Is Beautiful Created Equal?

Is beautiful, beautiful??
From the New York Times:
Apparently the July issue of Italian Vogue will use only women of color throughout the magazine to call attention to prejudice. Read the article “Conspicuous By Their Presence” HERE.

See the slideshow: “Beautiful is Beautiful” HERE.

Needless to say, I think this is great. Growing up, I didn’t see an abundance of positive and beautiful images of women of color in media, especially African American women. Even in the toy stores, it was hard to find black barbies and dolls with dark skin. I know this may sound trivial, but I think that had to have at least some impact on my perception of beauty growing up. Even today, I can say that as a mommy of a toddler, sometimes I struggle to find dolls for my daughter with brown skin. **Sigh**

In many fashion magazines, you will see the ‘token’ black woman or black guy–as if they were included just to be politically correct and that is incredibly frustrating. So to have the disparity acknowledged, albeit not, of course, in the American Vogue…is encouraging.

I do not want my daughter to grow up under the impression that she is a second-class citizen; that somehow her beauty, her skin are ‘less-than.’ It is time to break down the barriers, the lies that have been promulgated throughout American history about what “black” is.

I want my daughter to grow up and be able to see images of African American women in the media that reinforce what I tell her everyday: “You are beautiful! You are perfect! Black is beautiful!”

June 19, 2008. beauty, random thoughts. 5 comments.