"A Girl Like Me"

As I watched the video “A Girl Like Me” I realized what internal struggles go on in black females. The video led me to the assumption that the concept of race decreases self worth in a child. As I watched the video the most disturbing part to me was the baby doll test. 15 of the 21 black children chose the white doll over the black one. This was not nearly as eye opening as when the women giving the test asked which one is the good baby and most of the children picked the white doll and then asked which one is the bad/mean baby they picked the black doll. They are being taught by society that the white means good and they are striving to be like the white doll. As the text states we put rankings on the different groups and these rankings form a hierarchy with the more valued characteristics at the top. This is evident even at the young age of these children.
As these children get older they are still struggling to reach the top of that social hierarchy. Even within their race there are certain characteristics that are considered more desirable over others. Black women are taught that lighter skin is more valued than darker skin. One girl in the video even brought up the fact that some go as far as to bleach their skin to obtain a characteristic that might be “higher” up on the social hierarchy. Hair is clearly another division. Good hair isn’t the natural hair that they were born with. The more that you relax or perm their hair the better and more socially accepted it is.
The video clearly showed that black women have to struggle within the race as well as struggling with their gender. The idea of “white privilege” is clearly still evident in our society. People will do anything that will make them closer to the top of that hierarchy. Society instills these ideas into people at a young age. The video brings up the point of Barbie. She is a thin white female with perfectly straight hair. Three characteristics that women strive to have.
The white privilege idea is also present in many institutions and organizations. Many of the leadership and authority roles are held by white males. These people most often convey the mythical norm. The text defines this as being “White, middle class, heterosexual, abled, thin young adult”. This norm sets up areas of inequality for some many groups of people, however will let it persist because it is what we think is socially acceptable.
Until we break down this idea of what is socially more preferable, what is at the top of the hierarchy of desirable characteristics we will have difficulty getting anywhere in striving for areas of equality. It people are taught to believe that they are inferior to another group of people they are going to be less likely to take a stand for themselves. Less likely to want to change these ideas of inequality.