Petition Psychology Today!

In yesterday’s blog, I stated: “…we as Black women need to learn how to embrace our beauty. Don’t get me wrong, all women need to embrace their beauty. However, when people attempt to use scientific evidence to denigrate Black women, Black women are at particular risk of being debased and dehumanized”. This was in response to a recent racist blog post about Black women’s beauty (find a link to an article about the offensive post and a petition link to discourage such misinformation from being published in the future at http://tropie7189.blogspot.com/2011/05/objective-beauty-ladies-embrace-your.html). If you haven’t already, please sign the petition!

I was relieved to find a beautifully written retort entitled “Beauty May Be In Eye of Beholder But Eyes See What Culture Socializes” by Dr. Mikhail Lyubansky

(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/between-the-lines/201105/beauty-may-be-in-eye-beholder-eyes-see-what-culture-socializes). All I can say is HALLELUJAH! Thank goodness someone with some common sense can speak about the importance of academic rigor, academic freedom and sensitivity to historically marginalized groups. I have never read Dr. Lyubansky’s blog before but I am grateful that his retort indicates that he does indeed read between the lines.

Also, being the letter writer that I am, I plan to contact Psychology Today to thank them for allowing the retort and to admonish the editorial board to explain why the misinformation was allowed in the first place. I don’t want to be obnoxious but this is a HUGE deal. It is NOT okay to denigrate any group of people. Please stand up and make your voice be heard.