tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/jada-pinkett-smith-118862/articlesJada Pinkett Smith – The Conversation2022-04-27T12:19:56Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1805322022-04-27T12:19:56Z2022-04-27T12:19:56ZRevisiting Will Smith’s slap and what it means to protect a loved one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459147/original/file-20220421-12-s2e9dk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will Smith accepts an Oscar during the 94th Annual Academy Awards.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/will-smith-accepts-the-actor-in-a-leading-role-award-for-news-photo/1388090285?adppopup=true">Neilson Barnard/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It took less than a nanosecond before The Slap was seen around the world. It took a little longer – about two weeks – before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to ban Will Smith from appearing at another Oscar awards ceremony. </p>
<p>But missing from the frenzy that consumed social media and mainstream channels about that infamous night has been a constructive discussion about the idea of protection – and how race plays a role in the perceptions of both the protectors and the protected. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://political-science.williams.edu/profile/nr2/">a scholar</a> of African American culture, philosophy and history, I believe the The Slap invites us to reassess the power of relations between partners and spouses. It also highlights the precarious lives of Black girls and women as a result of failures to protect them. </p>
<h2>The nature of protection</h2>
<p>Most people agree that “protection” means defense of someone or something from harm. </p>
<p>The way parents strive to defend their children against harm is a type of protection.</p>
<p>So too are actions at the heart of the origins of American <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/300406/gang-leader-for-a-day-by-sudhir-venkatesh/">street gangs</a>, formed initially by people whom the state abandoned and left defenseless from harm’s way. This, admittedly, is an aspect of American history often forgotten or unfamiliar to the general public.</p>
<p>“To gangbang (v.),” <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631494949">writes</a> Harvard University’s <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/danielleallen/home">Danielle Allen</a>, is “to protect ‘your’ turf and use your power to prey on the vulnerable in order to make a profit and support those ‘whom you call your own.’” </p>
<p>The Slap represents a third genre of protection: men declaring themselves their spouse’s protector.</p>
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<img alt="A Black woman with short hair wears a gold dress with a long flowing cape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459165/original/file-20220421-11-9ttnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459165/original/file-20220421-11-9ttnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459165/original/file-20220421-11-9ttnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459165/original/file-20220421-11-9ttnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=841&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459165/original/file-20220421-11-9ttnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459165/original/file-20220421-11-9ttnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459165/original/file-20220421-11-9ttnsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jada Pinkett Smith attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar party.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jada-pinkett-smith-attends-the-2022-vanity-fair-oscar-party-news-photo/1389153283?adppopup=true">Karwai Tang/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><a href="http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060802.young.shtml">Iris Marion Young</a>, the late feminist philosopher and scholar of democracy, wrote a provocative essay titled “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/375708?seq=1">The Logic of Masculinist Protection</a>.” </p>
<p>Powerful men, she wrote, often justify their expressions of all-encompassing, paternalistic authority as acts to protect women and kids from predators that, if left unchecked, would belittle, disrespect and, at worst, destroy those children and women.</p>
<p>Young maintained that a male protector presents himself to be a “courageous, responsible, and virtuous man.”</p>
<p>“The ‘good’ man,” she continued, “is one who keeps vigilant watch over the safety of his family and readily risks himself in the face of threats from the outside in order to protect the subordinate members of his household.” </p>
<p>This logic collapses, though, when the protector’s vision of the family and its needs doesn’t mirror reality.</p>
<h2>A calling from God</h2>
<p>Is chivalry dead or not worth saving?</p>
