That Psychology Article and The Myth of the “Ugly” Black Woman
As if insecurity, self-hatred and low self-esteem wasn’t planted in young black women on our planet enough, along comes Satoshi Kanazawa to add fuel to the fire.
I assume you’ve all read or heard via a female friend’s capital letter/exclamation pointed twitter rants about the LSE lecturer’s article, which was posted (and recently taken down) on Psychology Today, entitled “Why Are Black Women Rated Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?”. I won’t lie to you, I was excited to see how he managed to come up with this thesis; I paused my recording of The Apprentice (Belgian Waffles haha), dished myself some plantain, poured me some Schloer and started reading.
In the end it was a bigger anti-climax than finding out Birthday Sex is just regular sex on your birthday…but I digress
I’ll do my best not to rant and keep it fairly short, simply because I believe everyone has the right to an opinion just as much as anyone has a right to challenge an opinion. There ARE many people in this world who probably believe black people (let alone women) are the least attractive race, fair dos, each to their own. This is not where my concern lies; my concern lies in HOW this theory was realized.
Let us start with the title shall we?
Title: WHY are black women rated less physically attractive than other women?
Why? C’mon Son! By stating why you are basically telling us that this is fact and a statement universally accepted as true. As an evolutionary psychologist, author, lecturer and presumably a guy who has common sense, it would be more applicable to take out the ‘why’ and leave the rest, thus leaving us to our
own judgement and giving the readers a chance to forge answers. I know it’s an independent view but stay correct!
Intro: Add Health measures the physical attractiveness of its respondents both objectively and subjectively. At the end of each interview, the interviewer rates the physical attractiveness of the respondent objectively…………The physical attractiveness of each Add Health respondent is measured three times by three different interviewers over seven years.
Let’s be real, there’s no way you’ll be able to be objective when you’re asking people for their views on the attractiveness on other people. Also you’re trying to tell me over seven years black women have remained the ONLY CONSISTENT ‘average’ race? Who the hell were you interviewing? The Klu-Klux Klan? George Bush? Uncle Ruckus?
I firmly believe that the majority of people who were interviewed for this study weren’t black, who grew up outside of ‘urban’ settings and so either weren’t around many black people or could only compare black people on MTV with black people on Cops….tutt tutt. Whatever it was it came across a tad biased; I’m not saying that it’s impossible for these results to happen but it seems a little iffy that black women are so low compared to the rest.
Methodology But no Literary Review: Colourful graphs and Waves
Kanazawa had graphs to illustrate his point but the source data, links, material and questions he asked were nowhere to be seen. Where was the proof to show this even took place or what actually was asked? I’m smarter than a ten year old Kanazawa, I am..
Conclusion: Overweight, Inteliigence, Mutation and Testosterone
The last three paragraphs were blatant subliminals (oxymoron I know). Though Kanazawa doesn’t blame black women being less attractive on the fact that they weigh the most out of the races or that both men and women are the least intelligent (shots fired!! But possibly based on studies from other figures so I’ll give him that) or that they have mutations (did this dude just call us X-Men?) by mentioning those factors I have a feeling he was slyly sending digs, but that just might be me.
He does however think that it could be down to testosterone; so after all social studies he backs it up with a scientific one, fair enough he thinks black women are mandemish, I disagree but hey!
The main thing I got from this was that it was almost an unnecessary study backed up by false, ‘presumably’ bias and lazy research. It’s almost as if he is “calling Black women ugly and disguising it as a study” so I see why there’s so much backlash but really and truly it shouldn’t affect black women.
“It is very interesting to note that, even though black women are objectively less physically attractive than other women, black women (and men) subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically attractive than others”
Not that it’s needed but that section of the article right there should be every indication that black women don’t need justification from Kanazawa, James Blunt, Snoop Dogg or Christina Aguilera to know they’re beautiful. Let him have his opinion, that’s all it is and he has a right to it. We’d prefer to it to be on a lesser platform but hey that’s the way the cookie crumbles, let’s be glad that the guys at Psychology Today had the decency to take it down.
