*Guest Post* Beauty: African American Women in Society

Women have always had a difficult time achieving equality within society. But women of color, such as African American women, have often been forgotten when striving for equality between race and gender. Today, in America, it is very difficult for an African American woman to fit into the mold of what is considered beautiful. When the color or tint of her skin does not fit into the mold of beauty she is usually chastised by society as a whole and by the one in which she lives. With the invention of Photoshop, fashion magazines will often lighten the skin of their black models, making it more obvious that lighter skin is better. When young girls look to fashion magazines to identify what society deems beautiful, they are often confronted with the illusion of beauty. An illusion black girls and women often notice is that the lighter the skin the more beautiful and desirable she appears. Often Black women have a difficult time presenting their beauty, even with darker skin, because beauty cosmetics do not have makeup foundations that match their skin color. Other than skin color, the hair of black women is often changed or modified to have more of an appearance of a white woman’s hair. This process includes time, money, and resources, which can be psychology damaging to the individual and how she feels about herself. How a woman feels about herself physically and psychology, in terms of beauty, depends on what she is introduced to in the real word and the illusionary world of fashion magazines; unfortunately, there is often confusion as to which is real or illusion.

When flipping through a fashion magazine I began to notice how very few of the models have darker skin or are in face black, and I became aware  that these “standards of beauty describe in precise terms the relationship that an individual will have to her own body” (Dworkin). By viewing this one magazine, a girl or woman would assert that in order to be beautiful one must be light skinned. With Photoshop becoming a widely used tool within the fashion industry, many black women are made to look like their skin is lighter. This only creates an illusion of what beauty should look like to the black woman. Many young African American girls and women have a difficult time viewing themselves as beautiful based on what they are presented with daily. This fiction has infiltrated the daily lives of many black women, and is now being praised within the black community as a form of beauty that must be achieved. Many young black girls and women go to great lengths in order to attain this unattainable form of beauty that they are often disappointed.

            One of the major disappointments for black women is how rare it is to find makeup that fits their skin tone. Because most cosmetics do not create numerous kinds of color tones for those individuals with darker skin tones, many of the fashion magazines display their makeup for light skinned or white women. White women take this for granted. If a white woman were to purchase makeup, there would be no issue as to whether it will match their skin “flesh” color (McIntosh). Makeup is not the only issue for black women. There various different types of beauty products that are supposed to be nude or skin color, such as the “perfect” push-up bra, but they seem to only favor women with light skin. When a black woman feels that she must look a certain way to be beautiful, yet all tools needed for this result are not available to her, she may feel that she is not a beautiful or desirable person. This is how what society allows to be displayed as beauty can affect an individual of color.

Another factor that many black women deal with in terms of beauty is hair. According to many fashion magazines and commercials, hair should be smooth, sleek, straight, order to be beautiful. In other words, “white”. Black women often deal with how their hair should look in order to achieve beautiful. The idea came about when magazines began publishing advertisements showing black women with, what can only be explained as, white women hair. The model is always shown with very smooth, shiny, straight hair. Many young black girls and women go to great lengths to have hair identical to a picture in a magazine, and sometimes the results of using chemicals can be devastating. Because genetics play a major role in how an individual’s hair will look, this is a very unnatural picture of what is beautiful. With numerous advertisements depicting this same type of beauty for black women, it is hard to avoid. This type of image influences black women and girls to think that in order to be beautiful they must look like that model, which often leaves them disappointed. This illusionary ideal beauty is quickly becoming a problem within the black community. This is also becoming a problem in how boys and men observe beauty in women. If young black men begin to believe that this form is the only form of beauty than young women will be pressured to fit the mold.

The constant pressure for beauty many black women live with is a form of oppression. They are being forced into a mold that does not exist in reality, but in the minds of others. As long as other individuals keep insisting that there is particular form of beauty, that must be achieved, black women will continue having a difficult time identifying the natural and normal forms of beauty. In “Oppression,” Marilyn Frye states that oppression happens when there are barriers restricting change. When there is a constant reminder to young black women and girls that there is only one kind of beauty, it prevents their ability to grasp other forms of beauty as beautiful. This creates the idea that if the ideal beautiful is not achieved, than ugly is the only other option. This oppression of the mind reduces young women to believe that if they do not fit into the mold, they must squeeze into the mold with makeup, hair products, etc. in order to be happy. It is only when escaping the mold does an individual realize that it is all an illusion. 

By: Amanda Lessard