<p>Clearly, Smith believes that chivalry is not dead and is worth saving. Born in the medieval era that ended in the 1400s, chivalry is the romanticized dream of a knight in shining armor rescuing a damsel in distress.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A well-dressed Black man slaps another well-dressed Black man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459151/original/file-20220421-26-j4wper.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459151/original/file-20220421-26-j4wper.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459151/original/file-20220421-26-j4wper.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459151/original/file-20220421-26-j4wper.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459151/original/file-20220421-26-j4wper.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459151/original/file-20220421-26-j4wper.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459151/original/file-20220421-26-j4wper.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Will Smith slaps Chris Rock onstage during the 94th annual Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, in Los Angeles, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/will-smith-appears-to-slap-chris-rock-onstage-during-the-news-photo/1388085444?adppopup=true">Neilson Barnard/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The damsel in this case was <a href="https://www.jadapinkettsmith.com/">Jada Pinkett Smith</a>, and jokes about her nearly bald head by Chris Rock were not funny but instead tone-deaf, given her struggle with <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-alopecia-its-no-laughing-matter-for-millions-of-black-american-women-180213">alopecia</a>. The condition is known to cause hair loss. </p>
<p>A clue as to why <a href="https://willthebook.com/">Will Smith</a> chose openhanded violence against <a href="http://chrisrock.com/">Chris Rock</a> in the name of his wife lies in the opening to his Oscars best actor acceptance <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-oscars-will-smith-speech-transcript-d952fa3eef9a25cb3149c01985fd3537">speech</a>.</p>
<p>In the film “<a href="https://www.kingrichardfilm.net/">King Richard</a>,” Smith played the role of Richard Williams, the father of professional tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Smith said that Williams often had to defend his daughters – as Smith explained he had to do during the course of shooting the movie to protect his co-stars: Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton. </p>
<p>Smith then described a calling from God.</p>
<p>“In this time in my life,” Smith explained, “in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world … I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.”</p>
<h2>Who watches the protector?</h2>
<p>In the Smith case, it appears that people who are objects of protection don’t always have a say in the actions of their declared protectors. </p>
<p>When Smith heard Rock’s supposed joke, he looked at his wife, walked up and delivered The Slap, sat back down and then twice screamed an obscenity at Rock.</p>
<p>Indeed, one’s role as a protector doesn’t mean one’s intentions are driven by love, chivalry or support.</p>
<p>In my view, what Jada needed most from her husband – as do all humans – was support and love, not misguided male protection enacted under the guise of love.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Roberts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By slapping Chris Rock during an internationally televised awards ceremony, Will Smith demonstrated that chivalry is not dead. But was that the protection Jada Pinckett Smith wanted or needed?Neil Roberts, Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science, Williams CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1806312022-04-05T15:37:45Z2022-04-05T15:37:45ZJada Pinkett Smith and Black women’s hair: History of disrespect leads to the CROWN Act<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456139/original/file-20220404-10072-qie35j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5105%2C3805&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black women have been fighting for decades for the right to wear their natural hair. Here Jada Pinkett Smith arrives at the premiere of 'The Matrix Resurrections' on Dec. 18, 2021, in San Francisco. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP/Noah Berger)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/jada-pinkett-smith-and-black-women-s-hair--history-of-disrespect-leads-to-the-crown-act" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The fallout from “the slap” at this year’s Oscars continues. Last week, Will Smith <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-smith-resigns-from-the-academy-slapped-chris-rock-at-oscars/">resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</a>, after the academy issued a statement <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-smith-chris-rock-slap-oscars-academy-formal-review/">condemning</a> Smith’s actions.</p>
