I remember when I first told a friend I was a Spice fan. When telling the story that led up the revelation I thought dismay would have been the reaction, because I was speaking about the late start time of a show she once performed at a club in a town called Le Havre in the Normandy Region, France. Instead, my friend’s shock was directed at my taste in music. “Your husband is showing you a different life. Why do you like Spice?” was the remark.
I was at a loss for words for a bit and to be honest I was a little hurt. The underlying message for me was that my tastes were inferior and I was in desperate need of being ‘whitewashed’ to match my new life.
Most of us, myself included. have been taught consciously and unconsciously to have biases based on race and class and often this is mirrored in our tastes and preferences by way of style, food, and personal aesthetics. Sadly, it is part of the reality of growing up in a post-colonial society.