Gender Inequalities In Susan Bordo's Good Hair

In Material Girl, Susan Bordo argues that fashion is generally conceived as “free play”, a way to express one’s creativity, but is also seen as a necessity to many females (Bordo 389). The free will in regard to fashion effaces social and material inequalities. Basically, certain “choices” of fashion are not really choices, due to historical discriminations based off factors such as gender, race, and social position. An example of these effacements can be found in the film Good Hair, which explores primarily African American women and their “choice” to change their hair to match cultural beauty standards. I am going to explicate black women’s choice to change their “big” hair (afro) to long, straight, silky, and flowing hair and show how it effaces economic racial inequalities, .
In Good Hair, black women’s lives are examined in regards to the way they do their hair. Many of these women spend considerable amounts of money on hair products and salon appointments to

Due to our history of racism and discrimination, black hair has been deemed inferior, and many racial inequalities are effaced as a result. Black women have to undergo dangerous procedures(perms, dangerous chemicals) and spend substantial amounts of money just to have hair that is deemed satisfactory. I focused on the expenses of these women as a racial inequality that is effaced. White women do not have the same “necessity” that black women do to change their hair. Although many of them do, it is non commensurate to this “necessity” I describe for black women, it is more of a free choice for white women, Bordo uses Bo Derek’s decision to get cornrows as an example of this. It is very sad to see African American women feel they are not beautiful due to the fact that our society cannot rid itself of the racism and discrimination that our country has endured for