Picture: Solange – Don’t Touch My Hair ft. Sampha
As I study European beauty standards amongst Black women in corporate America, the topic of hair is high on my list. The article “Don’t get it twisted: Untangling the psychology of hair discrimination within Black communities,” the authors explore how hair discrimination in the Black community underscores Eurocentric beauty standards that perpetuate systemic racism and negatively impact mental health. Mbilishaka, Clemons, Hudlin, Warner, and Jones (2020) discuss how biases against natural Black hairstyles foster internalized stigma within the Black community. In this qualitative study, they interview 90 Black community members about their hair. One participant said, “I saw my curly hair as a defect; I internalized everyone else’s view of me and developed a sense of dissatisfaction with being a Black person” (Mbilishaka, 2020, p. 596). This emphasizes the deep-rooted nature of anti-Black stereotypes related to appearance.
This is relevant to my research because I want to focus on both beauty aesthetics and language within the framework of code-switching. From my personal experience, hair amongst Black women in professional settings has been a complex and powerful symbol of identity, cultural pride and the pressure to conform. I’ll refer to this research as I focus on Black women navigating the tension between self-perception and societal expectations in corporate America. This study also highlights how intersectionality can be internalized as Black people face discrimination not only from society but also from their own communities, especially as it relates to hair.
I’ve been pretty sick this past week so I haven’t done any extra work towards this project yet. I did reach out to my potential committee chair. This week, I hope to set up time to meet with some of the faculty members who were recommended to me that I haven’t met.
Sources:
Mbilishaka, A. M., Clemons, K., Hudlin, M., Warner, C., & Jones, D. (2020). Don’t get it
twisted: Untangling the psychology of hair discrimination within Black communities.
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 90(5), 590–599.
Pitchfork. (n.d.). Solange – Don’t Touch My Hair ft. Sampha [Image]. Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/18552-solange-dont-touch-my-hair-ft-sampha/
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