GRSJ224/postcolonialbeautynorms

Beauty Norms in a Postcolonial World

Beauty norms have changed throughout different historical periods, just like fashion trends have come and gone. Across the world, contact among cultures and peoples has led to the development of different ideas about beauty and fashion. However, nothing has had more of an impact on beauty ideas than colonialism. Colonialism spread all over the world and the cultures that came into contact with colonialists have been affected. Colonization has exported European beauty ideals all over the world, and the main feature of beauty seems to be light skin. As colonizers have been overwhelmingly European, they judged people by comparing them to European beauty standards. In some countries, those who had lighter skin were promoted to higher positions by the colonists, and were considered to be superior to those with darker skin. In the 21st century, the ideals of beauty are imposed by hegemonic idea that the fair white women is the main definition of "beautiful" (Phoenix, 2014). Perhaps it is possible to find the roots of wanting similar features and lighter skin in a "colonized mindset" that has been imposed on people all over the world (Davis, 2003, p. 80). Kaw (1993) says that first, women have been taught to believe that they have to work at being beautiful, because maintaining their beauty is a feminine obligation. Undergoing cosmetic surgery to look more western is a sign that many women have internalized racial ideas, and the standards of beauty to which they adhere are influenced by their adherence to a racial motivation (Kaw, 1993, p. 79).

Homogenizing Beauty

In order to understand how beauty has come to be homogenized throughout a world that contains so many cultures, peoples and ideas, is important to look at things from an intersectional perspective and see how "racism, colourism and patriarchal patterns of desire" influence how women are judged (Phoenix, 2014, p. 98). It is also important to note that women have always been the "primary recipients of all kinds of cosmetic surgery" and they are the ones who are mostly likely to seek surgeries which would alter their ethnic features (David, 2003).

The reason beauty is becoming "homogenized" all over the world has to do with globalization. While it is true that colonialism brought certain ideas to different parts of the globe, the argument can be made that we no longer live in a colonized world. Yet, we live in a world where the same handful of companies sell products all over the world; where a few countries have a virtual monopoly over producing the entertainment that all of the world consumes. From this point of view, it can be argued that companies have corrupted the minds of people and made them see beauty as whatever is being packaged and sold in glossy magazines and commercials. An example of this is the case of Lupita Nyong'o, the actress who played Patsey in 12 Years a Slave. Nyong'o is a beautiful women with dark skin. When she was featured in Vanity Fair, either the photograph or her skin were considerably whiter than what her actual complexion looks like in the movie, thus indicating that "Nyong'o's skin color was considered too dark to feature in Vanity Fair" (Phoenix, 2014, p. 99).

"Colourism" as a Determinant of Beauty & Status

Across the world, the human racial variations are innumerable, so it is impossible to say that one race has more beauty than another. Yet, when we look as social realities, light skins plays the role of "a form of symbolic capital that is converted into economic capital and advantage in the heterosexual market" (Phoenix, 2014, p. 98).

Phoenix (2014) notes that doing a quick Twitter search for ideas associated with "light skin" and beauty reveals some very problematic attitudes towards beauty and how "light skin is the right skin" (p. 108). What is more Phoenix (2014) argues that "people with light skin earn more money, complete more years of schooling, live in better neighborhoods, and marry higher-status people than darker-skinned people of the same race or ethnicity" (p. 98).

The companies producing skin bleaching creams or products are making huge profits from marketing insecurity. Research shows that people want lighter skin so badly that they even used illegal creams which contain dangerous products or chemicals (Phoenix, 2014, p. 100).

Plastic surgery is also very prominent in some countries, such as "blepharoplasty," or "double eyelid surgery" practiced in huge numbers in countries such as South Korea (Phoenix, 2014, p. 100). Davis (2003) looks at cosmetic surgery which is meant to "eliminate the physical markers of ethnicity or race" or "ethnic cosmetic surgery" and argues that this type of intervention is not just a "beauty practice" but it is a modification in identity (p. 74).

Some people argue that there is nothing wrong with plastic surgery because it is just another way to enhance a person's looks but also to give a person an edge so to speak, in navigating social relations. For example one way to see cosmetic surgery is "as a newly won right for previously excluded groups," similar to "access to higher education, well-paid jobs and home" (David, 2003, p. 78).

Racialized Sexism

Racialized sexism is an expression which is used to refer describe how women of color experience both racism and sexism (Phoeniz, 2014). The fact that so many people seek ways to enhance their beauty is indicative of "a broader system of attitudes and actions in which particular categories of individuals - women or people of color - are devalued, while men and whites are privileged" (David, 2003, p. 79). In the case of Asian-American women, for example, research shows that they experience both generalized racism (eg. they are assumed to be bad drivers) and gender-specific racism, because they are both female and Asian (Mukkamala & Suyemoto, 2018). Asian American women therefore experience a type of racism which is both "racialized and gendered" (Mukkamala & Suyemoto, 2018, p. 44). In some ways, women might feel like they reduce the racism and discrimination against them by getting more power through becoming more attractive. Yet, some argue that "in seeking independent, they can become even more dependent on male assessment," so this might not lead to liberation but to giving in to the expectations of the dominant culture, which is "male-supremacist, racist, ageist, heterosexist, anti-Semitic, ableist and class-biased" (Morgan, 1991, p. 38).

References

Davis, K. (2003). Surgical passing: Or why Michael Jackson's nose makes `us' uneasy. Feminist Theory, 4(1), 73-92.

Kaw, E. (1993). Medicalization of racial features: Asian American women and cosmetic surgery. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 7(1), 74-89.

Mukkamala, S., & Suyemoto, K. L. (2018). Racialized sexism/sexualized racism: A multimethod study of intersectional experiences of discrimination for Asian American women. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9(1), 32-46.

Morgan, K. P. (1991). Women and the knife: Cosmetic surgery and the colonization of women's bodies. Hypatia, 6(3), 25-53.

Phoenix, A. (2014). Colourism and the politics of beauty. Feminist Review, 108(108), 97-105.