After
reading the class readings my interest was really struck to the beauty of black
women. As of late with the release of, 12
Years a Slave, the beauty of black women have crept from the groundwork. It
never struck to me the lack of black women in the beauty industry or modeling,
unlike black men, “Over the years, we’ve had our cultural obsessions with
dark-skinned African descended men. This is to be expected within a culture in
which Black male sexuality is both fetishized and feared and dark skin speaks
to both desire and deathwish” (Real Colored Girls). So a question that rose to
me is why this imbalanced existed? In the article they give their own stance, “Black
women in the representational sphere have, almost exclusively, been considered
desirable only when we are portrayed as half-white or otherwise obviously mixed-race
versions of ourselves” (Real Colored Girls). Why is the rank of beauty portrayed
as white skinned, light colored skin, and then dark skin at the bottom of the spectrum?
Lastly even with the progress that dark black women are making in the beauty
industry the change the struggle is still very prevalent. “In a recent photo
shoot featuring Nyong’o, the magazine countered what appears to be this
moment’s universal admiration for dark skinned beauty by portraying her as
several shades lighter than her actual skin tone” (Real Colored Girls). It seems
downgrading that these magazines are taking pride in putting a dark skinned woman
on the cover of a magazine, but still altering her color.
ReplyDeleteSlavery was a cultural invasion that altered the perspective of Black people by distorting our since of identity and beauty. If you were light skinned you most likely would have a job working in the house or an easier one to perform and were considered intelligent and trustworthy. The dark skinned got the tougher jobs like working in the fields and were considered to be unintelligent and untrustworthy.
The racism that we have among ourselves is a direct backlash that stems from slavery and created internalize racism within our culture. In reading The Bluest Eye, so far all of the little girls were considered unattractive except for Maureen “a high-yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her back” (pg. 62). The notion that the color of your skin dictates how beautiful you are is rooted in our society. The media and advertisement contributes to and plays a big impact in this by showing a mirage. That to be beautiful you have to be this size, hair has to be this type and skin has to be this color. The altering of the color of the skin is what the person behind the camera thought her beauty should look like and not the beauty that Mother Nature gave her.
Do you: See me? Hear me? Know me? From the curves of my hips, To the soul spoke from my lips. My body embodies the beauty that I find define. My voice, my opinion, my vision. Shades of beauty worth celebrating. A sisterhood with stories to share. Follow my lead. Open my eyes. Uplift my soul. My color does not dictate my beauty. My beauty inspires the world. Sister’s of Mother Natures great design, My Black is _____, And that is for me to define. By LADY M.