I reviewed last night’s thread and while the gallery was not intended to be exhaustive, I certainly overlooked some obvious black beauties. Accordingly, here’s the last and final part. I’m sure there are still plenty o’ hot broads that were not considered, but if I spend any more time staring at pictures of black beauties, I’m going to have an eyegasm.
It’s all for fun y’all. Sometimes you just wantsta look at some purty pictures. I’ll post something for the hetero/bi-ladies and gays. I promise.
Delia
I saw your post yesterday. I read it but not the thread. The guy was a sexist racist pig who belongs in the dumpster. And yes, those are all beautiful women whose photos you’ve just posted. But you know you can’t argue with jackasses.
Citizen_X
NOM NOM NOM.
R-Jud
Woop woop, FloJo and JJK. Thanks. And Janelle Monae, I would put her in my pocket and take her home if she wasn’t a fierce pan-dimensional musical dynamo. I loffs her.
TaMara (BHF)
The rotating ad that came up when I clicked on this entry:
Love Queen Latifah! Love ABL. Thanks for brightening a rainy day.
Riggsveda
“I’ll post something for the hetero/bi-ladies and gays. I promise.”
Well, you can slap Isaiah Mustafa right up there first thing, please. On a horse.
Layla
I should post my picture – I am cute and fit the demographics.
And I am full-figured, which it seems like you have a problem finding pictures women of that size.
TaMara (BHF)
@Riggsveda: He is my voice mail message. Damn, he is some kinda sexy. Sometimes I call myself just to hear him answer my phone.
Aaron
Lana Kane- FTW!
El Tiburon
Couple of observations on this topic.
I think we can all agree this so-called study was disgusting and its author is a racist idiot. Saying all that, posting pictures of beautiful black women cheapens the whole endeavor.
If, as the argument goes, beauty is truly subjective and can’t be qualified, then why do so many of these pictured women seem to have many of the same features? Where is a picture of Shirley Hemphill or Barbara Jordan? Otherwise, posting these pictures seems to be reinforcing a narrative of what constitutes beauty. If we all deem these women quantitatively more beautiful than the Shirley Hemphills or Barbara Jordans, then doesn’t logic dictate that there is some kind of ‘beauty hierarchy’ that can be rated using scientific methodology.
It reminds me of those “ugly duckling” topics on day-time talk shows. They bring out some young girl who is not the ideal beauty. The tell her that looks don’t matter and it’s what is on the inside that counts. But the show ends with the inevitable makeover where the ‘ugly duckling’ is now a beautiful swan. The Mom is crying; the audience is crying; the girls is crying. The message: Beauty DOES matter. And it matters a lot.
Final thought: one takeaway from one of my Pschyology courses was that there were two traits of beauty that transcended all cultures all over the world: youth and unblemished skin.
Betty Cracker
Grace Jones!
MarkJ
I’m enjoying the eye candy, but how could you put two of these lists together and leave the Supremes off? They’re like the most obvious pick ever.
FuriousGiorge
Every one uglier than the one before. Because science.
John Cole
@El Tiburon: Another feature they have in common is that they are all people who have never been in my kitchen.
Jager
Mrs J organized a fundraiser for breast cancer a couple of years ago, the featured speaker was was Diahann Carroll. Mrs J said she was just stunning in person.
(No Nancy Wilson?)
cleek
Erykah Badu?
cause i like her sangin
Irving
…did I miss Josepine Baker in the sea of ebony pulchritude, or is she too old-school for this? She’s not precisely the same sort of beuaty as these women, but who-mama. (And being the the OD, she also demonstrates a point El Tiburon is edging around – standard of beauty change over time, but they all seem to revolve around a fundamental somehow.)
Linda Featheringill
@Citizen_X:
Absolutely. :-)
Layla
Also Cicily Tyson, Amber Riley from Glee, and Whoopi (that’s right! I said, Miss Sealy. Beautiful!)
General Stuck
Beyonce is absolutely beguiling in that pic
Citizen_X
@Irving: First in the list: top row, on the left.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Tiburon, you make some damned good points about beauty, but there’s more than one way to respond to a racist idiot. When one of the things that Racist Idiot says is “black = unpretty” then multiple pictures of what is found pretty by people whose
dickscorneas have not been shriveled by the sheer blackityness of it all are a legitimate response.Now, I can haz Djimon Hounsou, pls?
Poopyman
@Irving: You missed her. Top left.
Montysano
Amen to that. I think Queen Latifah is just stunning, and a fine actor to boot.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: She scares me. I am not saying she isn’t gorgeous and talented (“Pull Up to the Bumper” may be the greatest dance song of all time and “Libertango” is just fucking cool), but she scares me.
khead
@El Tiburon:
Mia Amber Davis
Plus, I liked Extra Cheeseburger Tyra better than the newer Skeletor Tyra.
General Stuck
Only El Tiburon could concern troll a black beauties thread.
