I was remembering our discussion from last Tuesday and decided to look more into the "hair debate" and how it relates to femininity. As I was browsing through the web, I came across a rather interesting article about black women's hair. Apparently black women are being forced to go through "hair pat-downs" when traveling via plane. Transportation Security Officers are screening black womens' hair despite the fact that that they have already gone through normal security procedures. Now, there is a debate going on on whether this is an example of racial profiling since officials are only looking at "certain types of hair." Take a look at the article below. What do you guys think? Is it in fact a case of racial profiling towards a specific type of hair? Furthermore, is this reason enough for most black women to want straight, simple, and tamable hair?
http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/08/16/tsa-screeners-now-patting-black-women-s-hair-.html
I think maybe it wasn't intended to be a form of racial profiling, but it is in fact playing out to be a racial profiling issue, because although they claim to be looking for certain hairstyles, they are inclining towards patting down certain hair-types.
ReplyDeleteAnd I most definitely think more black women will fall into the trap of wanting straight, "relaxed hair". I think these security measures, might just throw more African American women into the direction of extreme hair alteration.And worse, push their daughters into these extremes, just to avoid being embarrassed at the airport. Which, I believe is sad, all women should be able to embrace what they were born with.
I understand that airlines are trying to be safe and i also like Paola mentioned above dont think the arlines are purposely tryin to use racial profiling. I do however think its unfortunate that those who are most affected by this are african american women.
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