A story that discusses the dangers of western beauty standards really hit home. It began like this. A group of ladies from a bi-weekly memoir writing group, "Woo Woo," share tears and laughs over wine. While exploring their backgrounds, they begin to reveal some not so happy childhood memories -- some of them were traumas caused by what they referred to as "unreasonable beauty standards" in their families and in life. Each woman had to come to terms with their own hurt and pain and learn their own ways of defining beauty in an article in Allure Magazine.
The article resonates with me as a black woman. One story describes my life completely. It was of a women's struggles from her childhood, rooted in colorism and Eurocentric beauty ideals, which favors the blue-eyed blonde hair features.
I can remember, as a child, thinking beauty meant long straight, wigged, weaved and soft hair. All these styles indicated "good hair." Achieving beauty meant hours spent at the salon hot-combing and perming my hair so it would lay straight as opposed to it's natural kinky curly state. Beauty meant that I had to be petite and light-skin, and I was curvy and quite tall, which was a factor in the development of self-esteem issues. One writer referred to Eurocentricity as a "pervasive, pre-historic pandemic" that we are yet to be made immune. I felt that!
In the field of Journalism, coming up, there were very few African Americans in the field. I've seen it all working at different networks. I was told that for interviews, I should straighten my hair. Natural hair was considered to be unprofessional in the field, and I read many similar stories. Based on the interview with Allure, Washington DC- based psychologist Afiya Abilishaka reports that she counsels her client's through these traumatic beliefs and refers to them as "aesthetic trauma," a term that describes a distressing experience related to appearance. Many of these beliefs lead to depression, eating disorders, anxiety and trauma. She claims that "women want to have a certain appearance so badly that they risk their health and wellness."
Although, this concept is not new, and beauty standards have been around since the beginning of time. Some have gone to the extreme to have the perfect body and the perfect look. Although, most black women are slowly moving to decolonize their beauty routine, many have not detached from these standards. A 2014 study states, 30 percent of college women rated a person's appearance as traumatic or difficult to handle. A person can develop issues such as body dysmorphia, which can also lead to anxiety or depression.
In my case, looking and talking like the average, thin and straight-haired reporter was extreme pressure for me. It began to give me anxiety and to take a toll on my performance.
Another case was in 2020, when Black Journalist Brittany Noble, 32, was fired from WJTV, a local station is Jackson Mississippi, after being chastised for wearing her natural hair. She was told that her natural hair is unprofessional and equivalent to throwing on a baseball cap to the grocery store.
She was also told that many of the pitches relating to race as not relatable -- this was exactly my experience. Now, some Black women are branching off and wearing their natural hair as well as natural features, not all of us have been made to feel comfortable in our skin.
Although, we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go!
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