who love us the most aren’t necessarily the best advisors in terms of self-worth. If it was for my mother I would have had long relaxed hair because she finds it more beautiful.
Thanks to website like BGLH we now have positive and attainable models of beauty; something I have never ever seen in popular beauty magazines.
Good point about the innocent comment. We need to look inside for beauty and force ourselves to be confident. Those who care about us do not necessarily give us the healthiest views.
So true, I know so many people who have said, “She’s cute, for a dark skinned girl” or have said, “she’s dark skinned AND pretty” as if the two are freaking mutually exclusive. The powers that be benefit–or seek to benefit–in some way from trampling upon the self-esteem and self-worth of so called “people of color”. We cannot blame them or be angry at them for perpetuating bs that they believe/know benefits them in some way. Just stop caring. Stop seeking external validation. If WE define US, then we create the standard. Why are we (some of us) so keen on being measured by that which is outside of us? Don’t fight for equality, because you are and will always be equal. Don’t fight for equal representations of beauty, because you acknowledge that you are outside of their “little circle”. Don’t go begging for acceptance into some club… Besides ladies, we’re the fiercest thing around. Y’all didn’t get the memo? The fact that appears to be some “conspiracy” to tear down the image/ego/self-esteem of “black” people says more about those that perpetuate it than “blacks”.
Science like any other vehicle in our society can be used as a tool for good or evil. We bring our personal biases and pathologies to any business we do and the life of a psychologist is no difference. I pity Mr. Satoshi Kanazawa and his prejudice and self-hatred. I am not sure how one could live with that level of hatred for others (or, self-hatered for that matter) and feel one onuce of life satisfaction or peace. I am deeply disappointed with the editoral staff at Psychology Today, and as a practicing Psychotherapist and Professional Counselor I will be making my opinion known.
At first I was pissed off.
But then I thought wait.
I have practically pulled every race. And I’m Nigerian. Very very dark, Full lips, round nose, so wait a minuite…And I won’t say I’m Gawguss or anything outstanding, but I do take care of myself.
Then I saw the author, sorry If this come off badly but I wouldn’t expect more from an Asian man. Many I’ve met suffer from inferiority complexes/ “short man syndrome” and worship white women. This article was just used to deflect how unnatractive many people may find Asian. What better way than to put another group down? And those graphs look like BS to me.
Please excuse some of my errors, I’m a mess lol
I didn’t read the article. What the hell is wrong with the Psychology Today? So this author is a pointless, self-hating man, but for Psychology Today to publish such a man’s work is ridiculous because it is in essence validating his work!!
I agree with most of Deanna’s sentiments, but I must say that it seems brash to question the entire field of psychology based upon one controversial psychologist’s work. Evolutionary psychology is a hotly debated and controversial subfield of psychology that has no reflection on the vast field itself (I mean even psychologists have some qualms about the work being presented from this subfield). Also, as a biologist, I like to view other fields of science with as much respect and appreciation as possible. I may not find psychology interesting, per say, but I am not going to hold my work or my colleagues’ work higher than those of other psychologists simply because society finds biology more credible. Plus in this context, had a biologist written these things it would’ve still been problematic.
My knowledge of psychology is limited, but just reading this article as a scientist; it is very “flimsy” and quite subjective. The data is questionable because he doesn’t seem to account (i’m not sold about his statement/usage of factor analysis) for societal norms in beauty when having people rate attractiveness and is it even actually possible to measure attractiveness objectively? Also his conclusion is unsubstantiated. Where exactly are you getting this testosterone data and what are you implying/suggesting? I mean I’m only have a B.A. in Biology and am truly pursuing a career in medicine, so I’m not the best judge of how scientifically sound an article is, but I’m pretty sure this ish ain’t legit.
Like Deanna mentions society is so conditioned to think less than/poorly of people of African descent that scientific journals would willingly approve and print articles that simply reinforce what “apparently” seems to be a fact. To know that no editor/scientist looked at this article and Kanazawa’s work and said “Wait hold up this is racist and your data/explanation of it doesn’t seem to be sound.” is quite troubling. I mean scientific articles normally go through a rigorous process before being published and to know that no one had an issue with what Kanazawa was presenting and how he presented it just proves that we are living and working within a societal framework that is inherently racist. I mean scientists may not always be famous, but they are quite powerful people and to think that so many of them were fine with this article is kinda scary.
