Since the early seventies, marketing budgets spent to attract African American consumers has steadily increased. Commercial plot lines went from rarely showing minorities to, in many cases, showcasing them, or more accurately – pushing an encapsulated ideal minority.
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With the recent interest in Ethiopian women, or women from the “horn” more broadly, it is amazing how almost blatantly Social Darwinist ideas get espoused,” noted Professor Davarian L. Baldwin, a Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity College, who focuses on African Diaspora issues.
“So in the case of Ethiopian women, I hear talk about an “Ethiopian” skin tone, facial features, and bone structure. I hear so much about the beautiful skin of Ethiopians, not in terms of blemishes or smoothness but because it is seen as the perfect balance between darker sub-Saharan Africans and whiter Caucasians,” said Baldwin. “I also hear they are the perfect beauty blend because of their brown skin and yet long (more Caucasian-looking) hair.”
Though Baldwin purports “ideal beauty standards” for any ethnic group are ridiculous, his research clearly shows that “dominant” beauty types within groups both emerge and tend to change over time.
He notes an example of this found in the shift in Italian beauty standards from Sophia Loren, a “southern” Italian beauty of the ’60s revered for her smoky full-figured “dark” look versus the now popular fair-skinned, blond waif. Then there is the ever evolving face of Jennifer Lopez. Since first garnering attention in the late ’80s as a dancer on
In Living Color, she has softened her look, lightened her hair and become the benchmark for “voluptuous” curves in Hollywood.
“To be sure something must be made of personal choice,” contends Baldwin, “but it seems far from coincidental that (JLo’s) personal choices move her closer and closer to the dominant beauty standards of U.S. media outlets as she has grown in “acceptance.”
- See more at:
Are Ethiopian Models Over-Represented In The Modeling Industry? | MadameNoire
- See more at:
Are Ethiopian Models Over-Represented In The Modeling Industry? | Page 2 | MadameNoire
WE ARE THE NEW LOOK OF MODELING- SO MUCH SO THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE SAYING WE IN THE HORN ARE NOT BLACK BECAUSE WHITES ARE USING HORN AFRICANS BECAUSE THEY DONT WANT PEOPLE WITH BIG LIPS AND WIDE NOSES LMAO
Look at the Bantus in west Africa, some are still in the Jungles eating Monkeys with bow and arrow.
What is Bantu?
