The Weave Problem...

so, lately everyone's been going hard on weaves, wigs, extensions and blah blah blah. Even Chris Rock had the movie "Good Hair". But this is what i think. Before we start u should kno 5 FACTS.

1. I wear weaves :)
2. According to the Social Learning Theory, people learn what is acceptable via Reinforcement and Punishment: people tend to stop, get rid off, delete, avoid or dislike what they are punished for and accept, striver for and practive what they are being rewarded for.
3. In Western societies, men are the dominant gender.
4. In Western socities, the Americas and the Caribbean, black people were enslaved.
5. Racism is institutionalized and still exists.

Ok. Most black people, who live in the Caribbean and the Americas are descendants of Africans who came as slaves to work on plantations and in homes, under the racist and oppressive rule of white people.

They were not classified as humans. They were property.

There were 2 types of slaves: Field Negros and House Negros.

Unfortunately, whenever a white slave master impregnanted a slave and her baby was lighter skinned, the child was "favored" as a House Negro, meaning they worked in the house and not outside in the fields all day long.

Slaves saw this favoritism and realized that being light-skinned or having qualities that was closer to white was favorable. REMEMBER Reinforcement: rewards for "positive" acts or images. Therefore, if someone is rewarded for being lightskin, then the opposite is punished. This is reinforced by the obvious separation of who works in the field and the houses. Now, the aim of most slaves was to have lighter skinned children, or if they were already light skinned try to avoid being darker so they can be favored. Who wouldn't want to be favored in an oppressive state? -_-

This trickled down. Being even one drop of black was problematic, since being black excluded you from many opportunities. Those who were very light skin were "passing" (as white) and used their color for advancement. --- You may know this issue to become the LightSkin/DarkSkin Complexity, where people to this day see LightSkin as more beneficial than being DarkSkin

BUT WHY? And What Does this Have to Do with Weaves???

Since being black was negative, then parts of the whole is also negative. Hair, color, body shapes and use of language defined if you were black. Having a black feature meant you couldn't "pass", therefore, you were stuck at being a slave.

Western societies are male domininated, therefore, when defining the beauty of women, especially in a largerly heterosexual society, the beauty/attraction of women is defined by the men. Since slaves were animals, they were not objects of Beauty . the Wife of the White Man = the White Woman. Her body was not used for reproduction of slaves for economic profit. She was "loved".

The object of beauty became the white woman. Now, you must know that ADVERTISERS advertise what men demands, because women generally want to attract men. So Media displays the popular image that is "loved" --- the white woman.

You should also know that since some black men witnessed the brutal raping of black woman, some of them saw her as unattractive. And if the white woman is objectified as beauty, and one who is "clean" and "pure", they would be attracted to her more.

Therefore, a black female, unconciously believes that if an Ad adverstises beauty a certain way, it is that way. Remember REINFORCEMENT. Racism punishes her for how she looks. If the Ads really shows what men wants, and her body image is not represented, she is not what men wants.

Therefore a black woman might change the way she looks for 2 reasons

1. social advancement
2. to become attractive to men

Looking at the media, what defines beauty: Hair, Skin, Face and bodily features. Remember, with the absence of alot of black empowered magazines and other media. Beauty = beauty of the white woman/ those who are closer to her beauty = longer and straight hair, lighter skin, smaller nose, smaller lips and smaller body.

Hence, the rise of weaves among other things.

Now, this issues strongly affects those with lower self-esteems and higher insecurities. #FACT.

Some women weaves to have a different hairstyle w/o altering their own hair, to have longer hair, shorter hair, to hide blemishes, to look more attractive etc. It is not restricted to being insecure of being black. After all black women are not the only women who wear weaves. The Kardashians, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and many others wear weaves and maybe the chick right next to you ;)

But regardless of who's using it, it is always beneficial to know the history of this and inquire why they wear weaves instead of judging.

-- Love always, NikkiRabbiitt