Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone [Paperback]

Margaret L. Hunter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0415946085 | ISBN-13: 978-0415946087 | Edition: 1

Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone tackles the hidden yet painful issue of colorism in the African American and Mexican American communities. Beginning with a historical discussion of slavery and colonization in the Americas, the book quickly moves forward to a contemporary analysis of how skin tone continues to plague people of color today. This is the first book to explore this well-known, yet rarely discussed phenomenon.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Margaret Hunter is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415946085
• ISBN-13: 978-0415946087
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Women and Colorism, December 2, 2007

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone (Paperback)

Racism is a controversy which almost everyone would admit is still salient. Here, Dr. Hunter proves the continuing significance of colorism, the discrimination against dark-skinned people by their light-skinned counterparts, especially among women.

Even though the term "people of color" is thrown around often by scholars and talking heads, few book focus on more than one group of color at a time. This book speaks about African Americans and Mexican Americans equally. My guess is that the author identifies as African American, but her knowledge of Mexican American history and culture is just as excellent as her knowledge about her own group. The cover of the book shows two halves of a face in different shades. This could represent a light-skinned woman and a dark-skinned one, but it could also represent a Black woman and a Brown one. This book is intersectional: it discusses race and gender, not just one issue. Women's studies majors need to read this book as much as ethnic studies majors do, especially since the issue raised here was one of the first raised in "This Bridge Called My Back."

Here's the problem with this book: it goes at length about a topic that most people of color would admit still exists. Why is Halle Berry the top Black actress rather than a dark-skinned actress or one that has two Black parents? Why does Spanish-language TV almost exclusively show European-looking Latinos? In the introduction to bell hooks' "Outlaw Culture," written about 14 years ago, hooks stated that two five year-old girls told her that lights are treated better than darks. This phenomenon is also painful. Though this injustice exists, it shouldn't. It's hard to read a book on colorism when many wish that colorism would disappear yesterday.

Each chapter of the book has a different methodology: national surveys, cultural criticism, personal interviews, etc. To some, this will seem thorough and interdisciplinary. To others, this may seem hodgepodge and unfocused. So often, it's oppressed people who write books on the oppression they face. For example, slaves challenged slavery long before abolitionists organized themselves. Dr. Hunter admits that she is biracial and can pass for white. This book has a light-skinned author spelling out how dark-skinned women are mistreated. In one anecdote, she speaks about Walter White, a man, when I thought she could have brought up Judy Scales-Trent, a woman.

A whole bunch of books, even by progressive authors, are heterosexist: they act like lesbians and gay men don't exist. The author admits that she failed to get a lesbian perspective on colorism. However, this book did not seem heterosexist to me. When Dr. Hunter states that light-skinned women obtain higher-status men, I just assumed she spoke of women who WANT to have husbands. In a documentary called "The Aggressives," a Black woman who was not even light-skinned problematically stated that she didn't want a dark-skinned lover. So colorism can affect everyone.

There is a ray of hope for us dark-skinned readers. While the author reports that light-skinned women marry men of higher status than dark-skinned women, she states that women of both complexions marry at equal rates. Many reports say that white women marry at much higher rates than Black ones. This book never says a dark-skinned woman can't find a husband; he just might not be on Wall Street.

The author does mention some of her light-skinned interviewees want dark-skinned husbands. Still, Dr. Hunter doesn't mention part of Black folklore that says, "Darks prefer lights and lights prefer darks." Remember that Malcolm X's dark father loved his light skinned, but his biracial mother wanted him to pick up some melanin? I think some of us hope that the two groups will marry each other and one day all Blacks will be about the same complexion and then colorism won't exist. This may be wishful thinking, but it is a hope that is out there that doesn't come up much in this book.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars hatred of light skin blacks in Philly reverse colorism, May 20, 2008

By 

diane77 (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone (Paperback)

This book claims that light skin blacks have advantages because their light skin that's incorrect.I'm black and light(yellow)skin.There's a lot of reverse colorism in Philadelphia(ninth-poorest US city,blacks are the majority).I had lived in Philly for many years.In Philly many brown skin blacks and dark skin black young adults prefer brown skin and dark skin blacks.In Philly sometimes brown skin blacks date light skin blacks,more brown skin blacks than dark skin black young adults date light skin blacks.I lived in cities that weren't like this.My light(yellow)skin and brown skin black young adult cousins lived in some zipcodes in Philly that have many sex offenders (are often lecherous) and many black men wanted to date my brown skin cousin and none would date my light skin cousin.There are few light(yellow)skin and dark skin black young adult couples in Philly.