Double standard?

[uncomfortable man]

It seems every time I watch T.V. there's a black guy with a shaved head next to some white guy with a trendy hairstlyle. Over and over I have observed this on commercials and television shows and am becoming offend with this repeated imagery, because I am a relatively young white man suffering from male pattern baldness (not just a slightly receeding
hairline, or a little on the crown but the full on horse shoe) which pretty much forces me to shave my head. It's bad enough that I'm loosing my hair and the only thing that I think I can do short of wearing a hat to improve my image somehow seems to be soliciting comments from people that I look like a Nazi skinhead or a cancer patient or both. People seriously ask me that. I used to just explain to them that no I don't have cancer or love Hitler, I'm
just a white guy who is loosing my hair so I shave it. But now I'm tired from their stupidity and don't even dignify
their questions with a response, because their just veiled insults anyway, right. So every time I see that bald to the skin black guy right next to that white dude with the spikey hairdoo, the message that comes across to me is that its alright to be bald if your black and completely unacceptable to be bald and white. Anytime I do see anyone who looks like me on T.V. he is a villan,the butt of a joke or is used to illustrate an inferior product. This is my objective observation that is in no way racially motivated. So please, contribute your thoughts on this apparent double standard. Should be interesting.

 

[30_going_on_60]

I couldn;t agree more. I too am one of those actually bald people. I shave it with clippers, not a razor. Media plays a MASSIVe part in whats acceptable or not. Regardless of how the media makes it harder for bald white guys to have a "good look" there are many other factors. Darker skin makes it easier to pull off the shaved head. Hispanic and black people can get away wiht it much easier because they don;t look like a walking beam of light. Many of them can shave it and not think anything of it. In 4 years on here, I have yet to see a black person's postings. Certainly not a racial thing, just an observation. The cardinal rule is, if you're going to shave it...tan it. Also generations of TV losers like Al Bundy and George Costanza really didn't help matters.

 

[RaginDemon]

I couldn;t agree more. I too am one of those actually bald people. I shave it with clippers, not a razor. Media plays a MASSIVe part in whats acceptable or not. Regardless of how the media makes it harder for bald white guys to have a "good look" there are many other factors. Darker skin makes it easier to pull off the shaved head. Hispanic and black people can get away wiht it much easier because they don;t look like a walking beam of light. Many of them can shave it and not think anything of it. In 4 years on here, I have yet to see a black person's postings. Certainly not a racial thing, just an observation. The cardinal rule is, if you're going to shave it...tan it. Also generations of TV losers like Al Bundy and George Costanza really didn't help matters.

Al Bundy is not bald.

 

[uncomfortable man]

Thanx 30/60. Since not a lot of people are touching this thread, I will elaborate on an example of how a bald man is used to illustrate an inferior product. In a commercial for Dibz, (the bite size ice cream covered in chocolate shell) two fathers are standing beside each other with their daughters on their shoulders, watching a passing parade. The first dad has a cool, spikey hairstyle and his daughter is eating Dibz. The second dad is totally bald on top with some hair on the sides and his daughter is eating an ice cream cone. As the bald man's daughter is licking her ice cream, a big melted chunk slips off the cone and plops right on the dad's bald head. The cool dad looks over at the bald dad with this smug smirk as he pops a Dibz in his mouth. Dibz's point being that their product is not as messy as regular ice cream because of it's shell, but the other message it so blatantly illustrated by parallel comparison is that bald people are inferior to those with hair. I was so offended when I witnessed this bald bashing commercial. :crazy: :crazy: :badmood:

 

[30_going_on_60]

yeah....if hairloss wasn;t Hollywood's answer to a walking joke, none of us would be on this site. What's next? Having to give up our seat on the bus for someone with hair lol? Anyways...add Homer Simpson to that list. And Al was bald, I honestly didn;t notice it when I watched the show many years ago, however, there were plenty of incidents of Marcy making jokes about his hairloss. To be fair, he made a lot more jokes about fat women, which os taboo these days. The only thing that isn;t is hairloss, so it seems.

 

[RaginDemon]

yeah....if hairloss wasn;t Hollywood's answer to a walking joke, none of us would be on this site. What's next? Having to give up our seat on the bus for someone with hair lol? Anyways...add Homer Simpson to that list. And Al was bald, I honestly didn;t notice it when I watched the show many years ago, however, there were plenty of incidents of Marcy making jokes about his hairloss. To be fair, he made a lot more jokes about fat women, which os taboo these days. The only thing that isn;t is hairloss, so it seems.

damn that show was from decays ago, I never paid attention to his hair...I will take a good look next time I watch the show.

 

[uncomfortable man]

thanx guys,(cue sentimental music) ya know laughter really is the best medicine; good natured, wholesome laughter.

 

[ghg]

Damn I'm so glad I don't live in the USA (for numerous reasons). Haven't seen a single "bald-bashing" commercial here in Finland. Bald guys are everywhere nowadays, lots of them on tv hosting various shows etc. I mean, obviously not even nearly 20% of the males on tv are bald/balding but there's a good amount of them... it's nothing uncommon nowadays.

