Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What Is Beautiful?

According to Psychology Today Black women are the most unattractive women on the planet. When I first read the article, I just laughed it off. I wasn't going to say anything about it. I just brushed it off as one of those dumb things that people say and that it really wouldn't go anywhere. Then I thought, Psychology Today...My cousin (a recent college grad w/ a degree in psychology) reads that magazine. My cousin, an African-American woman, (and did I mention a class of 2011 Bradley University graduate) reads a magazine that promotes the idea that not only are Black women not attractive, but are also significantly less intelligent than other races. 

After letting what I read simmer for a bit, I took my ugly and apparently dumb ass to Google to check out what the standard idea of beauty really is. Upon my research one of the first pictures that popped up and caught my eye was a picture of an African Tribal woman with a plate in her lip. Is that beauty? To some it is, but of course not to Americans. That sort of thing is too foreign and far too complicated for them to understand. Which made me realize that beauty really isn't in the eye of the beholder. It comes down to what is safe, and comfortable to look at. 

My thoughts were confirmed when I took a second look at my Google research and realize that the picture of the African Tribal woman was surrounded by pictures of blond hair/blue eyed women with welcoming smiles. I'm not going to sit here and say that White women or women of other races aren't attractive, because I am not Satoshi Kanzawa (the asshole who wrote the article), and I honestly don't feel that way. Although, I will say what I see as beautiful or attractive will not fit into someone else's definition of beautiful or attractive, because it's only an opinion and not to be taken as fact. Which is why I cannot believe that this once respectful magazine would publish someone's opinions and try to pass them off as fact. 

However, I will point out that I have noticed that this article is a part of the machine that is geared towards making women like me feel bad about themselves. It's moments like this that make me think about my childhood, and those days when I wished I looked like the girl in the magazine or the chick on TV. I didn't look like them but I wanted to. They were so dainty and perfect that there was no way someone like them would ever get called the names I was called. Now here I am, 23 years old, watching folk like Kim Kardashian and Angelina Jolie being praised for things I was tortured for having. 

I really don't understand why Psychology Today would publish something so blatantly offensive. I'm guessing since people say print is dead, this is their desperate attempt to stay alive. I'm sure their antics will work for those who agree with this mindless bullshit. I'm hoping that young women (of any race) don't read this article and take it too seriously. All women are beautiful and smart no matter what the race, and no one needs an article in Psychology Today to tell them that.