Only thing missing is an Obama fail allegation
Jager
@TaMara (BHF): I always thought Barry White should have voiced navigation systems for woman’s cars.
“Baby you look so good, I just what to spend my day looking at you, loving you. By the way sugar, take a right in 500 yards”
El Tiburon
@Irving:
I know certain facial characteristics, like the spacing between the eyes, cheekbones, chin, etc. have been parts of legitimate studies that rate beauty,(or what constitutes a quantifiable metric of beauty) fwiw.
Mnemosyne
I am putting my vote in now for Chiwetel Ejiofor. Kthxbai.
Montysano
I would submit Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops for addition to the list. We’ve seen ’em twice, up close and personal, and her combination of beauty and incredible musical talent makes for quite an experience.
El Tiburon
@General Stuck:
For once I am going to choose better judgment on this and not go down the comic road I would like. I am certain I would not be able to pull it off correctly.
Tone in DC
I like ABL’s response to racist idjit(s).
And the eye candy, I like that, too.
Quicksand
@John Cole:
Unless you risked more than $21,600, you’ll be the new Jeopardy champion!
taylormattd
@El Tiburon: Two words: lighten up.
gex
Nice. Those are some beautiful women. I think someone’s equation is about as sound as the model behind the housing collapse. Full of assumptions that are bullshit.
ABL
@cleek: d’oh! i had her in my mind and then i clear forgot.
@El Tiburon: you may have missed the point which is that i posted photos of women that commenters mentioned in previous threads, and i learned something about these women along the way. but if you want to be a grouch about it, you go right ahead. that seems to be your “thing.”
Layla
@El Tiburon: I agree with this. But whatever. It’s a blog post that will never have to be removed from the internet.
ABL
@Layla: that’s likely because most of the photos i chose are headshots. for starters, queen latifah, j.hud. and aretha are all full figured women.
Chat Noir
Khandi Alexander is also fabulous. Her work on “Treme” is second to none.
ABL
@El Tiburon: honestly, if you had mentioned barbara jordan or shirley hemphill, i would have posted pictures of same. you might try not being a killjoy for once.
brent
@El Tiburon:
It may be true that many of these women have similar features but I would say that the totality of images represents many different aspects of how different standards of beauty can be defined. In any case, I think that we can accept the idea that what counts as beauty is extremely subjective while also acknowledging that there are a wide range of types that a very high percentage of people will agree are “beautiful” in context. In other words, it is not that there is no such thing as ugly or beautiful as much as it is that ugly/beautiful does not track along the lines of black/not-black as the original author seemingly suggests.
(by the way as I write this, there is an ad for an interracial dating service called AfroRomance at the bottom of the page: Where love is more than skin deep. I am not sure why that makes me laugh but it does.)
Darkrose
@Riggsveda: Idris Elba kthxbai. Also, Aldis Hodge. <3
El Tiburon
@ABL:
I guess I did. I wrongly inferred that these pis and the other pics posted were to prove that there are in fact a lot of beautiful, black women out there. That these pics and the others were some kind of rebuttal to the study that was the genesis of all of this.
I see now I was wrong and that was not the point at all. Silly me.
And for you, of all people, to accuse me of being a grouch, well excuse me while I laugh.
Ha. Ha.
But if you care, I would like to hear your thoughts on the actual point of my comment, if you feel it is worth your time.
existenz
Was Zoe Saldana on one of these two threads? I think she’s the hottest black beauty in Hollywood today (actually, hottest beauty period).
FlipYrWhig
I haven’t seen my crush, Melissa Harris-Lacewell/Perry.
taylormattd
@El Tiburon: Your comment is an overwrought treatise on the subjective nature of beauty. But as far as I can tell, this blog isn’t a freshman introduction to philosophy course.
Again, you need to lighten up.
Omnes Omnibus
@brent: I have seen studies that indicate that men tend to be attracted to women with a heart shaped face and a waist to hip ratio of around 0.7.
ABL
@El Tiburon: i do SO enjoy having conversations with permanently aggrieved and sarcastic people.
i think i’ll pass, if you don’t mind.
ABL
@FlipYrWhig: she’s in the middle of last night’s thread. :)
Montysano
@Omnes Omnibus:
Never heard either one before, but you are correct on both accounts.
brent
@Omnes Omnibus:
I haven’t seen the studies but I would be highly skeptical of anything that tried to quantify something as ephemeral and culturally influenced as beauty that precisely.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: its a ymmv kinda thing… I know some friends who go nuts about eyes, others are leg fetishists and still yet others are devout “ass men”. Some gents are suckers for how a lady laughs. Granted more than a fair share of us focus on a lady’s chest, but hell even those guys vary wildly from champagne glass types to more than a handful favoritism. Its an eye of the beholder concept that is validated between genders every damn day. You can find statistics to make a generalization, but really life amongst the outliers tends to make me dubious about quantifying what beauty really is.
El Tiburon
@brent:
Let me ask you, or anyone: are there any ‘ugly’ women in any of the pics that ABL has posted? No, for the most part, no.