<p>There have been innumerable media stories about “the slap,” including <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-smiths-oscar-slap-reveals-fault-lines-as-he-defends-jada-pinkett-smith-against-chris-rock-podcast-180280">an episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>. “The joke,” however, has received less attention. <a href="https://www.capitalfm.com/news/chris-rock-will-smith-jada-pinkett-slap-oscars-gi-jane-joke/">“Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2 can’t wait to see you</a>,” is what Rock said to Jada Pinkett Smith and the Oscar night audience before Smith got up and slapped him.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119173/"><em>G.I. Jane</em></a> is a 1997 fictional drama starring Demi Moore about the first woman to undergo training in the United States Navy Seals. Moore’s “feminine” character, Jane O'Neil, is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/fgijane.htm">chosen</a> by a female politician attempting to make a point in her battle against the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2021/04/22/the-hidden-masculinization-and-militarization-of-the-canadian-citizenship-guide/">inherent sexism in the military</a>. To “keep hanging,” O'Neil “divests herself of any trace of femininity” and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU_mJDOB7ZM">shaves her head</a>. </p>
<p>Although a shaven head for a woman should not signify anything but a <a href="https://www.etalk.ca/celebrity/celebrities-who-shaved-their-heads-and-looked-absolutely-amazing.html">style choice</a>, Pinkett Smith’s shaven head is also due to alopecia. In 2021, she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a93q1We4E0">shared a video on Instagram</a> explaining <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hair-loss/symptoms-causes/syc-20372926">the disorder</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/tv/CYB7dMppvjk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Regardless of the reasons for Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle, Rock’s joke was yet <a href="https://screencrush.com/g-i-jane-oscars-joke/">another jab at a Black woman’s hair</a>. We Black women have learned to love our hair, despite a wider culture that has, historically, not accepted its diversity. </p>
<p>In fact, Black women have been fighting the court system for 40 years to get protection from hair discrimination.</p>
<h2>Alopecia disproportionately affects Black women</h2>
<p>In my 2019 book, <a href="https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/B/Beauty-in-a-Box2"><em>Beauty in a Box</em></a> I examined the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5163">dermatological research on hair loss</a>. Two U.S. studies, from 2009 and 2017, found that <a href="https://dermnetnz.org/topics/central-centrifugal-cicatricial-alopecia">central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia</a> (CCCA) is often underdiagnosed; some estimates report that 17 per cent of Black women have this condition.</p>
<p>Some of the reasons why Black women are more adversely affected by CCCA are due to tight braiding hairstyles, long-term use of hair weaves, lace-front wigs and chemical relaxers. </p>
<p>While Rock might not have known of Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, in his 2009 documentary <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213585/"><em>Good Hair</em></a> he spoke to Black women about their hair, especially about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCEX34-1o6M">chemical relaxers</a>.</p>
<p><em>Good Hair</em> was a successful film for Rock, but that does not mean he grew from the project. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-smiths-oscar-slap-reveals-fault-lines-as-he-defends-jada-pinkett-smith-against-chris-rock-podcast-180280">Will Smith's Oscar slap reveals fault lines as he defends Jada Pinkett Smith against Chris Rock: Podcast</a>
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<h2>Black hair discrimination and the CROWN Act</h2>
<p><em>Glamour</em>’s <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/the-crown-act-september-2020-cover-story">September 2020 cover story</a> was dedicated to six Black women who endured discrimination at work because of their hair. The feature explained how curly, “kinky” or big hair carries meaning for Black women. </p>
<p>For example, a <a href="https://www.ellecanada.com/beauty/hair/how-to-style-a-messy-topknot-so-it-looks-chic-not-just-out-of-bed">messy topknot is considered chic</a> on a white woman, while a Black woman with natural hair such as large Afro or locs would be considered unkempt and has <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2513893/Florida-girl-threatened-expulsion-afro-hair.html">led to workplace reprimand</a>.</p>
