Chantelle Winnie's impact on 1 woman with Vitiligo

[jesse_the_k]

AV Club writer Gwen Ihnat's excellent article describes her own experience as someone who's visually different thanks to vitiligo. For a long time, the white spots on her dark skin drew ridiculous questions from adults, as well as suggestions she not have children since they might also have this auto-immune disorder. But when she saw American's Top Model contestant Chantelle Winnie, who also has vitiligo, all up in her tv, it had a strong impact on what vitiligo meant.

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Why shouldn’t I get a manicure, even if it will draw attention to my multi-colored (not discolored) hands? Why should I try to cover myself with bad makeup when people with other unusual physicalities don’t have that option? What if rocking my vitiligo would help my children tackle any future challenges better than “fixing” it could?

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The Article:
http://www.avclub.com/article/unconventional-americas-next-top-model-contestant--222432

The TV Show:
http://www.cwtv.com/shows/americas-next-top-model/

Comments

[sonia]

Wow. Yes. That's what we need more of, celebrating people *with* their differences.

Thanks for posting the link!

[jesse_the_k]

It made me smile pretty darn hard.

I know there's some horrible age when little girls lose confidence and become very aware of the standard female scripts in the culture. Do you know when it is?

Because I would love to show the clip, read the article, discuss at whatever grade.

[sonia]

I think it varies by kid, and by kind of confidence. I think they (we) lose confidence about a lot of things around middle school/puberty/age 11 or 12, like whether our bodies are good enough, and whether we're expected to do well in math & science & computing.

I think tiny kids of age 1 or 2 are already aware of gendered expectations in general though. So many tiny girls wearing only pink & purple. Which are fine colors, yes, but I doubt *all* of them love *only* those colors.