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Stephgirl
Regular Poster
Username: Stephgirl
Post Number: 74
Registered: 09-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 03:55 pm: | 
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The Masquerade: White Supremacy, Capitalism, Consumerism, and the Blonde Ideal
Jessica Shimmin
when I was growing up, I read magazines and
saw movies, blonde movie stars, white skin,
sensuous lips and to be elevated, to become
a woman, a desirable woman, I began to wear
imaginary pale skin
- Nellie Wong1
In October of 2002, Charlie Gibson reported on Good Morning America that “there’s a study from the World Health Organization—this is for real—that says that blondes are an endangered species.”2 This report sparked a flurry of news stories, quips and ill-advised puns about dye jobs, bimbos, and natural blondes. The news stories maintained that blondes will be extinct within the next 200 years because of blondeness’ genetic rarity. Some hypothesized that science would eventually genetically engineer blondes.3 Others speculated that extinction was the evolutionary result of dyed blondes being more attractive than natural blondes. By the end of the week, however, the World Health Organization issued a press release revealing that the organization never undertook any research on the possible extinction of blondes. Rebecca Harding, a World Health Organization spokesperson, insisted that the organization did not know where the false report originated. She also indicated that they would not be conducting any such research, stating, “Honestly, we have better things to spend our time on.”4
The fact that not only ABC but also CBS, CNN, and numerous newspapers carried this false story reveals more than the state of journalism in the United States. It exhibits the importance of blondeness, and, more accurately, blonde women, within popular American culture. It is significant then, that mainstream America’s fascination with blondeness parallels a similar white supremacist fixation. While there is a large quantity of scholarship devoted to understanding beauty standards, hair, and blondeness in relation to gender and patriarchy, the relationship between blondeness and whiteness remains under-examined. In response, this paper will explore the possibility that the hegemony of blondeness as the prevailing beauty ideal represents a privileging of whiteness that escapes examination through the capitalist marketplace.
It is important to note from the outset that white supremacism and popular media are not the same. They differ in a myriad of ways. However, this paper will examine the expression of beauty ideals in each genre, wherein the primary difference lies in the method of the articulation of the preference for blondeness. White supremacist media emphatically states the “supremacy” of blonde women, while mainstream media rarely uses text to communicate its preference for blondes, relying instead on images. While this may seem to undermine the argument that mainstream media communicates blonde white supremacy, the communication of such messages through images actually strengthens their force. Suzanne Langer writes that visual symbols, or images, are unique communication media because they are not discursive.5 Christine Nystrom extends Langer’s argument, to say that images “cannot be said to be true or false. One may like them or dislike them…But one cannot argue with them or refute them because they are not in the symbolic realm of discourse.”6 Both Langer and Nystrom argue that images are a powerful form of symbolism because they communicate “what our eyes can see, what our bodies experience, what our ears hear, and all the feelings, sensory and emotional, that arise from our encounters with the world as very complex biological creatures.”7 In this way, the hegemony of blonde images in popular culture appeals to the subconscious, while the discursive arguments in extremist periodicals can be disputed. As a result, the supremacy of blonde women in popular culture images conveys a salient but silent message that resonates deeply.
White supremacist literature and imagery touts blondes as the height of beauty. For example, Instauration, a supremacist periodical addressing educated whites, describes Scandinavians as the pinnacle of beauty; describing them as “the thin, fair and symmetric race originating in Northern Europe.”8 A later issue of the magazine describes white blonde women as the products of “25,000 years of tough natural selection on the edge of glaciers.”9 Although these statements are the rhetoric of extremist white supremacy, they closely parallel mainstream values. For example, a beauty guide from 1923 entitled Any Girl Can Be Good-looking declared, “it is lovely, of course, to be a pink-skinned, blue-eyed, golden-haired person.”10 The manual goes on to reassure brunettes and redheads that, although not the ideal, they can be pretty too. More recently, the magazine Elle encouraged women toward blondeness through the cover article featuring Heidi Klum entitled “The Blonder the Better!”11 This mainstream preference for blonde women does not go unnoticed by white supremacists. In an article entitled “Blonde Models Are First,” the racist magazine Thunderbolt praises the fashion industry for its agreement with white supremacist beauty standards. The magazine cites, “the ads feature hundreds of blue-eyed blonde girls rather than mulattoes” as evidence of the fashion industry’s accordance with racist ideology.12 A sociological study done by Rich and Cash offers supporting statistics to confirm that magazine depictions of blonde women in Vogue and Ladies Home Journal exceed the base rate of actual blonde women consistently over four decades. The researchers conclude that “this image delivers a message to society that blonde is a prominent ideal of feminine beauty.”13 Consequently, blondeness reigns as the preferred standard of beauty in both mainstream and white supremacist media.
