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The Cost Of Curls: Discrimination, Social Stigma, And Identity Oppression Of Black Women Through Their Hair, Sydney Baylor

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This thesis analyzes the discriminatory practices facing Black women in a multitude of arenas and spaces as a result of their hairstyles and texture. A marker of, as well as a way to express, identity, Black women’s hair is more heavily policed than that of their White counterparts and manifests itself in the form of decreased job opportunities, public humiliation, and restricted stylistic choice. The highly visible nature of hair makes it a prime target for unfair targeting by authoritative bodies, working to further ‘other’ the Black female body along with skin-tone. Looking first at how Black women navigate the …