ALSO What about Hispanic women? Do they not count for anything?
You know what? I didn’t even realize he had not included Latino women in his pretty little graphs and incomplete statistical information. I was actually surprised he included Native American as they are usually left out as if they don’t matter either. Good observation.
Hispanic is not a race. There are Black, White, Asian Hispanics.
I wasn’t even enraged when I read the article. In fact, I laughed. Why? Because any respectable and reputable sociologist or biologist would also laugh out loud. Either would tell you that race is a social construct (illusion, really) created by humans. It goes back to the Thomas Theorem, which simply put states, things that we believe to be real are real in their consequences. “I think, therefore, I am,” essentially. Race exists because we think it does. It is NOT biological, there are NO genetic differences between races. It is NOT something that shows up in your DNA or the faulty measurement of intelligence we call an IQ test (which doesn’t test for all types of intelligence and only tests for logic skills and math). Numerous tests and comparisons between the DNA strands of several races proves that. How did this guy even get a degree?? LOL He really IS a joke!
And is it not hilarious that he is Japanese and believes that Asians are biologically more intelligent than other ethnicities? He isn’t even a biologist! It’s like he stepped straight out of the 1800s with measurements of the negroid skull and other body parts in pocket. He is a racist. Though I hate to generalize, I find that Japanese people as a whole tend to be pretty racist. Some of that can be chalked up to what the media in the U.S. pumps out across the globe, but also just look at what they did to those South American immigrants of Japanese descent used them for labor and then used the state of their economy to tell them to get out, deprive them of work, and attempt to pay them off to never return, despite having family in Japan or having a direct bloodline coming out of Japan. tfu
+1
Each majority has oppressed a minority. It’s true in Japan, Africa, and here. Internment camps anyone? I was totally with you up to the generalization point, I just want to note that pointing the finger at him as a racist should not be applied to all or most Japanese people.
@Chouxchoux,
Have to google the story about the Japanese of South American descent. Believe I’ve heard about Japanese Brazilians so I guess that’s what you are referring to.
This is scientifically untrue. If we accept the Out of Africa hypothesis, blacks would be the “least mutated” race, since every other “race” had to adapt to their environment (lighter skin in places with less sun). There are also no real studies linking more mutations=unattractiveness.
This is bunk science.
No the current theory is that the people still living on the African continent are the most diverse people on the planet since different types of people left at diffent times in history.
Dear Sisters,
Love, Peace, Good Health and Joy to you all.
I read this website frequently, but have not commented (as far as I can remember lol), but I feel compelled to say this:
Before I saw the name of this man in this post, he did not exist. Before I saw the name of the the publication or website his words appeared in, it did not exist. I understand that the thought of his opinion about black women being published is angering, disconcerting or even hurtful, but please do not allow his opinion to upset you any further.
This is our space. We come here to encourage, share, celebrate, laugh, smile and inspire one another.
Personally, I will not disseminate his words via social networking platforms, email, telephone etc. to others. Heck, I won’t even read his words or visit the website or buy the publication that he was published in.
I know his words are false and they hold no weight in my world, where every day is beautiful black woman, black man, black child and black family day.
It’s time we take hold of our own image and representation and create and support media, networks and communities that celebrate us.Do not invest time and energy into things that are not designed to benefit us.
I don’t have to tell the world how beautiful we are, nor do I have to explain to other people why we (black people/people of African decent/people of the diaspora) are the centre of attention, because before today the author of the article mentioned above did not exist, and will not exist in my world.
Have a beautiful day Sisters
+1
Well said, thank you so much for your kind and beautiful words.
Perfect.
THANK YOU, SISTER.
I agree. You are spreading his work by posting this bs to this website. It is time we stop looking towards Psychology Today or any European publication to tell us who we are. We must stop responding to this negativity. So what if a Japanese person says that Black women are ugly. Who cares!!! I dont
The article itself wasn’t posted — and that was intentional. Also, you are saying exactly what Deanna said — that we shouldn’t look to mainstream institutions for validation.
Well said. Thank you.