As the personification of white beauty and purity, blonde women in white supremacist media are symbolically vulnerable. For example, one image shows a young woman with flowing blonde hair. The caption states “The Forces of ‘Equality’ Hate Her World.”14 Non-white people threaten not only her lifestyle but also her racial integrity. The implicit threat in the image is miscegenation, the only force strong enough to blot out blondeness. These themes in white supremacist imagery surface in the mainstream media’s circulation of the false news story predicting blondes’ impending extinction. Naturally blonde women became “endangered species” faced with “dying out.” Using this language connects the artificial plight of blondes with the very real destruction of animal species and habitats. Dianne Sawyer made the connection even more explicit when she joked about herself, as a blonde woman, “going the way of the snail darter.”15 The metaphor elicits the impulse to protect the endangered blonde species from extinction, which corresponds with the white supremacist call to protect blonde white femininity from impurity. Although the networks claimed to have used the piece in a “casual, offhand manner, not as a hard news story,” the more serious so-called threat of declining racial purity and miscegenation underlies the story.16 It was this unspoken threat, which parallels the white supremacist fears, that made the story newsworthy. Regardless of the seriousness of the intentions, it is significant that the mainstream media offers a clear reflection of white supremacist rhetoric.
In both popular and white supremacist media, blonde women define the standard of beauty in opposition to black women. The connection between whiteness and blondness is salient enough in the Dominican Republic that the word “blonde” signifies all white women, regardless of hair color or texture. Cassandra Badillo writes, “Whether it is curly or straight, black or brown, it is said she [a white woman] is blonde.”17 This linguistic connection links blondeness to whiteness and the longing for blonde hair to a longing for white privilege. Similarly, many women of color in the United States write about their struggles growing up with “bad hair,” meaning kinky, curly or coarse hair, and the methods they have used to create and maintain “good hair.” In this case, hair symbolizes power. bell hooks argues that “it is the expressed desire of the non-blonde Other for those characteristics that are seen as the quintessential markers of racial aesthetic superiority that perpetuate and uphold white supremacy.”18 Their frustrations with “bad hair” represent disempowerment while their desire for good hair represents a longing for power. Paradoxically, in attempting to conform to the blonde beauty standard, women of color often legitimize and reinforce the strength of a white supremacist ideal.
The seduction of blondeness is so strong that the supremacist periodical National Vanguard seems almost sympathetic to black men. In one article it says, “the White woman stands at the apex of beauty . . . But what about the Black woman? Alas, she is truly a pitiable creature. Whites have never found her attractive, and Blacks began to scorn her after they caught a glimpse of a White woman.”19 The binary construction of this passage highlights the polar constructions of white and black, woman and creature, awe and scorn. In this system, blondes are “the antithesis of everything African—the ultimate Aryan ideal.”20 The inverse relationship between black and white women stretches into the value of their beauty, meaning that blonde women’s appearance appreciates at the expense of black women.
Many cultures, including American culture, use beauty as the external representation of desirable qualities such as purity and femininity. As a result, blondeness and blackness remain binaries, taking on connotations of good and evil, right and wrong, hero, and villain. Traditionally, folk tales connected blonde beauty with characteristics such as virtue, gentleness, and godliness.21 White supremacists continue the convention by praising blonde women for their “exalted spiritual and sexual purity and chastity.”22 In contrast, stereotypes depict black women as sexually insatiable and perpetually sexually available.23 Similarly, black and white women occupy opposite ends of the femininity spectrum. Jessie Daniels, a scholar of white supremacist propaganda, argues that “Black women have historically been defined as workers in a world in which femininity is defined in terms of idleness. In such a context, it was only possible for white women to be defined in terms of idleness because Black women were defined in terms of work.”24 Obviously, white women could be idle because black women literally performed white women’s work, but also because masculinizing black women through work contrasted non-working and therefore feminine, white women. Similarly, supremacist literature depicts saintly blonde mothers juxtaposed against black welfare queens and irresponsible mothers.25
In popular culture, Madonna’s documentary film, Truth or Dare: In Bed with Madonna, which chronicles her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour, is an ideal example of the way in which American culture defines blondeness against blackness.26 As a highly visible celebrity in international popular culture and fashion, and as a musical trend-setter, Madonna embodies the depth to which white supremacy has seeped into the popular subconscious.27 In Truth or Dare, Madonna spends considerable time, energy, and money conforming to and promoting the blonde standard. To further accentuate her arrival as a blonde icon, Madonna “position[s] herself . . . in relation to black culture.”28 In Truth or Dare, Madonna achieves this through a cast of supporting dancers predominantly comprised of people of color. Her dance partner for the tour is a heterosexual black male with dyed blonde hair. Reading his dyed blonde hair as a desire for whiteness and Madonna as the embodiment of the white blonde ideal, bell hooks argues that this “tragically ironic” choice of dance partner encourages both the audience and Madonna herself to see him as “a reflection of herself and the worship of ‘whiteness’ she embodies.”29 He is simultaneously her companion in the attempt to reach the blonde ideal through appearance alteration, and the foil to her whiteness.
