In the Age of the Interwebs …. How Are People of Colour Reclaiming “Beauty” Standards?
Solidarity Mural from the United Electrical Workers building in Chicago. Photo: Terence Faircloth, 2006. https://flic.kr/p/evbxT Accessed 16 December 2017
Amazon images. Accessed 16 December 2017
Via transmediawomen.wordpress.com. Accessed 17 December 2017
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During 1712, a British slave owner in the West Indies, William Lynch was invited by Virginia slave owners to teach his methods of “making a slave.”
In his opening address to the Slaveholders he said, “Gentlemen, you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I have a foolproof method for controlling your black slaves. I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least 300 years. My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it. I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves and make the differences bigger. I use fear, distrust and envy for control. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On top of my list is "age" but it's there only because it starts with an "A." The second is "COLOR" or shade, there is intelligence, size, sex, size of plantations and status on plantations, attitude of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that distrust is stronger than trust and envy stronger than adulation, respect or admiration. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Don't forget you must pitch the old black Male vs. the young black Male, and the young black Male against the old black male. You must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves, and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. You must use the female vs. the male. And the male vs. the female. You must also have you white servants and overseers distrust all Blacks. It is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love, respect and trust only us. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. If used intensely for one year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful of each other. " [2] |
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, a seminal event in the Civil Rights Movement.
We know Rosa Parks - for her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a public bus in Montgomery, Ala., in December 1955.[3] But we don’t know of Claudette Colvin - a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in segregated Montgomery, Alabama, nine months prior to Rosa Parks.[4] |
"My mother suffered. We can go all the way back to when she was a child and people told her nose was too big, her skin was too dark, her lips were too wide. It's very important the world acknowledges my mother was a classical musician whose dreams were not realized because of racism,"
- Lisa Celeste Stroud (Nina Simone's daughter) Nina's identity wasn't solely based off life as a black women but life as a darkskin, wide nosed, big lips, curvy figure black women. Her movement was to shed light on how darker skinned women suffered most out of all people of colour.
Zoe Saldana being a caramel-colored black woman of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent playing a dark skinned, wide nosed, big lips, curvy figure black women is just wrong. She has to essentially do blackface for this film and wear a nose prosthetic. When they could have easily have casted Viola Davis, Leslie Jones, Danielle Brooks, and/or Amber Riley. The paper bag test in Hollywood still very much exist. They believe that even in a story about darker skinned women that casting a lighter skinned actress to play her part will be more "appealing" to the masses and aren't desirable by men. [5] |
Casting Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone
The biopic Nina by Cynthia Mort's (unauthorized btw) is about the romantic relationship between singer and Civil Rights Activist Nina Simone and her manager Clifton Henderson is problematic. It brings up the colourism in hollywood, blackface, the history of the brown paper bag test and it is insulting to Nina Simone's legacy and what she has done not only for black women but darkskin black women.
Nina rose to fame as a Jazz singer in the late 50s. She later then became heavily involved in the civil rights movement. The Birmingham church bombing that killed four little girls inspired her to write "Mississippi Goddam," a song that was boycotted in the South along side "Backlash Blues," and "Young, Gifted and Black." [6]. Simone was friends with a number of prominent civil rights activists of the day. She was great friends with the James Baldwin, one of the best writers of our time. "The Brown Paper Bag Test was a type of racial discrimination in the United States. A brown paper bag was used as a way to determine whether or not an individual could have certain privileges; only individuals with a skin color that is the same color or lighter than a brown paper bag were allowed."
