tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086222144066438296.post6332187477093053563..comments2023-10-05T12:52:16.356-04:00Comments on Tina Opie: My Ethnic Hair Journey: What does hair have to do with it? Why talk about ethnic hair?topiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12981039926077521964noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086222144066438296.post-76101194375726576282011-04-12T16:11:34.388-04:002011-04-12T16:11:34.388-04:00Hi Karen, thanks so much for your post! I wholehe...Hi Karen, thanks so much for your post! I wholeheartedly agree with you. I am so passionate about this issue! I'm glad to see other people like you are also thinking about it too. Identity is a HUGE issue and I so desire for our sons and daughters to love who they are. When I look at my children I am grateful that my husband and I have been able to foster a loving, identity-embracing environment. But, my heart aches sometimes when I think about the standards that you mention. I hope and pray that those standards change so that beauty of all kinds is accepted. Thanks for following me!topiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12981039926077521964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086222144066438296.post-58088517214896831322011-04-12T08:21:19.029-04:002011-04-12T08:21:19.029-04:00Tina, it maybe that the reasons we find ourselves ...Tina, it maybe that the reasons we find ourselves struggling with so many of the other issues your friend mentioned may be connected to the identity issues that concern you. If you don't think of yourself as valuable, beautiful, a reflection of the divine...then perhaps the choices you make about your health and future are impacted. Perhaps many mental health issues, and high incarceration rates are related to feelings of low self-worth. I think identity is often at the root of what ails us as folks of color, because it's hard to make life-affirming choices when at a fundamental level you don't think you have value and that includes our thoughts in our physical beauty. And our culture is pervasive in it's creation if standards that serve to repeatedly tell us we are undesirable in so many ways... And we often perpuate those ways of thinking. Thank you for blogging on the topic! It's an important conversation.kmm Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02130151407656049036noreply@blogger.com