That’s all I gotta say about that. I’m gone like Avram
JC
What are your views on Kanazawa’s article? Our black women being victimized too much? How beautiful are those women in the pics? Holla!
35 comments on “That Psychology Article and The Myth of the “Ugly” Black Woman”
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I was horrified by the article initially, then i remembered the whole ‘opinions are like assholes, everybody got one’ quote. Out of all of my black friends, the ones who have responded most passionately are the boys/men. One guy used the article to justify his preference for latin women. Another used the character Mercy from Eastenders as confirmation that the article was right. I think that the article is an opinion masquerading as a study but too many people are feeding into it, some of my girls have taken it as a cue to post everywhere how great black women are. SMH. If you didn’t publicise this empowerment before, lord help you now. I think that the fact that black girls/women even feel the need to defend themselves just highlights a recurring psychological problem that makes me wonder if slavery ever ended. Reminds me of an old west indian saying: “Throw a stone in a pig pen, an who bawl out is who it lick”. The article is the stone, black girls let us not bawl out…because really…it was not thrown with enough accuracy to ‘lick’ us. And besides, we have much more important battles to come against, than whether or not any man, much less a japanese one, finds us attractive. Thanks for the article JC/BWNG! x
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@Rhianna, real talk. People that have an excuse for preferring another race are just lost. The issue starts with the pressure that is put on certain black dudes to justify why they are with someone of another race. We should just let people be with who they want to be with and not feel anyway about it. Then articles like these will never come about trying to justify why you like a particular type of person or why some are deemed to be less attractive.
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Great breakdown, mate. I am yet to read the article. So I will take your word on this until I get a chance. But my general view on this whole article is, what was he trying to achieve with this study? I still fail to understand how societies perception of the black woman attractiveness has any impact on real life issues that affect millions of people across the world. Should it affect her status in society? Or ability to have her fair dos? No. So why bother with the study, which lacks any constructive contribution to the wider society? This is why I feel that dude was looking for a shock factor that would hopefully propel his name to stardom in the world of Psychology. Because let’s be frank, most arguments against this, particularly from black people will be dismissed as being sensitive on this issue. This is simply because we spend our time and energy on issues that have no long term impact to anyone, so even when we have a case it is easy to be dismissed as “oh here we go again, with the race card etc”. This is why I am happy you came back with an constructive criticism and not just an angry abusive feedback we are use to giving. But in a nutshell, we shouldn’t lose sleep on this issue. Keep it moving, we have bigger issues to deal with.
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@The Yak,
i think that you are right. so what really is he trying to achieve with his study. SMH instead of trying to look at issues that will better the human race he decides to dwell on this crap. and i feel sorry for the young generation of black women who are subjected to this trash and then on the other hand made to believe that they are equal and able like any other race.
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LOL *serious bbm face*..YES Bro he did just call us wolverine, cyclops, gambit and BEAST….however like I said to you on the phone, opinions are and will always be subjective and can never be made objective…so I haven’t and wouldn’t even concern myself with such nonsense…as mum always says “people will think what they think…who cares”
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Why are we even discussing this. It makes no sense to highlight this nonsense. We all know that black women are the most beautiful women on the planet. The sheer fact that we acknowledge this so called report is ludicrous. Ignore this man we are so above this racist propagation yes it is wrong but no it doesn’t matter because he and many others like him can say what they want but the proof is there for everyone to see……
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Great discussion JC!
I agree every one has the right to an opinion but clearly what he tried to do was take his poor piece of research with such a lacadaisical conclusion ‘might be the testerone’ and present it as fact which is just wrong; and also insulting to intelligent people! but I guess prejudice and racism is not intelligent therefore its not surprising.
