Boycotting Light-Skinned Girls

I was reading an article about an upcoming episode of Dr. Ian's show, Meet the Faith, that will discuss the issue of "light skin" vs "dark skin" as it relates to black people. Topics such as "levels" of blackness, whether certain shades of people have it easier, etc.

I honestly thought most black people were "over" this type of foolishness, but I was wrong as usual. I can remember a time when I was a teenager visiting my family in the south. I spent the majority of my visits playing outside with my cousins and some other kids from the neighborhood. One of the neighborhood girls told me that I was a "good" skin color--definitely not too dark, but not too light either.

A few years ago I took a trip to the islands with one of my girlfriends. I had fully planned to spend a lot of time laid out on the beach tanning (with sunscreen of course) so that I could come back home with an obvious tan and make every one I knew jealous of my great vacation. That plan was shot down because my girlfriend said she would not be chilling on the beach in the sun because she was already "dark enough" and didn't want to get any darker.

I even dated a guy once who admitted that he thinks that "all" light skinned girls are attractive. If she has long hair (real or not) even better.

So I guess maybe I did know that this is still an issue for black people and I was just in denial.

But a few weeks ago, I heard an interesting twist. I was talking with Guy Friend about something work related, and I made a comment that it's harder for me in the workplace than it is for him because I'm black, a female, I look much younger than I am, and I'm light-skinned. He asked what being light-skinned had to do with anything, and I told him that sometimes I feel that due to certain media images, lighter skinned black women are not taken as seriously as white women or darker skinned black women. I didn't even consciously realize that I felt that way until that conversation.

So then Guy Friend proceeds to tell me that before he and I met, he had been boycotting light-skinned women. Huh?!? He told me that he had dated some "crazy" girls in the past and the common denominator was that they were light-skinned. Also, in his experiences most light skinned girls are either stuck up or trying to prove that they are not stuck up and thus have issues.

I found this all to be pretty funny. I asked him if maybe he just had a knack for picking crazy women and that their skin tone was just a coincidence. He conceded that that could be valid as well. So I was curious as to why he would take a chance with me, and he said that I seemed cool enough for him to break his boycott.

I've never had a preference as far as skin tone is concerned when it comes to dating guys. And I've certainly never drawn a connection among a person's skin tone and their personality (or have I?), but I've been thinking about it and wondering if there could be a connection after all. Of course there is.

But I'm mostly wondering if the reason that I've never really thought about the skin tone issue is due to the fact that I am "light skinned" and thus "favored" among some people.

Just another wrench in the Black Peeple's quest for freedom plan. I'm going to need to think on this some more.