I now think a White woman's choice to lighten her hair color does have larger political implications, as does a decision to pop blue contact lens in eyes that are brown or hazel. With consciousness comes responsibility. That is, I may still choose to lighten my hair color because I think it looks better. Ultimately, I suppose that's a personal decision. But I also have to accept that in so doing, I'm contributing to a larger statistical trend of more White women lightening their hair than darkening it. White women like myself must ask ourselves, "Do we want to be part of a problem having to do with the preferencing of Aryan-like features, or do we want to work towards a possible solution of eliminating biases in perceptions of beauty?"
A Whiter Shade of Pale