I find it amusing that when discussing the topic of beauty and the associated outrages, the only pics posted were of so-called ‘beautiful women’. And ABL, your excuse, only reinforces my point.
So we are agreed: there are certain traits that we can all agree define what beauty is. And once we do that, once we agree that there are these traits, then can’t we make the next logical jump that we are able to rate beauty? And could it be, using these metrics that maybe Asian women or African women or whatever could rate the highest on this scale?
I’m just saying, if you’re going to get outraged, think it through and realize what it is you are saying.
If beauty doesn’t matter, then why do the mothers and all of the audience cry when the Big Makeover is revealed?
Keith G
@General Stuck:
I am not going to troll this as it is not in my nature. When I came across this, I was wondering, “Why?”.
I then followed the links, but my initial question still remains. It’s all good, as I am free to move on.
nodakfarmboy
@Chat Noir: Seconded. Khandi was great on NewsRadio back in the day. And quite easy on the eyes, I might add.
Keith G
@El Tiburon: To your point, I thought that Shirley Sherrod was a black woman (and a being, in general) of great beauty, but I guess she was unable to make the cut.
Shame that.
stuckinred
Still no Cassandra Wilson, what the fuck, over?
Lurker
If we’re going to include cartoon characters, I’d like to vote for Claudia LaSalle (Macross) and Disney’s Tiana.
stuckinred
I don’t see Minnie Ripperton either.
eemom
I think these threads should be a continuing series until all beautiful black women in the world have been accounted for.
Not sure what it is, but somewhere out there, someone’s got a point that that would prove.
Mnemosyne
@El Tiburon:
I do love it so when the big strong men come along and lecture us ignorant womenfolk about our frivolous interest in beauty. Because no woman on this thread has ever thought about these things or discussed them, and we needed you to come along and explain everything to us.
stuckinred
Or Marilyn Mccoo
Omnes Omnibus
@brent:
@piratedan:
As I understood the studies, they suggested that, despite the other various features that make up attractiveness, those particular features tended to be present. I don’t have links and I have no real dog in the fight. I just thought that, given El Tib’s comments, it was worth mentioning.
General Stuck
@Keith G:
Have a safe journey, whatever the fuck you are talking about.
Montysano
@El Tiburon:
We don’t agree with that at all. For instance, I find Maya Rudolph to be quite beautiful, but not in any definable or measurable way. To me, she just is.
ABL, please add in some photos of fat dudes STAT!
nodakfarmboy
@eemom: And yet, you’re reading and commenting on the thread. User tip- if you don’t like a post topic, or think it’s unnecessary, you DON’T NEED TO READ IT.
Hope that helps.
El Tiburon
@ABL:
Yeah, sure ABL, whatever. Go ahead and judge me. Run away all you want. I brought up what I thought (evidently incorrectly) was an interesting topic for debate on a, you know, BLOG! where posters like yourself post topics for, you know, DEBATE.
But if you would rather judge my character or motives and move along, then have at it. I will continue to think it’s because you are not sure how to respond, that perhaps you have been tangled in a contradiction.
But I’m just a killjoy.
stuckinred
@Mnemosyne: Well put a disclaimer at top of the thread “womyn only’.
Southern Beale
Maybe I missed it but is there a reason FLOTUS is not pictured? I think she’s gorgeous, has incredible style, and is a true role model in every sense of the word.
The Ancient Randonneur
You had me at Eartha.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Montysano:
I just love Queen Latifa, she always seems to me like she would be an absolute blast to know, and have a brilliant girls night out with. I thought she was brilliant as Denzel Washington’s nurse in that one film (damned if I can remember the name) and I was seriously ticked off when she was killed in the end.
stuckinred
@Montysano: And her mom!
Litlebritdifrnt
@Southern Beale:
She was in yesterday’s post. This is the “those I missed yesterday” post.
Chat Noir
@nodakfarmboy: The way she can play a scene without dialog simply floors me. And the way she expresses emotions with only her eyes! Glad “Treme” was renewed for another season so I get to see more of her and Wendell Pierce. Was bummed I didn’t see them in New Orleans for Jazz Fest a couple of weeks back.
brent
@El Tiburon:
Let me ask you, or anyone: are there any ‘ugly’ women in any of the pics that ABL has posted? No, for the most part, no.
You answer the question for yourself, but the truth is that I wouldn’t know how to answer that question. I know from experience, for instance, that there are plenty of people who think of Jackie Joyner Kersee as quite unattractive. But the point of the post is not that no one thinks any of these women are ugly. Its that many people think of them as quite beautiful. So when someone writes that black women are ugly, as if that is some sort of well accepted fact, it is easy to point out that that is not the sort of normative opinion one thinks.
Here is a collection of women’s images that can all claim a large constituency that support them as very beautiful women. That being the case, how relevant can race be to the question of beauty.
So we are agreed: there are certain traits that we can all agree define what beauty is.