I didn’t even read the article. I felt like it was a waste of my time. I think that we have to believe in ourselves as far as beauty is concerned. We have to lift each other up with continued natural hair meet ups, more of us have to write, and more of us have to create avenues for other black women to write positive articles about ourselves.
I live in a world where my own father hates my hair. The only time he likes it is when I tie it in a quiff and most of it is out of site or it’s braided completely under a hat. However, no matter the amount of negativity he sends my way I still believe that when I look in the mirror the flyest sister is looking back! If we raised our daughters that way, constantly feeding into their spirit the beauty that radiates from the inside out we would be able to fight these outside detractors in a better way.
Finally, history is recorded by the historian. Not enough black folk write. Our stories are being told by this crazy psychologist instead of by like minded people. We have to start telling our own story. These people don’t speak for us, we have got to speak for ourselves and speak loudly.
Well said! So beautifully written!!!
Mr. Kanazawa is an idiot and does not speak for this Asian man.
Black women are beautiful.
This is why all of the online communities that showcase and celebrate beautiful women outside of the mainstream (and ignorance) is necessary…so necessary. That is all I take away from this.
I seriously cannot understand the “attacks” on black people. I feel like the more we as a people respond to the bashing, the more that we affirm their delusions..that somehow black people are “different” and “seperate”. I am a 30-something woman and I now can see that it is about power more so than beauty. Beauty is individual..and it doesn’t matter the race or races that you are. I especially understand this as the aging process begins to set in and I see so many BEAUTIFUL black women who have kept their beauty throughout the years.
Between this and my research study on Sara Baartman , enraged fits what I’m feeling right now but I won’t give them the satisfation. I’ll just smile (with my full lips)
the human race started & will end with the BLACK woman. we are the center of life. ‘literally’. don’t let them shake us sisters.
YESSSS!
Exactly! We are the original women, whether people recognize this or not.
Thank you! Clearly people have forgotten who their mothers are!
I must admit, rage was also a feeling that I had when I read the article. I also felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment in the author (an asian american male) cavalier attitude toward beauty in the assumption that white/blonde was the ideal. It was the same sickening disappointment that I felt when I read the NYT article “Paper Tigers,” by Wesley Yang where he opines his lament on “picking up white women” as some prize to be conquered.
Self-hatred is just pathetic – and dragging other races into your whitewashed hell is just unnecessary and sad. Your not doing yourself any favors. Your just making yourself that much less desirable by reaffirming already racist stereotypes about beauty.
The article was in New York Magazine, not the New York Times (newspaper) and the author Wesley Yang featured Asian “Pick-Up Artist” J.T. Tran as one of the many faces of Asian-Americans struggling to find their identity in the U.S.
I don’t think Yang, the author, was lamenting picking up white women…
I wholeheartedly agree with you about Wesley Yang’s Paper Tigers and this article. These men are wanna be whites. Instead of challenging the white beauty ideal they uphold it through their continual posturing and bowing down. I thought this critique of Yang’s article was particularly insightful: https://scatteredspeculations.tumblr.com/post/5363503589/asianpeopleproblems
I read that “New York” mag article, too, by Wesley Yang and took note of how one of the Asian men featured ran a dating course that held up blonde white women as the greatest prizes to be won (I don’t know how happy blonde white women would feel about that).
As for the story above- how did Psychology Today allow this piece of pseudo-science to be published? I’m actually shocked by that. The writer has a long history of making and writing controversial statements, so I would have expected more from them. To just pull the thing down now is too little, too late.
I felt a flash of anger, but then sadness. I can understand Deanna’s feelings. While I don’t look to the media to build my sense of self, I am done with the subtle swipes that do have me questioning my self-perception. I’m thinking of canceling cable, too. A massive waste of money.
Amen! Clearly Yang and Kanazawa desperately want to be white men by any means. I honestly feel sorry for them.
I fully agree with you. I was very disturbed when I saw the title of the article – I willed myself to read it, but it seems to be unavailable. It was also a slap in the face considering I got a compliment on how good I look today(wearing my first protective style after getting rid of permed ends) and then seeing this. I too do not like the Black in America series – I thought I was in the minority.
We just have to know that we are beautiful and carry ourselves that way.
I agree. I have a serious dislike for shows that seem to want to dissect black people. Like some type of rare breed. Will they do a show about being white in America? Hells no!