Beauty is Not Standard! No No No
I am exhausted from seeing ads and magazines depicting beauty in what I will call a "standard" manner, usually as blond and blue eyed, Caucasian and almost anorexic. This ideal of beauty is not only not true it is dangerously false. Many girls are starving themselves to look like the skinny girls in one the makeup package or in the latest fashion issue. To add insult to injury these so called beautiful women are often not Latinas or Asian or any other women of color. I cannot ever forget that as a child I hardly ever if ever saw a Latino male in an ad, commercial or mainstream store ad. The entire notion that beauty is so limited is fighting to me and remains one of the most important thing needing to be healed in America.
I love Lisa Ling so I am going to just put it out there that she do a documentary that will address this issue with honestly and dignity like the ones she has focused on in the past. But until she or someone decides to bring this forward I will do my best to do so. Pretty white men and women are the ones who get the jobs. In fact it is a well known fact and has been studied. Pretty people (usually white) are the first to be considered for jobs, especially in companies that are selling pretty as one linear kind of person. It is sad to think that this is true of people in America but the fact remains that what we find beautiful gets treated with privilege. Ironically it is the privileged people who are the first to deny any such matter exists. It is the privileged who want to remain privileged that want others to think we are paranoid and using the race card when in reality they are only concealing the truth and are more concerned about keeping their privilege.
It is true there is standard of beauty and it is a small and limited standard. Others who don't meet those standards know only too well that beauty is not limited to a size 4 and that in fact beauty comes in every size and shape and ethnicity. We live in our bodies and we feel the pain of being judged because we are not meeting these ridiculous standards, but as time passes we are becoming more empowered to depict our standard of beauty in our own magazines and ads because we were given no other choice. Those people who are honest and are part of the mainstream will be the first to state that the standard of beauty is limited and that many times it is a person who is white. These are the movers and shakers and will be the ones to change this limited and prejudice thinking about size, shape and race.
Beauty my beloved people has no standard. Beautiful can have a large nose or big ears. Beautiful can be adorned with a painted African face or a Japanese kimono. Beauty has no standard and we only think so because we have been lied to about it for so long and anything different has been shelved by the mainstream folks who have the money to buy Gucci or Prada. Even within cultures of color we are looking at light skin and thinking it to be more beautiful than the dark skinned people. We have bought into the concept and there is such self-hatred some of us are passing for white when we are not. That my friends adds insult to injury. That my beloveds does not serve us as people of color and in fact adds to the problem. We must begin to bring forth the beauty of our children. We must insist on boycotting magazines that mainly use anglos as people who are attractive. We must create a venue that celebrates beauty in our own culture. Unfortunately we must play the same game.
I know that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I also know that the people beholding are usually not Latino or Black. Some may look at me as handsome while others not. That does not bother me one bit. What does concern me is that we usually see handsome as white. What concerns me is the self-esteem of our youth of color. If we see this issue as simply a beauty issue we are missing the main point which is that this is more about prejudice and hatred and being unfair to a particular sector of people in our society. It is hurtful and it is sad. It is more than just about what is considered pretty but more about who appears to be more important or more worthy. I feel saddened to still be talking about this issue yet I feel honored to be the messenger for some of us who struggle and have struggled for many years to feel worthy and as beautiful as anyone else.
I love Lisa Ling so I am going to just put it out there that she do a documentary that will address this issue with honestly and dignity like the ones she has focused on in the past. But until she or someone decides to bring this forward I will do my best to do so. Pretty white men and women are the ones who get the jobs. In fact it is a well known fact and has been studied. Pretty people (usually white) are the first to be considered for jobs, especially in companies that are selling pretty as one linear kind of person. It is sad to think that this is true of people in America but the fact remains that what we find beautiful gets treated with privilege. Ironically it is the privileged people who are the first to deny any such matter exists. It is the privileged who want to remain privileged that want others to think we are paranoid and using the race card when in reality they are only concealing the truth and are more concerned about keeping their privilege.
It is true there is standard of beauty and it is a small and limited standard. Others who don't meet those standards know only too well that beauty is not limited to a size 4 and that in fact beauty comes in every size and shape and ethnicity. We live in our bodies and we feel the pain of being judged because we are not meeting these ridiculous standards, but as time passes we are becoming more empowered to depict our standard of beauty in our own magazines and ads because we were given no other choice. Those people who are honest and are part of the mainstream will be the first to state that the standard of beauty is limited and that many times it is a person who is white. These are the movers and shakers and will be the ones to change this limited and prejudice thinking about size, shape and race.
Beauty my beloved people has no standard. Beautiful can have a large nose or big ears. Beautiful can be adorned with a painted African face or a Japanese kimono. Beauty has no standard and we only think so because we have been lied to about it for so long and anything different has been shelved by the mainstream folks who have the money to buy Gucci or Prada. Even within cultures of color we are looking at light skin and thinking it to be more beautiful than the dark skinned people. We have bought into the concept and there is such self-hatred some of us are passing for white when we are not. That my friends adds insult to injury. That my beloveds does not serve us as people of color and in fact adds to the problem. We must begin to bring forth the beauty of our children. We must insist on boycotting magazines that mainly use anglos as people who are attractive. We must create a venue that celebrates beauty in our own culture. Unfortunately we must play the same game.
I know that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I also know that the people beholding are usually not Latino or Black. Some may look at me as handsome while others not. That does not bother me one bit. What does concern me is that we usually see handsome as white. What concerns me is the self-esteem of our youth of color. If we see this issue as simply a beauty issue we are missing the main point which is that this is more about prejudice and hatred and being unfair to a particular sector of people in our society. It is hurtful and it is sad. It is more than just about what is considered pretty but more about who appears to be more important or more worthy. I feel saddened to still be talking about this issue yet I feel honored to be the messenger for some of us who struggle and have struggled for many years to feel worthy and as beautiful as anyone else.
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