As a woman (born that way), I use cosmetics in order to look “prettier” – or at least to be the best version of me. To be honest, I really don’t give a crap who else uses the brand I use. And when I’m choosing a new mascara or lip liner it has way more to do with whatever special CVS is running and whether or not I’ll score “extra bucks” than whatever social justice trend the brand is trying to exploit.
So clearly, I don’t care (or didn’t even know for that matter) that cosmetics giant L’Oreal had actually created a “YoursTruly True Match” campaign starring five ambassadors demonstrating the “face of modern diversity” – one of which being transgender model Munroe Bergdorf.Just as an aside…it’s totally understandable that women of color want cosmetics appropriate for their skin tones and women of a certain age want cosmetics appropriate for their skin condition. That covers about 99.7 percent of the female population. But here’s the thing that always puzzles me personally. If you are transgender, and go through all the trouble of transforming yourself into a woman, don’t you just want to quietly go about your business as a woman, rather than making a big stink about the fact you weren’t “born THAT way” but “born THAT way?” It always bears repeating that transgenders represent about three-tenths of a percent of the total U.S. population. Talk about squeaky wheels.
ANYway…on August 27th, L’Oreal announced Bergdorf as its first transgender “diversity ambassador.” By September 1st, she was already fired. Oops.
Bergdorf was “outed” by the Daily Mail for posting a rant about institutional racism on her Facebook page, basically saying ALL white people were racist – unknown whether that also includes white transgenders.
Per Time magazine, her post said: Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people,” she reportedly said. “Because most of ya’ll don’t even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour. Your entire existence is drenched in racism… Come see me when you realise that racism isn’t learned, it’s inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege.”It’s since been taken down, but a little too late. L’Oreal posted this message about Bergdorf’s dismissal.
L’Oréal champions diversity. Comments by Munroe Bergdorf are at odds with our values and so we have decided to end our partnership with her.
— L'Oréal Paris UK (@LOrealParisUK) September 1, 2017
Twitter pounced…
how can you claim to champion diversity and then fire her for speaking out against systemic racism??
— Hayley (@HixxiDustButt) September 1, 2017
also loreal: we're very diverse though our true match foundation comes in 7 shades for poc and 21 shades for white women in various tan
— Hayley (@HixxiDustButt) September 1, 2017
I see @LOrealParisUK that you only intend to use trans women as a marketing tool and diversity as a selling point when they work for you
— shon faye (@shonfaye) September 1, 2017
From both sides…
@Loreal Do you condone Munroe Bergdorf's racism? B/c keeping a racist in your campaign for diversity & inclusiveness undermines your message
— F. Lyn Garner (@FGarner259) August 31, 2017
BTW.. making an assumption about someone based on their ethnicity.. is racist. @LOrealParisUK @MunroeBergdorf #PotKettleBlack #IsThatRacist
— Brent Lee Regan (@BrentLeeRegan) September 1, 2017
In response to the decision to drop her from the campaign, she called on people to boycott the brand, saying: “Sit still and smile in a beauty campaign ‘championing diversity’. But don’t actually speak about the fact that lack of diversity and is due to racism. Or speak about the origins of racism. It’ll cost you your job.”
How about speaking sanely about racism, and that it exists on all sides? And a larger rhetorical question to ponder…if we’re all supposed to unify and get along, how is that possible when people keep screaming about their differences?
[This article was written by Michele Hickford, author of the brutally honest and bitingly funny Do I Need To Slap You?]