 

[uncomfortable man]

I'm gonna fly in ghg's direction; you've got Howie Mandell hosting Deal or no Deal and I think the host of that new Bingo game show is bald too. The mainstream can be a pretty cruel arena, but have you noticed that they always seem to come around to embrace (at least temporarily) the demographics they averted. Gays have a slew of shows now. For fat people, not so much in an accepting capacity (since the mainstream is using health reasons as an excuse for fat people to assimilate). The show The Biggest Loser has to be one of the most condescending, degrading shows out there. The double entandra in the title says it all, and have you seen the challenges-humiliating. But who knows, perhaps the mainstream will come around to embrace baldness with white folks because they certainly already embrace, even encourage it with the black guys.

 

[30_going_on_60]

Thats a great example, "The biggest Loser" is a horrible show. Overweight people probably have it worse than hairloss sufferers in terms of being ostracized by the media. However, the fact remains that there is a certain guaranteed thing that can be done to lose weight. At the very least, its POSSIBLE for someone to lose weight. Once hairloss kicks in, it doesn;t just reverse itself, and its not as if you can diet or excercise your way to a full head of hair.

 

[RaginDemon]

they should have a freaking hair loss show.

 

[barcafan]

they should have a freaking hair loss show.

With taug as the host mirite?

 

[Maxpwr]

Thats a great example, "The biggest Loser" is a horrible show. Overweight people probably have it worse than hairloss sufferers in terms of being ostracized by the media. However, the fact remains that there is a certain guaranteed thing that can be done to lose weight. At the very least, its POSSIBLE for someone to lose weight. Once hairloss kicks in, it doesn;t just reverse itself, and its not as if you can diet or excercise your way to a full head of hair.

I hate it when people compare and contrast hair loss with being overweight... Being overweight is mostly a result of poor eating habits, laziness, lack of exercise and discipline, while hair loss is purely genetic. I find it hard to feel compassion for an obese person like I do for someone who experiences hair loss.

It pisses me off that by some people's standards it's okay to point out a person's lack of head hair, and yet you mention one word about a person being fat and you hurt their feelings incredibly. Should be the other way around.

Losing weight is achieveable by ANYONE... it's not as easy for some, but still definitely possible. Keeping or regrowing hair for some people is impossible... even with perfect health and fitness, and after tens of thousands of dollars worth of treatments and hair transplants.

I like the show "The Biggest Loser". It's very interesting. ...I hope it gives people like that some inspiration to lose the weight and feel good about themselves.

 

[uncomfortable man]

The mainstream judges overweight people very harshly. They see obesity as a symptom of major character flaws, i.e. lazy, slovenly, gluttony. Much of this is learned from a young age and I do think genetics does play a role for overweight people too. There are plenty of people who don't exercise and eat like sh!t and are not overweight. What is unfortunate is that the public perceives bald people much in the same way as they do the overweight- as a symptom of some sort of character flaw. They see a bald man and assume he is the way he is as a result of poor life choices, or not taking good enough care of himself. This is one of the most aggravating aspects of being bald- a total lack of sympathy and understanding from the general public. I feel like they are looking at me as if I was walking around with my pants around my ankles, like my being bald is some sort of flawed stylistic choice. Of course we all know better, but it's still frustrating.

 

[30_going_on_60]

A lot of truth on here. I agree with a lot of whats being said. If you make a racial slur, that would get most people fired. If you make a fat joke at someone, you'll be branded as an a$$hole. Gay joke? Nope...not allowed! Yet, ANYONE is allowed to make fun of hairloss in front of everyone and everyone is allowed to laugh. On the one hand, it sucks, because I personally don't enjoy being the butt of peoples' jokes over something that I have practically no control over. On the other hand, maybe it goes to show that hairloss isn;t THAT bad when viewed by others, to the point where they feel they can joke about it. The only other thing that comes to mind about genetics that is socially acceptable to make fun of is really tall people. They get ribbed all the time. I mean, it must be tough being a 6'8 man, or a 6'3 woman, or whatever, and theres NOTHING that can be done about that.

Please don;t take my observations as offensive, I'm certainly not that type of person, I'm just stating some observations.

 

[s.a.f]

On the other hand, maybe it goes to show that hairloss isn;t THAT bad when viewed by others, to the point where they feel they can joke about it.

No they're just assholes and because it has'nt happened to them they have no idea how it feels. The fact is if obeseity only effected men like m.p.b does then that would be fine to joke about too, us men are meant to be able to handle this abuse, as men we're not supposed to be too concerned about our attractivness.

 

[uncomfortable man]

Somehow this post veered off topic onto fat people. I want to hear more input on why people think its okay to be bald and black but not bald and white. I think this is a worthwhile subject that deserves more attention. Please post your opinions and/or experiences.

 

[s.a.f]

I think most black guys generally keep their hair pretty short anyway so to shave it is not such a big difference, Whilst caucasian hair is more adaptable to styling ect so it becomes more of a identity issue to white guys.

 

[PersonGuy]

sometimes I'll drive by black barbershops and I'll say to myself, "I could work there." Give me like a few days training and I'll be good. Welcome to the barbershop sir would you like a 1, 2, or 3?

 

[uncomfortable man]

I just wish people would be more accepting of white people who are experiencing male pattern baldness, and not look at us like Nosferatu. I'm pretty sure Asians have it real bad when they go bald, considering how much unrealistic emphasis they put on hair- just look at any anime cartoons. Yugioh- is that hair style even possible without having support beams to hold it up? Do you think Yugioh just gets out of bed with his hair looking like that?