Likewise, Madonna uses power that she attains as the blonde, white ideal in order to degrade and embarrass those subordinate to her. Her condescending kindness and mothering are the primary examples of affection that reinforce her dominance through patronizing benevolence. Her behavior toward her dancers is in stark contrast to the way she courts the attention of white men like Warren Beatty. However, Truth or Dare spends a scant amount of time documenting Madonna’s interactions with her power equals. Instead, it focuses on Madonna as the capricious, incorrigible blonde bad girl presiding over her supporting and subordinate crew. Although Madonna’s experience of marginalization as a working-class youth is not unlike some of her supporting dancers, the power of celebrity, created in part by her manipulation of the blonde beauty ideal, enables her to dominate and mistreat her fellow performers.30
Whether mainstream or extremist, both popular media and white supremacist media promote similar images of blonde women as the ideal of beauty and femininity. The elevation of blonde, white women to the ideal, however, is not about inherent beauty or femininity; rather, their elevation relies on the devaluation of other women’s beauty, specifically women of color. Although the blonde female image may appear as a fashion standard or beauty ideal, its close parallel to contemporary white supremacist rhetoric prevents the ideal from being benign.
The social currency of blondeness translates into real currency in the capitalist marketplace and is especially lucrative for white women. Aside from building feelings of empowerment, described earlier by Madonna’s treatment of her supporting crew, “a woman’s body and appearance have direct and indirect exchange values depending on the marriage market, the job market, and the workplace.”31 In this way, many women, most visibly actresses, trade on hair color to glean personal profit. For example, in a hair-fashion magazine, Holly Carter muses on the success of Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Stone, and Madonna concluding, “When we look at these famous fair haired ladies, it’s hard not to attribute at least an inkling of their fame to their flaxen locks.”32 Each of these women capitalized on the cultural metaphor of blondeness to create successful celebrity personalities. Each woman also exemplifies the ways white women can, and do, use the blonde beauty standard to gain a competitive edge in the capitalist marketplace.
The 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes makes explicit the connection between capitalism and blondeness, while also demonstrating the infusion of these messages in popular culture. The film follows Lorelei Lee, played by Marilyn Monroe, and Dorothy Shaw, American performers and best friends, as they travel to Paris where Lorelei intends to marry a very wealthy, and somewhat dim, young man named Gus Esmond. Blonde Lorelei is the unadulterated gold-digger embodiment.33 She shamelessly covets wealth in all its manifestations and uses her sex appeal to manipulate men into giving her expensive gifts. Gus’s father is vehemently opposed to Lorelei and Gus’ marriage because he recognizes her as a gold-digger, which Lorelei does not deny. In their final confrontation, Lorelei explains to Gus’s father the hypocrisy of his opposition, saying,
Aren’t you funny. Don’t you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You might not marry a girl just because she’s pretty, but my goodness, doesn’t it help?
And if you had a daughter, wouldn’t you rather she didn’t marry a poor man? You’d want her to have the most wonderful things in the world and to be very happy. Well, why is it wrong for me to want those things?34
Lorelei views the marriage as a capitalist exchange, his money for her beauty. Her appearance, specifically her blondeness, is her investment that ensures a financially stable and comfortable future.
Madonna updates the use of blondeness as a tool for personal gain. She draws heavily on blondeness in her work, replicating Marilyn Monroe’s style and the famous “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” dance routine in her performance of “Material Girl.” While blondeness facilitates the parallel between herself and Monroe, Madonna’s blondeness also softens the masculine edge of her success, protecting her power equals intimidation and protecting her from public disapproval.35 Her business savvy necessitates a feminine, sexy, un-business-like cover which blondeness provides. My point is not to argue that Madonna is undeserving of her popularity or celebrity. Rather, it is her ability to manipulate the blonde ideal to her benefit that, in part, produces her success. As it stands, the capitalist system rewards Madonna’s mastery of the blonde beauty standard. Madonna thus exemplifies the very real financial profits achievable by wearing the costume of blondeness in the commercial marketplace.
In contrast, women of color often find that their hair incurs a deficit in the capitalist structure. As described earlier, women of color in the United States live within a culture that “already defines them as less attractive and feminine than other women.”36 In interviews with women of color about their hair and the blonde standard, Rose Weitz noted that all the women “emphasize[d] the very real consequences paid by those who reject mainstream ideas about attractiveness.”37 Some African-American women recalled not being hired for employment based on their natural or braided hairstyles. Many of the women also expressed ambivalence between the social and political benefits of distinctively cultural hairstyles and the professional benefits of mainstream Euro-American hairstyles.38 One Chicana woman said that, “having lots of long hair intensifies the fact that you are a woman and that you are Chicana too . . . [which] makes it more difficult to get jobs.”39 Having culturally specific hair identified her non-European cultural background and consequently inhibited her ability to secure employment. In this way, capitalism reinforces white supremacy by penalizing women of color monetarily for expressing their cultural identity through their hairstyles.
