Group Articles: "A dive into the degrading world of fetishization Latinas live in"; "What Is Fetishization And How Does It contribute To Racism?"; "The racist roots of skin-whitening and how we can overcome hundreds of years of cultural conditioning"; "And It'll Come Back Real Baby Fine: Black Women's Experiences With Hair Loss and Regrowth After Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Treatment"

 Article link: A dive into the degrading world of fetishization Latina live in


I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article. Not only did I learn something from it but I also found it actually quite inspiring. I really liked the end of the article where Sotelo stands her ground and defends herself. It fills me with my own sense of determination.

Additionally, I liked how she mentioned Latina body standards and how the media perpetuates how the ideal Latina should look. This is an issue I'm really bothered by and the fact that it's practically everywhere doesn't make me any more fond of it. As Halloween rolls around the corner, I'm already preparing myself for a tsunami of skimpy Día de los Muertos costumes.


Article link: What Is Fetishization And How Does It Contribute To Racism?


I learned so much from this article. I thought I had a solid understanding of the concept of fetishization and how harmful it is but this article truly opened my eyes. While I knew that fetishization has incredibly negative effects and is a very current topic, it never occurred to me just how far back in history we can go and still see the harmful effects of fetishization.


Article link: The racist roots of skin-whitening and how we can overcome hundreds of years of cultural conditioning


It's really interesting to see just how deep and intertwined racism has become in beauty culture. I could just be walking down the aisle at a cosmetics store and every other bottle will say "skin-lightening" or "color-correcting" on it. It's really disturbing to think about just how normalized it's become.

Going through the history of skin-whitening practices discussed in this article, it makes me think about my middle and high school history classes. I remember studying ancient China and how women would paint their faces pure white. I remember not really understanding it back then and thinking it was kind of weird. Now it makes me wonder if there was a more race-related reason behind it.


Article link: And It'll Come Back Real Baby Fine: Black Women's Experiences With Hair Loss and Regrowth After Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Treatment


I'm going to admit, I did not read this entire article and mostly just skimmed it because wow, that is a really really really long article. That being said, it did open my eyes a little bit. Obviously I've never struggled with hair loss so I've never had to consider how stressful and traumatic it must be. Even more than that, though, I know how important hair is to Black women and all the pride and care they put into their hairstyles so I can't even imagine how much worse the experience must be for them. Not only are they losing their hair (which is already an integral feature to anyone) but it must feel like they're losing part of their culture as well.

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