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This article was mentioned to me by my friends and I LAUGHED…then carried on about my business [yes I'm a black female - pleasing to the eye some would dare say...I digress lol]. As it’s been said above: there are more important issues to deal with in life. The only sad fact is some people may read this and ignorantly take it as Gospel. That’s it.
I don’t believe him anyway because Dave and Bob are always trying it once they’ve had a few…Kanazawa even would! *side-eye*
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This ‘psychologist’ has always bugged me out with his so called findings. Apparently, Muslim suicide bombers do so because they don’t get enough sex and now black women are ugly? He doesn’t have to like black women, I couldn’t care less about his preferences but to showcase his own views under the guise of a ‘study’ or ‘finding’ is appalling.
This man probably has daughters and if so, then he’s teaching them that beauty is not skin deep or in the eye of the beholder, rather, it is due to the level of melanin in your skin which is a pretty effed up thing to bring your children up to nowadays
The LSE is a university famous for its controversial lecturers so I won’t be surprised if this fool isn’t fired but I sure hope he does!
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As usual, I love this.
Partly because it has the usual BWMG flavour but also because it shows the variety of you guys and how intelligent & articulate you all are. Love it.I agree with everything you say, especially the last point about how it shouldnt have any bearing on how black women view themselves.
As a psychologist/scientist/personwithcommonsense, I can tell you that his study is incredibly flawed. Questions of:
- How the participants were recruited
- Whether or not the participants and interviewer knew the purpose of the study (if they do then this can have an effect on people’s responses & even how the questions are asked, etc.)
- And I’m not sure of the type of study it was, but my guess is that it was not one of those that could be concluded, ‘well this must mean that black women are the least attractive race’, but if the study was done correctly, then it might have been concluded that, for example, women who weighed more were seen as less attractive than those who were slimmer… Does that make sense?My concern is that this type of pseudoresearch is coming from a learned person affliated with one of the best universities in the world, and someone, somewhere out there is funding this bullcrap.
One of the things that I love about science is that new research is supposed to add value & knowledge to the field, and that it is based on evidence. Your first point on even the title of the article is so true (I hope that wasnt the actual title of his research paper!).
Just a note though, that before this scandal I’d never heard of Psychology Today, and I don’t think it’s a peer-reviewed journal, more like just a website and Kanazawa was one of the ‘bloggers’, so they’ve probably got more publicity and hits than they’ve ever had because of this.
Sorry for this essay, but I’m really glad you guys weighed in on the issue. Kudos x
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You’re right, this study WAS totally pointless and unnecessary. I read it and thought this guy had wasted his time. In my opinion, any research/article/report that start with the words “Why [insert race] are more [insert negative adjective] than [insert another race]… serves very little purpose. It doesn’t teach us anything significant. I can’t read this reasearch and think ‘Wow, I REALLY needed to know this’.
Great post, I agree with everything you said and I love how you used images of beautiful women throughout the post to reinforce the points you made.
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So basically, a Japanese ‘Psychologist’ decided he was going to abuse his power and call ALL Black People ‘Ugly’… Ok. That doesn’t really affect me and I absolutely do not believe it since there are various OBVIOUS people that counter his stupid theory (if anyone bothers to observe the black people around them then they’ll see that the conclusion of his ‘research’ is embarrassingly invalid. ) He obviously didn’t visit all the countries inhabited by black people before declaring Blacks ‘Ugly’ or he would have fallen in love with Black and appreciated us in his research.
Aaaaaannnyyyyhoooooo, as much as I would love to establish that I am unaffected by his total bull crap, I just feel sorry for Blacks with low self esteem because this dude in his infinite stupidity has just made their inferiority complex go lower (if you get what I mean). I would love to be able to look those people in their eyes (one at a time) and tell them that they are beautiful inside and out. My conclusion is that what’s-his-name that came up this nonsense should be deep fried and given to lions and foxes as breakfast and those who helped him should be condemned to 15 years in prison (at least). -
He hasnt said black women are ugly – just rated less physically attractive.. which in the western world they probably are. Its causing uproar because no-one wants to admit it but theres quite an element of truth to it .
