Bushy hair and stereotyping

[Tropicana]

First I will start with a joke.

The hair on the top of my head is natural. The rest has been relaxed and I have about 90 - 95% of the original curl. Before I went to Jamaica, I had my hair blow dried and styled with a curling iron. It was pinned up so that the set would hold. I was told all I had to do was remove the bobby pins and fluff the hair with my fingers and the style would come back.

By the time I travelled to Jamaica, got picked up and driven to country and had 1 night of sleep, the hair was a disaster. The heat and humidity wreaked havoc with it. So, after the funeral I shampooed it and opted for wash and wear. I used the same products I do in Canada. It didn't work.

When I returned my hairdresser told me those products are to draw moisture.

Anyway, I was having a conversation with my Mom about stereotyping. Now that I have met Australian Aborigines and Nubian people I commented on the fact that they look just like "us". I couldn't understand why photos that are clearly at least 100 years old are being used to depict them. Ditto for the Orang Asli of Malaysia who are of African heritage.

I said "Why are they still showing photos of people with long bushy hair (black brown, red or blonde) with bones in their noses and stereotyping the people?"

My Mom said "Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

Except for the hair colour, this just about covers it...

[Tropicana]

So what I want to discuss is why are old images still being used to depict people and create false impressions.

Google Australian Aborigines and this is what shows up:





It is this type of image that is showing up in Geography books for school children and National Geogrpahic too.

This is what shows up for Orang Asli:



and this is the type of sterotypical garbage that Youtube has:

In this day and age, WHY?

[Tropicana]

Got to run but I will come back with my Orang Asli story.

[jah_yout]

the article's title is ridiculous..."bushy hair" stereotyping?

perhaps if they weren't so mesmerized by straight hair there wouldn't be "stereotyping" of "bushy hair"---whatever that means;

they can look for those images and confuse themselves...
but there are plenty of "bushy hair" people around right now to counter any stereotypes-
if people are willing to see...

[Tropicana]

Yup that is what my hair looks like but the bottom and sides are like the bottom and sides of the blonde I posted.


Re: title....it got you in here didn't it?

[j-kid]

Gosh dam, yuh is ah mess.

Re: title....it got you in here didn't it?

Tropi, yuh hav bone through yuh nose?

I said "Why are they still showing photos of people with long bushy hair (black brown, red or blonde) with bones in their noses and stereotyping the people?"

My Mom said "Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

[Tropicana]

Gosh dam, yuh is ah mess.

Yes I was a total mess. Apparently 2 of the products I used are for attracting more moisture to the hair so that it doesn't dry out. So you can imagine during the humid rainy season in Jamaica, the hair got bigger and bushier by the minute.

Tropi, yuh hav bone through yuh nose?

Bwoy to tell you the truth, that's all that I was missing.

I went to the hairdresser today though and the tresses have been tamed. I only need 1 product to wear my hair wash and wear during rain and humidity.

[Tropicana]

Now for my Orang Asli story. I had been to Malaysian Borneo where there are 21 indigenous ethnic groups including the Iban. I went to the cultural village and learned a lot.

So the next time I went to Malaysia, I went to the highlands. It was just me and 2 guys from Kuwait who had signed up so the guide took us in a car. On the way there we stopped at a beautiful waterfall. There are people there selling arts, crafts and artefacts from stalls. They were wearing jeans and tee shirts. Some looked Malay and some were clearly of African descent. They looked like African Americans and Black in the Caribbean and A lot of them were riding around on motorcycles and we drove past the village where they lived. About 1/2 an hour after that I said to my guide:

"When I was in Borneo there are a lot of indigenous people. Are there a lot of indigenous people in peninsular Malaysia? Where do they lived?"

He turned around looked at me, laughed and said "Who do you think those people were at the waterfall selling blow pipes, spears and rain sticks."

DUH!!! I guess I was totally blonde that day....don't let the jeans, tee shirts and motorcycles fool you.

[Tropicana]

Last night I spoke with a friend of mine who is an Australian Aborigine. I told him by bushy hair story, what my Mom said about looking in the mirror and my Orang Asli story. He laughed his head off and said "We do look the same." He said he had a really hard time in Cuba. Every time he returned to the all-inclusive, the security guards didn't want to let him in. They insisted that he was Cuban and said the hotel was only for visitors and guests. They tried to speak with him in Spanish and when he said he didn't speak Spanish they accused him of faking it.



Unflippin believable.

He had a hard time in school in Australia. For a long time he was the only Black child in the class. After a while another Black student joined the class. The teacher used to insult them, say she was wasting her time with them as they would never amount to nothing. It was a horrible experience.

He says the reason that these photos and videos are still being pushed is to serve as an excuse to discriminate.

[jah_yout]

Re: title....it got you in here didn't it?

yep...it was one of the silliest if not THE silliest title i have seen so far

[jah_yout]

Yes I was a total mess. Apparently 2 of the products I used are for attracting more moisture to the hair so that it doesn't dry out. So you can imagine during the humid rainy season in Jamaica, the hair got bigger and bushier by the minute.

and due to your brainwashing i know you see this as a bad thing...
limp flat & straight much better, eh

I went to the hairdresser today though and the tresses have been tamed. I only need 1 product to wear my hair wash and wear during rain and humidity.

do you also tame your skin color...what about you eye color...do they need to be "tamed"?

[Tropicana]

yep...it was one of the silliest if not THE silliest title i have seen so far

Great it did it's job...




Blu does it very effectively too.

....as long as these attention grabbing and silly titles keep you and others coming, I will keep coming up with even sillier titles...just watch me.

[Tropicana]

and due to your brainwashing i know you see this as a bad thing...
limp flat & straight much better, eh


do you also tame your skin color...what about you eye color...do they need to be "tamed"?

[Tropicana]

This is what tamed wash and wear hair looks like and this is what I was going for in Ja.:




Man she has grown up nicely....Cree...





For blu's benefit, this is her Dad. He is a very nice man and VERY talented.



Her mother is Cree and Afro-Canadian ancestry; she is also a member of the Plains Cree First Natio

[Tropicana]

But today I had an appointment so I had it blow dried straightened and curled with a curling iron.


It's about 3 inches longer than this.


Eat your flippin heart out jah_yout.