The Ideal Beauty is You

Now I know that I just did a post about people being too damn sensitive and I am not backtracking on that. But have you seen the Dove ad? Even though I initially had not seen the full ad, I wasn’t offended. After seeing the full ad, I understood it a little better. I was however a little surprised. I was surprised that no one in their marketing team had notice the obvious racial undertones. I was surprised that they decided to play it. And surprised that people who saw it did not understand why some black people were offended. The ad was in poor taste. I have to believe that there is not a single person of color working in their marketing department.

As a brown skinned black woman, I understand why people were offended. Growing up most of my friends were light skinned and I wanted to be too. I have never told them this story so I know that they will be surprised when they read this. My mother and brother were lighter skinned as well. I told my mom that I wished I was light skinned. She sat me down and straighten me out. The things she said to me that day has allowed me to love the skin that I am in everyday from then on. She told me I was beautiful and I believed her. She encouraged me to love myself for who I was. Now when I see ads that look like they are saying my black isn’t beautiful, I know that it is. I am not defined by society’s narrow view of beautiful. I am defined by my own view.

Now let’s look at society’s view to get down to the bottom of this. Even though America is a melting pot of all colors, races and nationalities, society has continued to hold tight its standard ideal of beauty. If you are white, slim and usually blond, you are in the money. Yes it seems as if bigger butts and curves are in, but this is so new and has the possibility to go out of style as trendy clothes and shoes do. Women of color have had curves and bigger butts before they were trendy. And it was not accepted. We are rarely even thought of as beautiful outside our own race. And face challenges within our own race for our darker skin. So when you see an ad where a black woman takes off her shirt and becomes a white woman, it can be a little offensive. In Dove’s defensive, the white woman became another nationality as well. Not sure which and I don’t want to assume her race. So with that you know the message wasn’t meant as racist but was still riding a fine line as inappropriate.

Here are a couple of other instances where black woman or darker skinned black woman are not accepted. A beautiful black woman was featured in an Old Navy ad with an attractive white man and the shit hit the fan. Old Navy got so many complaints that the ad was pulled and that interracial combination has not been seen since. The combination they stick with now is a black woman with a group of other people or by herself. They rarely even show black women with black men. America is not the only country that has a problem with brown skin. There was a young lady, Nayara Justino, who won the crown for Globeleza carnival queen in 2013. The first brown skin black woman since they started the competition in 1993. Yep, same thing. People were so upset with her skin tone that they took her title from her without any explanation or justification. She was replaced with a standard of beauty light skinned woman. Now the television network, Globo, who created the competition said it was not the case, so what was? There are many more instances that I can name but it would take all day and some.

If you are a black woman who did not have a mom like mines or was bullied for your skin tone, these obvious prejudices would be hurtful. To watch ads and rarely see yourself represented, it can be a challenge. To see yourself represented in a way that is questionably, it can be offensive. To attend an event and have a white woman say to you that you are pretty as if she was surprised, you would be a little mad. Damn right I am! Lol. I actually was surprised that she was surprised. I can only assume her circle of people doesn’t include many black people.

I have never been, nor will I ever be the standard of beauty in America. Does this make me not beautiful, hell naw! Fuck their standards. I know that I am beautiful. Do you? If you would like to share your challenges, your hurts or anything else that you would like to add, please leave a comment. Or as always you can email me at elsims27@yahoo.com. To leave a comment, click on the title and a comment box will appear at the end of the post.

Futurama

I have had Netflix for over a year now. I can say that there isn’t many shows/series that I have watched from beginning to end. And there is only one that I have watched multiple times, Futurama. I LOVE this show. Like LOVE this show. Every time that I watch it I realize how childish I really am. I giggle at the same thing no matter how many times I have seen it before. I also see things that I missed. It has so many hidden references to what was going on in the world at the time. And there is definitely blatant references as well. The only thing I don’t love is that Netflix is now only showing seasons 7 through 10.

For those who don’t know what Futurama is, here is a break down. It is a cartoon that originated on Fox Network. It is a show about a guy by the name of Phillip J. Fry who was cryogenically frozen right at the year 2000. He thaws out and wakes up in the year 3000. The world has seriously changed. He searches for any relatives that he has in the future and finds one, Hubert Farnsworth. In his search he befriends a robot named Bender Bending Rodriguez in a suicide booth. And he makes this young lady, Turanga Leela, lose her job. These three are the main characters. Once he finds his nephew, he meets some other colorful characters who are the supporting cast. It includes a lobster, Zoidberg, a Jamaican accountant, Hermes, a slutty intern, Amy and a janitor, Scruffy. The first show ends with him becoming a delivery boy just like he was in the year 2000. The one thing he didn’t want to be. Futurama follows them delivering packages/items and not delivering anything. It shows them living out their day to day lives.

