Or that’s what Naomi Campbell is insinuating. She ranted about the lack of black representation in the modelling industry, specifying covers of British Vogue magazines.
“Black models are being sidelined by the major modelling agencies. It is a pity that people don’t appreciate black beauty,” the actress was quoted as saying by BreakingNews.ie. “Even myself, I get a raw deal from my own country in England. For example, I hardly come on the front pages of the London Vogue magazine. Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on splash pages. I don’t want to quit modelling until I find that black models get equal prominence and recognition by the world media and information instruments.”
Is it because black women have bigger booties and don’t fit the normal slender supermodel mold? Or is it because black models simply don’t sell or as marketable as crackas? Tell me what you think about Vogue playing the race card.
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Comment by Bird's eye on 3 September 2007:
Black people are minorities. Why would the majority want to see a beautiful unstereotypical black woman? Nothing racist about it, but white woman simply (and probably unconciously) don’t want to see a beautiful black woman by their standards that they can never be. They’d rather see the beautiful white woman they think they could be or a stereotypical minority with opposing features they see as beautiful in a “different” way and a way they’d never care to be. I was friends with a black model a year ago and she would actually get no work and in some cases pinched later because her nose wasn’t broad enough and didn’t have lips like… Naomi.When people start throwing racism around they lose track of reality and take sides. Just look at it plainly. There is no animosity in it. It’s not very humbling, but still there isn’t enough animosity for it to be racism. It’s just black people are minorites and a lot of underlying issues aside from racism turn the wheel.I’m sure Naomi knows this already and has her own intentions. She’s no dummy.
Comment by Da Kid on 9 September 2007:
Well it doesn’t matter since mot women on vogue a fucking ugly, people who buy it are homos or women with no sense of good looks sorry but it’s the truth.
Comment by angela aka schooltime on 15 September 2007:
it is racism. when it is across the board like that, extending beyond countries, it’s racism. it is just another example. there is racism in every industry. to say there is not enough animosity behind it is to say you know what goes on in another mans heart. and you don’t. the “minority” issue is bs. add up the races that are non whites and we are the majority! saying whites won’t buy a magazine if a beautiful black woman is on the cover is rediculous! even if sales were lower it has nothing to do with the model and everything to do with the racismn one holds in their hearts. nothing will change unless beautiful black women are put on the cover regularly. the majority of oprah winfreys audience tv and in person is not african american, it is white. montell williams the same. tyra banks. on and on! the majority of rap music buyers are whites. its bs to say whites won’t buy a magazine if a black womans on the cover. if they didn’t she should be on the cover anyway, until they get it in their head, black is beautiful also!
Comment by angela aka schooltime on 15 September 2007:
when beyonce, who is black by the way was on the cover of sports illustrated, the issue flew off the shelves. when tyra was on the cover it sold wonderfully. there are many example of magazines selling with african americans aka americans on the cover. but a person who wants a particular race to hold some type of cover monopoly will always find excuses for not putting other races on the cover, including the old, “it doesn’t sell well”
Comment by angela aka schooltime on 15 September 2007:
“there isn’t enough animosity for it to be racism”? you don’t exist, we don’t see you or acknowledge you isn’t enough animosity? what would meet your quota as “enough” animosity. for them to actually be yelling at her. or do her physical violence. perhaps call her nigger!? would that be “enough” animosity? what do you mean there isn’t “enough” animosity for it to be considered racism? “when people throw racism around they lose track of reality”? racism IS a reality! it is prevalent. the REALITY is millions of people, BASED ON RACE ALONE, were kidnapped from their land, forced over here to america, were made to work hard labor for 400 years in this country, were not allowed to read, vote or even travel. had their children stolen from them, were lynched, whipped and raped on a regular basis, had no legal rights, and built up the wealth of others, while their children got nothing, that is the REALITY! it is not a book, a fantasy or a hallucination. racism has existed from the beginning and is still in existence today! that IS the reality. of course there would still be evidence of that today, and there is!
Comment by angela aka schooltime on 15 September 2007:
i am not saying that there is no other business/monetary considerations for making decisions other than race, in some cases, however the industry is not going to change until the people who run it change it. they don’t have to take all their ques from readers. they can get together collectively, if they wanted, and say “this is wrong to act as if their is only one race of peole in this world. to not acknowledge the beauty of other races”, and they can make changes to include more beautiful women of color on their covers ACROSS THE BOARD, starting today, if they wanted. what are buyers going to do? stop buying the magazine? not. start their own? please. sales may slump for a LITTLE while. but consumers will realize they can’t throw a temper tantrum and get their way. they WILL buy the magazine again and will just have to accept beauty comes in other races, besides their own. they won’t be able to find a harpers bazaar, or vogue or elle substitute. and life will go on. with all that african americans have suffered and endured here in america and abroad, at the hands of men who brutalized them for nothing other than their race, i think most people with morals and a sense of humanity would agree that we owe a special debt to them to be aware to not leave them out or pretend as if they don’t exist. we owe it to them to show them they are beutiful and worthy and represent them also. the powers that be could do this today. the question is why haven’t they?