IN THE NEWS: Glamour Magazine Editor Apologizes for Insensitive Comments on Wearing Natural Black Hair in the Workplace
In June, a Glamour Magazine staffer was a speaker at a law firm’s Woman’s Working Group Meeting. She was asked to discuss corporate dress. The Glamour staffer proceeded to conduct a presentation, where the first slide in the presentation featured a black female executive wearing an Afro. According to a quote in The American Lawyer, the Glamour staffer said that “it was shocking that some people still think it appropriate to wear those hairstyles at the office. No offense ... but those political hairstyles really have to go." In summary, the Glamour staffer said that afros were a “Glamour Don’t!”
Glamour Magazine posted a Letter from the Editor in response to the overwhelmingly negative attention the magazine received, once news of the comments spread over the Internet. Apparently, Glamour Magazine did not know that this staffer was invited to speak at the meeting and that she was attending as a representative of Glamour magazine. Part of Glamour’s response included this:
Many of you who heard accounts of the presentation wrote us to ask, essentially: What’s up with this, Glamour? (Our own staffers, startled by the episode, had the same questions.) I’ve read every one of your letters. Just to give you a sampling: “First off,” wrote one woman, “our natural hairstyles, as the word implies, are NATURAL! We were born with them! We did not come out of our mother’s womb with a perm!” Many felt saddened by the remarks: “I have always looked to your magazine for diversity and thought-provoking articles, but the thought of one of your editors being culturally idiotic makes me shake my head. As much as I love you as a magazine…I’m a bit surprised.” And one woman, referring to the straightening process for some African American women’s hair, wrote, “The person who gave this presentation should be sat down in a beauty shop and forced to have her hair pressed and curled with lots of [hair oil], every week for a month. I bet she would not write anything so ill-thought out again.”
As much as I regret this incident, I’m proud to edit a magazine with such outspoken and impassioned readers. Glamour is planning a roundtable in an upcoming issue for women to share their views on the topics—about women, beauty and race—raised by this episode. I hope you’ll read it, and participate in the discussion. Thank you for your letters…
For the full Glamour response, see the following link:
http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/10/leive_letter
What do you think about the comments regarding afros/natural hairstyles and the workplace?
Source: Diversity, Inc.
Glamour Magazine posted a Letter from the Editor in response to the overwhelmingly negative attention the magazine received, once news of the comments spread over the Internet. Apparently, Glamour Magazine did not know that this staffer was invited to speak at the meeting and that she was attending as a representative of Glamour magazine. Part of Glamour’s response included this:
Many of you who heard accounts of the presentation wrote us to ask, essentially: What’s up with this, Glamour? (Our own staffers, startled by the episode, had the same questions.) I’ve read every one of your letters. Just to give you a sampling: “First off,” wrote one woman, “our natural hairstyles, as the word implies, are NATURAL! We were born with them! We did not come out of our mother’s womb with a perm!” Many felt saddened by the remarks: “I have always looked to your magazine for diversity and thought-provoking articles, but the thought of one of your editors being culturally idiotic makes me shake my head. As much as I love you as a magazine…I’m a bit surprised.” And one woman, referring to the straightening process for some African American women’s hair, wrote, “The person who gave this presentation should be sat down in a beauty shop and forced to have her hair pressed and curled with lots of [hair oil], every week for a month. I bet she would not write anything so ill-thought out again.”
As much as I regret this incident, I’m proud to edit a magazine with such outspoken and impassioned readers. Glamour is planning a roundtable in an upcoming issue for women to share their views on the topics—about women, beauty and race—raised by this episode. I hope you’ll read it, and participate in the discussion. Thank you for your letters…
For the full Glamour response, see the following link:
http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/10/leive_letter
What do you think about the comments regarding afros/natural hairstyles and the workplace?
Source: Diversity, Inc.
Labels: in the news
posted by S. Mary Wills at 9:26 AM
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