THREAD ON EUROCENTRIC VS. AFROCENTRIC BEAUTY STANDARDS

What does it mean to have "eurocentric features"? Eurocentric means "things that are CENTERED around EUROPEAN people/ideals" it does NOT mean "things that are european"

One example of a eurocentric ideology is capitalism. britain, spain, portugal, the netherlands, germany, etc, exported capitalism around the world. In general, it's safe to say that capitalism is an ideology that is held near and dear to many european cultures.

Does calling capitalism a eurocentric ideal mean europeans invented capitalism? Not necessarily. Does it mean only europeans participate in capitalism? No. It means that if you generalize europeans as placing value on capitalist societies that generalization is true.

So saying "these people are attractive by eurocentric beauty standards" or "these people have eurocentric features" does NOT mean "these people look european". It means they look like what europeans consider beauty.

So why do say that instead of saying "This person is conventionally attractive?" Sociologists (mainly black women) started saying eurocentric beauty standards/eurocentric features because saying someone is "conventionally" attractive or "attractive by society" is NOT neutral.

When you say conventionally attractive, WHOSE conventions are you using? Whose society? Whether you mean to or not, you've probably already chosen the beauty standard imposed on the world through white supremacist colonization as the standard convention.

If you use Efik (a tribe in Nigeria) conventions of beauty then Gabourey Sidibe is conventionally attractive. She is the epitome of their traditional/historical beauty ideals.

Pre-colonial Efik beauty standards placed SO MUCH emphasis on being fat that traditionally before marriage a woman will go to what is called the "Fattening Room" because few people would marry a skinny woman.

In that culture fatness is associated with beauty, skill, and intelligence. There are many people who can tell you that they had relatives who went to the "fattening room" and DIED trying to become as fat as possible because they wanted to fit their ideas of beauty that badly.

That's why using phrases like "conventional beauty" or "attractive by society's standards" doesn't make sense. The requirements for beauty change depending on which cultures you're asking. There is no universal beauty standard.

If you're talking about something like black models/entertainers with features europeans prefer (like small or thin noses) getting jobs than often than ones that don't, then saying eurocentric features is appropriate even if you're talking about a person who is not white.

Iman and Lupita Nyong'o are examples of people who have eurocentric features even though they are obviously not white. Their eurocentric features do not come from some whiteness in their DNA. These are African features.

But just because a feature IS African doesn't mean it is also afrocentric. African beauty standards consider many european standards irrelevant. Smaller noses and lips are no more or less beautiful than big noses/lips by most African standards.

While it's very hard to generalize thousands of ethnic groups as having a shared standard of beauty, there are some things most Africans find attractive. Afrocentric beauty standards tend to have less to do with facial features since you can find all facial features in Africa.

For the most part Afrocentric beauty standards tend to deal more with color and size. In many parts of Africa a woman is considered to be exceptionally beautiful if she is VERY DARK. Many African women tan themselves to become as dark as possible.

Some people will remember the singer Dencia doing interviews on why she proudly lightens her skin and many people reference these two photos of her, arguing that the darker photo is more beautiful and that she didn't need to lighten her skin.

However she also said that the photo with the darker skin is not her natural color. She said she had to tan nonstop to make herself that dark and stay that dark. But she knew she would be considered more beautiful and easier to market towards Africans if she were darker.

When she finally realized she could not maintain a color that dark (her skin did not fit many Afrocentric ideals of beauty) she switched to skin bleaching because she knew she would have an easier time making her skin appeal to eurocentric beauty standards than afrocentric ones.

So who cares? Why do we care about eurocentric standards at all? The short answer: white supremacy and the lasting effects of white supremacist colonization on the world ensure that people of color are further marginalized when they don't fit into eurocentric standards.

POC that don't adopt industrial capitalism are painted as "backwards/undeveloped/inferior" for traditional llifestyles like living in huts.

POC who don't fit into eurocentric beauty standards are mocked, ridiculed, and are even denied jobs and equal access to education based on things like hair texture.

Afrocentric standards don't work that way. While dark skin may be considered beautiful in many African cultures people with lighter skin are not considered unattractive by default. African cultures less often discriminate against people that don't have afrocentric features.

Most representations of POC in western beauty/entertainment industries are in fact POC with eurocentric features since white supremacist standards still control the vast majority of those industries.

So if you post a list of beautiful POC and someone says that you managed to select only POC with eurocentric features, it doesn't automatically mean that they are brainwashed into thinking all beautiful women have some proximity to whiteness.

It means YOU managed to only select people who fit ONE type of beauty despite the fact that they come from completely different backgrounds. So to end this thread I'm going to make a list of people who do not fit eurocentric beauty standards: