All Articles Tagged "dark skinned black women"
Not Buying It: Model Ajuma Nasenyana Fighting Skin Lightening Among Kenyan Women
Source:outandaboutafrica.blogspot.com
Just when it seems like black women around the globe are succumbing to the light skin, long silky straight hair don’t care phenom, a woman like Ajuma Nasenyana comes along. Known for her dark skin, short hair, and high cheekbones, Ajuma is the norm when it comes to beauty among black women in her country, which is she can’t stand the fact that every where she looks there are billboards, magazine ads, pamphlets, and TV spots encouraging Kenyan women to lighten their skin via bleaching and straighten their hair.
“It seems that the world is conspiring in preaching that there is something wrong with Kenyan ladies’ kinky hair and dark skin,” Ajuma told the Daily Nation.
Speaking on a Swedish cosmetics firm that recently entered the Kenyan market, she added: “Their leaflets are all about skin-lightening, and they seem to be doing good business in Kenya. It just shocks me. It’s not okay for a Caucasian to tell us to lighten our skin.”
At 28 years old, Ajuma has graced many runways throughout Milan, Paris, London, and New York, modeling for top names like Vivianne Westwood and Alexander McQueen as a member of the prestigious Ford Models company. Ironically though, her beauty is more heralded abroad than it is in her own hometown.
“I have never attempted to change my skin,” she said. “I am natural. People in Europe and America love my dark skin. But here in Kenya, in my home country, some consider it not attractive.”
Since it’s going to take more than just trying to verbally convince Kenyan women not to buy into the light is right propaganda they’re being sold in droves from companies like Carol Light, Ajuma wants to give natives an alternative, especially since brands like Movate, Jaribu, Peau Clair, Betalemon and Mekako, which have long been banned in Kenya because of their hydroquinone, steroid and mercury components, are still being used illegally. She told the Daily Nation she wants to start an all-natural line of cosmetics for women with dark skin so that ladies will be encouraged to enhance their beauty in it’s true shade rather than lightening it to feel attractive. At the end of the day, she knows the forces that want black women to believe their skin isn’t good enough, whether they’re an everyday woman or a model, are stronger than the ones rallying against those ideals—at least for now.
“When you flip through fashion magazines like Vogue and only see white models, then you get the feeling on what is happening to black models,” she said. “It is not fair.”
What do you think about the onslaught of skin bleaching companies moving into the Kenyan market.
Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.
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Why the Backlash Over the Otis Video?
Last Thursday night MTV premiered Jay-Z & Kanye West’s new visual to accompany their single “Otis” off their new album titled Watch the Throne. Rap Radar said it best when they said the video was the most expensive low budget video ever.
Simply put the video consists of Jay & Yeezy in a chopped up Maybach with no roof and no doors riding around doing donuts in a parking lot with a mural of the American flag as the backdrop. Pretty simple video, no deep concepts or creative imagery to analyze here. So why did the video cause such a firestorm on the internet?
I might have neglected that in this ball of fun that they were having there were four girls in the back of the car having a ball too. One of the girls might have been black, but it’s hard to say definitively. Some black women (not all) took to their timelines and blogs to vent their frustrations about the lack of melanin in the video. My only question; are you effing kidding me?
We’ve got to do better and find some better things to be up in arms about. One minute the same women are accusing hip-hop of being filled with misogyny (which it is) and saying that rap videos exploit black women (which some of them do). Now those same women are up in arms about not being exploited, please pick a side because the back and forth is confusing me.
I can think of one reason why there were no sisters in the video;
It looked dangerous. Maybe the sisters on the casting couch were like umm “I’m not trying to ride round in a car with no doors spewing fire like this is back to the future!”
If there were no black women doctors being hired at Harlem hospital, that would be a reason to rally the troops and get out there and put pressure on the administration of the hospital. If black women are being denied entrance to graduate programs at a particular institution because of the color of their skin, let’s raise some hell. When little black girls are getting shot in Detroit or abducted in Ohio, and the media ignores it, I’ll be right with you searching for justice. But a music video, as Ed lover would say ‘c’mon son gtfohwtbs.
What did you think about the Otis video? Were you offended that there were no black women in the video?
Email nativenotes or follow him on Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr and check out some his writings over at Notes of This Native Son
