Ian Jeong

“I’m sorry. I understand you’re frustrated, but it’s the policy,” said the financial aid advisor at Student Financial Services.

This week Jeremiah Keenan reminded the Penn community of the question on whether people are really born gay or not (he forgot to mention other identities often roped with gayness like the L-B-T-Q-I-A of the queer alphabet). It came to us as a surprise because this issue seemed settled with the release of Lady Gaga’s iconic 2011 single — "Born This Way.” He attacks the central theme of her song, which is that “It doesn't matter if you love him or capital H-I-M ... 'Cause you were born this way, baby."

This pervasive notion that black people have to change their bodies is ingrained in our society and makes it difficult to recognize how external forces have been internalized. Whether this self-loathing comes in the form of using makeup or chemicals to brighten skin tones or using heat or treatments to straighten hair, the goal has been to meet a standard of beauty that elevates one group of people and simultaneously demeans another.