<p>On March 18, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/18/1087661765/house-votes-crown-act-discrimination-hair-style">CROWN Act</a>, banning hair discrimination at private places of work, federal programs and public accommodations. CROWN stands for <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2116">Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5edc69fd622c36173f56651f/t/5edeaa2fe5ddef345e087361/1591650865168/Dove_research_brochure2020_FINAL3.pdf">A 2019 Dove study</a> found that Black women were 80 per cent more likely to feel pressure to change their hairstyles to fit in at the office. Black women were also 83 per cent more likely to report being judged on her looks than other women.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3VPvBmkIA-g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Subjects of Desire’ by Jennifer Holeness delves into issues of race, power and beauty.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The CROWN Act is not yet an official law. Despite <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/598757-house-passes-crown-act-banning-race-based-hair-discrimination/">President Joe Biden expressing strong support for the bill</a>, there may not be enough votes to pass it. </p>
<h2>Rogers vs. American Airlines</h2>
<p>In 1981, American Airlines fired ticket agent Renee Rogers for wearing cornrows. She <a href="https://scholar.google.ca/scholar_case?case=6092364812619612919&q=Rogers+v.+American+Airlines&hl=en&as_sdt=2006&as_vis=1">filed a discrimination suit</a> challenging the airline’s policy prohibiting employees from wearing an all-braided hairstyle, claiming that such a policy violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and discriminated against her as a woman, and also as a Black person. </p>
<p>Legal scholar <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1372731">Paulette Cladwell</a> explained how and why the U.S. Federal District Court of New York rejected Rogers’s claim that the style evoked her African heritage. </p>
<p>The court said her hairstyle was a result of having seen the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078721/">1979 film <em>10</em></a>, starring <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au0Pp_9oQbo">Bo Derek who makes an appearance wearing long braids</a> with beads at the ends. It became known as the “<a href="https://law.fiu.edu/2019/10/11/the-unnatural-treatment-of-natural-hair-courts-failure-to-recognize-hairstyle-discrimination-as-race-discrimination-the-need-for-state-legislature-action/">Bo Derek defence</a>.” <em>Rogers vs. American Airlines</em> was a landmark case because it set a precedent that sanctioned the firing of Black women on the basis of their hair.</p>
<p>In 2016, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a lawsuit filed by the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/18/17242788/chastity-jones-dreadlock-job-discrimination">Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Catastrophe Management Solutions (CMS) for firing Chastity Jones, a Black woman</a>, because she wore her hair in locs. The lawsuit shared much in common with <em>Rogers vs. American Airlines</em>. Lawyers for Jones also argued that her termination was in violation of the Civil Rights Act. </p>
<p>The court of appeals ruled that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/u-s-court-rules-dreadlock-ban-during-hiring-process-legal-n652211">CMS’s “race-neutral grooming policy” was not discriminatory</a> because while hairstyles are “culturally associated with race” they are “not immutable physical characteristics.” The court ruled that a hairstyle might be closely associated with one’s culture but because it is changeable, it is not protectable under the law and an employer is within its rights to use it as a reason to deny employment.</p>
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<img alt="Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown smiles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456215/original/file-20220404-12538-fk7qau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456215/original/file-20220404-12538-fk7qau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456215/original/file-20220404-12538-fk7qau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456215/original/file-20220404-12538-fk7qau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456215/original/file-20220404-12538-fk7qau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456215/original/file-20220404-12538-fk7qau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456215/original/file-20220404-12538-fk7qau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson smiles in Washington on March 31, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)</span></span>
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<p>Hair has also come up in discussions on <a href="https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/a39520244/judge-ketanji-brown-jacksons-locs/">Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings</a> because the legal profession has often discouraged natural hairdos. In 2007, an editor from <em>Glamour</em> in a “do’s and don'ts” fashion event at a New York law firm <a href="https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/almID/1188161099761/?slreturn=20220304144452">called locs “truly dreadful.” </a></p>
<h2>Why Black hair jokes aren’t funny</h2>
<p>When Black women are in legal and cultural battles for the right to wear their hair as they choose, jokes about our hair just aren’t funny. The <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/02/06/685506578/is-beauty-in-the-eyes-of-the-colonizer">straight hair standard of beauty has been called toxic</a> not only to Black women but women in general for the ways it valorizes white, western beauty ideals.</p>