I don’t think that is as obviously true as you seem to think it is. Grace Jones does not look much like Lena Horne and what would make one person think they are both beautiful or indeed what would make different people disagree about whether they are beautiful is not so easy to quantify. But what is pretty clear, is that those definitions are not so easily delineated by race, which is the whole point.
Mnemosyne
@stuckinred:
Oooh, that’s a rejoinder I’ve never heard before! Now tell me some other ideas that I’ve never been introduced to before and need you to help me with, like equal pay for equal work. How does that work, anyway?
Omnes Omnibus
@El Tiburon:
Pretty much.
stuckinred
@Mnemosyne: I’ll get back to you after I finish cooking my wife dinner.
Chat Noir
@stuckinred: My fourth grade teacher used to always play The Fifth Dimension’s “Greatest Hits on Earth” album when we did our seat work and I’ve loved that music ever since. Marilyn McCoo’s voice was like an angel’s.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: np OO, imho folks spending money and time trying to quantify beauty (for profit! naturally) would be better served determining woodchuck chucking rates ;-)
El Tiburon
@Mnemosyne:
Oh for fucks sake. This is not at all what I was getting at.
Although I will agree with you that on the whole I am a strong man (I go to the gym so sue me) and that you appear to be ignorant, I was simply trying to point out the apparent contradictions in our society when it comes to beauty.
You know I think my two-year old daughter is truly the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. Does she count as a classical beauty? I don’t know and don’t care. I know what she is to me and what I want her to feel about herself.
Again, I just found the response to this all a bit amusing. And interesting.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Omnes Omnibus:
I remember an interview with her at the time she was romantically involved with Dolph Lungren, she said that the two of them would smack each other on the abs with baseball bats for fun. Scarey indeed.
stuckinred
@Chat Noir: California Soul is insanely good!
trollhattan
Oooh, forgot about FloJo, I did. Thanks for including her here (I haz a sad thinking about how young she died). Despite her tragic fall from grace, Marion Jones certainly belongs on anybody’s supah cute list. I saw her at several meets and, man….
ABL
@El Tiburon:
did i blackout and miss the conversation we had during which we agreed on anything? or did you, yet again, decide that you know what the conversation should be based on whatever you want it to be and then project your inner dialogue onto the class as is your custom?
or is it that you are so self-important that you cannot imagine a world in which i would choose not to engage you, because i don’t want to engage YOU specifically, given your specific and rather obnoxious style of debate, which is to entirely ignore counterpoints and to put words into people’s mouths (as you have done above.)
and you wonder why i have no interest in having a discussion with you. funny, that.
so for the record, we are agreed on nothing.
and i would appreciate that you stop telling me what i should be outraged about or even if i should be outraged in the first place. i am quite capable of thinking for myself.
this was not a seminar in beauty through the ages. i’m sure a very interesting discussion could be had about the merits of natural vs. relaxed hair. again, that was not the point of this post, no matter how forcefully you try to ascribe meaning or intentions to my post. if you want to have a discussion about beauty and importantly proclaim that everyone agrees with you absent evidence of any such agreement, i suggest that might be the perfect inaugural post on your own blog.
@stuckinred: d’oh! i saw you mentioned her but i forgot. sorry, holmes.
@Keith G: if you mentioned shirley sherrod then her omission was accidental.
surely folks have something better to do than needlessly criticize a gallery of photos posted for fun based on motivations which you seem eager to ascribe to me.
Omnes Omnibus
@Litlebritdifrnt: Which part was scary to you? The baseball bats or the involvement with Dolph Lundgren?
stuckinred
@ABL: My suggestions were for fun too!
Phoebe
@Betty Cracker: Yes!
Also, hetero ladies like to look at pictures of pretty women too, pretty anything. I believe I can also speak for the gays. The only people with tunnel vision seem to be hetero males, or most of them. Go ahead, ask a hetero male “What men do you think are handsome?” and they’ll glaze over like the Manchurian Candidate hypnotees and say, in a robot voice, “I don’t know… I don’t look at men.” There are a few exceptions, such as my ex husband, who had, at the ready, “Robert Mitchum and Alex (sic) Baldwin.” See, fellas, is that so hard?
El Tiburon
@brent:
Please. Most of those women, if shown to any cross-section of people from just about anywhere, would be considered attractive.
Of course we all have our own predilections for what we find beautiful. That’s not the point.
Ah, fuck it. What is the point if very few even understand it. Hey, Holla! Give me sum Halle Berry! Am I forgiven?
ABL
@stuckinred: i know they were! i just totally forget them. scout’s honor. like i had in my brain “erykah badu” and forgot. derp.
anyway, hopefully most of you enjoyed the thread. i’m bowing out before i get more annoyed with mr. self-important.
stuckinred
@ABL: Wish you could join us for some fish taco’s!
