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@TroyWell, "natural" is sort of an ambiguous term. In the first picture, to me, Viola looks excited about something and that's a natural state. Her hair is not in its natural state, although its style is a traditional one that African American women have adopted over many years. There is no such thing as natural make-up; that's an oxymoron. So, technically, the words "make-up" and "natural" are antonyms. Red is not the natural color of any woman's lips and lipstick of that color can look garish on dark skinned black women as well as sallow skinned white ones. In the second picture, Viola's hair is natural but it has been trimmed and groomed to look neat instead of wild or wiry so it is not untouched. She is wearing lipstick, mascara, blush and eyebrow pencil, all of which are flattering to her complexion but she is, nonetheless, made-up, and not in her pristine natural state. As far as the color of her outfit, calling it an "earth-tone" is the vernacular of the fashion industry. Its color is dull brown and does nothing for her. My answer to your vague question is that Viola looks "better" in the second picture because she has been put together better. She comes out of so many bags, we have to ask "will the real Viola Davis please stand up" so we can decide how she appears when she considers herself in a natural mode. Are magazine covers an arena for racism or are they insensitive depictions of people by those who don't realize they are insulting to blacks or other minorities. If they are deliberately racist then people are free to speak out about this and even demand an apology. In regard to the cover of Lebron James, he's apparently insensitive, too, or such a dumb jock that he doesn't know he's being substituted for the giant gorilla King Kong! I guess for me,racism is such a given in this country that It becomes an afterthought. it is also a label that's too convenient to adopt in lieu of giving an in depth argument about a subject. Del makes some good points about racism in regard to this discussion

My not ageeing with you does not make me unaware if racism. Your statement is worthy of Pioneer. You are exporting your views to people that dont share them. And you wonder why they cant see the racism. Mel and Cynique don't see it. So in this context it doesn't exist to them. Which is something you can neither see nor accept. Troy you may be missing my point. You are focused on the racial aspect. If you dont see or feel racism does it exist for you. It's a very subtle point. It's a variation on if a tree falls in the forest and noone hears it does it make a sound. The answer is no. A person needs to be conscious of the sound. Substituting another Black person doesn't change the focus to something other than race. At least not a nthe example you have chosen.

Thank you for posting this. A lot of great information and ideas that I had not thought about but now feel armed and wiser for viewing this.

Some people are not pretending to be of the opposite sex, they genuinely know they are trapped in a body that does not coincide with who they really are. The profession that once diagnosed this as being a mental illness now says it is not insanity. It's a fluke of nature. And to accept this is to "live and let live".

This is one of those mindf-ck questions. Physically, I practice heterosexuality. I'm not sure if it was something I decided or decided for me when I chose to procreate naturally. Since one of those biological functions is to reproduce, I probably decided I'd go after boys and it became a habit. I like my life easy and that's probably on the soul level too so my drive to eliminate obstacles before they manifest is real. Spiritually, it doesn't matter because connection and intimacy is different on the spiritual plane.