I use these truly amazing images to illustrate the way in which black women are expected to look white in order to qualify as beautiful. The images are powerful because the black models look almost identical to the white models, but also because they are ads for make-up. So the ads are literally selling beauty.


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[...] of beauty are based on a European (that is, light-skinned and straight-haired) ideal. See here and here for examples. A reader pointed out that Syesha Mercado, a contestant on American Idol, has been [...]
[...] here for a post about the use of black models that are in compliance with white standards of [...]
[...] We have a fantastic collection of ads that demonstrate how white standards of beauty are applied to black women. In them, the black and white women look almost identical. We added another couple ads for Maybelline where “diversity” looks surprisingly like twins. Scroll to the bottom here. [...]
[...] of beauty. Black women are beautiful only insofar as they look like white women (see also this post). DuCille writes: …today Barbie dolls come in a rainbow coalition of colors, races, [...]
[...] of beauty. Black women are beautiful only insofar as they look like white women (see also this post). DuCille writes: …today Barbie dolls come in a rainbow coalition of colors, races, [...]
[...] White As Beautiful, Black As White @ Sociological Images 080320 [...]