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.

Posting a whole load of women who are mixed race proves the OPs point.

The only point the op seems to be proving is that some people aren't black enough for her liking.

YANBU

Many of the black models and celebrities listed by others are considered beautiful not because they are black but because their features are actually quite Anglican - Beyoncé is a good example of this. She is black, but light skinned, her hair is long and straight, she has Anglican features.

I agree it is a pity but we have such silly narrow minds where beauty is concerned.

That isn't fair Alis

If we turned it around and the white people who were considered to be the most conventionally attractive were the ones with darker skin tones, dark eyes and hair and with features and hairstyles traditionally associated with African women, it wouldn't be that they "weren't white enough" - the point is that the definitions of beauty are too narrow.

There are many stunning black women who aren't considered to be so because they look African. They have hairstyles traditional to their culture and features that stem from their heritage. And we, as a nation, do not celebrate those - but consider ourselves "not racist" because we think Beyoncé is beautiful.

There is one African American Disney princess who has dark skin but other than that looks white, one Indian one and one Japanese one who just look like dark haired English girls.

The rest? White. That's the message little girls have: to be beautiful is to be white, and if you aren't white, try to look white and then you will be beautiful. It's an uncomfortable message.

is that a problem if the op believes people represented in the media are not representative of black women enough for her to be able to identify with. that is what the thread is about and questioning why

As someone who is paler than white (almost blue in the winter), the media try to sell me tanning products at every opportunity and tell me I'm only beautiful if I have a tan - then I went to Egypt and the same brands advertise lightening creams there. We can't win - the media & beauty brands tell us if we're pale we should be tanned & if we're dark skinned we should be lighter!

If we all accepted ourselves as we are and recognised that it's our diversity and not our uniformity that is beautiful then they'd go out of business tomorrow.

YANBU - I think it's a lack of diversity at a higher level - how many black women from glamour magazine were involved in making that list? I'd bet none or a very small percentage of the panel. I can think of a dozen more black men who should be on it. But until there is representation at every level of business & society I doubt it will change.

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.

It's not just skin colour though, it's being a certain shape as well.

Some interesting studies have been done looking at anorexics, the typical anorexic is a white teenage female.

But OP YANBU

I agree with a poster above. I think is it actually mixed-race/Latina women, or anyone who has a racially ambiguous 'look' that is becoming the beauty ideal of today.

YANBU at all. Please do come over to the feminism thread if you feel like it, OP.

People mentioning tanning products like there's somehow parity - it's not just about the media trying to make people buy things - it's about a history of white supremacy and racism and shadism influencing how well products like skin lightening creams and hair relaxing products sell.

Look at what happens when black girls have roles that aren't cliched - www.forharriet.com/2012/04/rcism-and-other-bad-words.html#axzz3T8OqW2VG '“Kk call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn’t as sad #ihatemyself”.'

There is a racist outrage when white people see black people invading spaces where they aren't expected (presumably they hadn't read the book or read it closely enough but that's kind-of beside the point).

And please don't forget that there is still a subset of academics who try to prove that black people are inferior www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/17/satoshi-kanazawa-black-women-less-attractive_n_863327.html

This doesn't happen in a vacuum.

YANBU OP

Beauty standards conform to white features

Beyoncé had a nose job that made her wider nose thinner (thin noses are European) what message does that show to teenage girls.

news.makemeheal.com/images/tyra-banks-nose-job.jpg

cdn.hiphopwired.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/halleberrynosejob.jpg

cdn.hiphopwired.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/halleberrynosejob.jpg

i.huffpost.com/gen/977668/thumbs/o-BEYONCE-NOSE-JOB-570.jpg?6

my sons ideal women is the pop singer rhianna and she is black .opera winfry is considered beautiful for men of a certain age .ie my hubby .and we are a white family .

"I would say beauty standards conform to the country or geographical location that someone is in? So they differ all over the world."

They rarely do

In remote towns in Ecuador I saw clothes shops and posters where the mannequins and models were tall, blonde, slender with white western features. The indigenous people in that area tend to be short, muscular, with dark skin and hair and indigenous features. They can never conform to that "ideal" and are continuously reminded of that

It's not true that there are different standards of beauty all over the world. They sell skin lightening creams in India, plastic surgery to westernise eyes in China and hair relaxants in Nigeria. Whiteness as an international beauty standard is driven by imperialism and global media.

Look at the top actresses in Bollywood - how many of them have South Asian features versus European ones?

Aprilanne but Rihanna again has light skin and had a nose job she also has green eyes. So she is not representative of the average black women same with Oprah.

What o xoxo said. To me that's the obvious answer.

X-posted with Petula.

It's depressing reading posts on this thread minimising what happens here. As though it's natural that all over the world women are told that white features and light skin is the ideal.

As the vast majority of Europeans are white I'm not really surprised by this.

I wonder if the reverse is true if one were to ask those living in Africa or the Caribbean? Would they favour products being advertised using black models or find black people more attractive generally?

Exactly petula

Sliver i think your question as already been answered above.

Just because Europeans are white doesn't mean that black Europeans should not have celebrities or models that are black. 2% of this country are black we are a growing group when is mainstream media going to represent us accordingly