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Friday, May 21, 2010 | 7:31am
SOUND OFF: Is The Black Standard Of Beauty Actually White Beauty?
Those kids who take that colored doll test, how do they behave when they grow up?
@cnnbrk
What does a beautiful black woman look like? Beyonce? Or Vanessa Williams? There is a good chance that if you ask the average black guy he’d give you an answer like those two. Is there anything wrong with those type of answers? Maybe and maybe not. However one could easily make the argument that the two examples I gave don’t really represent the look of the average black woman as much as they do the average white woman. Vanessa Williams’ most noticable feature is her blue eyes which are very rare in African Americans but very common amongst whites. Beyonce of course has been dying her hair blonde for as long as she’s been popular and of course blonde hair that is also very rare amongst blacks but common amongst whites. I use this two as examples but it extends to the entire population. It seems like like black woman make an effort to make their hair straighter, longer and lighter. It doesn’t stop there though. With skin tone and eye color, effort is also made to make those appear lighter. In return these women who put in such effort are shown favor by more men.
Recently CNN did a show where they examined kids’ view on race using a set of picture of different colored doll drawings. This was very similar to a very controversial experiment that was done a few decades ago which is also often called the “colored doll test”. Even after all these years and the increase of noticable black celebrities, these results of the test were pretty much the same, black kids tend to think lighter means prettier. CNN also test white kids. The results? White kids also think lighter is better.
So one must beg the question, what is the mind set of those kids when they grow up? Maybe the girls grow up to be Beyonce and the guys grow up to say she’s one of the finest women alive.
I’m sure you guys will have some good comments on this topic but before you comment I want you to give yourself a little test. Think in your head of the Top 5-10 best looking black celebrities. How many have dark skin? How many have a natural hair style? How many have regular brown eyes?
Sound Off Nation!
(Side Note: I don’t think I’m exempt from what I said in this post. I used Vanessa Williams as an example because I used to have a huge crush on her as a kid. Thought she was the finest thing on Earth)
I’ve been talking about this topic for years. Of course, in a Caucasian-dominated media industry (world, really) white is “fair.” So what does that make black? and like a comedian I saw once said, “Devil food cake is black. Angel food cake is white.” … I personally find black/brown women more attractive, generally. There are pretty women of all colors. However, THE FINEST woman I have ever seen is my wife, who is a beautiful dark-skinned black woman.
These kids see what society and media throws in their face every time they turn the tv on… They see their favorite black athletes or rappers…standing next too, a light skinned or white girl… example; kanye west, Kobe Bryant, Jay-z.. just to name a few… I’m a dark- skinned brother, i think dark skin males, have it easier than dark skinned females… Woman love chocolate, no matter her race….
I don’t think using kids is the best study, i remember when my little brother was young(same parents, 8 shades lighter)he would always say, “i’m not black, i’m brown”… he would always say this to me, he said he didn’t want to be dark skinned or called black…. That was more than 10 years ago, my point is he doesn’t remember saying those things or having those feelings towards dark skinned people… he has a g/f now my complexion…
Women will go for someone with dominant traits before a guy would, so being a dark skin male is definitely different from being a dark skin female. I’m with you on that.
Honestly, as far as the celebrity realm goes, with all honesty, I LOVE Jill Scott. I bet she farts beautifully, and snores heavenly…..(SIGH). There is just something about that woman that supremely lights my fire.
And my beautiful, gorgeous, intelligent dark skinned wife knows it very well, lol!!!
Other than her my top five celebrity females are, in no particular order, Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan, Laila Ali, Aisha Tyler……..you may have to go into the later tens or maybe deep teens before you get one of these golden skin, golden haired light eyes females.
Concerning the post, the “Black is wack and White is right” mentality is still prevalent due to the placment of our generation. White was “REALLY” right about fifty years ago. Our parents grew up that way, some of our grandparents belived it, and it going to take some time for that false notion to go away.
But its not only amongst blacks. The area that I live in Queens, NY, is said according to the 2005 US Census to be the most diverse community in the world. On the Asian advertisments, they sponsor the lighter skinned, lighter haired asian demographic, which is a rarity. On the Indian advertisements the same, rarity, and the hispanic ads ditto, partial-rarity.
On the other hand, people like certain features and characteristic that arent common, like a Asian or White with girl with a DONK. Or a Black girl with light skin or a certain shade of eyes. Even Whites consider tanned skin to be more beautiful.
2 things. Number one the children’s video shouldn’t bother anyone. We all grow up thinking White is good and Black is bad (in general). A room with light is better then a dark room, light means daytime and night means nighttime (scary time for some kids). That’s just basic immature kid thinking. People that age do not think with any depth, they are children. Black People (kids) especially myself have always been more advanced with Race relations because we’ve been taught to handle discrimination.
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Number two I believe in what is called “Universal Beauty” and it has nothing to do with skin color; it is having a proportional face. In every Race you will find people with a proportioned face, eyes, lips, nose that match up.
I can only speak for myself, I’ve never been attracted to a “Blonde” because of her light hair, and I’ve never been attracted to a girl because she had green, blue, or light eyes. I’m a T&A dude, so that pretty much blinds me from all the little details.
With that said most men are attracted to recessive traits and that is where the whole light skin, White girl, mixed race thing kicks in. You can never say “every” and “all” but you can still generalize when the majority of people ARE attracted to someone that is recessive, and for the most part we are attracted to recessive.
I agree…
I’m going to drop my two cents and hopefully they materialize as jewels. Until recently, I was unaware of my own, and a for a lack of a better term, brain washing. I was always with the light-skinned, hazel-eyed, blonde-haired beauty because I thought she was the baddest thing walking, and in some cases she was. But, I never realized that it was a case of the institionalized, generational mind warping that led me to this assumption. As I matured, and decided to expand my horizons, I started to recognize women for their individual beauty, meaning, instead of writing women off just because they weren’t something, I appreciated women for what they were. My darker skinned sisters began to appeal more and more to MY sense of self. Weave and contacts wasn’t me. I was into real, so if you were born with it then that’s what I’m about. I remember the stories about the “brown paper bag” test, so I can only draw the conclusion that our sense of beauty has been skewed and without a proper education of self then all you have if is tradition. Alex Wek comes to mind, in all of her smooth regal dark skinned glory many BLACK men can’t seem to find her beauty, but to me she is simply stunning. We can go even further back to Iman and Grace Jones. Naomi Campbell is amazing. I think that we as a people (Black) have a hard time seeing our natural traits and facial features as things of beauty. I say facial features because our other natural traits such as, wide hips, full lips and “Fat Backs” are appreciated by the masses. We must understand that everything that makes us who we are, are equally radiant. Just look at the word “Radiant” it obviously draws a relation to the sun, just like our dark skin. My mother is a dark-skinned woman and she has always been the most beautiful person I have ever seen, and she was so effortlessly. That’s my ideal woman, and effortless, natural beauty. I’m currently engaged to a ebony-skinned wonder and she has all of our DOMINANT traits, but what I love the most about her is her divinely smooth skin and her DARK piercing eyes. I believe I appreciate this because I have taken steps to be more self-aware. Hopefully we all decide to take a look in the mirror and appreciate the beauty in ourselves, because maybe then we can appreciate the beauty in the women we are fascinated by.
You certainly dropped jewels! I can appreciate everything you just said. I too appreciate beautiful women in all their individuality. What gets to me is the beauty of the classical Black women features: the big lips (properly moisturized! lol), the prominent cheekbones and, as you described it, the divinely smooth skin. Throw in dark chocolate skin tone and she got me…The way you described your fiance, that is the same way I would describe my wife. Much happiness in your life together.
it’s their game and if you want to play you have to play by their rules. If we could get along we wouldn’t need their game we could do our own thing, but as you know,i don’t even have to say it, so it is what it is!
Aright…i’mma go ahead and say it my taste has AlWAYS been Latinas…I kno i’m supposed 2 be all about my my Black, Beautiful Sistas or Queens or whateva, but i can’t help it..I’ll take a Latin women over a black chic anyday…but what i will tell u is that the media had nothing 2 do with this…when i was a kid still in grade, not too black girls would give me the time of day..i never understood it either, i considered myself good looking and was prolly one of the few Nice guys still around, but they weren’t seeing me..everytime it’d be the same thing..DENIED!! they wanted a Thug/bad boy and that just wasn’t me, the majority of the black girls in the schools i grew up in weren’t beautiful in their sense of personality (Kindav ghetto) so maybe it was just them and not me..but after getting turned down so many times, dat shyt left an impression on me and after awhile i turned to some of the spanish girls i went to class with and…SUCCESS!! then i just started to develop a taste for em..Their language, their unique look, the accent in their voice just intrigued me…Now since then i’ve dropped my grudge wit certain blacks and i will always get 2 kno a women b4 a base an opinion off her, but i still love Latin women more…So i don’t blame the media at all, i blame the new, delusional generation of Black women who have their heads on backwards when it comes to choosin what a Real Guy should be like…i’ve noticed these “New” black girls of 2010 are picky when it comes choosin, but don’t even pick the right qualities which is the result for so many breakups that u see with alot of black women today….
With that said…JESIKAH MAIXMUS is my wife to be…i can dream can’t i? LOL..
I am half Black and half Cuban. I consider myself a black man. Just a little background on me so you can understand where it is I coming from. Everybody is entitled to THEIR opinion, hence internet Blog sites, and I would never tell someone the way they feel is wrong but I will say that the media does play a part in the development of every youth. And it may not play a DIRECT role but childrens parents do pay attention to the media and they do play a direct role, the most influential role. In your case DJ SoUnDBoyy121, your reaction and conditioning is due to the media also. The girls that didn’t give you the time of the day drew their conclusions because of their conditioning also. When it comes to the whole “definition of beauty” topic a lot of the factors are quite sublime and definately historical. This a generational thing. Your comment “certain blacks” disturbs me though. I think there is a lot of generalization and stereotyping in your thought process. I just hope you. Some of our women are just misguided, not delusional. Brother, I just hope that you can understand that it takes a STRONG black man to be with a STRONG black woman.
I grew up very poor back in the 50′s I remember saying to myself as a child I’m so glad I’m not black. I was taught that all black people were uneducated criminals and would hurt me every chance they got. And all black people wanted to be white and were jealous of us. To never ever turn your back on any of them. I wasn’t allowed to have any as friends and god forbid if I ever walked in my house with a black person my father would disown me. I use the word black loosely because as a child I really did think that everyone called them the n word. I didn’t think anything of it until I started school.