Litlebritdifrnt
@Omnes Omnibus:
LOL it was the baseball bats.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
My thoughts exactly. I’m a white woman who fits into no conventional idea of beauty (my husband’s happy, though, and that’s all that matters), but I thought this was a fun and edifying way to respond joyfully and wittily to the stupid scientific “analysis” that concluded that African-American women were less attractive. It feels celebratory and humorous and all good things.
General Stuck
@ABL:
El Tiburon is just jonseing for a fresh Greenwald thread to get all butthurt about, and since those are scarce right now, he is trying to drum up some kind of cause for all the women that didn’t get mentioned on this thread. Or something like that. Highly lame, even for him.
Omnes Omnibus
@Phoebe:
Look, lady, it’s not hard at all when I look at pictures of men. Wait…. That wasn’t what you meant at all, was it?
Phoebe
And Snoop!
Think good thoughts.
khead
@Phoebe:
“Clint Howard” is my usual reply.
Felonious Wench
There are studies as to what is “normative” attractive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_attractiveness
And I’m seconding the comment about lecturing women on how we should be outraged at a thread like this. I’m not. These women represent a cross-section of body types, skin tones, facial features, careers, etc. As a raging feminist, I truly enjoy discussions like this on the different varieties of “beauty” among women. How on earth would that offend me, as a woman, to talk about the beauty of women, inside and out?
What they have in common is society has labeled them as “black.” Which is the absurdity of the original article. What does “black” even mean? What does “white” mean? The vast bulk of us are good old mutts at this point. It’s an absurd construct.
Edit: Link fail.
El Tiburon
@ABL:
Sheesh. Speaking of being a grouch.
For the record, I did mention Shirley Hemphill* and Barbara Jordan. So I look forward to the next post with their pictures.
*I do love Shirley Hemphill, Rog and Rerun.
Phoebe
@Omnes Omnibus: See! You people don’t appreciate beauty for it’s own sake: It’s always all about the “hard”. Unless you were kidding, of course, in which case: Names, please.
Mnemosyne
@El Tiburon:
Which, again, is a conversation/discussion that I of course have never had before, since I’m merely a woman in my 40s. I needed you to come along and enlighten me to the gender inequalities in our society, because I’ve never been exposed to them before.
I’m not sure what other reaction you’re expecting when you burst in with 20-year old news and insist that we talk about this mind-blowing new information.
ABL
evidently, we are unable (not unwilling based upon past behaviors) to meet your high level of inquisitiveness and thoughtful reflection. i look forward to reading your blog post on the subject.
might i had, that you have the greenwaldian sneering and condescension down to a perfect science? do you take private lessons? it is admirable, indeed, and the perfect way to ensure that i will engage you in good faith.
General Stuck
@Omnes Omnibus:
Though I’ve never set eyes on him, I can imagine Omnes is kind of cute. Yes yes, I am secure enough to say that.
gogol's wife
@El Tiburon:
Since everyone’s piling on, I just have to say that I’ll second you on loving Shirley, Rog, and Rerun.
Omnes Omnibus
@Phoebe: I will go completely conventional here and say Clooney, Pitt, Washington, and Depp are good looking guys. None of them are as good looking as I am, but they are okay.
ABL
@El Tiburon: no, not a grouch. irritated with your patronizing tone.
and if you read the post, i indicated that this is the last and final part.
Phoebe
@khead: You have unconventional tastes, but I can see it. I like the gap in the front teeth. People are nuts who get that closed up.
Mnemosyne
@stuckinred:
Nnnnnooooooooo ! ! !
cdmarine
Can’t forget the absolutely stunning Sudanese model, Alek Wek. She’s one of those people you just can’t stop staring at.
stuckinred
@Mnemosyne: Dang, the link doesn’t work!
Server Error
The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in 30 seconds.
Phoebe
@Omnes Omnibus: Those four are all pretty different, even if popular. Me, I don’t share this opinion about B. Pitt (but he’s a good actor). But Denzel Washington is really beautiful. Congratulations on being better looking than him. General Stuck was right.
mr. whipple
Had to google Nina Mae McKinney. Smokin!
El Tiburon
@Mnemosyne:
I did not know you and I were having a conversation. So many conversations to choose from and you select the one conversation to that you don’t want to have. Funny.
I would like to think I will be as well-read as you next time I comment, but I would be lying. But as a man speaking to a woman, especially one in her 40s, what else would I do but lie, right?
Maybe next time when confronted with an ignorant person like myself, you could take the high-road and enlighten me. Or not.
scav
As this originally seemed sort of a crowd-sourced flash-mob of eye-candy, I think picking on ABL for not upholding the standards of the seminar level philosophy class is a little odd. Sometimes all we want is a party, not a teaching moment.
Omnes Omnibus
@General Stuck: Thanks, General. I am a very good looking man. Now turn off whatever spyware you have on my laptop.
Mnemosyne
@stuckinred:
Hm. Let me try again:
Nnnnnooooooo ! ! !
ETA: It’s one of Charlton Heston’s most famous moments, if that helps.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@FlipYrWhig: I mentioned her in the first thread – though I probably wasn’t the only one – so ABL put it on last nights page. I love women who are smarter than me.
