Beauty, so the saying goes, is in the
eye of the beholder but my personal observation though is that our
eyes perception of beauty is unduly influenced by the media and as a
result we begin to view that beauty within the rigid parameters that
the controllers of the media set. As a result, over the years Black
people have been psychologically conditioned to view the lighter
races as being more attractive than themselves and to be the true
representatives of human beauty.
For instance on the cover of any widely
distributed fashion or beauty magazine we always have a white woman, or
a white man, on the cover and it therefore follows that, in the
mind of the reader, the benchmark for beauty is essentially
Caucasian. Because we constantly read these magazines this concept,
over a period of time' begins to sink into you as a truth, false
though that “truth” actually is.
The square jaws, straightened blonde
hair, blue eyes, thinly shaped hips and so on become the benchmark
against which beauty is defined, and slowly and subconsciously we
learn to hate our appearance. Of late there have been people of
color on the covers of these magazines but those deemed as being
worthy of a cover shoot often see their complexions photo-shopped to
become lighter, their noses and lips thinned and wherever possible,
the hair is permed, and straightened.
Sadly even our own black owned
magazine's seem to go with this concept. You seldom see a woman of
colour with an Afro or with her naturally kinky hair adorning the
cover of Jet or Ebony (publications that should really know better)
unless the main story that month is about a black power advocate or a
normal woman who has been the victim of some crime that has outraged
the black community or indeed the nation at large..
This is why, subconsciously, black folk
seem to think that the light skinned among us are more attractive
than those with a darker complexion. Our women wear weaves in their
hair which are often manufactured from horse tail hair and God knows what else,
and bleach themselves blonde resulting in an alien look that I find
to be dismaying to look at.
This is what led to (in many instances
by some of our own misguided black people) the development of
harmful and cancerous skin lightening creams and all sorts of strange
hair straightening concoction's, and dubious powders and potions all
in an effort to emulate the current global beauty standard. I even
heard somewhere that some Asian women have even begun to seek out
expensive plastic surgeons to break in their jaws and straighten them
to give themselves a more Caucasian look (as in the pictures below) - and with disastrous results in
a few instances.
It is an unhealthy mentality for our
people, and indeed any people, to have. It promotes self hatred and
erodes one's sense of dignity and pride in who they are and what they
are. Being inspired by someone to do something positive is always a
good thing but when you aspire to a change prone abstract standard at
the expense of your dignity and pride then there is something
seriously wrong with you psychologically.
What's so wrong with being who you are?
There is always someone out there who will appreciate you for what
you are naturally despite what the media may influence you to think.
It is interesting to note isn't it,
that in today's hip hop age and with all the videos we see, that some
younger generation white women have begun to discard some of the
“values” associated with attractiveness and to have taken on
board new ones. We read about some having work done on their lips to
make them fuller, that they are comfortable with fuller “booty's”and
so on. A reversal of values? Not quite, but I am sure that you get
the point.
The media makes you want to be what you
are not. All you have to be.... is you.
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