- Brown Paper Bag Test - Wikipedia |
The Bleaching Syndrome: Western Civilization vis-a`-vis Inferiorized People of Color by Ronald E. Hall
The initial conflicts of colourism is introduced and further explained in the scholarly journal The Bleaching Syndrome: Western Civilization vis-a-vis Inferiorized People of Color by Ronald E. Hall in the terms relating to people of color and how western influences imposed and governed on their cultures. Hall continues to describe how internalized ideals caused by these western influences creates an inferior and superior mentality within their skin tones and social ideals which leads to an individual deciding to bleach their skin to make themselves fit a more Eurocentric/ Western skin tone. This bleaching syndrome is not only prevalent in the Black community, but as well in the Asian, Latino, and Native American communities that socialized through these Western influences. Hall goes on to talk about pattern of the bleach syndrome in terms of the components that progress through an individual. Hall states, “It has three components: (1) perceptual, according to internalized ideals; (2) psychological, according to reactions to those ideals; and (3) behavioral, according to the ideals manifested as direct and indirect actions”[8] Hall can be interpreted as pushing the term and conflicts of what and why people of colour act upon bleaching their skin to fit a beauty standard that is not of their own. A beauty standard that stresses and denigrates the mental, behavioral and physical characteristic of a unique person of colour. Something to watch :
Confessions of a D Girl: Colorism and Global Standards of Beauty | Chika Okoro | TEDxStanford |
The Consequences of Colorism by Margaret Hunter
Another academic journal that I analyzed was that of Margret Hunter’s The Consequences of Colorism. Hunter focused primarily on the social processes that affect light skinned and dark skinned individuals that aversively favors a lighter toned individuals for factors including income, education, housing, criminal justice sentencing and marriage market. Hunter goes on to explain how this is not only prevalent in the African American community, but also just as prevalent in the Latino and Asian communities that see a lighter skinned individual. In her journal, a quote that resonated with my thoughts on colourism and even furthermore gave me insight on the topic is stated as follows, “Systems of racial discrimination operate on at least two levels: race and skin color. Racial discrimination against African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, or American Indians occurs regardless of phenotype. People of color of all skin tones are subject to certain kinds of discrimination, denigration, and second-class citizenship, simply because they are members of an oppressed racial or ethnic group. Colorism, the second system of discrimination, operates at the level of skin tone” [1]. In this quote, Hunter discusses the different systems of race and skin tone. She explains how we all face some type of discrimination and denigration over the simple factor that we an oppressed by another racial or ethnic group. But because of this internalized oppression, individuals within their own intracultural communities criticize and judge in the form of colorism. Shades of Consciousness: From Jamaica to the UK by William Henry
Following this, the academic journal of William Henry’s Shades of Consciousness: From Jamaica to the UK, sheds light on the perspective of a Jamaican man who is analyzing the effect on how whiteness is the greatest factor on a human family. He intentionally shifts his focus from his personal experiences of colourism to show emphasis of macrospective Eurocentric/Western social standard. One statement that caught my attention while surveying this journal is when where Henry states, “However, it becomes far more problematic when many black people are measuring themselves against a yardstick that they are not even aware of, which is far too often the case. I am suggesting, in agreement with Higgins (2011): "We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are Africans because Africa is born in us.”[7]. The main reason why this struck me in such a way was the identity that could be rather missing from African American individuals in the instance where they would not understand or even be away of who they are, regardless of the tone of their skin. We are not necessarily African because we are born there but we are the product of Africa with Africa in us. |
Juliette: Could you describe features that YOU THINK make up IDEAL beauty in a Male?
Matthew: Somebody who is strong. I think beards look cool on dudes. I wish I had one lol. Um a nice jaw line and tall. J: Could you describe features that you think SOCIETY thinks makes up ideal beauty in a Male? M: The typical manly man characteristics. Tall, Big/Buff, Strong, Hyper masculine. Some one of lighter skin. Light eyes. J: Do you think that your conceptions of beauty (beautiful bodies) are connected to your sense of identity? M: I'd say that if you're secure in who you are, then your outward beauty shouldn't define you— if all you have going for your identity is outward beauty, it shows you have work to do with your inner self J: Where do you think your ideas of beauty come from? M: Im not going to lie, the media. As much as I try to deny that. I feel like you cant really escape from it no matter how much you think you have. Advertising, commercials, tv and movies.. they all use subliminal messages of how you should look, how you should act, how you should be. When I was younger I looked at white people as ideal. J: Did you ever feel pressure to fit in or feel like you weren’t appealing/pretty/handsome? M: It wasn't until college that really started appreciating my blackness. I also feel