The Study of Racialism

mixedmom · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 776 }

I've heard black women commenting that white women don't wash their hands after leaving the stall in the ladies room. I've heard white women saying that black women don't wash their hands after leaving the stall in the ladies room. I once decided to pay attention to this so I watched for hand washing to see who was and who wasn't washing. I saw that MOST women (all colors) do wash their hands after leaving the stall. There were a few white women who fufilled the stereotype stated by the black women by not washing their hands. There were a few black women who fufilled the stereotype stated by the white women by not washing their hands. Then, there were the occasional data skewers, I called this the "wishy-washy" group who would wash their hands on one visit and not the next. It can be amusing sometimes when people racialize things like this. But I found overall that most women actually do wash their hands.

pianoplayer111 · Mentor Joined: 16 May 2007 {Posts: 384 }

LOL, stereotypes can be funny!

I knew a very racist person at university many years ago. She'd grown up in a town with no minorities and her family had brought her up to hate anyone who wasn't "white". She would say that black women stunk, that black men had halitosis, and that blacks rarely took showers...unlike whites, of course. Rolling Eyes

mixedmom · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 776 }

pianoplayer111 · Mentor Joined: 16 May 2007 {Posts: 384 }

Oh, my!

Pretty much they didn't shower at all, then? I went to an all-girl's Catholic school for one year when I was about 16. I remember the showers there being that way too. Open, with no privacy.

How are the kids, mixedmom? Smile

Melani23 · Superuser Joined: 30 Aug 2005 {Posts: 1082 } Location: USA

Dave Chapelle did a skit, I believe, on how White people do not use wash cloths when bathing/showering.

Laughing

mixedmom · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 776 }

Bathing is such a personal thing! This the reason why I was so MORTIFIED when I first moved into the freshman dorm and saw that I had to share the shower area with up to 6 other girls! I got over it after a few weeks. Private showers was one of the perks of living in the upperclassman dorms which I got into for my sophmore year.

As for the girls who only shampooed and shaved, yes pianoplayer111, that's all that I saw these girls doing! (eeewww!).

As for white girls in general, it would be wrong to say that "white girls" don't wash because I didn't shower with every white woman on campus! Laughing

Also, I was primed to really only notice the white girls who were doing this. This is how a lot of stereotyping starts! Yes, there were white girls who really weren't washing BUUUT it was said to me by the black girls in the dorm, "the white girls DON'T WASH!!!!" and without even thinking about it, I saw EXACTLY what I was told to see without much regard for the fact that my sample size was miniscule and I may have been either downplaying or simply NOT noticing the "white" girls who actually were washing.

When I hear "white" people who aren't isolated from "blacks" saying negative things about "blacks" in blanket statements, I often wonder how they seem to have missed the "black" people right under their noses who DON'T fulfill the stereotypes. Are they primed not to notice them?

mixedmom · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 776 }

PassingWoman · New User Joined: 26 May 2008 {Posts: 23 }

Hello Ya'll-
Please understand, my skin is white as snow. (read my name~ PW) Yes, I have often seen white girls NOT wash. I went to summer camp for years and was always shocked and horrified by the fact that people would rub a bar of soap on themselves, and call it "clean." I grew up using a wash cloth and have now switched to a "puff" which does the job very well.

Disgusting, as well, is when women do not wash their hands when walking out of a restroom stall. I have NEVER seen an AA or mixed woman do this, but I've seen plenty of white women do it.

pianoplayer111 · Mentor Joined: 16 May 2007 {Posts: 384 }

Your physical description sounds a lot like me, PW! Smile

My fiance is a white American. He is very well-groomed and clean most of the time. He told me once that he has NEVER used a washcloth in his entire life. He showers with a bar of soap only. I've done that before when I had to...I prefer to shower with a "puff". Oh, and I shower in cold water on a daily basis. Brrrr!

Now on a more personal note (I hope I don't offend anyone), we shower together once in a while. I allowed him to, uh, soap me up with only his hands and the bar of soap. Wink

I'll do that now and then but I feel cleaner if I've showered with a "puff".