Not to take away from Jada feelings but am I the only one who thinks being compared to GI Jane

[Quixote1818]

would be kind of a cool thing? Demi Moore was beautiful in the part, she was strong, and it was about the first woman to undergo special operations training similar to the U.S. Navy SEALs. I think these are all positive things. It's interesting how so many see the comparison as negative, however I can see if Jada was struggling with some self image problems how it might have landed the wrong way and I don't remember if there was some bad audience reaction to that Demi Moore part or something?

[brush]

1. Don't go there. Black women and their hair is a serious issue.

Not a joking matter.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Entirely in agreement. Hair is a symbol of strength and beauty to African-Americans.

[FreeState]

11. Better tell Will Smith that

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/tqq5e7/will_smith_making_fun_of_arsenio_halls_band/

Will Smith making fun of Arsenio Hall's band member who had alopecia & telling the audience it's just a joke.

Apparently he can dish it out but no one else can.

[brush]

13. I saw that earlier. It's entirely a false equivalency.

Many men choose baldness on their own. And it's fashionable and not at all unusual as many men go bald.

To women their hair is tied up with their image and femininity. Not even close to being the same thing.

[FreeState]

14. Tell my nephew that

He has had many many self esteem issues do to his alopecia. His teen years were miserable and dating shortly there after hasn’t been great either.

Sexism isn’t a nice look my friend.

[brush]

17. Not the same at all. Many men go bald. As a teen, sure he had problems...

but as an adult that issue has surely lessened. Men lossing their hair is common and not nearly the issue that women losing their hair is.

[FreeState]

20. Wow - you think hair only grows on your head?

Look up classic alopecia. My nephew grows no hair at all on his body.

No chest hair
No facial hair
No eyebrows
No pubic hair
No leg hair

The only no-equivalent here is a desire to dismiss others experiences to prove a point. Men suffer just as much.

[uponit7771]

22. Do you have any data on that were men *WANT* to go bald on their own? tia

[brush]

28. It's pretty common knowledge that some men who began...

losing their hair, just shave it all off. Michael Jordan, the basketball great, is a prime example. And when he did it, it set a trend and many others followed.

Charles Barkley, Shaq...many others athletes and men in the general public. It's not uncommon at all.

[uponit7771]

29. That's ad populum argument not credible source of data. I'm losing my hair and not cutting it off

... and so is the case with my father and both brothers.

We're all styling half hair heads with lined fades

If you got any credible data on men wanting to cut all their hair off when they start going bald I would love to see it.

[brush]

30. You're actually serious? It's a choice you made not to...

shave it all off. Many men make the other choice. I've got several relatives who have shaved it off once theu started losing their hair.

And why would I have data? I have eyes and personal knowledge. Do you have data?

Done with arguing about a very common cultural trend.

[uponit7771]

32. " I have eyes and personal knowledge" all of our experiences are flawed and not data. Here is some

... data on men going bald though

https://www.healthline.com/health/why-do-men-go-bald#main-cause-of-balding

The vast majority of men who go bald do so because of a hereditary condition known as androgenetic alopecia, more commonly known as male pattern baldness.

According to the American Hair Loss Association, 95 percent of hair loss in men is caused by androgenetic alopecia.

That to me doesn't communicate that "many men make the other choice" ... that to me is small slither of men making that choice.

What say you? tia

[brush]

33. I say that's fine. Male pattern baldness is common.

Some men shave it all off. Some don't.

[yagotme]

2. I didn't see a problem at first with the comparison,

like you, I initially thought Rock was comparing her to a strong female. I wasn't aware of Jada's medical condition at the time, so I see now where that joke would be inappropriate.

[pnwmom]

27. The only similarity between the two women is they both shave their heads. Clearly, that's what

Rock was highlighting.

[Solomon]

34. Not exactly true. Pickett played a similar type kick ass bad ass in the

Batman series. She was so good in the role that I didn't even recognize it was her for several episodes. When I first saw the "joke" I thought it was about that and the short hair because at the time I didn't know about her medical condition.

[pnwmom]

35. She had hair in Batman. Why didn't Chris Rock say she should be in Batman 3?

Because he wanted to focus on her shaved head.

https://www.sfgate.com/tv/article/Gotham-review-A-wholly-different-view-of-5759984.php

[sheshe2]

3. Thanks for your post.

However GI Jane made a decision to shave her head to fit in with a lot of hard ass men that did not want her there. She fought tooth and nail and survived.

Jada did the same, fought tooth and nail to fit in, yet not her choice. Jada has an auto immune disorder. She didn't have a choice to have it or shave her head. It chose her.

I happened to watch GI Jane again a few weeks ago. It hurt to watch the physical abuse by men in that film....it was not part of the training, she was abused for being a woman and trying to prove she was equal to a man.