that men have less pressure put on them from society. J: Did you ever feel like you were treated differently because of hair type, skin color, height, weight? if so, how? M: Society thinks that black hair isn't as "nice" or as good as white people's hair. I also feel like I was ridiculed the most about how dark I am growing up. I remember in elementary school that was the first thing I was teased about. A kid just would call me purple. I didn't even know what it meant. I just knew it was negative and that he was talking about how dark I am. In middle school I remembered we watched the movie Roots or we came across slaves in a text book and kids would say, "oh matt it's you! Look it's your mom. It's your family.. blah blah blah." or the teacher would turn off the lights and they would say "Oh wheres Matthew?" In the summer time they use to call me midnight/dark night. It was things like that you had to expect would happen, growing up dark. J: Has a job/professional setting ever tell you or made you feel like your hair/facial hair was inappropriate? Do you change your appearance in any way for job interviews outside of Interview clothes? M: Yes. People always telling me I'm going to have to get rid of my locs because it is deemed unprofessional. J: Have you ever consider lightening your skin? Perming your hair? M: When I was younger, I always told myself when I did not like my skin tone.. I would tell myself.. Im going to change this because I don't like how dark I am. And I always told myself I would bleach my skin.. thats how bad it was.. but I don't really care about bleaching anymore but in my culture in Jamaica its still a huge problem. Even people in my family are doing it. J: Do you think Eurocentric beauty standards have affected your life in anyway? M: A lot when I was younger but in America today I think black features on lighter skin people is the standard. When I'm on the internet now a days I have tailored it to people I can relate to. |
This is Matthew Salmon. He is 21 years old. He attends Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. He was born and raised in the Bronx. Music is very important to him. He Plays the guitar, ukulele, bass, drums, and clarinet. He identifies as a Black man. He is apart of the Jamaican diaspora here in New York City.
"I DIDN'T REALLy Care about how i looked or felt Self pity until I started school and people started pointing it out." -MAtthew S. |
This is Kevin Morancie. He is 20 years. He attends Lehman College in Bronx, New York. He was born and raised in the Bronx. He spends his free time watching science videos on youtube and learning about cars. He identifies a Black man. He is apart of the Dominican (Dom-min-eeka) diaspora here in New York City.
" I associate myself So much with black culture im not worried about what society thinks."
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Juliette: Could you describe features that YOU THINK make up IDEAL beauty?
Kevin: I think my ideal beauty standard is a woman who is shorter than me, has curly hair and is brown skin, rather if they’re black or Hispanic or any other ethnicity. J: Could you describe features that you think SOCIETY thinks makes up ideal beauty? K: I think society’s ideal beauty standard is someone who is your typical white person. Someone who has the whitest skin, skinny, blue eyes and straight flowing hair. In which isn’t fair to everyone else who does not fit into that category since in literally creates a window for discrimination and body shaming. J: Do you think that your conceptions of beauty (beautiful bodies) are connected to your sense of identity? K: I think so. I feel that since I am black, I am more attracted to someone that looks like me. I’m not saying that I’m not attracted to people outside of race or that they’re not beautiful, but that I am more biased to what I know. J: Where do you think your ideas of beauty come from? K: I think my ideas of beauty primarily stem from just growing up in the environment that in did grow up in. Which of course was blacks and Hispanics from the hood. J: Did you ever feel pressure to fit in or feel like you weren’t appealing/pretty/handsome? K: Yes and no. I never felt pressured to change myself to fit into a certain physical feature or features, but I did feel some type of way when I was younger and when it came to seeing others in relationships or having crushes on other people that usually didn’t look like me but at the same time made me feel like I was missing something that they had. J: Did you ever feel like you were treated differently because of hair type, skin color, height, weight? if so, how? K: Yes, but I do not think directly. There of course has been many of time where I was treated differently because of my physical appearance, like talking to someone that is of a different race showing intimidation or avoidance of communication, but I don’t think it was necessarily done to offend me. Just intimidation that is pushed by a negative narrative that is pushed by a large media outlet. J: Has a job/professional setting ever tell you or made you feel like your hair/facial hair was inappropriate? Do you change your appearance in any way for job interviews outside of Interview clothes? K: No, not really. There has been time where the patients that I worked with in my internship gave off the impression that they did not like my facial hair or my hair. But I think that was primarily due to location of where the doctors of office was. Which is on 59th street in Manhattan by the way. J: Have you ever consider lightening your skin? Perming your hair? K: No, I’m happy with the skin that I’m in and the curls on my head. J: Do you think Eurocentric beauty standards have affected your life in anyway? K: No, not really. In not really focused on how the Eurocentric could even affect me in anyway. |