Monala
I’m with gogol’s wife. These posts have been fun to read and look at.
But back to the serious stuff, Caz asked a question on the original thread about the study itself. Even beyond the Kanazawa’s FU’d interpretation, the study itself is disturbing. Here’s how I responded:
@Caz:
“Why” is a good question. Apparently, the researchers of the national Adolescent Health study, a survey on teen attitudes and behaviors that is conducted periodically, added a part where they (the researchers) ranked the attractiveness of the teens completing the study on a 1-5 scale. (Kanazawa calls this ranking “objective,” even though it’s just the researcher’s opinions). Since black girls were consistently ranked lower in attractiveness than black boys and girls of other races, Kanazawa concludes that black women are scientifically less attractive.
Leaving aside the whole race question, why the hell would adult researchers judge the appearance of teen participants in a study about adolescent behavior and health? And in terms of informed consent, did the teens know their looks were being judged?
trollhattan
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Didn’t she kick James Bond’s ass? Nuff said!
stuckinred
@Mnemosyne: He didn’t like fish taco’s? I’m grilling the fish, not frying and using whole wheat torts.
Svensker
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Yes, me, too! Why did they kill her off? Seriously bummed.
And, ABL, you left out Chaka Khan, who has had some serious issues but is a gorgeous woman and a brilliant singer.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: It was just Roger Moore, so it doesn’t count.
Mnemosyne
@stuckinred:
Yeah, it kinda lost something in the repeat. But still an all-time great Heston moment.
Omnes Omnibus
@Svensker: Was the nurse killed in the book?
brent
@El Tiburon:
That isn’t what you said. You said, “there are no pictures of ugly women.” Insofar as ugly means: many people think they are unattractive; there are plenty of women in that list who fit that bill so the answer to your question is not so obvious as you seem to believe. The point is not to be pedantic. Its to point out that your critique of the choice of pictures does not hold up very well by your own logic.
That isn’t what I said. This is, of course, true, but my point was not that we all have our own ideas of what is beautiful, its that our ideas of what is beautiful and what is ugly, however much they may converge or diverge do not typically do either on the simple basis of race. You seem resistant to accepting that this is the point of this particular discussion but now I have repeated it for at least the third time.
stuckinred
@Mnemosyne: You know I’ve never seen any of those, I’ve never been big on sci-fi or whatever that is. Now, A Touch of Evil, I can sink my teeth into that.
khead
@Phoebe:
Meh. I just figured if I was ever looking for a man I would want someone with a forehead bigger than mine.
El Tiburon
@ABL:
About that grouch thing…
ABL, a serious request: in my original comment can you point to any “sneering or condescension”? Please.
Otherwise, any “sneering or condescension” that you may have seen is in direct response to others sneering and being condescending to me.
But with all of the keystrokes you have wasted on me, I would think you would have wanted to spend a little time on my original comment and the observations contained there.
Evidently you would much rather attack me with clever little insults. I can take it. I am a Strong Man.
(Although I would prefer a good debate on the actual substance, not mud slinging.)
Come on: how about one big Shirley Hemphill post. She’s a hoot!
goblue72
@Omnes Omnibus: Ah yes, A View to A Kill. Wasn’t Moore at that point running around in a toupee and a girdle, a la Shatner?
Irving
Whoops. No wonder I missed the fabulous Ms. Baker. It’s the hat. She was wearing too much for me to recognize her. :)
Oddly enough, I think that Hugh Hefner – yes, him – has done a fair amount to celebrate the diversity of feminine beauty. Yes, the typical bunny’s blond and overly be-boobed, but the centerfold spread of Chyna was impressive. There have been some Playboy shoots over the years that have demonstrated that age and body type are no impediment to sexy, which is incredibly cool.
bago
As a dude, I’m going to have to go with Daniel Craig for my Bond, and as a coder I’m going to have to nag ABL about her syntax. As a libtard, I’m going to have to mention the correctness of the potentially political parsing of the phrase “lighten up”. El Tiburon totally blew that one.
Wait…
Mnemosyne
@goblue72:
For some reason, I read “toupee” as “toque” and was very confused.
Omnes Omnibus
@bago: Connery with Craig as runner up.
Allan
RuPaul.
ABL
@El Tiburon: reread your comments. the sneering and condescension drips from them. as it did during the greenwald post last week.
now please stop trying to assign me homework assignments and stop trying to bait me with this unpleasantness. i’ve made it clear, and i am making it clear for the last time, you are not a commenter i choose to interact with.
last i checked, i still am permitted to make such decisions for myself.
TEL
@cdmarine: I agree about Alek Wek – she’s got a face that is both beautiful and fascinating. Gina Torres is another black woman I think is beautiful.
mb
2 wrds: Macy Gray
mr. whipple
Nooooooooooooo!
I hope this feature doesn’t end :)
Lawnguylander
The mention of Idris Elba up there made me remember how Nerese Campbell (Marlyne Barrett) made me drool.