Just my thoughts.

[old as dirt]

8. Under the Surface

I happened to watch GI Jane again a few weeks ago. It hurt to watch the physical abuse by men in that film....it was not part of the training, she was abused for being a woman and trying to prove she was equal to a man

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16541042

[blm]

5. Jada is seriously stunning anyway -

In every way - Under any condition.

[LuckyCharms]

6. He wasn't comparing her to Demi Moore's beauty...

He was comparing her lack of hair to Demi Moore's lack of hair in the movie.

It was a bad move on Rock's part.

I would have been as pissed off as Smith was, but I know exactly how I would have handled it, and it wouldn't involve any violence.

[pnwmom]

26. Exactly. n/t

[uponit7771]

7. No ... no you're not ... and people defending Smiths violence are going to twist their minds and

... try to twist yours in saying Rocks GI Jane joke was ... ONLY ... about hair absolutely nothing else.

[yorkster]

12. Can we stop talking about how beautiful and strong

Demi Moore was in that film? I knew the minute Rock said what he said that he was dissing her hair.

You can deplore the slap and still know damn well how
Rock's words probably felt to Jada Pinkett Smith.

[uponit7771]

21. "dissing her hair" by comparing it to another great hairdo ?! Do you remember the movie? tia

[yorkster]

37. I do remember the movie which is beside the point.

Demi Moore being strong and beautiful is beside the point.
The fact that Jada Pinkett Smith is strong and beautiful is beside the point.

The point is that no way in hell was Chris Rock paying a
compliment when he issued his very direct and directed unfunny as helll joke.

And of course, no way in hell should Will Smith have slapped him.

[Skittles]

9. not only is it cool

Jada, like Demi, is gorgeous with or without hair

[Emile]

10. The joke was nothing, but when Will assaulted Chris he made it all about himself!

[tirebiter]

15. Digging deep into shallowness is a waste of time.

[relayerbob]

16. This. Right here

[whathehell]

18. I don't think Chris Rock thought it was "cool"

nor, apparently, did Jada or Willl, and I'm afraid theirs are the opinions that count in this situation.

[uponit7771]

23. Rock and I have seen black women rock short hair all of our lives. I don't understand ...

... how in the hell he thought her hairdo was NOT cool.

My mother has had very similar short hairdo for 15 years

TMZ is reporting Rock didn't know about the alopecia and meant the joke to be a positive comparison but that's from sources inside and they don't name anyone so I haven't posted the TMZ story

[eShirl]

19. it's cool until it's an alopecia joke at your expense

[meadowlander]

24. Exactly.

I'm autistic. If someone referred to me as Rain Man at a work award function out of the blue I wouldn't be thinking "Great, he's so good at math" or "Dustin Hoffman is such a great actor." I would be thinking this person is an ableist jerk off.

How are so many people not able to understand this?

I'm proud of being autistic and genuinely wouldn't change if I had the choice. But that doesn't give other people the right to sit in their position of relative social privilege and point at my difference for the purposes of making other people laugh at me or at my expense. Seriously, fuck people who do that and hide behind "lighten up, it was just a joke" or "come on, it was really a compliment."

It's not about Jada's level of self-acceptance. It doesn't matter if she's mortified or if she's accepted herself as a glowing bald goddess. The point is that Chris Rock took his moment in front of a global audience to point all the attention at her and say "look! a different person! laugh!"

Stop making lame ass excuses for bullies. Is that too much to ask?

[pnwmom]

25. No. GI Jane CHOSE to shave her head. It's not flattering for Jada to be compared to her

because it's singling out one feature that Jada and GI Jane share -- their bald heads. Otherwise, no one would have linked the two women.

Jada (and other women with alopecia) doesn't want to be defined by their hair loss. She's so much more than that.

[manicdem]

31. Violated

From Jada's and Will's expressions and actions, I think the baldness is like being violated. As if someone held her down and shaved her head against her will. Like how the disease took her hair against her will. Loss of dignity. Comparing it to the beauty of GI Jane doesn't help.

[leftyladyfrommo]

36. I am kind of surprised at all this hullabaloo

Jada is gorgeous. She looks beautiful with her hair the way she has it. Will could have come up with a lot better response. He could have turned that whole thing around and used it to point out how beautiful his wife is.

Oh. Well. This will be old news in a few days.

[bigtree]

38. I'd wonder why Rock can't keep Jada's name out of his mouth at the Oscars

...he doesn't appear to be a friend, so why the personalized crack?

It was an ignorant joke which wasn't directed at you, so what you think of it is mostly irrelevant to Jada's own feelings.

This is Rock's second unsolicited slap at Jada from the Oscar stage. Why?