<p>One may argue that public figures should be open to criticism. For example, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson often shows up with his hair in disarray <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/how-boris-johnsons-hair-defined-britain/">which gets poked fun at by media</a>. The difference is that there is no threat to his livelihood. </p>
<p>Until Black women can wear their hair how they want without risk of ridicule, reprimand or termination, a joke targeting Black hair is no laughing matter.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheryl Thompson receives funding from SSHRC Insight Development Grant.</span></em></p>Until Black women can wear their hair how they want without risk of ridicule, reprimand or termination, a joke targeting Black hair is no laughing matter.Cheryl Thompson, Assistant Professor, Performance, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1802802022-03-30T18:35:10Z2022-03-30T18:35:10ZWill Smith’s Oscar slap reveals fault lines as he defends Jada Pinkett Smith against Chris Rock: Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455034/original/file-20220329-17-hgmem0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C20%2C4500%2C2883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will Smith won the best actor Oscar for his performance in 'King Richard.' </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/7fc4af1d-0547-4ca1-9455-74fa87cd7a74?dark=true"></iframe>
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<p>It felt like these Oscars were the first ones that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/movies/oscarssowhite-history.html">weren’t actually so white</a>. The whole event felt different. With attempts to display <a href="https://variety.com/2022/awards/news/hollywood-diversity-chloe-zhao-ava-duvernay-1235153061/">a more inclusive Hollywood</a>, the showcase seemed to go beyond its usual tokenism.</p>
<p>There was <a href="https://www.essence.com/awards-events/red-carpet/oscars/memorable-moments-94th-annual-academy-awards-2022/">gospel music during the In Memoriam segment</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/questlove-on-the-summer-of-soul-an-awesome-look-at-beautiful-people-having-fun/">Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won an Oscar for his beautiful documentary <em>Summer of Soul</em></a> and he gave a moving speech to accept the honour. The best picture <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/28/coda-wins-best-picture-oscar#:%7E:text=Family%20drama%20Coda%20has%20won,to%20win%20the%20top%20prize">was directed by a woman.</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/movies/oscars-hosts-monologue.html">Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer hosted</a> with verve and sass. Masks were off. The entire program opened with <a href="https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/33611843/oscars-2022-venus-serena-williams-introduce-beyonce-compton-tennis-court-performance-king-richard-song">queens Serena and Venus Williams and they introduced Queen Beyoncé</a>, who <a href="https://youtu.be/4aeDlZOD-B0">stepped out in glorious chartreuse</a>. It felt like a genuine celebration. </p>
<p>And then there was the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/28/oscars-slap-will-smith-chris-rock-defending-black-women/?utm_campaign=wp_follow_karen_attiah&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl-karenattiah">Will Smith-Chris Rock fiasco</a> taking attention away from all this. In what became one of the most infamous moments in the history of the Oscars, Smith got out of his seat to slap Rock for a bad joke aimed at Jada Pinkett Smith. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jada-pinkett-smith-and-black-womens-hair-history-of-disrespect-leads-to-the-crown-act-180631">Jada Pinkett Smith and Black women's hair: History of disrespect leads to the CROWN Act</a>
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<p>These flashpoints are always about other things – they are evidence of a layered story. In this case, it’s a story that’s divided people. Is it a story about toxic masculinity? It is a story of intergenerational trauma? Is it about a Black man <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/opinion/culture/will-smith-oscars-roxane-gay.html">standing up for Black women</a>? </p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">In this special episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, we discuss this moment as a cultural flash point. We chat about how <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/a-slap-at-oscars-heard-around-the-world/articleshow/90501314.cms">“the slap heard around the world”</a> is evidence of a <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/03/10920053/chris-rock-will-smith-jada-slap-oscars">layered story</a> of racism, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/28/oscars-slap-will-smith-chris-rock-defending-black-women/?utm_campaign=wp_follow_karen_attiah&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl-karenattiah">sexism</a>, power and performance. Will Smith’s violent behaviour towards Chris Rock <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/will-smith-chris-rock-smack-oscars-20220328.html">raises questions</a> about toxic masculinity and also reveals the fault lines of a man who is perhaps still wrestling with his traumatic past.</p>