El Tiburon
@ABL:
Then why in the wide world of sports do you continue to interact with me?
Oh, really? Is that right? Seriously, half the damn commenters here sneer and condescend. Me thinks you choose not to interact with me (while interacting with me) is because you can’t engage with my original (non-sneering) comment. Why, I wonder?
Are you still mad about that? You know I said I was sorry, that it was just words. Come on, now, let’s look forward not backwards.
ruemara
@Allan:
I still have my RuPaul calendar from 2000. And I ran into her at a club in NYC back when she was just a skyhigh pillar of fierce in the club scene. But that is going way back.
@El Tib.
I won’t join the pile on and I respect what you’re trying to say. However, can you perhaps respect that people, while using perhaps a shallow on first reading method, are connecting with something deeper than “oh but she’s hot”. When I say Nichelle Nichols is hot, I’m not just reflecting on her obvious beauty but what she means to me as a black woman, that instead of being a little kid wishing she could be Han Solo or Kirk or Princess or Flash Gordon, I am able to be Uhura. I don’t have to wait to be rescued, I can be smart, play 2 instruments, understand 12 languages, while rocking a mini, along with aces on phasers. These are women of varying hues, shapes and talents–all of which have spoken to the men and women who have mentioned them. It only seems surface, but I would postulate that it is not. At least, not to all, some may just find certain women hot. I would also take exception to your statement that they all share the same features. Eartha Kitt will always be beautiful to me, as will Nichelle. Flo Jo? Amazing, amazing beauty that defies your youth and beauty theory. Why not just allow us a moment to react and commune together in a positive fashion, rather than just be spent and angry in response to a very, very nasty piece of racism? Thank you for your focus on the important aspects of this argument, and I hope you can listen to this other side.
CynDee
Why so much fighting?
gwangung
@ruemara: Actually, I think the problem here is that the disagreements with El Tib ISN’T political; it’s strictly personal.
goblue72
@El Tiburon: Is this whole exchange some kind of weird foreplay?
Darkrose
Also: Zoe Saldana is tragically absent. So is Rachel Lutrell; it’s not her fault the SGA showrunners made her wear those horriffic wigs.
Jason Momoa identifies as Hawaiian, so while he’s not black, I’d still nom
inatehim for a guy-centric post.PurpleGirl
@Southern Beale: She was pictured in the examples thread last night.
rikyrah
Alek Wek – the cover of her book…
she looks so…unreal on the cover of that book.
Ash Can
@gogol’s wife:
Blockquoted and bolded, because I couldn’t have said it better myself.
@Lurker: And since you mentioned cartoon characters, and Martin did a shout-out last night for Salli Richardson “for the geeks”, we can’t possibly leave Elisa Maza off the list of pretty ladies of color.
Svensker
@Omnes Omnibus:
Dunna, only saw the movie.
erlking
Not to call ya’ll some superficial motherfuckers but–rock stars, models and entertainers. ;-)
Ok, ok, Michelle O, Maya Angelou and Angela Davis. What? No Octavia Butler? No Andrea Hairston? And where are CCH Pounder or Anna Deveare Smith? No Barbara Jordan or Coretta Scott King?
erlking +4
Omnes Omnibus
@erlking: I am sorry that we did not live up to your expectations. We are but worms.
erlking
@Omnes Omnibus: All is forgiven. I’m actually looking at the pictures now.
Damn.
eemom
fwiw, I used to have my hair done in African braids.
And I was hawt.
ABL
@eemom: like Pam on Archer hot? :D
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus:
I have no choice but to disagree.
Connery couldn’t hold Daniel Craig’s board shorts.
The first twenty minutes of Casino Royale with DC may be the best segment of any 007 movie ever made.
Corner Stone
GD, I used the word ka$ino in my comment for ka$ino royale Bond movie and ceiling kat haz me naow!
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: La parkour fan?
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: I enjoy that kind of skill and athleticism, but when DC bulls, busts, and destroys scenery on his way to nailing that running fuck it makes me question my life to this point.
That’s like my Glengarry Glen Ross moment when I’m feeling down.
fuzz
Stacey Dash has to be put on there, she looks just as good now as she did in Clueless. Don’t forget Megan Goode either, she’s been in a bunch of fairly terrible movies, but she’s close to a dime as the kids say.
gil mann
Superficial beauty’s fine and all, but as that old saying goes, it’s what’s inside that counts.
So I’d like to put in a request for some Bethany Benz videos, which can be found at…
(puts finger to earpiece)
I’m sorry, I’ve just been informed that I may have been a little off in my interpretation of that old saying.
yeah I'm french canadian bite me
Can i say something kinda sexist like….hmmm…brown sugar….I like…..or is it inappropriate?
