Colonialism and Beauty

During this month, the United States celebrated July 4th, its national holiday commemorating independence from the British in 1776. Notably, when that independence was gained, it was not accessible for all, and it would take nearly another century for enslaved peoples to gain their freedom. The United States was one of many countries where the ideas set in place by colonial powers carried into society for years to come. The treatment of people and their rights is one major component of this legacy of colonialism. Another, often unexamined component, is how we see ourselves and others. Centered in this discussion is the conversation of beauty. In previously colonized nations, especially those where the existing population looked different from the colonizing population, the idea of what is beautiful is often completely rewritten. It begs the questions: what is the beauty standard, why is it this way, and where did it come from?

The term “beauty standard” carries the notion that there are physical attributes that equate to a “right” way of being beautiful. The beauty industry capitalizes on this idea to market products that are supposed to “enhance” a woman’s physical appearance. There is this idea, embedded into young girls’ minds, that in order to be attractive, they have to look a certain way. The “All American Beauty” is a caricature that, for centuries, has been praised for being the most desirable appearance in society. A blue-eyed, tall, thin, white, blond woman is seen as “perfection” and anything that deviates from it is ridiculed and forced to conform in order to be considered “pretty”.

Where Does the “Beautiful Woman” Come From

The ideals of a beautiful woman are perpetuated through various media such as school, politics, film, television, advertisement, and even the medical system. This is not an accident; society’s perspective of beauty has been heavily influenced by American ideals and Western values that have impacted the world in more ways than one. A standard of “whiteness” was established to measure beauty, leading to the mindset that “whiter is better”.

But what does it really mean when we say that the perspective of beauty has been distorted by Western values? Let’s start with this question; what makes a person attractive? Is it their shiny long hair? What about their slim, proportionate nose?

In order to understand the Western ideal of attractiveness, we need to understand the exploitative nature that the West has shaped into what we think beauty is today.

Beauty and Whiteness

“Th[e] association between beauty and whiteness has proved hard to shake”. NPR editor and creator of “Ask Code Switch” Leah Donnella, explains that current Western beauty standards “celebrate whiteness” not based on anything objective, evolutionary or biological, but for just being a white person. This myth was constructed by settlers during the colonial period. In her book, “Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality”, Anne McClintock describes the relationship between “[the] conception [of] clean or white skin color with colonialism”. Colonists considered natives as “wild and nasty” in regards to their black or brown skin. The distinction between skin tones became the foundation of colonialists’ creation of the social stratification that is still seen today.

“Whiteness” became the new medium and ads only focused on keeping the status quo with products such as whitening creams, brightening lotions, and the same five shades of porcelain foundations. There is a certain sense of prestige and intimacy that these advertisements illustrate that one can’t help but think that “the obsession with white can be categorized as a colonial nostalgia or even colonial trauma.”

Cleanliness and Class

For decades, the cosmetic ads in Asia reflect the postcolonial ideology of beauty. When colonists settled in Asia, there was this perpetual narrative that “clean” equaled culture. Clean was and is still analogous to being “clean of uncivilized or civilizing people who are still natural.” People who were of black or brown skin tone were seen as “dirty” by Europeans and were synonymous to “uncultured”. By those standards, cleanliness was quite literally referring to a “state of impurities’’ and the desirability to be white also meant having soft, smooth and radiant skin, in an effort to be recognized as “beautiful” to the global community.

However, the European domination over the concept of whiteness was not as directly influencing in some countries. Asian countries such as Japan and Thailand were not formally colonized by European powers, but their influence on aesthetic culture was heavy nonetheless. Indian caste systems and myths believe that “the ideal of ‘whiteness’ played a role in Asian society in subtle forms even before European colonization of Africa, Asia and the world. In most of Asia having fairer skin symbolizes “youthfulness and high quality in women’’ and “the fairer skin one ha[d], the higher the future marriage partner’s social class could be”.

Understanding the Effects

Award-winning writer and activist, Zahira Kelly, explains that this concept generates the aforementioned exploitation and oppression of minority women. These women were, and still are, “forced to conform to certain societal standards” such as losing weight, changing hairstyles, or reforming their behavior; if such pressures aren’t adhered to, minority women can be ostracized from their communities.