Plus the images of the black women on this blog , apart from one, have black women who have all westernised their features. I know youve done a similar blog before re: weave etc.. but the less ‘African’ the girl looks the prettier she rated.
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@To Be Fair, Admittedly I may have got it wrong in many people’s eyes by putting up pics of women with Westernized features, as it seems to highlight a the constantly raised issue of our women trying to look like other races (fair point though I’ve always been 50/50 on that notion) but the main method was to use recognisable faces for relatable purposes and to further highlight that black women are beautiful. But I get what you mean.
Though there may be a likelihood of the western world regarding black women as less physically attractive I believe the way he presented the argument in his study wasn’t solid, maybe he had a word limit, but I would have liked to have seen abit more.
Thanks for your comment, raised some good points, appreciate it.
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@To Be Fair,
Unless you are talking about (chemically straightened or fake) hair, I do not believe the concept of a black girl with ‘western features’ even arises at all. For the purposes of this study and as far as I can tell the experimenter did not properly delimit his definition of the word black to a certain genotype or a specific population. It’s literally skin deep.Id like to make two points. The first is that by using the generic term ‘black’ in his conclusion the experimenter has included all black girls irrespective of nose (or country of origin, or genetic roots.) By definition he has included black girls with 1 in 8 caucasian genes who might have thinner noses and thinner hair. He has also included black north africans who might fit into that category without ‘western’ influence…ever met a somalian?
Second point involves your first comment about there being an element of truth to black women being rated less physically attractive in the western world. This is another way of saying “its probably true that a hierarchy exists in which western features are preferred over black features in the western world” . That might be permissible from my pov if it was limited to “white”, “western” men, or even ethnically english men, or even ethnically non-african non-black men because that would represent something we see everyday in that people tend to be attracted to those who look like them.
But it’s not; it includes all men. In other words the logical resolution of your statement is that all ( ie a statistically significant majority of) men in the western world rate black features as the least attractive. So, what if these black features are found on a “westernised” black face? There isn’t any evidence that looking more ‘african’ is considered less attractive, and it is impossible to define what looking ‘african’ is, but even if were and even if such evidence existed, his particular angle of research still allows zero basis for that conclusion. So bring on kelly rowland and her beautiful face; she’s just as black as any of the women in that study.
As an aside I can’t believe an lse academic would conduct a study like this and not correct for weight or even testosterone (!) Black women generally weigh more -a rather ridiculous cop out that possibly only tells you about reactions to people who weigh more, and confounds any conclusions about race.
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Important point already made, and ends it.
less physically attractive is a statement of opinion, the very definition of attractive is an opinion.Do not however make the mistake of using photos of girls with obviously western/Caucasian features – thinner noses and straightened hair, because this somewhat harms the subsequent debunking of this, but not approaching this head on. “Say it how it is” or not at all.
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The article is str8 BS
Thanks Justin Credible for breaking it down.
But real talk this article aside do black men and women have mad insecurities? That does need to psychologically analysed?
I been studying psychologically, and I want to study why broke brothers seem to be disproportionately seeking self worth or value from materialistic persuits… yeah, I wanna study the champagne poppers and Guuci hocci’s.
As for the women deem. I know a few student loan dependent chicks at my uni that won’t leave to go to a dance without a £300.00 Korean product on there head top… I aint knocking weaves because I know attractive women with it as well as attractive women without, but really with or without your cool ma… Mad Ting …. I brought a level one to the hood and got dissed yet bare man were rating Amber Hoe, I mean Rose
Brothers be real Beyonce and Nikki M are what most brothers are rating and I swear Vybez Kartel is bleaching.. Mad Ting
Just saying Justin Credible the culture needs to be constructively psycho analysed, you get me
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Nicely written JC and the breakdown was excellent! This article has raised so many comments and escalted discussions in the media and general surroundings. Funny enough, I could freely discuss the content of this article with whomever, but some of my non black friends or colleagues showed slight discomfort. I know some black women suffer from insecurities, self hatred and have self-esteem issues or are battling this, but for Kanasawa (whatever his name is) to make such remarks, or dictate such research, is absolutely bonkers. Like what was stated earlier, we don’t have access to where is source data was derived from, or info on the design of his study. I would also need to see the context of how he placed these ‘exploratory’ questions to his subjects. Its punts like these that add fuel to the fire
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We live in a world of white superiority (kmt) so even the beauty ideal is compared 2 their standard…and as black people we are the race who are the furthest from whites in physical appearance.
