To think the Uk Standards of beauty are suited to White people

[QueenofSouthLondon]

I have noticed as a black women that hardly any celebrities that are considered beautiful are black. In fact I can't think of one black (excluding mixed) or Asian British celebrity that is considered as beautiful by the whole nation.

Why is it that in this country we only find European features as attractive. It frustrates me as a black women that my features are not considered attractive outside my race.

So aibu to think this.

On this*

Consumer magazines are not in business to engineer racial/social/sexual/whatever diversity. They are in business to sell advertising, which is in business to help sell stuff - whatever it takes.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/18/black-models-fashion-magazines-catwalks sorry this is from last year but this year's fashion week articles are only just emerging.

Yanbu.
I have noticed that black and Asian women who do well with a mainstream audience are pretty western looking- Jordan Dunn, Naomi Campbell, Freida Pinto, Joan Smalls...

You can apply the argument to all sorts of minority groups. I'm quite short - name me one high profile "beautiful" short woman. Not short-ish, below 5'3".
Name me an overweight "beautiful" woman.
Name me a beautiful woman who wears glasses.

The global idea of beauty for women has come to be blonde, blue eyed, tall, long hair, slim and slightly tanned.
The complete antithesis of the main characteridtics of many races, not just black skinned races.
I'm Celtic. We are typically short, big bummed, dark haired and pale skinned.

yanbu. Also its always young and slim women. There is definitely a beauty prototype that includes those things here, I don't like it, but I think everywhere has its own cultural definition of beauty depending on time and place. Hopefully as individuals we don't all unquestioningly accept those definitions though, well I know we don't because there is a market for all races, shapes, genders and sizes in terms of pornography (a whole other thread!).

Recently I have been girl crushing on Lupita Nyong'o . I'm not sure what mainstream opinion on her is but I find her beautiful and mesmerising. She must have designers clamouring to dress her despite her height because whatever colour she wears she just glows.

It just pisses me off that famous black women get nose jobs to thin the nose and skin bleaching to look European it's wrong.

At the moment the beauty industry is peddling the thick eyebrow,tan,dyed hair look because it takes money to achieve it. Its all about the money. Women being told they need this stuff to look younger,feel better,attract a man,make people jealous,have a fabulous life.

I can't think of anybody who would be considered beautiful by the entire nation, or indeed by a group of more than 10 people. This is because we all think differently.

many apparently consider catwalk models to be beautiful, and they are not all white. I see sulky waddling emaciation.

not being a sheep, I make my own choices. Not that I really care what anyone else looks like.

I can understand your frustration, OP. It's true, black women are not generally considered as universally appealing as a subset of white women are and it's not based on any kind of objective truth about how beautiful black women are, it's totally habit and prejudice.

We've all grown so accustomed to looking at a certain type of woman as aspirational that I think we aren't even really aware that huge swathes of the population are totally invisible. It's a bit like the sexy lady used to sell everything trope. We're accustomed to it, it's the background so we barely notice it and oddly, as you see on this thread, so acceptable that if you try to challenge it some people get defensive and irritated.

I don't think it is true that there aren't black woman in the public eye who people think are beautiful.

I do think it is true they receive less coverage in the media, less frequently cover girls for magazines etc.

For example, in my opinion, Jourdan Dunn is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. However, she is put on far fewer magazine covers than Cara Delivigne, a model of the same level of success.

I have also noticed that in the UK women (men too) of East Asian heritage are almost entirely ignored, there are none in the soaps or really just visible in the public eye in the same way white, black and South Asian people are.

Jourdan Dunn is mixed race though.

YANBU OP. There are plenty of studies to back you up.

Look at the girl at the Oscars who wore dreads and got accused of smelling of weed.

Look at the abuse that FKA Twigs got from Twilight fans who considered her unworthy to date Robert Pattinson, because she was "ugly" it not white.

Ie not white

I agree alisvolat.

Amongst my friends with Indian heritage, the desirability of having whiter skin appears to be from beliefs reinforced within their own families/communities rather than outside influence. (I acknowledge that it's probably not possible to separate the two completely)

I don't think comparing race to weight or age is right at all. With age everyone will be young at one point. Also people's weight can vary throughout their lives. Whereas your race is a pretty much done deal at the moment of conception.

Lupita N'yongo
Naomi Campbell
Freema Agyeman
Beyonce
Mel B
Iman
Zawe Ashton
Sophie Okonedo

There are loads of nationally recognised beautiful black women, not all from UK and some of them may be mixed race but mixed race is typical of anyone living in UK, black or white. We're a very mixed nation.

I don't think blonde models bear any more resemblance to the average white woman than the average black woman. Lots of ordinary white women have pasty skin, thin hair and lips, pointy noses and their features aren't considered beautiful in the world at large either. The features we are told are beautiful make women of all races feel insecure, because we don't have them. They are a bizarre combination of childlike features combined with pick and mix features from every race under the sun - Swedish hair, Spanish skin tone. African lips, Slavic cheekbones, Egyptian eye shape etc, so we can all feel ugly and inadequate and thankful to be noticed by any bloke anywhere.

I've been in saunas and swimming pools with people of all races and the women who look better naked are almost invariably the ones with the darkest black skin. Black skin carries extra weight better, it disguises cellulite and skin blemishes better, accentuates muscle tone better, ages far better. That's a common point of physical jealousy among white women I know.

I agree GreySanderson, because you can compare like with like - get 2 twenty year old, 6 feet tall, size 6, big eyed beautiful women, one white, one black - and see who gets cast more often.

Although the UK is seen as culturally and racially diverse, the 2011 census showed that White people made up 92 percent of the population. Black and mixed race people were around 4 percent. I think if you live in London or Birmingham etc you tend to have an inaccurate perception of what life is like in the rest of the country as the cities do tend to be diverse.

I think if you speak to individuals, we find all sorts of people beautiful but it's the same old story of media hype where only a very limited type of model is thrust at us.

Like other posters have said, there are no short, overweight, older, flawed models either. The models that they use do nothing for me but it's what they think we want to see. I don't buy magazines any more and haven't for years.

Don't let the media convince you that it is how everyone thinks.

Do mixed race women not count?

i'm fairly sure Jouradann Dunn identifies as being black.

As do Alicia Keys, Halle Berry, Beyonce, Zawe Ashton who all have mixed heritage.

Ok so the crux of this thread is:

A) the models aren't accurate representation of anyone so women of colour shouldn't be bothered about not being represented by consumer media. So suck it up.
B) we have a few models, actresses and singers of colour so suck it up. So what that they don't exactly resemble a lot of us?
C) white women are in awe of women of colour and their perfect skin

Which is it?

Black models and actors don't get cast because they are unrepresentative of the UK population?

Or popular media and culture is unrepresentative of the population which is why non-white people don't get cast?

Mixed race people will typically have features of both races. The whole point of the OP is that black features are generally not considered attractive.