An Exploration of Western “Beauty”
PC: Unsplash
Since the beginning of time, women have lived in a constant state of limbo. Almost always deemed inferior to their male counterparts, the ‘fairer sex’, women have constantly been subjected to baseline social rules: how to behave, how to speak, and most of all, how to look. The struggle of women’s beauty standards are endlessly complex. The tendency of societies to impose beauty standards onto women is amplified and further complicated by factors such as colonialism, economic positioning, and the internet. Many things can contribute to the way someone is seen as beautiful or ugly in society, but not by way of coincidence.
Historically, Western beauty standards have aligned with appearances of the rich and the successful, areas which today commonly overlap with white communities. The extent of colonialism’s imposition of Western culture onto other groups did not just include colonial social orders or political and economic agendas – it seeped into every crevice of society. As a result, whiteness and Eurocentricity were praised and uplifted, with features associated with the colonized groups being considered undesirable. Light skin, light eyes, thin bodies, and straight hair, among other features, became the ideal, eventually forming the standardsof the modern age. Today, though, the ideal of beauty has slightly shifted. The rise of the internet exposed many to different kinds of beauty, encompassing a diverse racial and ethnic spectrum. Ethnic features such as full lips, “fox eyes”, and body types commonly found among women of color gradually began to integrate into the white beauty standard, resulting in the ideal morphing into a racially ambiguous appearance.
The likes of Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Emily Ratajkowski, among so many others, exemplify this new wave of beauty. Their beauty, with signature full pouts, large, round but still “feline” eyes, and impossibly high cheekbones demonstrate the new ideal of the digital age. However, many of these features come as results of surgical enhancements and procedures designed to maximize their beauty, not from their genealogy. In Jia Tolentino’s essay ‘The Age of Instagram Face’, where she discusses this phenomenon, she says, “...it was as if the algorithmic tendency to flatten everything into a composite of greatest hits had resulted in a beauty ideal that favored white women capable of manufacturing a look of rootless exoticism. ‘Absolutely,’ Smith said. “We’re talking an overly tan skin tone, a South Asian influence with the brows and eye shape, an African-American influence with the lips, a Caucasian influence with the nose, a cheek structure that is predominantly Native American and Middle Eastern.” It is impossibly clear that the standard has shifted - but what does this mean?
Women of color have been berated for their looks and forced to assimilate for social survival since the first impositions of colonial society. Hair relaxers for Black and brown women have been and still are heavily in use, skin lightening creams are extremely popular worldwide, and eye contacts are commonly employed to achieve lighter colored irises. Young girls of color grow up lacking representation in the media, striving to an ideal they cannot meet, but one they should not have to. The adoption of features of color into the white beauty ideal is not a tribute or a reparation - it’s the opposite. Uplifting white women for having these features (often gained through surgery) while socially punishing those to whom they occur naturally is yet another form of oppression, deadly in its effects on both sides. Women feel pressure to assimilate to the new standard, but those who already have the desired features still have “work to do”. It echoes the age-old tale of women’s beauty: a never ending battle against a wicked, uncontrollable force. The desire to be perfect in the eyes of the world is all-consuming and many will go to unhealthy and even dangerous means to achieve this supposed perfection. Plastic surgery has risen in popularity in the past few decades, becoming more common and accessible. Additionally, practically every female public figure has allegations of surgery, both normalizing and stigmatizing the process. The battle of natural vs. fake faces and bodies is a cesspool of toxicity. Online discourse heavily debates and labels women as shameful if they have undergone procedures, but the flip side of the coin isn’t much better. Women are not seen as beautiful unless they’re perfect, but this perfection is an impossible thing to achieve.
Throughout history, beauty has been used as a tool to oppress. This oppression was only further expanded when people of different ethnic backgrounds and appearances started to come together. The systems against people of color encompass so much more than most are aware of. The weaponry of beauty, essentially a myth in this day and age, keeps women of color in a vulnerable place. But beauty can still be found even without perfection. The fear of ugliness is one instilled in every woman, a product of a society wired against the idea of self-love, making the act an inherently radical one. For many, beauty is culture. The natural hair movement of the 70s, the Chicana feminists of the 90s, and the countless women of color of today all have and continue to defy and expand upon what we think of when we think of beauty. As women, self-worth, confidence, and the ability to appreciate our beauty are not guaranteed for us. However, it is our duty to each other, and most of all to ourselves, to seek out our own value and recognize our own worth.
