Check out BBC’s excellent slideshow highlighting “Natural African Beauty.”
A beauty pageant in Côte d’Ivoire (also known as Ivory Coast) strikes back against the dangerous processing of skin bleaching and its underlying doctrine: that only White is beautiful. A song commissioned for the competition sings: “African women, don’t lighten your skin. It’s a gift from God.”
Women across the world are bombarded by unrealistic images of beauty. I lead workshops on body image and self esteem for girls in Central Texas from ages 10-18 years. At some point in the session I always ask the girls to describe a "beautiful woman" as they see in the media.
Without fail she is described first and foremost as being thin or skinny and tall. She has long blond-hair and blue eyes. She has no freckles or scars or blemishes. She has long legs that seem to shine. And, it pretty much goes without saying that she is white. But, for good measure I always ask the girls what is the race of this "beautiful woman." It does not matter if there is not a single Caucasian female in the class, the ideal image of beauty is White. Thus, it is not surprising to me that increased globalization in West Africa, among other places, is that we see an increase in girls and women trying to bleach their skin or starve themselves. As our twisted, unrealistic ideals of beauty are exported, womens' self esteem and pride plummets.
Until 2001, a black African woman was never crowned as Miss World. Many ethnic groups in West and Central Africa consider bigger women to be beautiful—but these women were considered “fat” by Western standards. However, the Nigerian “Most Beautiful Girl” judges used the tactic of sending a skinny contestant to compete for the Miss World crown. Agbani Darego won, and is now a national hero. While older Nigerians find her unattractive, younger girls see her as a role model. According to the article, Nigerian films and music are now praising slim girls, and women are increasingly dieting and exercising.
Andrea Falkenhagen, a student at UW-Madison, put it finely:
"These examples of the Western ideal woman being exported to other parts of the world are alarming. Such images will no doubt tear at women’s self-esteem in Africa every bit as much as they do in the United States. As more and more women do not eat because they fear being ugly or unwanted, a new type of violence will permeate their lives. Some feminists refer to women who have starved or manipulated their bodies to conform to the ideal as “beauty survivors.” Such women must deal with the physical effects such as osteoporosis, malnutrition or surgery scars. They also face some of the same symptoms of battery or rape survivors—difficulty having personal boundaries, disconnection from their own sense of body, difficulty believing in their own decision-making ability, emotional distance and lowered self-esteem.
In addition, concerns about weight and appearances will only serve to distract and hinder women from fighting for things they really need. In the United States, as well as abroad, women face discrimination, violence, a lack of health care, child care and education, just to name a few. All these forms of oppression are connected, and they are all more important than the size of a waistline [or shade of skin]. For this reason, it is imperative to challenge these negative images about women’s natural bodies whether they occur in the media, on the street or in conversations with friends."
[emphasis mine]
