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Beauty Standards and Women of Colour: When beauty is defined by how light your skin is

“You know what, you’re my prettiest black friend.” A comment made by someone I used to know, directed at one of my friends (while I was sitting right there, might I add… #rude). This was my inspiration for writing this piece. For the first time in my life, the issue of how beauty is defined became real to me. It had never hit so close to home before. Why is she pretty “for a black girl”, why can someone not just be beautiful because they are beautiful, no questions asked?

Whilst society has largely evolved in the past decade or so, the way in which beauty is discussed certainly has not. In a world with an abundance of colours, races, ethnicities and cultures, it is seemingly ridiculous that beauty is still defined and judged by the lightness of your skin. In many communities around the world, the lighter your skin is, the better you are treated and the higher your regarded as a member of society. In some of these communities, parents will encourage their children to shield their skin from the sun with hats and umbrellas out of fear that their skin may turn even the least bit darker. When put against such brutal standards, how many woman of colour find themselves empowered to appreciate their own beauty? Well, not many is the answer to that. When beauty is narrowly defined as belonging to those with lighter skin, it leaves everyone who do not fall in that bracket feeling less worthy.

Speaking as a woman of colour from Kenya, the skewed perception of beauty also carries inside the WoC community itself. For example, a lighter skinned black woman will often be regarded as more beautiful than a woman with darker skin. Why is this? What is it that has drummed this idea that the lighter your skin is, the more beautiful you are in our heads? And how do we change it? When someone like Halle Berry and someone like Lupita Nyong’o are put in comparison in magazines, on social media or just in eeveryday conversation, most people are conditioned to sway towards seeing Halle Berry as the ‘more beautiful’ woman simply because she has lighter skin. Both women of colour, just different tones. In fact, there should be no comparison at all. Both women are equally as beautiful as each other in their own very different and individual ways.

In an age where our whole lives are dictated by the internet and social media, the only way to curb peoples thinking is through that very medium. Much more representation of a broad spectrum of skin colours in magazines, TV/film and other forms of media would be a great start. From the palest to the darkest, there needs to be representation for all. Parents bringing these issues up with their children, both people of colour and those who are not, is another way to ensure that the younger generation does not follow in the footsteps of the previous. This is an era of change and a time for people to speak out about issues that generations before us might not have had the courage to.

Skin colour and skin tone should never factor into anyone’s standards of beauty. There is no single image that sets the international standard for beauty and we should stop acting like there is. From the palest to the darkest, we are all just as beautiful as each other and it’s time for both women and men to start realising that. Different is good, diversity is good, our differences are what make us beautiful, interesting and unique.

Beauty has no skin tone, no definition, and cannot be put into a box.

Lot's Wife Editors

The author Lot's Wife Editors

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