Thursday, October 21, 2010

Brief Lesson about the Politics of Fashion

“You have to understand something Professor H,” the young sister is informing me, “they tend to view us black women in one of two ways.”

Technically speaking, she’s the student. I’m the professor. Right now though, she’s the one teaching; I’m the one taking notes.

“And what are those two ways,” I’m now asking eagerly.

“They tend to see black women as classy or ghetto. That’s it,” she’s saying. “You’re either classy or ghetto.”

“And so getting back to my initial question,” I’m wondering, “is that the reason you wear a classy necklace and earrings every single day?”

“Yep.”

“To help them figure out how they should categorize you,” I confirm.

“Exactly. I have to help them figure it out.”


Related posts:
Style, Politics, and Black Women @ SIUE
Black Women and Style

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This was brief and true...now the new terms are "basic" and "fancy"...hmmm!