Journal of Psychology & Behavioral Science

How Media Influence about Hair Texture Impacts Internalized Racial Oppression and Why The Crown Act Simultaneously Promotes Necessary Change and Yet Familiar Defeat
Kristy L. LaMar, Ph.D., Helen N. Rolle, Ph.D

Abstract
Hair is a defining feature and what shape or texture it takes impacts how we see the world and how the world sees us. Hair is beauty, hair is power, and like wealth and skin tone hair has a caste system. This system fueled by society and the media play a large role on the impact of internalized racial oppression. This study consisted of 322 African American and Black female participants 18 years of age or older. All participants completed surveys that measured social cultural attitudes toward appearances and internalized racial oppression. Chi-square correlations revealed significant relationships between these two sets of variables among these African American and Black women. Furthermore, this article also looks at The Crown Act, its key players and associated complexities for black women, as uniquely different from white women. Discussion regarding implementing the Crown Act, which provides legislation to protect Black women against hair discrimination, also addresses the significant drawbacks to the CROWN Act as funded by the DOVE brand which undermines the effectiveness but too reminds us that black hair is not just a tool of oppression, stereotypes, and discrimination, but of power, politics, and economics.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jpbs.v10n2a1