I think that sums up why this japanese dude thinks he can chat shit.I posted about the issue of black beauty a couple months ago..
http://miserablebeaut.blogspot.com/2010/12/black-beauty.html
I jus hope tht black girls are strong enough 2 brush this bullshit 2 side….not runnin off 2 buy bleaching cream :/
x
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Not a fan of black females. Each to their own. But the author of that article was outright stupid to publish it. I expect far better and more intelligent/enlightening things from the LSE.
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CONSIDER 3 POINTS:
FIRSTLY- THE STUDY MEASURES ATTRACTIVENESS AND WAS CONDUCTED BY AN ASIAN MALE, WHO IS SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN (by proper science not psychology mumbo jumbo) TO HAVE THE SMALLEST EQUIPMENT OF ANY OTHER GROUP ON EARTH. NOW WHY WOULD THIS TYPE OF GUY FIND A THICK BLACK GIRL ATTRACTIVE WHEN HIS TINGS CANT REACH, IN OTHER WORDS IT’S NOT MEANT FOR HIM!!!SECONDLY- ATTRACTIVENESS IS NOT A MATTER OF FACT IT IS PURELY SUBJECTIVE, HENCE THE QUESTION ‘ARE YOU A BREAST MAN OR A BUM MAN’? NOW MOST WHITE GUYS,ARGUABLY THE LARGEST GROUP IN THE STUDY PREFER BREASTS AND MOST EVEN HATE BIG BUMS, WHICH INEVITABLY BIASES THE RESULTS AGAINST BLACK GIRLS, WHO HAVE THE BUM MARKET WRAPPED UP SINCE RECORDS BEGAN
THIRDLY- BLACK GIRLS MAY NOT HAVE THE PRETTIEST FACE BUT AS A COMPLETE PACKAGE I PERSONALLY FIND THEN TO BE FAR MORE APPEALING . IM NIGERIAN & I FEEL THIS POINT IS BEST ILLUSTRATED BY GHANIAN GIRLS. THEY DON’T HAVE THE BEST FACES BUT UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE THE SEXIEST FIGURES WHICH ON THE WHOLE MAKES EM THE MOST APPEALING CREATURES ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH!
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I blogged about this very thing:
http://sisterescape.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-black-women-are-ugly.html
He is absolutely preposterous.
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I know I’m super-late to this article, but I just gotta say, as a white man with a black girlfriend, that the these of the article you’re referencing makes no sense. I enjoy the rebuttal, but I think you left out one important point:
Whenever a white girl has “black” features, she is seen as so hot that everyone just loses their damn mind.
Think about it. Remember the era when Angelina Jolie was considered the hottest thing ever? What did people love about her? Oh, right, her lips. How about Christina Hendricks, supposedly the hottest TV star of the last 5 years. What type of woman does her figure resemble? Or Kim Kardashian? People just loooove her ass, don’t they?
I spend a lot of time around black women, and see features like the ones on these women literally every single day. But when a white girl has it, all of a sudden it is too sexy to believe. So, if white people refuse to go for black girls, we have to wonder if there’s something else going on…
Bull f***** sh!t every race has less attractive people whether male or female. And really its the 21st century for him to even come up with such a study is indicative of his views not what people think. We have more pressing issues to deal with in life than to have and invest time to research attractiveness get the f!ck out of here. Research cancer or HiV!