Comment by Sarah McIntosh on November 17, 2008 at 4:25pm

Personally,when I view things that can be offensive to me I try to see the humorous side of it.Like how I would have felt about seeing the commercial if I did not have alopecia.Then I would probably watch my normal shows and see if I could pick up other insensitive things on the t.v that other people might find offensive that are suppose to be humorous.When you actually look for it you would be amazed by the content perhaps even yourself has laughed at without thinking about who it may offend.I know I always am.I have never seen that commercial but if I would have it would have made me feel embarrassed and even a tad humiliated.I know for myself I try to challenge what everyone sees as physical beauty on a daily basis,in hopes of helping society see that differences make beauty not altering our bodies and changes ourselves to look like touched up and photo shop images.

Comment by Andie on November 17, 2008 at 10:44pm

Thanks for your comments! I feel better now that I talked about it and received responses from others. :-) I appreciate your point of view, Sarah. It is a good idea to try and change your perspective (if only temporarily) on things you find offensive and look for the humor in it. That is very difficult to do sometimes, but I do admit that I myself have laughed at things that others would be angered by. I felt bad about it later though. Sometimes it is important to laugh at yourself and have fun, and others will respect you for it too. Thanks again everyone! :-)

Comment by rj, Co-founder on November 19, 2008 at 10:33am

Andrea, I haven't seen the commercial you described, but it doesn't surprise me in the least that commercials, televisions shows and films, comedians and others ridicule people, especially women, who are bald and/or living with alopecia. As JeezLouise intimated, we live in a world that's not only pro-hair for the most part, but which has also fell prey to what feminist author Naomi Wolf exposed as "the beauty myth." That's why it can pay so lucratively for businesses and opportunists to make alopecic and bald women the butt of such crass jokes. To change this, though, alopecians must learn to think and respond in terms of economics as well as education. In addition to promoting alopecia awareness per se, alopecians must also organize and align themselves with those who are willing to boycott every businesses that profits off putting down bald and alopecic women and men. The loss of profits speaks much louder than mere pedagogy, so alopecians must begin to put their money only where there alopecia is welcome; and they must do this as nationally and internationally organized activists rather than as aggrieved individuals.

Comment by Andie on November 20, 2008 at 8:43pm

Thanks RJ! It is unfortunate that businesses make money off of what society deems as "beautiful" and "not beautiful". I do agree that alopecians need to focus on more than just educating others. We need to also set an example and take a stand when bald women (and men) are portrayed and treated in a negative matter. But you know, I truly do feel that a great majority of people really don't think that hair is that big of a deal. They are just following along with what television, magazines, and the rest of popular culture say is important and "normal". Everybody feels pressure to be accepted in the world, even if it means not speaking up about how they REALLY feel about a certain subject. This is one of the positive aspects of having alopecia - it opens up your mind and changes one's perspective on so many things.

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