I'll tell you why Black women have low self esteem

* I post this picture not to make fun of the girl but to highlight her courageousness. Lord knows everyone under the sun had something negative to say about her makup choices.

And it doesn't have anything to do with white Media or Beyonce



It's because Black women can not just be. Black women are told(not by white media because honestly they don't give 2 craps how black women look,) by other black people what they should look like, how they should dress and wear their hair if they want to be a card carrying sista.

I ran across a blog where the post of the day is
Are black noses the new natural hair?

Another decade, another black feature to alter?
Plastic surgery is on the rise among black women. According to statistics released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in 2009 roughly 986,000 African-American women underwent cosmetic surgery compared to about 950,000 in 2008. The top three surgical procedures: liposuction, nose reshaping, and breast reduction.

Given black women’s propensity for full breasts and behinds, the liposuction and breast reductions are somewhat understandable. Tiffany Hamm, a 22-year-old, 5′ 0″ natural tells BGLH that, at the rate her breasts were growing, she had no choice but to go under the knife;

“My bra size was a G!! Even with exercise, I would have been looking at a triple D bra. So now, after my reduction, I can do chest exercises and hope to go from a regular 34 D to a C with time! I don’t understand why people want bigger breasts. Even D’s are tedious to carry around.”

But any remedial effects of nose reshapings are less clear. Like relaxers, they seem to be an attempt to alter a feature that is identifiably African.

So what do you think? Are broad noses the new natural hair? Are nose reshapings the new relaxer? And why does it seem to be so difficult for us to embrace our own aesthetic?

my initial reaction is oh, must be a slow growth day, but she's serious. Even used an anecdotal example of a woman's personal and complicated relationship with her large breasts as part of her research on the whole plastic surgery trend.

I'm offended by the idea that liposuction can be excused as a necessary surgery. Certainly one would be remiss to to neglect mentioning the possible fatal implications of liposcutions and tummy tucks. I understand the need for breast reductions surgeries but women of all colors have large breast issues so i'm less likely to contain this challenge within a particular race. Secondly, one has to see the term plastic surgery as all encompassing. How many women have breast reductions because it is medically suggested? How many of those women would have wanted to keep their full bust sizes? Clearly for some, that procedure is not exactly voluntary, similarly, to what extent are the nasal procedures mentioned requirements? Rhinoplasty also includes changing the internal structure of the nose for health reasons.
thirdly, even if they aren't requirements, why does the black woman have to be visiting the plastic surgeon to look less ethnic? When white women do it what are they trying to do? Why can't black women be equally as upset as their white counterparts with the bump on their nose and just want to get rid of it as well? It seems highly ridiculous that one can take a look at a group of numbers and explain them away as simply being another way black women choose to rid themselves of their ethnic features.

Jill Scott, known for her signature natural tresses was recently seen wearing a press and go, or perhaps even a perm. The natural hair community was up in arms. "How dare she straighten her hair, why would she want to ascribe to the european ideal of beauty?" Are you kidding me? I doubt Jill Scott thinks pressing her hair makes her less ethnic.

Solange wears a kinky weave, half the natural hair community think she's a traitor because she should be happy sporting her teeny weeny afro. Seems like solange can't win for losing. She isn't natural enough.

I think it's utterly pathethic that we continue to ascribe to the idea of having an ethnic look. I expect that from outsiders, not from members of that particular race who should know by now that we come in varying shapes and sizes. It's absurd and quite frankly places more pressure upon women of color to do various things to fit in or prove their blackness. While i do understand there are women who suffer from color issues, I don't think it's fair to use those few women as spokewomen for reasons black women undergo plastic surgery.