Oscar Red Carpet — Nudity Rules, Part II — My First Article to Go “Viral” and the Commenters Inferred That I am Racist.

Am I?

Those of us who write on Medium hope for it, long for it, are baffled by the confusion and inconsistency of it, but we all WANT IT. I’m talking about having an article we have written, “go viral”. The criteria for being the recipient of such a coveted post are hidden, baffling, and simply not understood by most of us. (At least not by someone like me who has zero comprehension of statistical analysis).

This article is not about statistics. It is about a group of commenters who know nothing about me, inferring that I am racist because of my “viral” article, Oscar Red Carpet, Nudity Rules.

After two months of writing on Medium, I wrote Oscar Red Carpet — Nudity Rules, about the prevalence of skimpy, barely-there dresses worn by women at the 2022 Oscar ceremony that exposed almost every inch of skin the female body had to offer. Nothing much happened. It got my usual “under 100 reads” and I thought that was the end of it. CLICK THIS LINK TO READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE, OSCAR RED CARPET, NUDITY RULES.

Suddenly, two months later, for no reason I can discern, it caught fire. Thousands of people have read it, commented on it, and my earnings for its “reads” went from pennies to dollars overnight.

Then I started to read the comments. Let me be clear. My intention in writing the article was to foster a debate as to what constitutes nudity and tastelessness in fashion, using the dresses at the 2022 Oscar Show as examples. That’s all. It was about fashion, or the lack thereof. Nothing else.

It was a comment by a young black woman that jolted me out of my seat. I was completely thrown off not only by her comment but the accusatory and angry tone of it. She questioned why every inch of skin I found objectionable was brown skin; that the problem was me, not the gowns, and that I was “slut shaming” women who weren’t white like me. YIKES! That caught me completely off guard.

The commenter in question does not know me; does not know my background and what has occurred in my life to make me one of the least racist human beings I know. My life and actions are examples of a life lived with tolerance and inclusivity. To infer that I am racist is against all I stand for.

But it got worse. More commenters were expressing the same opinion of me. They consistently pointed out that all the women in the pictures I displayed were dark-skinned. Black, brown, mocha. Not one white woman in the bunch. They said it could not be a coincidence that I hadn’t shown a white woman.

Here is the irony of this situation. I hadn’t noticed what color the women were. Not until it was pointed out to me did I scroll through all the pictures and realize that “Well, damn! They are all women of color.”

Does that make me racist? Does it make me clueless and unobservant, or someone so used to different skin colors that I don’t pay any attention to them? Is that good or bad? Is that racist?

The commenters gave me examples of white women who have worn skin-baring outfits that the commenters thought were more revealing than the dresses I showed.

However, before I comment on the outfits they cited that were worn by white women, here is another point that needs to be clear. I strive for a writing style that is tightly focused, clear, and concise with no rambling off-topic.

With that in mind, in the article in question, I was writing about the nearly nude fashions of the 2022 Oscars. I was NOT writing about similar fashions of Oscar shows of past decades. I was NOT writing about ugly dresses. I was NOT writing about dresses worn at past Met Gala events, Golden Globe award shows, or any other award shows. I was writing ONLY about the bare fashions at the 2022 Oscar show.

Commenters gave me examples of white women wearing nearly nude fashions -Cher’s array of limited fabric fashions of the 1970s and the see-through pantsuit worn by Barbra Streisand at the 1969 Oscar ceremony, to cite just two. These were NOT relevant to my article, which focused ONLY on the Oscar 2022 Nearly Nude Fashions and the women who wore them.

One commenter cited “white woman” Kristin Stewart’s 2022 short-short outfit topped by a blouse that was unbuttoned down the front. While my opinion is that the outfit did not come close to qualifying as a dress or gown or anything remotely pretty, Ms. Stewart’s breasts weren’t exposed because, and I’m sure I’ll get into more trouble for this statement — she is not well endowed. There was no bounty to spill out and show off.

Another commenter said that I should have cited Jamie Lee Curtis and Hedi Klum as baring too much skin. Jamie Lee Curtis has been known to wear skimpy outfits, but at the 2022 Oscar show, she was wearing a floor-length, turtle neck, long-sleeved gown that covered every inch of her skin except her fingers.

Heidi Klum’s dress at the 2022 Oscar show did expose some of her breasts, but the dress was so voluminous it looked like she was enveloped in king-size sheets.

Let me also explain how I researched the article in question. I went through more than six different articles related to the 2022 Oscar Red Carpet Fashions. I looked through at least 60 pictures. Out of those 60 pictures, I chose 5 that I felt were so skin revealing as to be tasteless.

Maybe I should have paid more attention and noticed that all the fashions I chose were worn by women of color. Had I noticed the prevalence of dark skin, maybe I would have searched more intensely for white women wearing revealing clothes. I don’t know.

I do know that of course, white women wear revealing clothing as in the Cher and Barbara Streisand examples above. It just happened that I didn’t see any in the 2022 Oscar Fashion pictures that I researched. Does that make me biased against people of color? Does it make me prejudiced? Racist?

The theme of the article was to point out that one does not need to be half-naked to draw attention to one’s clothing; to point out that in my opinion, dresses that fully displayed all but nipples and skirted with exposing one’s genitals were tasteless, regardless of the wearer’s skin color.

I want this follow-up article to foster a healthy debate on what constitutes racism. Healthy debate means stating opinions and facts without spewing hatred and name-calling.

Does not noticing the color of my subjects’ skin make me a racist and why?

©Copyright 2022 Joan Gershman

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