Pseudoscience | Be a Seed for Change

The efforts of you and more than 75,000 other ColorOfChange members paid off.1 Psychology Today has now agreed to remove controversial author Satoshi Kanazawa, the author of a deeply offensive article regarding Black women, from its website, and they have implemented new policies to prevent inflammatory content in the future.

It wasn’t easy or a foregone conclusion. After staying silent for almost two weeks, Psychology Today on Friday issued an apology, but they refused to say how they would prevent such a situation from happening again. Then hundreds of ColorOfChange members started calling the magazine by phone, along with additional pressure on Facebook and Twitter demanding a clearer response — at which point Psychology Today came correct and did the right thing.

While there still remains the larger problem of Black women and girls having to face dehumanizing and damaging messages, this is an important victory. We’ve not only drawn a line with Psychology Today — we’ve sent a powerful message to other media outlets that serving as a platform for racist and dehumanizing content is unacceptable and will result in pushback and consequences.

At ColorOfChange, we will continue to hold media accountable, and we hope you will continue to be there with us. Remember, our work is powered by you, our members. If you can support our work financially, whatever the amount, please click the link below:

http://www.colorofchange.org/donate

Thanks and Peace,

— Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha, and the rest of the ColorOfchange.org team
June 2nd, 2011

On Friday, after more than 70,000 of you spoke up, Psychology Today finally issued a statement apologizing for Kanazawa‘s racist and dehumanizing article that they published. But they failed to explain the steps they’re taking to prevent such articles from being published in the future1, which is critical for holding them accountable.

Can you take a moment to call them and demand that they do? Just click the link below to get started:

http://act.colorofchange.org/call/ptcalls

For almost two weeks, Psychology Today remained silent after publishing “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?” In their statement Friday they took responsibility for Kanazawa’s article, an important first step.

However, they remained silent on what they’d do differently in the future — leaving it unclear what will prevent similar articles from being published, or if Kanazawa will continue to write for the publication. Given the level of the offense, it is important that Psychology Today provide such an explanation before declaring the issue resolved.

Your phone call is about more than Psychology Today — it’s about standing up to any media outlet that becomes a vehicle for unfair attacks on our communities. Please join us in calling Psychology Today:

http://act.colorofchange.org/call/ptcalls

Thanks and Peace,

— Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha, and the rest of the ColorOfchange.org team
May 31st, 2011