These are only a few examples of the consequences from colonialism. The pressure to conform imposed a “hierarchy” within communities of color. Colorism is the discrimination based on one’s skin tone within minority communities. “Colorism has tainted darker minorities’ American dreams, based solely on their pigmentation”. The closer one resembles their European counterparts, the higher they are praised and rewarded for their physicality. Because of their higher status within their communities, lighter-skinned people of color become the representative of their minority. As a result, they create a picturesque image of a glamorous lifestyle, only obtainable through the means of status and resources to look like them.

So in a world where people are beginning to rectify their mistakes and embrace the nature that every skin is beautiful, why are some cosmetic companies still advertising “healthy skin is white and bright”?

The Power of Brands

Fair and Lovely, India’s largest selling skin lightening cream, is notorious for advertising towards young women to promote “fair skin as a means to finding love or a glamorous job”. As of late, Unilever, a huge consumer giant, and the public at large, has criticized the company for endorsing “colorism and making girls with darker shades feel insecure and inadequate.” People are going as far to say that the product is “built upon, perpetuates and benefits from internalized racism” and “promotes anti-blackness sentiments amongst all its consumers.”

But Fair and Lovely isn’t the only beauty product that has endorsed this message. Throughout the years, companies such as Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, and even Amazon have embraced this idea that healthy skin is equal to lighter, whiter skin. The Black Lives Matter movement sparked a lot of conversation around the world and shed some light on the deep impact that racism has in various corners of society, the beauty industry being one of them.

The foundations of society are not simple, and should not be taken at face value. History is told through the eyes of the victor and intentionally omits the experiences of others in the narrative. If we want to embrace all body types, religions, sexual orientations, races, class, and differently-abled people, then why are we taught that all of these things can’t be beautiful? We’re taught to push away what we can’t understand, but in order to make the changes we need to progress in life and live what we preach, then there has to be a way to redefine the standard of beauty.

How do we do that, you may ask? Redefine it ourselves. Take what you know and challenge it; educate yourself about other people and their experiences. Above all else, do what you can to make sure that beauty is not a force of exclusion, but a force of empowerment.

Sources:

Barnes, Z. (2018, March 14). The Unfair And Lovely Campaign Is Embracing Darker Skin Tones. Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.self.com/story/the-unfair-and-lovely-campaign-is-embracing-darker-skin-tones

Biron, B. (2020, June 30). Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, and L’Oreal are pulling skin-lightening products from shelves and removing terms like ‘whitening’ — and it could signal the start of a massive movement across the beauty industry. Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-are-pulling-skin-lightening-items-and-reckoning-with-racism-2020-6

Burnett, N. (2015). Colorism in mental health: Looking the other way. Journal of Colorism Studies, 1(1), 1–5. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/colorism-mental-health-looking-other-way/docview/1661718383/se-2?accountid=7113

Chaipraditkul, N. (2013). Thailand: Beauty and globalized self-identity through cosmetic therapy and skin lightening. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.int-res.com/articles/esep2013/13/e013p027.pdf

DeFino, J., Dall’Asen, N., Manian, S., Gelpi, P., Newman, S., & Collier, P. (2020, October 19). How White Supremacy and Capitalism Influence Beauty Standards. Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.teenvogue.com/story/standard-issues-white-supremacy-capitalism-influence-beauty

Donnella, L. (2019, February 06). Is Beauty In The Eyes Of The Colonizer? Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/02/06/685506578/is-beauty-in-the-eyes-of-the-colonizer

Fenoglio, I. (2020, June 03). Colonialism Influenced Beauty Standards, Activist Says. Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.bcheights.com/2017/11/09/colonialism-influenced-beauty-standards-activist-says/

Pandey, G. (2020, June 25). Fair and Lovely: Can renaming a fairness cream stop colourism? Retrieved December 21, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53182169

Wulan, R. R. (2017). The Myth of White Skin: A Postcolonial Review of Cosmetics Ads in Indonesia. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/pdf/2017/01/shsconf_icome2017_00048.pdf