Netherlands: A Dutch black girl with nappy hair was excluded from ballet class because she didn’t wore her hair in a smooth bun.But a week ago the Dutch Equal Treatment Commission ruled, that a dance school may not force students with black hair to wear their hair in a smooth bun.
The mother of a 12-year-old girl filed a complaint with the Commission last year against a dance school in The Hague. The school has a rule that hair of dancers in classical ballet must be worn in a bun. The student in question has black hair and usually wears her hair in pigtails.
When the girl wanted to attend ballet class with her braided hair up in a bun, the dance school denied her access to the classes as long as she would not wear her hair in a smooth knot.
According to the student and her mother it takes too much time to get black hair without braids in a knot. They offered to prepare the hair for performances and official events of the ballet school, but the dance school found it inadequate. They argued that other students with black hair did conform to the prescribed guidelines.
The dance school argued that no distinction is made on the basis of race, because the rule applies to everyone. But the Equal Treatment Commission ruled that the school indirectly does make the distinction, because having nappy hair (black hair) is associated with ethnic origin.
According to the hair website Kroeshaar.com the hairstyle on the photo is not allowed
Update: The post was entitled: No nappy hair during classical ballet class?
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'Nappy hair?' This a derogatory black american rude, which is highly offensive. Why do you use it? You should more polite words, such as afro textured or kinky. English many be your second language (I don't know), which would explain why you have picked up bad american words. You should refer to black features in a nicer, less rude manner.
ReplyDeleteyou are right that is racism. Couldnt they have used a more appropriate and suitable name for the hairstyle.Look how many hairstyles white americans have but none of them are offensive they are mostly curly hair wavey hair but nappy hair for blsck people right.
DeleteMaybe we should get better, non-colonial, designations for it in Dutch too ...
DeleteNappy is not a racist word, you find it offensive but African American's are like to use the word, it came from them after all.
DeleteThanks for the comment. In The Netherlands the word "nappy hair" is not used in a derogatory way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions, in the future I will use a more neutral word.
Contrary to what Anonymous said, the word "nappy" does not always connote negativity in the United States. Many black people, especially black women who wear their hair natural, have reclaimed the word "nappy" and use it with pride to describe their hair.
ReplyDeleteHappy To Be Nappy
I know i do understand, but what i am saying is that it may not be offensive in dutch.But other places and the point is im saing is that nappy is a word that seems inapropriate
DeleteNia, thanks for jumping in. In Holland the term “nappy” is also being used as you describe it.
ReplyDeleteNiaTrue: Are we afro-europeans americans now, that we should be taking their phrases as a our own? Should we start calling each other nigger, even as a term of endearment simply because americans choose to? To be honest, those americans can claim what they like. I am not an american, so I could care less. Nothing they do, has anything to do with me, in respect of this issue. I just had to make the point that it is a derogatory word for some, no matter what americans choose to do. They are not the unofficial leaders of black people. I am one of many people who find the term offensive and derogatory.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous: Your posts reek of prejudice and snobbery against African-Americans. In your effort to combat American cultural dominance and linguistic hegemony, you come off as snooty as all get out. There is not one single thing to be ashamed of about the word nappy. I have a massive mess of glorious nappy hair I proudly wear in the most defiant cornrows and 'fros, which, by the way, have absolutely no need for any polite euphemisms or toned-down terminology to describe exactly what they're made of. What's derogatory and offensive to you is a point of pride for the rest of us. And while you're nitpicking at the vocabulary used in the article, you should be making more useful commentary regarding its content. Just like the snooty ballet school can't get over nappy hair enough to see that a bun is a bun, you can't get over the word nappy enough to see that just because Americans are saying it, doesn't make it a "bad" word.
ReplyDeleteWell , stop calling niggers each other , and we will consider you
Deletesorry but we aren t american , we are( real ) africans with our values and cultures, and european
we don t need to see the pathetic afroamerican ghetto subculture as a model !
Anonymous, Your comments make me sad. We are all in the same situation as "Africans" whether we are from the continent, American, Europe or elsewhere. Not all of us the term "nigger" and African Americans are just as African as you are who live in Europe. You don't need us as a model I agree. I do suggest that you work on respecting your AFrican brothers and sisters in the US just like we can work harder on respect our African brothers and sisters in Europe and across the diaspora. Either way, that little girl was denied and discriminated against because of her hair. Our HAIR and the disrespect that some many (including ourselves)is the real issue and that issue we ALL have in comment. Be blessed and said with respect.
DeleteA Natural Africana sister in US.
I couldn't agree with you more Dawn. People of African decent from around the world need to come together and stop this silly bickering about who's better than who.
DeleteI agree with Anonymous' premise. The term "nappy" may be derogatory/offensive to some people. It depends on the context in which it is used.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Afro-Europe did not use the word, "nappy", with intent to offend, the title and entire situation of the article actually puts the word into a derisive context.
If the Dutch dance school had actually said, "please put your hair in a bun because we don't like nappy hair", we would not be having this debate.
And to those who are arguing that the word could never be offensive, I would bet you that they wouldn't take to kindly if someone approached them and said, "we don't want no nappy-headed hos up in here." They would probably have drawn a weapon!
So don't hold it against Anonymous is she said she doesn't like for her hair to be described as "nappy".
Anyway, it all comes down to intent, what's in your heart. Peace out.
I do agree with your point Angelo the reason I say its offensive is that some people use it that way. Also contary to the fact that its that a meaning of racism in dutch it might be in other countries or places.So if it is you view to continue this argument i dont stop you.
ReplyDeleteBecause this post title remains offensive to some people, I am open for a rewrite. Please drop some suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the title was fixed and the word "nappy" was dropped. While you didn't mean to use it in an offensive way and some people don't seem to mind it, overall, it's still a word that offends many and shouldn't be used.
ReplyDeleteWell said Jennifer.
Delete