Btw ABL I feel a little deceived…you don’t look angry at all
Phoebe
@khead: My whole point: this is not about you looking for a man. You’re straight. This is about you appreciating male beauty, the way I (also straight) appreciate female beauty. I’m not looking for a woman. My whole point is that straight guys can’t seem to appreciate physical beauty apart from sexual attraction. Exceptions notwithstanding.
Cobwebs & Dust
awright, where is Roberta Flack and Gladys Knight.
c’mon, now
The First Time
and
dimples, which ABDL has, also. Too.
I saw them. They’re there.
Cobwebs & Dust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOFrGbuUqnQ
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
Can’t believe no one picked Paula Patton!
For guy eye candy if you ever decide to put up a post, there’s got to be Chewy (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Taye Diggs, Shemar Moore (almost too pretty) and Denzel. Sean Connery is one actor I think gets sexier with age. And I drooled the first time I saw Naveen Andrews in the English Patient.
SectarianSofa
Good take on the dumb PsychoToday post [scienceblogs/pzmyers]:
I guess even Psychology Today has limits
KSinMA
From a different angle, you all might like the now classic photog book, “I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America” (photos by Brian Lanker, 1989). Stunning.
Admiral_Komack
Thank you for the list.
Is Nichelle Nichols on the list?
Just asking (and yes, I looked).
xephyr
Don’t forget Aaliyah – http://coolcruelworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/aaliyah.jpg
quaker in a basement
And where the hell is Zora? English majors need dream girls too!
Yutsano
@bago: Richard T. Jones. All I really need to say. Nom.
(but i r teh ghey)
bumper
Mr. Bumper thanks you for Tyra. :)
ctlr
Since we’re discussing black beauties, let me confess my love for Michele Norris on NPR. She has a lovely voice and is totally hot. And she’s smart as hell. The ultimate combination. If I ever get famous and get interviewed by her, I’ll probably jizz in my pants and pass out.
http://www.npr.org/people/2100974/michele-norris
Paul in KY
@Irving: IMO, Joesphine would fit right in today with these other beauties. Her gorgeous smile & rocking bod (not to mention her personality) would have all today’s men drooling.
Paul in KY
@Chat Noir: IMO, one of the greatest female vocalists. If she hadn’t been in the 5th Dimension, you’d have never heard of them.
You Don't Say
If you do the latter, please be sure to include Chiwetel Ejiofor. ;-)
not a gator
Funny, I posted that I thought Black women were more beautiful than whites and I got called a troll last year.
That said, most of these women have narrow noses (incomplete maxillo-facial development) and hence aren’t doing it for me. (Queen Latifah, however, is hot as always.)
Check out “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston A. Price, DDS if you’re wondering what I mean about the noses. (Short version: it’s not genetic, it’s diet related. Those high cheekbones and wider nostrils and teeth that all fit indicate adequate levels of fat soluble vitamins in the diet during the crucial childhood years.)
not a gator
Also, Ella is incredibly beautiful and young Aretha…whoa. LOVE her music. Not beautiful, maybe, but still pretty– but what can I say, she is the QUEEN of SOUL. XOXO!
not a gator
High cheekbones. Gotta have ’em. Even skin tone is a must. Any hairstyle is okay (but I admire the confidence of a woman who goes natural). Even teeth. Soft spot for the snaggletooth.
White people in USA* each shitty diets (chocolate skim milk for kids, etc) hence the pinched, underdeveloped faces, acne, skinburn, malocclusions, bad health.
*more and more “urban” folks too, now–like the Black vegan couple in Atlanta whose baby died
Is it better now that I have a reason? Before I couldn’t pin my finger on it, I just knew what I saw.
To be labeled a racist troll again in 3…2…1…
(truth hurts)
Jennyjinx
No Toni Braxton? She’s so freaking hot (my favorite singer of all time) and now she’s got her own show…Love her!
Anyway, I used to like America’s Top Model until Danielle Evans was on there. This woman is striking.
Check her out.
She has a gap between her teeth and was very proud of it. She said it was her trademark. I could’ve kissed my television when she said that because so many women feel like they have to fix these minor imperfections to be beautiful. Not Danielle. She loved the way she looked.
But then Tyra and the judges offered to allow her to get the gap “fixed”. Huh? Why? Because she apparently wasn’t beautiful enough. She refused. Tyra advised her to get that gap “fixed”.
That pissed me off. It’s bad enough that women of color feel they need to have “good hair” and that society says beautiful woman have skinny asses and no hips. It’s worse when a large, beautiful woman like Tyra tells another WOC that she’s just not beautiful enough because of a “flaw” that same woman considered a beauty mark. I personally agreed with Danielle, she didn’t need to get her teeth “fixed”. She was gorgeous and unique just the way she was. Hmmph.
This is a beautiful collection of women– regardless of their “hotness”. Many of them were (and continue to be) role models for my own daughter and her cousins.
LGRooney
In Kyiv, my wife and I ate Angela Davis and it was absolutely scrumptious. It was a double-layer chocolate cake with walnuts and orange peel baked into the cake and the layers separated by a raspberry jelly. Yum, yum!!