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Why do people keep drawing Apollo like an super tanned Californian serfer with bleached hair or an American with German ancestry frat boy with a spray tan? Or a dark haired man who can tan with their hair dyed blond? Have they actually seen naturally blond Mediterranean men? This is not the type of "blond" they think it is! And even in case they got that type of very light hair they don't even tan, they burn - that's mostly how blond people work, with lower levels of melanin and all.

Part 2/??: If the artists go for darker blond there might be a chance at tanning but still it won't be the natural tan they consider "good enough". Let me repeat, a naturally blond Mediterranean man's natural tan wouldn't be good for them!

A brown-golden hue would be a more realistic "blond" for the area. Take for example the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. (I don't think that he had his hair dyed but if that's not true, lmk)

I know his blond is not usual for most Greek men but it exists. So we don't need to make Apollo a Norse blond-haired, when these hues exist in the area. If the Norse blond is really is the only "striking gold" these people can think of, then I can't help but see some racist undertones.

It's not like white blond people with deep fake tans need representation... And when a white person tans they are still white, especially if they have blond hair. So this depiction doesn't stand even from a social justice point.

________________ end of ask _________________

I divided your ask into paragraphs for easier reading, I hope you don't mind!

It goes without saying that darker-skinned people in this country have their problems, but that's a different issue. I will also focus on white/caucasian people because with different appearances come different issues, and I understand that this ask focuses on the white/caucasian demographic which is the overwhelming majority in Greece.

Many people don't believe it but Greeks have a general insecurity about not tanning enough. Greece manages to love tans while disliking dark-skinned people AND light-skinned people at the same time.

Tanning sprays and cremes are often advertised a lot before summer starts, and in a pharmacy you see more than ten brands with different tanning properties and ingredients. Hundreds of Greek articles have been produced for "how to maintain your summer tan!" and "how to get the best tan" and "how to get X's tan". One can figure out that if a people are constantly being told how to achieve a "good tan", they probably can't achieve it naturally. E.g. nobody advises Greeks on how to be hairy because they already are 😂

When you are light-skinned you are likely to hear that you look sick (from your Greek family AND from Greek doctors), there is the implication that you are frail and weak, and people tell you that you should get a "beautiful, golden tan". Your skin is not "rich" or "golden", just a meek pasty thing. Greek TV is full of dark-haired people who are made to look blond and absolutely hairless with artificial means, to achieve what the majority of Greeks can't: The desired Blond+Tanned (in summer) combination.

People who can tan usually have darker hair and more hair in general, so they are not naturally Blond+Tanned. Lighter-haired people who can't tan because of lack of melanin are still not Blond+Tanned. Dark-haired Greeks with lighter skin are still not Blond+Tanned. So, we don't exactly have a winner here.

Note: People with dark hair and dark skin are considered beautiful too, but women sometimes hear negative comments after summer passes. BUT when you have dark hair you cannot look "too dark" because that is "undesirable" and people will think that you are a foreigner or a Roma. (Which are not bad things, but society sometimes makes them be). If you are "too dark" and then dye your hair blond you will be considered tacky and without a fashion taste. People in Greece automatically know what is conventionally pretty or not in their country but it's quite a complicated situation when one attempts to write about it.

TL;DR: Greeks don't make you feel shitty if you are blond only if you are tanned/darker-skinned, but not too tanned/darker-skinned. Greeks don't make you feel shitty if you are tanned/darker-skinned only if you are blond, but not too blond and not too tanned/darker-skinned.

So, I agree, when foreigners draw Apollo with super light hair and super dark skin they don't do a service to anyone and they don't represent anyone in our region who is insecure about their natural looks.

Also here is Tsitsipas and his glorious hair!

And here is very natural photo of him being BURNED red from the sun on his face and limbs, something not unheard of for Greeks with lighter hair (and, naturally, complexion)

#answered #hair #greek speaks #apollo #drawing #depiction #tsitsipas