Even celebrities are not immune to the dilemma of hair. In 1999, Venus Williams was penalized a point at the Australian Open when the beads in her hair came unraveled. The referee docked a point, citing a “disturbance.” While it is usual to deduct points for lost apparel, the rule usually applies to larger articles such as a hat, which can be seen by the player’s opponent across the court. Although Venus lost beads in other matches, this was the first time she was penalized.40 When asked if she and her sister would stop wearing beads, Venus replied, “Never.”41 As an athlete and a celebrity, Venus can resist the pressure to assimilate in ways that other women cannot. In 2002, however, Venus’ sister, Serena, began appearing in photographs with straight, blonde hair. This is a far cry from the braids and beads she sported at the beginning of her career. While the change in hairstyle may indicate that Serena Williams is growing up, leaving behind childish beads for more sophisticated hairstyles, it is powerful that blondeness signifies that right of passage. Like Serena Williams, many famous women of color conform to the blonde ideal only after achieving celebrity. For example, Beyonce Knowles became famous through her singing group Destiny’s Child. In 2003 she released a solo album and appeared on the cover of Today’s BlackWoman clad entirely in gold with straightened blonde hair. The magazine cover queries “What Price Success? Beyonce’s Blonde Ambitions: what it takes to be a star!”42 Perhaps, the magazine subtly posits, the price of success in American culture is yielding to the blonde standard.
Clearly, women benefit from assimilating to the blonde standard only in certain spheres. Historically, women’s influence in the home “was predicated on the notion that the wife could and should get the husband to obey her with ‘sweet words’ and beauty.”43 Then, as now, power achieved in the home did not necessarily translate into power in public space. More likely, “increasing power through appearance may decrease a woman’s power in male spheres.”44 However, none of the dyed-blonde women interviewed by Rose Weitz were concerned that their hair color would undermine their perceived capability. Weitz speculates that this may be a result of the women believing “that looking attractive would benefit them more than would looking intelligent.”45 This hypothesis surmises that, culturally, a woman’s appearance remains more important than her intelligence, and, consequently, many women feel compelled to hide their intelligence in order to access material gain.
Blondeness can be seen and used as a symbol of wealth, sexuality, innocence, and femininity in American culture. Beyond these connotations, I have shown that blondeness is coded as white, and the hegemony of the blonde ideal corresponds with the continuing domination of whites in American social and political life. This correlation remains relatively unnoticed as capitalism and consumer culture obscure the white supremacist undertones of the blonde ideal. This is especially clear in the case of non-white women. Capitalism compels women of color through the job market to assimilate to the Euro-American blonde beauty ideal. This conformity reflects a desire to access power through blondeness, an embodiment of whiteness. Capitalism and consumerism provide camouflage for white supremacy by offering women of color access to a blonde ideal they can never truly attain because of their skin. The appeal of blondeness keeps women in a position of submission to, what bell hooks calls, the white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchy.46 Blondeness in itself is not inherently white supremacist or patriarchal; these power systems assign meaning to blonde women. Although blonde women may experience benefits in this system, their commodification makes blondeness destructive for them as well. Consequently, women’s investment in blondeness renders women complicit in the perpetuation of racism and sexism. Simultaneously, their investment enables all women, blonde, white, and non-white, the opportunity to reject the blonde ideal and therefore white supremacy and patriarchy.
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3014
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 11:58 am: |
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This is on the one. Somebody needs to boil it down to about a paragraph for the masses. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 5814
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 01:45 pm: |
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Yea, everything could be summed up in a few sentences. Scandanavians are the perpetrating of white supremacy. Clairol is their ally by offering blond hair in a botttle. Will the author of this contrived theory make the significance of black men wearing moustaches her next study? yawn. |
Serenasailor
Veteran Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 844
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 09:24 pm: |
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Cynique if you don't believe that White Supremacist rhetoric control the American Society than you are way out of touch with reality.
Damn sista "Open your eyes". I know you don't want to believe that white ppl are that bad, but shit at least pay attention to what is going on. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 5822
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 12:50 pm: |
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What fool doesn't know that the majority controls the minority, Serensailor? You and your ilk act as though you are soooo in the know and that others have to be given the benefit of your great knowledge. Instead of being preoccupied with The White Man and blond hair and a lot of white supremacy blah blah, focus needs to be put on how the black man can infiltrate the system by doing more and talking less. Since you can't overthrow this white supremacy government, your choice is either to co-exist with it or move to Africa. |
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