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<p>Even though we’re not ready to start rolling out our regular season, which we plan to do in May, we couldn’t wait to talk about this cultural moment, so we produced this special episode. </p>
<p>Our guest is Cheryl Thompson, assistant professor in performance at the Creative School, Ryerson University, where she looks at race and representation. Thompson is the author of <em><a href="https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/B/Beauty-in-a-Box2">Beauty in a Box</a></em> about the politics of Black women and beauty, as well as <em><a href="https://chbooks.com/Books/U/Uncle">Uncle: Race, Nostalgia and Loyalty</a></em>. She’s also the director of the <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/the-catalyst/residents/offices/media-representation-and-archives-lab/">Media Representation and Archives Lab</a> at Ryerson. </p>
<p>Thompson was the guest of <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-in-a-word-how-to-confront-150-years-of-racial-stereotypes-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-1-153790">our very first episode</a> of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, where we had a fascinating conversation about the n-word. If you have not heard that one, please check it out. </p>
<p>In the meantime, here is our <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/will-smiths-oscar-slap-reveals-fault-lines-as-he-defends/id1549798876?i=1000555742477">conversation on “the slap</a>.”</p>
<p>For an unedited transcript go <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/will-smiths-oscar-slap-reveals-fault-lines-as-he-defends-jada-pinkett-against-chris-rock/transcript">here.</a></p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is a production of The Conversation Canada. This podcast was produced with a grant for Journalism Innovation from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The series is produced and hosted by Vinita Srivastava. Our producer for this episode is Nahid Buie. Our other producers are: Haley Lewis, Vaishnavi Dandekar, Folarin Odunayo and Latifa Abdin. Reza Dahya is our sound producer. Our consulting producer is Jennifer Moroz. Lisa Varano is our audience development editor and Anowa Quarcoo helps with outreach. Scott White is the CEO of The Conversation Canada. Zaki Ibrahim wrote and performed the music we use on the pod. The track is called ‘Something in the Water.’</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In this special edition of ‘Don’t Call Me Resilient,’ we chat about how “the slap heard around the world” is part of a layered story of racism, sexism, power and performance.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1802132022-03-29T12:35:36Z2022-03-29T12:35:36ZWhat is alopecia? It’s no laughing matter for millions of Black American women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454828/original/file-20220328-23-burw6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C32%2C4313%2C2754&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jada Pinkett Smith has spoken about her struggles with hair loss.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jada-pinkett-smith-attends-the-94th-annual-academy-awards-news-photo/1388067835?adppopup=true">Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/movies/oscars-will-smith-slap-reactions.html">Oscar slap that overshadowed the Academy Awards ceremony</a> was sparked by a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s lack of hair – with husband Will Smith objecting violently to comedian Chris Rock mocking the actress’s shaved head.</em></p>
<p><em>Away from the recriminations over what could be perceived as <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/28/fresh-prince-co-star-defends-will-smiths-chris-rock-slap/">a mean-spirited jibe</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/28/celebrities-react-will-smith-hitting-chris-rock-the-oscars">a disproportionate response</a>, many people will sympathize with Pinkett Smith. As millions of women in the U.S. will attest, hair loss <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1001/jamadermatol.2020.5732">is no laughing matter</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked <a href="https://dermatology.med.wayne.edu/profile/ds8312">dermatologist Danita Peoples</a> of Wayne State University’s School of Medicine about alopecia and why certain forms of it can <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/hair-loss-in-black-women-tips-from-an-expert">disproportionately affect Black women</a>.</em></p>
<h2>1. What is alopecia?</h2>
