A Girl Like Me

If you're not white you're not pretty; if you're hair is too curly it's considered "kinky"; if you're black everyone looks down on you. Last week in class Sal showed us a video made by a high school girl called "A Girl Like Me". It was about how black girls wanted to be accepted into the world - they want nothing more than to be treated like those lighter than them. While watching this little movie, I couldn't help but think of how each girl kept on repeating the word "bleach". All of those girls wanted or knew someone who was the same race as them, but put on bleach to make them lighter. I remember this one girl in particular who had an aunt that started using bleach at the age of twenty-five while she made her daughter start using it at age eleven. For all I know, people could start using bleach as young as six years old. In one part of the movie, the girl decided to do a mini-experiment on which doll girls would choose. Realistically, most girls would choose a white doll just because it looks prettier and that's what most girls want to look like; to have flawless skin, have the prettiest makeup, and so on. It turns out that I was right - most of the people chose the white doll. However, what really caught my attention was the fact that one girl chose the white doll and when the girl asked her, "Which doll looks the most like you?" she was debating on whether to chose the white or black doll. Her mind was telling her to pick the white doll because that's what she thinks she is; that's what she wants to look like, but then she went back to reality and thought, "oh, that's not what I look like". After the movie was over, I couldn't help but think back to our femininity and masculinity unit - how girls wanted nothing more than to be thought of as flawless or beautiful, and how they wanted to be just like the girls on the Seventeen Magazine cover. That's how it is for the darker girls - they want to be thought of as beautiful; they want to be accepted into the world of beauty. Because most people don't find dark skin beautiful; it's not the ideal skin tone for most girls. They want to be lighter and they want to be pretty. It's hard to watch because I personally don't see it that way; I think that any skin color is beautiful - even if you're orange like Snooki from Jersey Shore. In a way, she's kind of a role model to some girls. Sure, she drinks a lot and wears extremely short clothing, but for those who have watched the show, you'd notice that she doesn't care what other people think. Who cares if my clothes are too short? Who cares if boys stare at me? Who cares if they only use me because they feel aroused? - it doesn't matter to her because she's her own person. There may be times where she'd want to change her appearance because a guy doesn't think she's good enough, but she doesn't. She's content with how she is and it doesn't matter to her what people think. That's how I think everyone should be - how the girls in the video should be. You are your own person and if people can't accept you for who you are, then you're not worth their time. In my eyes, everyone is beautiful - including those girls in the video. I try to think positive most of the time and I think those girls should've too. You can't change who you are, so just be happy with what you have.

This is a video I found on YouTube - it's a song from Glee. (for those who watch the show, you probably know what I'm talking about). But I think this song captures what we were talking about before: