I'm taking it back to three years ago when I first discovered the terminology of "featurism" and what this term means among our black community. Although colorism is vastly spoken about within our community; I believe we forget that it just doesn't stop at the lightness or darkness of our hue when it comes to the privileges that some experience over others. Even when it comes to social media you can honestly say you see the same "type" of black women who trend based on the algorithm and it's rarely the phenotype of a kinky hair, brown skin, bold feature female.
You hear it and see it all the time from the likes of 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and the Chris Browns in the world; when you're being told being a Black woman isn't "exotic". Even though the definition of exotic means originating in or characteristic of a distant foreign country, but we don't see them with Lupita's hanging from their arms. So, I take the notion of exotic to mean "anything that has a Eurocentric phenotype of curly, wavy hair; or bright colored eyes. However, I do also feel that people are entitled to what they like and we shouldn't focus so much on the American beauty standards.
We have the power to change the beauty standards in our community and show the diversity of our beauty. We don't have to wait until people believe that kinky hair is just as beautiful as wavy hair. We can love on our beautiful hues and express that beauty in a way that exudes confidence, sensuality, sexuality and femininity. We can set the tone but before we get into setting the tone check out the my video and find out exactly what featurism is and how it affects our community.
What are your thoughts? Have you experience featurism? What are some things we could do to change the narrative of black beauty standards? Would love to hear your voice and opinion so comment below.
Comments