The Glorification of Ethnic Features Today
Spray tans, lip filler, eyebrow lift surgeries, and more – such procedures have grown to be popular within our world today and have vastly taken over modern beauty standards. Famous white celebrities and influencers, such as the Kardashians, Rita Ora, and Jesy Nelson have repeatedly been called out for taking spray tans too far and significantly altering their bodies to achieve racial ambiguity.
Despite this popularization, women of color have consistently been demonized when they naturally possess these features, whereas white women often receive praise and admiration for them. For instance, celebrity Kim Kardshian has been heavily criticized for making her skin color darker for social media posts and photoshoots. What is commonly known as “Black fishing” is exactly what Kardashian does; she appropriates racially Black features by drastically altering her physical appearance to the point where many have difficulty telling what her race is.
Similar to Kardashian, British singer Jesy Nelson has caused public outrage due to her extreme change of appearance from a conventional white woman to a completely unrecognizable, seemingly ethnically ambiguous person. Drastically darkening her skin and receiving lip injections has considerably transformed her appearance, fueling plenty of criticism for supposed Black fishing.
Cherry-picking certain Black features and consistently appropriating them has become far too common in the world today. Women of color are constantly harassed and discriminated against for having natural ethnic features, yet they endure countless instances of racism and judgement for them. White women have appropriated much of POC features without experiencing the scrutiny that women of color face due to their natural features. Celebrities with much influence in the beauty industry have heavily contributed to this phenomenon of white women wanting to look anything but white.
Celebrities such as Kardashian and Nelson are individuals who have much influence in the beauty standards being promoted today. With countless influencers shaping the way we are supposed to define beauty, there is quite a bit of hypocrisy that is prevalent in the way such standards are advertised in the media especially.
It is important to be mindful of these modified beauty standards in our world today. Many women of color have been told all their life that their features aren’t beautiful or acceptable, causing low self esteem and a sense of feeling alienated. They do not need to be told that their hair is too curly, or their skin is too dark just as white women do not need to be told the exact opposite when they obtain artificial similar features. White women must rethink what they view as the beauty standard – is it just a nice tan or really an act of appropriation?
