Jezebel 
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New York, 9:12 AM
Mon Nov 9
19 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/28/09
10/28/09
[www.amazon.com] #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/29/09
It's a story I've come to enjoy, because it's so much to take in! And, actually, I love it—it shows how cool and open-minded my ancestors were because they married for love! Very romantic.
10/28/09
10/28/09
As an inter-racial person who is often asked, "What are you?" because I look neither white nor Filipino (which I am) nor really Latina (which most people assume, here in AZ anyway) the idea of putting white girls with perfect Anglo features in makeup to make them look "biracial" is weird and ridiculous. I mean, the color of our skin is not the only thing that makes biracial or non-white people different or beautiful. It's kind of like making a black or Asian Barbie that's the same as the white ones but with darker skin. I don't know if I'm offended, just weirded out and kind of angry. Sure, they have darker skin. They also have big eyes and perfect tiny noses, and can go back to being the dominant race anytime they want. So I'm mixed. ? #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
I take serious issue with this kind of thinking. White female bodies are only "racially unmarked" by western standards. There are all sorts of racially markings on white people, but we just sort of ignore them as the norm, or the standard.
I really hope we'll get beyond this kind of thinking on day, because just as it denigrates all other races as some kind of marked other, it denies a racial identity to caucasians.
I'm not trying to be all "poor white lady" about this, but I think recognizing the racial features of all races is important. #antmblackface
10/28/09
(for the record I don't like the use of the word non-white) people. #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
I think I'm giving Tyra too much credit here, though. I've never known her to be nuanced. I'm sure the judging will be like "it's a nice picture, but you're not giving me enough *ethnic* here." #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
The theatrical old-style blackface would certainly be offensive to me because of it's history. But I see no problem with using makeup and accessories to make someone look like something other than they are (and I point out downthread that ANTM has done this a bunch of times in different ways).
By way of analogy, think about drag. You take men and dress them up to look like *caricatures* of women. And, generally, people don't consider drag offensive. But drag was never done to marginalize women the way that blackface was done to marginalize blacks. If anything, it was a celebration of femininity, while blackface was certainly not a celebration of blacks.
History and context matters. It's not that black makeup or dressing as the other is somehow automatically offensive, it's how "blackface" was used. This doesn't aesthetically resemble "blackface" makeup to me, thus, I'm not offended. #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
I seem to live in a dream world where I assume that most of my classmates know basic feminism/privilege 101 stuff, but lo and behold, my rose-coloured glasses are shattered every time. #antmblackface
10/28/09
In her mind, women who are of mixed ethnicities and/or are bi-racial are under-represented in modeling, so she is trying to recreate her vision of better representation through diversity.
You have to cut through the modelspeak and wacky imagery, though. She's actually done this type of treatment in past shows. Also, I think she thinks she's making the young models "grow" and question what race actually constitutes by having them don another identity in an effort to channel some sort of empathetic energy, at least for the duration of the shoot.
Or did I just grow a whole brain for Tyra? #antmblackface
10/28/09
I don't think that's true but even if it were, wouldn't it be easier (less offensive / stupid) to just hire a bi-racial model?
Bi-racial and multi-racial is HOT!!! right now (and has been in advertising for the last five years or so). She's just jumping on the band wagon. #antmblackface
10/28/09
I don't know what the heck modeling is about anymore, I'm as at sea as the rest of us. At least in runway I get that designers try to find models who resemble hangers because they feel it makes clothes drape better on them, but high fashion just seems...surreal.
How many women conform to their standards of height and weight anyway? They are constantly narrowing the field to exclude more and more women anyway. I sense sometimes that tyra is frustrated by the choices presented to her and is trying alter the judges choices, albeit in odd ways, but isn't she the one who selects all the models with her cohorts? #antmblackface
10/28/09
goddamn it.
Sure, slap some brown paint on a woman, do her makeup and she can be bi-racial.. but will she understand the psychological and emotional implications of being mixed race? Will she understand the varied experiences we of mixed race have to go through?
I say, hell naw. #antmblackface
10/28/09
And how can people sit up here and have no problem with this yet oppose the apparent lightening of Beyonce's skin on the box of hair coloring? #antmblackface
10/28/09
I keep reading about how it's like trendy now that I'm mixed, and I'm really wondering what the heck is up with that.
Face paint doesn't even touch on the real experience. #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
I'm a basic white, European ancestry, middle-class American and these pictures make me go ewwww.
Take a white woman, darken her skin with makeup and give her a BONE NECKLACE? What is the point?
Now take a white person, darken their skin, and covertly film them for several weeks? That would be interesting.
Already been done. Sort of. #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
I am also mixed race and this is not ok with me. Mixed race doesn't mean tan with a head wrap and some "tribal" beads. Are there any black models left in this cycle? What do they morph into?
I too like ethnic ambiguity but not when it's reduced to fashion and trendiness. That's the thing that horrifies me is that this is becoming a trend. Remember this little gem: [www.americanapparel.net]
I would love to understand the motivation and justification for this new trend because I can't, for the life of me, figure out why people think this is ok. #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
This is stupid stunt, possibly dreamed up by cynical producers in order to drum up a little controversy = ratings. I certainly find the emerging trend of blackface/brownface to be disturbing and offensive, but I can't muster up much outrage about this particular iteration. It just makes me tired. #antmblackface
10/28/09
10/28/09
I can't help but think of this photo shoot as Orientalism plain and simple. It's fetishization of the exotic 'non-white' body. And it becomes fetishistic because of the nature of the canvas being that of the "unmarked" white body. I also can't help but feel that portraying the girls in 'tribal' clothes and accessories truly demonstrates that this is fetishizing or even imaging what an exotic culture should look like. #antmblackface