The more things change, the more they stay the same…

It’s not a secret that during adolescence, many go through periods of feeling insecure, invaluable, and questioning their identity. It’s also not a surprise, mentions Jean Kilbourne in her article “The more you subtract the more you add”, that advertisers tune in on the “anxieties” that young people face and form what looks like strategies around these uncertain times. Though I refrain from putting a causal relationship between eating disorders and advertisements, I do question their impact and why advertisements are the way they are. According to the article, young girls are told what they should value as important-what they were, how they smell and how they look. What should stand out ultimately is their “sense of style, that speaks multitudes” says one add.

I can’t help but zero in on Hannah Montana, I mean Miley Cyrus for second and how she grew up in matter of two years right before our eyes. She literally turned from a little girl jump roping and to young sex kitten. Her clothes too went from “innocent” (in its most minimal meaning) to scandalous and sexy with the launching of her new clothing line alongside Max Azria. Girls nationwide noticed this and liked it. Coincidence? I think not.

In a market that seems so uncertain, Miley Cyrus can’t afford to lose her fans so she does the next best thing and grows up with them, keeping up in front just enough of course to make her look cool. Many young girls at an early age develop brand loyalty, the article said, and what better way to do this than stick with her crowd and always seem cool to them. Even her sudden change from Hanna Montana to Miley implied something. Certainly we all gasped when Miley posed half nude in Vanity Fair, who could forget the frail, visible back boned image that made us all ask why?

For the generation I grew up in, this looks an awful lot like Brittany Spears who captured us all.

India Arie has always been one of my favorite artists. I still sing along to the words of her song Video, “I’m not the average girl from the video, and I ain’t built like a supermodel. But I learned to love myself unconditionally, because I am a queen…my worth is not determined by the price of my clothes, no matter what I’m wearing I will always be…India Arie.” This song did a lot for me in terms of re-identifying myself as a young african-american woman and answering Imani Perry’s question “Who am I?” rather than whose am I. However, one that still makes me smile is “I am not my Hair” embedded below. African-americans go through a lot because of their hair. Yet again, it’s got to look like Beyonce’s weave, or the video girls sew in lace front wig…not a very realistic situation for the average african-americans whose hair only grows 4-6 inches.

I am an african-american young woman who respects her body, loves her tightly curled hair, has ambition and drive and who would rather have people judge me on my intellect than how I dress. It’s taken me 22 years to say that meaningfully. I question why?
As a young child, I often watched videos with white women and thought nothing of it. They weren’t like me and therefore I couldn’t identify. Granted, it’s taken a long time for women of color to be represented on TV, but I often wonder if they should have stayed hidden, especially when it comes to music videos that bring african-americans down to such a low level. Perry talks about the statistic that states that young african-american girls have a higher self-esteem than white girls. I’m not surprised based on the latter information.
As embarrassed as I am to say this, I often watched what these women in music videos wore and in some way or another, attempted to reinvent the look. Of course my parents weren’t blind so I didn’t get away with too much. I didn’t necessarily like what they were doing in the videos, but what they wore represented for me liberation and independence from rules and norms that governed my collectivist culture. In fact, I remember everyone who dressed, lived, sang hip-hop and wore the clothes they wore too.
The term “women as commodity” expressed by Imani Perry is one that makes me the most frustrated. Everyone can see that the men in the music videos could care less about the human worth of the individuals. Why buy into this image? Being referred to as a “hoe” or “bitch” is not my cup of tea either.
Not only are the words and images offensive, but the unrealistic appearance of the overly powdered african-american women with weaves and false everything gives of a very skewed view of african-american culture as a whole.
Perhaps Jean Kilbourne was right in the former article as well as Corinne Bailey Rae, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Apologies for a long blog…very passionate about this!