uPtoWnNY said:

nyse said:

and what's wrong with looking like el debarge? man was gorgeous

scriptgirl said:

No one said it was nothing wrong with it.

ok, just clearing that up.
but i can tell you that that whole light skin thing is no joke down south. I am extremely light and I can tell you that when i go down south, I have noticed that i get treated a lot differently than black women that are browner than me.

scriptgirl said:

My cousin say the same thing.

scriptgirl said:

not a thing...but if EL were to come out NOW...The "Black" media would not
partake too kindly of a lil' skinny light skin man with a ponytale ...
even though he is a wonderfull vocalist and a composer....
just because he does not fit the so called standards of what a "Black man"
is "Suposed to look like...

True and how sad

tamewar said:

Like Halle Berry, Naomi Campbell, Venus Williams, Diana Ross, Sade, Eartha Kitt, Diane Carroll, etc.....

WaterInYourBath said:

We'll that too.I just meant Free yourself and mind. And get some self esteem.
[Edited 8/3/09 20:54pm]

WaterInYourBath said:

tamewar said:

Oh. I agree with that as well, lol.

I think sistas should be offended and call Wayne on this bullshit. He's pimping this bullshit to young impressionable boys and girls.

On the other hand, there is someone who finds every black woman beautiful.

SCNDLS said:

This is so true. I teach media criticism classes as well, and this is something that we discuss often. You can view videos from the beginning of time and see that the lighter skinned or non-black woman is most often featured as the lead love interest. This was the case before videos began.

-----

To the person who said we are reading to much into this, we are not. Preferences are cool, but you should analyze and think critically about what has influenced that preference. In many cases, the major influence is based on cultural perceptions of beauty - cultural perceptions that are perpetuated by media. This is not specific to just light skinned and dark skinned blacks. It is universal and affects people of different races. For example, I have Asian-American female friends who say they are not attracted to Asian-American men. They say they prefer white men. Of course, one could casually dismiss this as just a "preference." However, when I discuss it with further with my friends, I realize one of the major influences on their preference is the media portrayal of Asian men as asexual geeks and white men as charismatic lovers. So, there is more to it than meets the eye.

I find it werid in Hip-Hop how much these men diss women. Aren't you suppose to be getting women instead saying all these hurtful things disrespecting Black women.

None of those rapper boys are my poster men. If more Black women just stop messing with these hoodlums, then men would stop being so hypermacho. We got the Pussy Power!

nyse said:

This is exactly why people need to think critically about their perceptions and how media influence them. What you are saying is true. Ron O'Neal (Superfly) talked about how he was typecast during the 1970's blaxploitation film era because he was light skinned and had long, straight hair. Light skinned men are often portrayed as less masculine or "hard" than darker skinned black men in much the same way that darker skinned black women are portrayed as less feminine or "attractive" than lighter skinned black women. These portrayals, which are perpetuated by the media and our culture, hugely influence our perceptions of each other. Folks just need to be more aware of this and make the proper connections so that they can free themselves of these mindsets.

bellanoche said:

Self Esteem

It's never gonna change and why should it, this whole thing been pass down from generation to generation. Yeah the Media does some things to you but at the say time it comes from Home. The whole hey Redbone to Hey darkie we all heard it before. Media shouldn't raise kids, parents should.

tamewar said:

I agree with you. However, at some point people need to be educated. It's hard for parents who lack critical thinking skills to raise children who have them. I think education is the starting point, then folks can start to break the chains. However, they first have to realize that they've been shackled. Many of these folks aren't even aware that they are mentally bound to a centuries old caste system.
[Edited 8/3/09 21:59pm]

bellanoche said:

This chain you speak of should have all ready been broken. This mess has been pass down from years to years. That why I just can't say it's society because the "Man" is not in my house.

I have no interest in the mating habits of trolls and gremlins, so it's a pretty safe bet for me to say no.

tamewar said:

The "Man," as you put it, is not in my house either because I am educated about history and media/cultural influence. I am not blaming society or the "Man." I think you are failing to understand what I am saying. I am not taking responsibility away from the individual. What I am saying is that the onus is, in fact, on the individual to educate him/herself and think critically about the genesis of all of this, so that individual can indeed break the chain.

It's a no-brainer that this thing should have been put out to pasture a long time ago, but it hasn't. So, the next step is to understand why it continues to exist. From there, the hope is that through awareness and education folks will start to think for themselves.

SCNDLS said:

bellanoche said:

I get what your saying and I think we all ready know why it exist. I just don't see it going away because people Self Esteem are just so down. I'll use a example.

My cousin mom use to get tease from her family for being light skin, Her own family Then she took it with her and use to call her own daughter black crusty as in very dark. However My cousin is not one of those sad Dark skin women which is shocking. I guess it stop with her she wasn't mad at her mom because her mom had bi polar and cancer she pass away R.i.p.

I can walk in the street with her and men call me yellow scearm to her the darker the berry the sweeter the juice. It just doesn't effect us

It's like the whole I hate the term good hair v.s. bad it's pass down and it won't quit cause we just have Self Esteem.

tamewar said:

My mom used to get teased by her sister when she was younger because she was dark skinned

ironic, of the two, my mom hasn't aged but my aunt definitely has

....

bboy87 said:

Payback

bellanoche said:

...and in this country, white men are top of the food chain.

mimi07 said:

BklynBabe said:

Perhaps a better question would be:

TheKing662, are you offended by Lil Wayne? He's a young man whom some here regard as disrespectful to women in general, not just over the complexion preference he has in his song.

What are your thoughts on Lil Wayne?