You can believe that race is a social construct, or you can believe that race is a biology, or you can believe that race is both biological and social. I tend to believe it’s both. Genetics work in funny ways – sometimes – but of course race and racism seeps into cultural, political and social life in a million different ways. This is the first time I’ve heard the term “blackfishing” – apparently, it’s where white women use tanning, hair & makeup trickery to “look black,” especially online. The idea of blackfishing has been in the news recently because apparently, there’s a wave of white women and girls on social media who are pretending to be black… for, like, attention and profit.
The young woman in these IGs is named Emma Hallberg. She’s just 19 years old, and she’s Swedish and a self-styled “Instagram influencer,” meaning that she’s got a lot of followers and she posts a lot of stuff about fashion/hair/makeup. She’s also white. She was recently “outed” as white when someone posted a candid photo of her. Note the stark difference between how she presents herself on Instagram versus how she looks normally.
White girls if you want to pass as Black, how about using your platforms to address the injustices and discrimation actual Black people face. Don't just appropriate, Appreciate the people you are imitating #emmahallberg pic.twitter.com/gpmkvB0BZj
— Niccole Nero Gaines (@2CsNiccole) November 19, 2018
Emma has a bit of Kardashian to her, eh? Initially, Emma addressed the criticism by messaging a fan, writing: “Yes I’m white and I’ve never claimed to be anything else. And by no way, there are no “before” pictures, the pictures that has been spread are just two diefferent [sic] pictures taken on two different seasons of the year.” Then she went on Instagram Stories with this message:
“Let me explain. You’ve probably seen these two pictures besides [sic] each other all over Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, where they are called the ‘before & after. The left picture was taken 2 years ago right before summer with barely any makeup and my hair straightened. The right picture was taken in July right after I came home from a vacation, with makeup. I’ve been accused of doing frequent spray tans, taking melatonin, getting hair perms and lip injections and many more. When I haven’t done anything of the above.” Hallberg then shared a series of recent photos of herself and credited her skin tone to spending a lot of time in the sun. “This is how the sun tans my skin naturally during the summer.”
As I said at the beginning of this post, I believe race is both a biology and social construct. Of course there are white people with olive skin tones, white people who tan very deeply whenever they’ve been out in the sun, and of course there are white folks with naturally curly hair. There are people who are biologically white who can easily pass for mixed-race or black, just as there are black or mixed race people who can pass for white. So, is that what’s happening here? Or was Emma hoping that the “I never claimed I was black” technicality will get her through? Because she certainly seemed to be presenting herself as a black or mixed-race woman, and this definitely feels like blackfishing (from my understanding of it).
Photos courtesy of Instagram.
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