Whiteness
After the lecture on whiteness and normality, it got me thinking about how this is seen in the beauty industry. The different types of products and commercials that are expressed to us can show this idea of whiteness and what has seen as normal but also that an idea of white washing.
I did a Google Image search on beauty advertisements and the first two lines of images were all white models advertising for all these different makeup products. When it came to the third line, there was one small photo of Halle Berry. After that, the next coloured person was seen a few lines below. But the fact that is was Halle Berry becomes questionable as she is a successful half cast African-European-American can show how whiteness is still dominant throughout the beauty industry. These photos along with other advertisements can show how the beauty industry whitewashing but also that idea of the majority of the beauty industry being white.
When these beauty companies do use the people of colour they express them in lighter shades and try to make them look “less black”. This can give a sense of fakeness but also this idea of being white is prettier. All the models and actresses in the beauty industry are gorgeous but the coloured people in the beauty industry seem to place them as different and not “normal” from the white models.
These photos can relate to that idea of whiteness as normal because they show the difference of the colour tones of both actresses. They also relate to that idea of fakeness and trying to make them fit in. The difference of these photos can see how these beauty covers have to change the colour of these females. They have done this because the audiences want to see these coloured people as fairer by making their skin colour much whiter but not too fair to make them look bleached or too white. These photos aware audiences that being lighter can mean that you’re normal pretty. This makes both men and women, but in particular, teenagers feel bad about their complexion. Throughout society, this becomes a problem because audiences feel that being dark skinned is bad but it isn't and they feel uncomfortable.
The idea of becoming white can be seen in whitening face creams and washes. These whitening creams aren't big in New Zealand but they are big in India. Throughout India, there are many whitening face products on the market because of the demand for these products. The beauty industries are saying that being white skinned or fair skinned is normal but if you are dark skinned you're not quite normal but you can fix it by using these products. For many years in India, it has been thought that being fair skinned is good because it is a sign of having a good future, husband and/or a career. But this idea has decreased as more coloured people are becoming included in the beauty industry so audiences are feeling much better themselves, yet there are still members of the Indian population wanting to be fairer.
But overall the whitewashing is slowly decreased as the beauty industry has noticed that more coloured people are entering the industry. As more actresses, models and audiences are noticing that being different is fine as society has becoming more accepting. They are a minority throughout that industry. The beauty industry is branching out to different nationalities and becoming more diverse.
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It is truly sad that European beauty standards have resulted in skin whitening creams etc. As you said, it puts whiteness at the centre being the norm and pushes everything else out to the periphery - people grow up believing false 'truths' about themselves because of they fail to conform to these beauty standards. As well as photoshopping advertisements to make people with darker skin appear lighter, the ways in which women and men of colour are portrayed in media also reinforces their inferiority (whether it being a sidekick, the first person to die etc)
ReplyDeleteAlso seeing adverts like Beyonce's makes me wonder did these celebrities consent to their images being white washed to this extent?
I think you've raised some really interesting points here about the overwhelming amount of hegemonic whiteness we are seeing in the beauty industry. I agree with you that it presents an extremely Western view of normality, which results with us seeing inauthentic representations of people of colour such as Beyonce and Gabourey Sidibe! Your comments regarding face whitening creams made me think of other ways the beauty industry is implicitly promoting whiteness as the ultimate beauty ambition through some products themselves. Many make up labels sell extremely limited ranges of foundation for darker skinned girls - most of which have stereotypical names like "black coffee" or "cocoa". I think there are many issues with the current standards of the global beauty industry and it's great to see some of them being pointed out here!
ReplyDeleteYour blog entry has brought up some very interesting and valid points. What I have taken away from this is the how as a society we claim to embrace all colours, shapes, sizes, even claiming that difference is a celebration. However what you've written clearly proves that we are far from being this open and unprejudiced. Even though white-washing and sneaking "whiteness" into our media and society may not be intentional, the strong impact still remains. What is this obsession with being white and how is it ruling our media and image of what beauty is? I believe that in society we are still recovering from the idea of white is best attitude from a historical point of view. Your article has brought up some powerful ideas and makes me wonder if mainstream society is aware of the white-washing that still consumes our media?
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