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What Color Was That Again?
Can you spot the glaring problem in this AP story about last night's state dinner?
First lady Michelle Obama chose to wear a gleaming silver-sequined, flesh-colored gown Tuesday night to the first state dinner held by her husband's administration. She was tending to her hostess duties in a strapless silhouette with the beads forming an abstract floral pattern that was custom-made by Naeem Khan.
Hey, AP? Crayola got the memo back in 1962--using flesh as a synonym for white or light-colored is, well, racist.
Sociological Images pulled together a collection of ads that trade on this same assumption--the default skin tone color is white. As Lisa wrote, "Part of the privilege of being white is having a society that considers you the norm and is, therefore, organized around you."
--Phoebe Connelly
(AP Photo)
COMMENTS (4)
Check it out, the AP writer - or someone - evidently got the memo and changed "flesh" to "cream" in later versions of the story:
http://ap-69.newsvine.com/
Posted by: pinson | November 25, 2009 3:47 PM
Not to mention that the word "flesh" is rather unattractive when applied to clothing. We generally choose natural or food related color terms when describing something visually appetizing. What, is she some kind of flesh wearing zombie? Cream, or peachy cream is a better descriptor and less disgusting sounding.
aimai
But, in any event, she just looked stunning. It was a great cut for her.
Posted by: aimai | November 27, 2009 10:55 AM
But being white is the norm. In, say, Nigeria being black is the norm.
Posted by: Juan | November 29, 2009 6:37 PM
Support of the Lou Zhu, Lou Zhu worked hard
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Posted by: hanyu | November 29, 2009 10:47 PM