Skip to main content

Current Event I



Blackfishing is a term which has been used recently and is describing people, especially women, who are accused of pretending to be black on social media. They use make-up, tanning and sometimes surgeries to achieve a different appearance. This trend appeared in November when people on Twitter started calling on people to post women who pretended to be black. Consequently, the tweet had more than 23,000 retweets and many responses criticizing these people for doing such thing. They also provided pictures before and after, which show huge differences and changes in their skin tones. However, these accused Instagram users claim that their intention is not to change their appearance in order to look black (Petter, 2018).

Swedish Instagram influencer, Emma Hallberg, is the most infamous for blackfishing. After two visibly different pictures of her were posted online, she had to defend herself. She told Buzzfeed that she sees herself only as white and that she gets her tan naturally from the sun.
Výsledok vyhľadávania obrázkov pre dopyt emma hallberg





There are more examples of women accused of blackfishing. For instance, twenty years old Aga Brzostowska said that her skin is naturally “not pale”, but she admits that she makes it darker by tanning. Comparison of two pictures of her on Twitter do not look good for her, though. There is a seven years difference between those pictures and she says it can confuse people who do not know her and that the transformation is crazy. She doesn’t have the need to stop doing things that are, according to her, beneficial and enjoyable. She also claims she has had no surgery (Virk & McGregor, 2018).

Výsledok vyhľadávania obrázkov pre dopyt Aga Brzostowska before after


The thing about blackfishing that upsets people is that women who appear to be posing as black do not realize struggles that women with black skin have to go through to be accepted as who they are. “When you see that people who benefit from white privilege that are able to get both sides of the coin, it’s very troubling,” says Wanna Thompson, the freelance writer who started the viral Twitter thread. Although blackfishing is a new term, there were few people pretending to be a different race in 2015 (Petter, 2018).


See the video about Emma Hallberg below:



For more information, see: WHAT IS BLACKFISHING? THE INFLUENCERS ACCUSED OF USING MAKEUP TO 'PRETEND' TO BE BLACK and Blackfishing: The women accused of pretending to be black. 


References:
Petter, O. (2018). WHAT IS BLACKFISHING? THE INFLUENCERS ACCUSED OF USING MAKEUP TO 'PRETEND' TO BE BLACK. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/blackfishing-what-is-it-influencers-instagram-makeup-racism-black-white-social-media-a8667961.html
Virk, K., & McGregor, N. (2018). Blackfishing: The women accused of pretending to be black. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46427180

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Other Issues in Media and Society

Hey everyone! As I was going through the blogs of my classmates, I found more information about issues concerning media and society that are worth mentioning. To expand your knowledge about media issues, do not hesitate and visit the following blogs. https://socialmedia-notreallife.blogspot.com/ This blog discusses how people do not realize that the social media life is often fake. The difference between reality and life on social media is hard to distinguish for some people. They think that if others have beautiful posts, automatically their lives are full of joy, unforgettable trips and great parties. However, this is often far from the truth. Moreover, the blog mentions how social media can cause depression and mental health problems. https://evaesne.wordpress.com/ In Ev’s spot, issues such as how social media is toxic, body overpositivity and body images in media are discussed. The topic about beauty standards is very sensitive for majority of people and mostly wo...
Post a Comment
Read more

What the Experts Say I

Instagram is a photo-based platform and people associate it with self-expression and self-identity. However, it is associated with negative things as well. According to #StatusOfMind  survey done in 2017 of almost 1,500 teens, Instagram is the worst social media for mental health and well-being. It is associated with depression, anxiety, bullying and FOMO, which means „fear of missing out“. Survey participants answered various questions about how social media platforms impacted 14 different issues related to their mental or physical health. There were some benefits such as self-expression and community building or emotional support. However, Instagram and other social media (Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter) received negative marks, too. For instance, sleep quality, bullying, body image and FOMO were mentioned and associated with increase in depression and anxiety. Some studies suggest that people who spend more than two hours a day on social media are more likely to repo...
Post a Comment
Read more