THE FITNESS BRAND

Dear UK Black Woman – Please do better!

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In some UK spaces—particularly professional, creative, and fitness environments—I’ve noticed a troubling dynamic: Black women being undermined by other Black women through the selective use of non-Black cultures.

This doesn’t show up as open hostility. It shows up in language, comparison, and positioning.

Suddenly, proximity to other cultures becomes a tool. Used to imply that another Black woman is less than, too much, not enough, or somehow failing at being acceptable.

What’s striking is that these cultural references are rarely about respect or learning. They’re deployed strategically—to invalidate, embarrass, or discredit another Black woman in moments of competition or conflict.

Instead of challenging systems that marginalise us, the pressure is redirected inward.

But using other cultures as a weapon doesn’t elevate anyone.

It reinforces the idea that Black womanhood is something that needs external validation or correction. It suggests that value comes from comparison rather than self-definition. And it fractures solidarity in spaces where unity would actually provide protection and power.

None of this means Black women are inherently divisive. It means some of us are navigating pressure in ways that replicate the very hierarchies we claim to reject.

If we’re serious about growth—personally and collectively—we have to interrogate how and why we reach for other cultures as a measuring stick against each other. Appreciation is not the same as appropriation, and comparison is not the same as accountability.

Black women don’t need to be disciplined by borrowed standards. We need room to exist without being ranked against one another.

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