<p>Alopecia is a medical word that refers to hair loss generally. And there are descriptors added which can refer to where the hair loss is occurring, or to the cause of it. Traction alopecia, for example, is hair loss from trauma or chronic inflammatory changes to the hair follicles. </p>
<h2>2. What causes alopecia?</h2>
<p>Traction alopecia happens when there is trauma to the scalp, where the hair is being pulled or rubbed on a regular basis, causing inflammation around the hair follicles. This can lead to hair loss or thinning. </p>
<p>Alopecia areata describes hair loss to a particular area. It has different levels of severity, so there might be just a coin-sized area of hair loss on the scalp, or it could affect large areas. It can occur any place on the body.</p>
<p>Or it might result in complete hair loss on the scalp, alopecia totalis. Some people lose eyebrows or see a thinning of their eyelashes. </p>
<p>People can even have alopecia universalis, which is a loss of hair on the entire body. </p>
<p>Alopecia areata is considered an “immune-mediated” type of hair loss. The immune system is attacking the hair follicles. It has to do <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.01198">with T cells</a>, the important white blood cells in the immune system.</p>
<p>And then other autoimmune disorders can have alopecia associated with them. This is the form of alopecia that <a href="https://www.prevention.com/health/health-conditions/a38634649/jada-pinkett-smith-hair-loss-journey-alopecia/">Jada Pinkett Smith has said she has</a>.</p>
<p>Lupus is an autoimmune disorder that can lead to hair loss. One type is systemic lupus erythematosus. Another type, discoid lupus erythematosus, primarily affects the skin and can cause hair loss with scarring on the scalp.</p>
<p>Thyroid abnormalities can be related to hair loss as well. In fact, when patients come to me with hair loss, the first test that I may order is a thyroid study.</p>
<h2>3. Who does it affect?</h2>
<p>Anyone can get alopecia. Alopecia areata can show up at any age, from children to adults, and both men and women. But it’s more likely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2019.06.1300">to affect African Americans</a> than white or Asian Americans. About 1 million people in the U.S. <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2147%2FCCID.S245649">have alopecia areata</a>. </p>
<p>Traction alopecia can affect people in certain professions, like ballerinas, who wear their hair up in buns all the time. The pressure and friction from sports headgear, like helmets or baseball caps, can also cause hair loss. And in some parts of northern Europe, where it is common for people to pull their hair back tight on a regular basis, there are higher rates of traction alopecia. Traction alopecia <a href="https://doi.org/10.2147/ccid.s137296">affects one-third</a> of women of African descent, making it the most common type of alopecia affecting Black women.</p>
<h2>4. Why is traction alopecia so common among Black women?</h2>
<p>That is due to certain hair styling practices that Black women use on their hair – wearing tight weaves or extensions, straightening with heat, that sort of thing. Hair is a big deal among African American women in a way that it isn’t for others. When I was growing up, my older relatives told us girls that our hair was our “crowning glory.” And they made a big deal about us keeping our hair looking stylish and well groomed, and that usually meant straightening it.</p>
<p>But I believe there’s less pressure than there used to be for Black women to keep our hair straightened, in the workplace or elsewhere.</p>
<h2>5. How is alopecia treated?</h2>
<p>It depends on the cause. There are injected or topical corticosteroids for alopecia areata. If it’s due to a nutritional deficiency, like iron or protein, obviously you simply need to correct the deficiencies with supplements or by changing the diet. When it is caused by traction or discoid lupus, if you don’t treat the inflammation on the scalp soon enough, the hair loss can become permanent.</p>
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<p>When it comes to traction, though, it’s much more about eliminating the practices that cause the problem in the first place. What’s happening now is more people are aware of the downsides of chemical or heat applications to straighten the hair and are using those damaging processes less. </p>
<p>One thing that may help is the CROWN Act, legislation introduced last year, which the U.S. House passed on March 18, 2022. That would make it <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2116/text">illegal to discriminate</a> against people wearing natural styles, such as afros and braids, so I am hopeful that it will contribute to a lot less traction alopecia in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danita Peoples does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The joke that sparked a violent reaction from actor Will Smith at the Oscars centered on his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair loss. A dermatologist explains the causes and treatment for alopecia.Danita Peoples, Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.