Can I say it's really sad how much G1 Monster High insisted on Clawdeen and Howleen straightening their hair? Insisting so much on how these black girls' natural hair was "wild" "ferocious" "rebellious"? :(
From Howleen's french RBA magazine: "Her straightening iron, indispensable to dominate her rebellious hair"
From Clawdeen's french RBA magazine: "A wolf-girl has a savage(wild) mane"
These are very ambiguous adjectives that, while I guess not being "too" outwardly negative, are not neutral nor positive either? equating afro textures to ANIMAL fur?? And I understand it's played for the "werewolf" gag, but we all know it's still wrong. We know why this is a gag specifically with them, and not with other werebeasts like Toralei. Why there's a bias, if the 'token black girl' in the line was the animal, "wild" one. :/
It's unfair and really just texturist how the only time Clawdeen was shown with an "afro" that had tighter curls was for a "fried hair" gag at the start of Great Scarrier Reef, and even then she immediately was shown straightening it using Frankie's hand as a comb?
Or how in Fright On Howleen is seen struggling to use Clawdeen's brush on her afro (her sister even saying she "ruined it" after using it on her hair) and the solution being the villain offering her a "special brush for wolf *FUR*" (which is still drawn like a brush for straighter textures?) and THAT, a PET BRUSH, it's what's said to "work great"!?!?!?!?
A lot of the times when Clawdeen talks about having a "bad hair day" in the diaries it sounds like she's talking about it not being straightened. The idea that her hair is just made to undergo all this heating and chemical colouring because it just "grows fast and wild" n what not. I know it is just presented as her playing with her fashion, but then again why does fashion have to be presented as straight hair? (Again, we know why, there's a bias). I also want to mention how her managing of her hair is usually a pun in the same breath as her infamously managing/shaving her legs' hair— NOT that's there's anything wrong with leg hair, of course, but, let's be fr, leg hair is something traditionally depicted as undesirable and even unhygienic (even if not specifically/outwardly in monster high)— so body hair being posed/equated next to hair that's *just textured* is kind of IMPLYING SOMETHING (even if "unintentionally" or "accidentally" due to bias), it being that textured hair is at least "undesirable" and at most "unappealing", "non-feminine" (and maybe even "unhygienic").
There's also the other infamous case of Howleen's texture's change, from afro to straight. And how it was linked to a "de-tomboyfication" of her character, with her straight hair being supposedly more feminine. ALSO: her original doll came with a brush that didn't work on her hair. Which is all sad and hypocritical, considering her afro was meant to be the identifier on her Skullette.
I know there are also some positive(?) examples of G1 Monster High giving characters textured hair, such as Honey Swamp!!! But then there's also cases of them drawing back from giving afros to certain characters, like with Kala Mer'ri.
G1's efforts at representation are notoriously ambiguous and flawed, despite the brand's positive message. I know I myself don't bring them up often, but I feel like it's important to acknowledge these, especially cause recently I've seen them be thrown under the rug or defended(!?) a lot. :(
Btw I hope I reported these instances of the brand being insensitive properly!! but I understand I'm not the most knowledgeable on these issues (I'm not sure I've told, but I'm white and from Italy, where these topics are met with a lot of ignorance/racism) so if I myself am being incorrect, insensitive or overstepping, let me know and I'll edit/delete❤️🩹









