"Plaits"

In "Plaits" the author is discussing personal experiences as an African American female and the ties with the obsession of American beauty. Frankie is not what you would call the "American Beauty", so that is what we as society have been led to believe. Frankie doesn't have long blond silky hair and large bouncy curls but has dark and braided hair, which seem to be less then beautiful compared to a female who has blond silky hair. Frankie went through feeling doubtful of her appearance because she wasn't like the "girls in the magazines" but in reality not even the girls in the magazines look like the girls in the magazines.

American society has programmed females to see the models and images on television and in the newspaper which wrongfully shapes one concrete image of beauty. The truth is that every person in the world is their own individual and to try and label beauty based on a few images like this society has is wrong.

In "Plaits" author Frankie deals with racism in America. Her hair color and skin tone isn't represented in the media as being something beautiful but rather the opposite. American society functions with the ideas that the lighter a women is the more beautiful she is, this placed Frankie at the heart of racism and another statistic with societies ignorant image of beauty. "Plaits" is a perfect example of how young women are shaped to be ashamed of who they are and what they look like. American society has programmed our thoughts of beauty and allowed racism by promoting it throughout images in society.