The societal agreement that darker-skinned is less than, can affect marriage the dating choice for black men, and even opportunities to showcase black beauty. The birth of such hatred back dates from slavery, in those scenarios the lighter-skinned enslaved black women and their children. There has been an immense improvement over the years, but there is still room for improvement. This calls for a renewing of the mind for the generations to come, to a point that they did not even know colourism once existed.
Attractiveness within the black community is also a topic that should be up for an open discussion. Starting with the black nose i.e. the African American nose. A study was conducted in America for black noses, the groups were divided into three. Group A, B, and C the “African”, the “Afro-caucasian” and the Afro-Indian. Focusing on the study, it states that 44% belonged to the African group. The afro-Caucasian had 37% and Afro-Indians 19%. In the midst of this data, 53% was a concave dorsum that belonged to the African. Simply meaning that the African had the shortest and widest nose. The big nose and bigger lips have been classified as the last feature desired in society. Society often encourages narrowing the nose. Rhinoplasty is a method often used for narrowing the nose and it is widely supported. The lips can be seen as a negative if too big, and minorities often debate amongst themselves. However, experienced orthodontists stated the level of protrusiveness and thickness to be a necessity for maintaining aesthetics for the Africans, this is completely contrary to the societal view that big lips are unattractive.
These distorted views for both lips and noses arise from, the new prominent standard that reflects that current trend which concludes the concept of beauty. It is extremely dangerous which could even put children in danger of being hated based on their facial structure. Additionally, dangerous for both black women and men if they are deemed “undatable” if we keep distorting our ideals of beauty. There are accounts of young ladies being mystified because of their big noses and sizeable lips.
Self-love and acceptance are the ultimate incorporations needed within the community. Looks and beauty should remain a subjective element, and the societal agreement should not become a weapon of destruction for people born with bigger features.
As if classifying the features of the Africans as hideous wasn’t enough. Music videos that are glorified seem to be the ones downgrading the black women, this can often be encouraged by black men. A large majority of black women deem the videos as negative and misogynistic. Report from the root condemns the music of black women in even pop videos. It deems it as hypersexualized and endlessly sexual. The activists are calling on leading figures to make the amendments. I believe it is destructive and as stated by Dorothea Brenda “there are seeds of self-destruction in all of us that will only unhappiness if allowed to grow .”