Why am I ugly? Why is my nose so fat and wide? Why are my cheeks so chubby? Why are my eyes so dark and bland? Why is my curly hair so disgusting? Whether you’d like to admit or not, these are some questions we ask ourselves daily. Plus let’s not forget our dream to get a nose job when we’re older.
Recently, the Black Lives Matter movement has ignited a reckoning among the South Asian community: our own history of colorism, the idea that a fairer complexion is prettier. With that comes our own perceived idea that a thinner nose, face, and lips with bigger, lighter eyes and high cheekbones are what beauty really is. No matter how much we say beauty is skin deep, we all idolize those features.
Eurocentric features, such as the ones mentioned above, have been elevated to become the ideal beauty standards. Not only on the streets of New York, Paris or Milan, but Mumbai, Tokyo, and Amman. This is a disease. There are people on the streets of Beirut signing up for plastic surgery, people in Nigeria straightening their curly hair, and people lined up in Seoul for double eyelid surgery.
Is this our fault? No, absolutely not. When I search up beautiful women on Google, the pictures are exclusively of white women. What do our favorite models of color have in common? Eurocentric features. But even so, they are a deviation from the current beauty standards. These Eurocentric beauty standards maintain a racial hierarchy. In colonized areas, it was another form of marginalizing native people. Creating the idea that their white race and their eurocentric features are superior.
It has stolen our cultural beauty. People are scared to tan in the summer heat. Or take care of their bouncy curls. Our identities and our features are not a deviation. They are beautiful, no matter what the industry tells us.
Most importantly, what can we do? Change starts within and at home. Take time to reevaluate your actions and opinions. Take time to let your natural beauty shine: whether by showing off your curly hair or not excessively contouring. (Of course, wearing makeup is not a bad thing, but make sure you wear it to accentuate your beauty not to hide your features that aren’t deemed pretty by society). Take time to talk to your family and friends about their actions and beliefs. And remember there is no such thing as beauty standards. Beauty is truly on the inside! And no, you are not ugly.
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