What is "Flesh Colored?"
In Chapter 5, Golash-Boza examines colorism and skin-color stratification. We discussed a bit in class how shocking it was that there were cosmetic products on the market that actually lighten the pigmentation in the skin. But why is this? Why is a lighter skin complexion desirable and more "beautiful"? Take a look at some sociological images on the Society Pages and you may have found a possible answer. Why do people say that skin has to be white? Because it's been taught and advertised that way for centuries.
Some of the earliest plastic bandage advertisements in 1952 showed a white woman with a "flesh-colored" bandage on her arm as if to say the adhesive was barely there or noticeable because it blended so well. The "flesh" color was a peachy pale, a subliminal message that flesh is the color of a white person's complexion.
Crayola used to market "flesh" colored crayons, ranging from a light ivory to a semi-yellow tan. The company just recently released their multicultural 8 pack of crayons that included deep blacks and light browns.
The actual definition of flesh is "the soft substance consisting of muscle and fat that is found between the skin and bones of an animal or a human," (Merriam-Webster) So when we point to the color of skin as our own "flesh" it is entirely incorrect. The fact that our society has labeled "flesh" as the peachy white color that most Caucasians share is entirely inaccurate and a total misrepresentation of the word.
We have observed for centuries the harmful prejudice, stereotypes and insecurities that derive from the color of a person's skin. Our advertisements and media need to celebrate beauty and all walks of life. We simply can not identify and label one word with an entire human race.
Source: Wade, L. (2011, December 08). White Privilege: “Flesh-Colored” - Sociological Images. Retrieved April 11, 2016, from https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/12/08/white-privilege/
This reminded me of a video of a study that I watched in my Ethics class. Black children in preschool were given two dolls: a 'white' doll and a 'black' doll. When faced with the choice, the children would prefer to play with the white doll, and when they were asked why they chose it, they said that it was pretty and some even said that the 'black' doll was ugly. It is astonishing that this lack of representation of people of color can be interpreted in this manner of such a young age.
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ReplyDeleteKenneth and Mamie Clark's doll study was used by Thurgood Marshall, then chief counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), to argue that separate was inherently unequal. This was one of the first times that social science research was used in a case in front of the Supreme Court. The outcome of one of the most famous cases is well known--the Supreme Court decided that separate was inherently unequal. Thurgood Marshall soon became the first African American Justice on the Supreme Court.
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