My favorite character in the show is Bender the robot. He has the best lines out of anyone. He is an ass and a selfish jerk. He is extremely insensitive unless it concerns him. He says it exactly how it is. He cheats, lies and steals. One episode, he stole Fry’s kidney to sell on the black market. He is the absolute worse. But I love him. I love his honesty when he says how he truly feels. I love his zingers when they are totally unexpected. I love his confidence…arrogance is probably the better word. I love how he thinks everything should be about him. He truly is such an ass. What I love most about him is he makes me laugh and laugh and laugh. And that is why we watch television right? To be entertained. He definitely entertains me.

Futurama showed on Fox from the years 1999 to 2003. The show was canceled on Fox and was then picked up on Comedy Central 5 years later. In between those seasons it ran reruns of the show on Cartoon Network. It aired on Comedy Central from 2008 to 2013. This show has a serious fan following. And has won many awards. If they brought this show back right now, it would be a success. I of course would watch it. I was so sad to read that Netflix was taking off all the episodes and mini movies that were originally owned by Fox. That was a whole six seasons. And I didn’t find out until the week before. I tried to binge watch as many shows as I could. Was even tempted to cancel my plans to truly watch the first 6 seasons. Hell, take off work. Lol. Ok just kidding there. Futurama, I feel had the longevity of the Simpsons. It definitely is a little more crass and they say a few cuss words. I don’t think it was a show that kids should have been watching. So the move to Comedy Central was a good one.

I literally watch this show about 3-4 times per week. I fall asleep to Futurama. And yes I know it is not recommended to sleep with the tv on. One day I’ll get there. I have not found a show that I like more than Futurama except the Big Bang Theory. I have watched countless repeats of that show as well. The only problem is that it is not on Netflix. If you have never watched Futurama, I strongly recommend it. If you have, tell me why you like it or why you don’t like it. Your favorite characters and if you have a favorite episode. You can leave a comment below or email me at elsims27@yahoo.com. To leave a comment click on the title and it will present a box at the end of my post.

Forewarned

I find myself thinking and overthinking when it comes to posting on my blog. Sometimes I know what I want to say but I don’t have the words to say it. Other times, I know what I want to say but the way that I want to say it may rub some people the wrong way. The latter bothers me the most. Reason being, when I decided to write this blog I said that I wanted to be me. Me as in, I want to say things that the younger, feistier me would. I don’t want to think and rethink what I have to say, my comments, opinions or my thoughts. I just want to say it.

Since I have set a goal to reach more people by advertising my blog on Facebook and LinkedIn, I decided now is the time to post this. I still have not figured out who is my target audience. Probably something I should have done before I started a blog. I hesitate with handing out my business cards because I’m not sure who would be interested in my blog. I don’t want just women to read it but I’m not sure if men will feel it is value added to their life. Even though, I feel anyone can relate to some of the things that I write. I definitely don’t want anyone under the age of 18 peeking on my blog, even if they can relate.

One thing that I’ve noticed lately is that people are too damn sensitive. Any time someone says something, somebody has to get offended. Now for me personally most things don’t offend me because I realize that person isn’t talking to me. If you know who you are, what your limitations are and you are happy with yourself what people say should not offend you. For example, I was reading an Instagram post by a girl who works for the WWE Wrestling Federation or whatever. To paraphrase her, she said everybody can be healthy, work out and do what is necessary to get the type of body that they would like. Now I know that I’m limited so in no way, shape or form did what she say offend me. Why you ask? Because she wasn’t fucking talking to me. So for the person that commented on there saying that everybody cannot do that because of physical limitations, why the hell are you offended? She wasn’t talking to you. Take a chill pill as they used to say back in the day and calm the fuck down.

So to add to this and part of my point is, I’m probably going to say things that offend you. First off, the one thing that may offend someone is my use of cuss words. I cuss a lot. Most people don’t know that. But if you really know me, you know that. I don’t plan on being overly offensive with cuss words on purpose but I know that in this blog I will use cuss words. That may be to say this is not for you. And I understand that. What I would not understand is someone leaving comments reprimanding me for cussing. If you don’t like it just don’t read it. There may be countless other ways and other things I do that may be offensive. I’m not doing it on purpose or to be mean, but what I am doing is being me. And I love me. I’m comfortable with me at this point in my life. That’s why I decided to do this blog right now. So if I do offend you, know that it was in no way on purpose or in a mean way. I’m just stating my opinion on a topic. If you decide to no longer read my blog, I understand.

I of course want to grow my audience and have people commenting on my posts. I always want to touch people. If you do realize that my blog isn’t for you, share my site with someone that it may be for. I am not everybody’s cup of tea but I’m somebody’s. As always, feel free to leave a comment. I will respond. Or you can email me at elsims27@yahoo.com.