American Beauty Standards
American Beauty Standards: How White Supremacy Influence Beauty Standards on African Americans
Chelsea Williams
Racism has been
around since the beginning of slavery, and now we still see the effects of
racism and influences on beauty standards from a white supremacist's point of
view in society today. The result of racism was that African Americans hated
their own skin. If you take a moment to look around, you’ll see that most
people try to live up to the European standard of beauty. The European standard
of beauty is to have big blue eyes, small noses, straight hair, and lighter
skin. Naturally, such a standard excludes the features of black people.
There are some
African cultures that African Americans held on to, and one of them was the
hairstyles that were worn. Black people have worn afros, dreads, and different
braiding styles to keep our hair groomed. We called these protective styles.
But now it has been seen as not groomed, ghetto, and ugly in today’s world. So
now we see chemicals that were created to make our hair straight, and it has
become a major health hazard for black people. The movie “Nappily Ever After"
is a representation of what a black woman goes through every day with her hair
in order to be seen as beautiful and successful. She used chemicals, heat, and
expensive weaves to make herself look like the European standard of beauty.
Even in the African American community, we see colorism. In
black families, we see the lighter-skinned being treated better than the
darker-skinned. The result of treatment among different skin types creates an
internal struggle within the family unit. We have a “light skin vs. dark skin
“controversy within the same race.
This aspect has even breached the music industry. We see
celebrities bleach their skin in order for their music to sell. We even heard a
few songs where they mentioned “redbone “to use as a way to show the standard
of being beautiful. Lil Kim is a reference to show how the European perspective
on beauty has influenced black celebrities to change their appearance to be
successful in the music industry. The movie “Dream Girls “with the main
character, Jennifer Hudson, is also another reference to how black women who
looked a certain way didn’t get the spotlight they deserved because of their
appearance. We also see African American change their appearance once they
become famous. Rhinoplasty has become a popular procedure for the African
American community.
This has not only affected women in the world but also African
American men. Sammy Sosa is a good example of black men bleaching their skin in
order to feel accepted in society. It has even influenced the makeup industry
as well. We now see different hacks and contour techniques to make people's
noses appear thinner and smaller.
Blackface was a good example of how white supremacy sees us
based on our appearance. They painted their faces extra dark and made their
lips look huge in order to play black roles in movies. By doing this, the film
made black characters appear unpleasant. This had influenced America so much
that we started to believe what beauty was to White Supremacy.
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