I’m sick of being told I’m pretty for a black girl…
September 4, 2009
I am all for Utopia and believing that we should all look at each other as one race the human race. I believe in that very much and hold dear to it but the reality is yes we are the human race but we are different and with our differences we can still co-exist and love each other like my brother from another mother.
As a young black woman it is essential to know that I am black and embrace that.
If we are trying to look like something we are not then we will always be second. If we are going to compete in the white category then we are never going to be good enough because guess what we are not white. We have our own category and there is beauty in that, until we as black women realise that and start showing it to the world, the world (including black men) will still think there is only one category and hold us to those standard.
We automatically without thinking go through this world just complying with society and what the standard of beauty is. That system is flawed because it has only one category and we go through life trying to tick the boxes within that category sometimes subconsciously. We change a few things just to fit in to that category because the opposite of not being in is UGLY.
The reason for this post is that I was going through YouTube and came across a video titled “I’m sick of being told I’m pretty for a black girl…” and it got me thinking. This was not the first video of black women questioning why people think this way and come out with comments like this. I feel so strongly about this and I just think not enough black women get this. Tyra Banks did a few shows about this but it barely scratched the surface and became just another light entertainment.
I think if enough people get it things will start to change. The industry will start to change. Their will be more business investment in black cosmetics, more black models and presenters, a more interesting miss universe where they don’t all look the same just a different shade, people like India Arie and Lauryn Hill will sell more records, sales of weaves will plummet, i will be able to find the right shade of tights, women will go into work with their afros high and proud.
Its not just the industry that will change but generation of young black women will start to believe in themselves, start to see beauty and be bold and confident enough to go into the modeling industry just as they are.
We need to delete everything we think we know about beauty and start again. We need to write our own standard of beauty and realise that we are not the ugly duckling but a beautiful Swan.
