Barbara Walter's puts her White woman's privilege on display. In no reality would she walk up to a white woman, grab her hair and ask "Is this real?" with any expectation of a polite response. It simply would not occur to her to even attempt that behavior. But with black women? Apparently not only does she feel it's okay for her to touch their hair, in the second situation she actually pulls hard on this woman's hair. You can see that Tanika Ray is uncomfortable, just as you can see the look of shock on Brandy's face when she's asked to "verify" her hair. I'm tired of seeing this behavior in general, and I really don't like the example this sets for her viewers. Think this behavior needs to be nipped in the bud? You can email Barbara Walters directly via the View's interface. However, I doubt that will have the necessary impact on her perception of appropriate behavior toward WOC. Personally I'm writing a letter to the the network, and possibly making a phone call or three. If you wish to do so as well, here's the snail mail address and phone number.
ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
(818) 460-7477
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July 19 2006, 17:24:07 UTC 5 years ago
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that is really perverse, because white celebwimmins have fake hair too.
when i was much younger, i used to think that white celebrities just had an army of SUPARHAIRDRESSERS to keep their hair looking glossy and growing out when they'd cut it or dye it. but then i was reading some entertainment mag that went into detail about the wigs and extensions used not just for movies, but to provide white celebrity women with their range of hair colors and lengths in daily public and private life. and i was like WOW SO FAKE HAIR IS AN ACCESSORY FOR EVERYONE OMG.and then in stripparville, i found plenty of whitegirls who were just as big on weaves as any black dancer for the same reasons (fried hair due to overprocessing/heat damage mainly, but also not wanting to wait a year to grow a few inches of hair to play with).
i mean, women in general, as far as i can tell use fake hair sometimes. not all women, but plenty of more than just the black race. and even IF black women were the ONLY ones, it shouldn't matter! people should not be yanking and pulling anyone's hair in the first place, nor asking about it just because it's long ('because, you know, THOSE PEOPLE can't EVER grow long hair!!!!')
it is worth noting though, that in my town, guys ask 'is her hair real' about white and black women roughly equally, and less often latinas. which is progress? maybe, when the rudeness is equal-opportunity, heh.