What Are “European Beauty Standards”?

[boskey]

I've never seen anyone get surgery to make their nose wider, have you?

 

[⠝⠕⠏⠑]

Interesting.

So the Black women that complain about European Beauty Standards, will more often be found in social circles with white people?

No. Black women in black families who grew up in blk schools complain about this ALL the time. Hell in grade school one of the worst ways to insult a dude was to say his chick looked like she came from Africa.
Implying if she has darker features or West African features it’s bad enough to be used as an insult.

There was a video of a battle rapper saying something like this too. I think he was using another rapper’s daughters skin tone as an insult. I dunno why we play dumb when it comes to the ways a lotta dudes go in on blk females the further they get away from white beauty standards.

Dudes will clown a chick for having 4c hair and then turn around and wonder why she wearing a weave and clown her for that too. Even though his hair looks exactly like hers! This is one of the strangest things I saw growing up in the blk community. Just baffling to me and I’m not even dark-skinned. It’s just social conditioning. Whites control the media and put white women in a better light while portraying darker women in a worse light. People attribute authority to media and want to associate themselves with what’s portrayed positively. That shyt leaks into real life.
It is what it is. The good news is blk women have been doing more for themselves to combat these issues by ensuring that they represent a wide variety of blk women in their own media for themselves instead of just complaining about this dynamic.

 

[Gold]

For example. I’ve never heard Black men or Asian women talk about the pressures of living up to this so called standard.

Have you ever talked to Asian women

Not even trying to clown you breh, Asian women are constantly trying to making their eyes appear, nose appear thiner, and face less round.

The only thing they dont touch is their hair pretty much (in terms of texture)

 

[OG Talk]

This ain’t true at all you see more sista that around cacs be natural.

I agree. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Black woman, that was married to a Black man speak on European Beauty Standards. Most of them don’t give a damn what Europeans think about them.

It’s seem to be more of an issue with younger single Black women.

Which is why I asked. Who are they allowing to place this standard on them?

Gay white men in the fashion industry?

 

[Collateral]

Black men are judged by the same European beauty standards to an extent. The Black men with crossover appeal to non black women tend to be the ones that look like they might be mixed with something( boris kodjoe, shemar moore, Tyson Beckford, that prince from bridgerton).

You don't hear about Black men complaining about the European beauty standard that much since Black men are usually linked up with Black women and move in mostly Black social circles and Black women will be more accepting in general of Black features like thicker hair, darker skin, etc.

The first paragraph speaks to blacks in media and entertainment. There is no European standard as a black man in regular degular life. I guess if you want to count having a low cut and speaking with a higher tone as being Euro standards.

You say black women are more accepting in general, but are black men just as accepting with it?

 

[OG Talk]

Have you ever talked to Asian women

Not even trying to clown you breh, Asian women are constantly trying to making their eyes appear, nose appear thiner, and face less round.

The only thing they dont touch is their hair pretty much (in terms of texture)

To be honest I don’t know the last time I’ve talked to an Asian outside of a professional setting.

The ones I used to kick it with back in the day were much more obsessed with Black American culture and esthetic.

 

[boskey]

I agree. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Black woman, that was married to a Black man speak on European Beauty Standards. Most of them don’t give a damn what Europeans think about them.

It’s seem to be more of an issue with younger single Black women.

Which is why I asked. Who are they allowing to place this standard on them?

Gay white men in the fashion industry?

Cmon I know you read Malcolm X. This is disingenuous...

My first view in the mirror blotted out the hurting. I’d seen some pretty conks, but when it’s the first time, on your own head, the transformation, after the lifetime of kinks, is staggering…The mirror reflected Shorty behind me. We both were grinning and sweating. And on top of my head was this thick, smooth sheen of shining red hair—real red—as straight as any white man’s…How ridiculous I was! Stupid enough to stand there simply lost in admiration of my hair now looking “white,” reflected in the mirror in Shorty’s room. I vowed that I’d never again be without a conk, and I never was for many years…This was my first really big step toward self-degradation: when I endured all of that pain, literally burning my flesh to have it look like a white man’s hair. I had joined that multitude of Negro men and women in America who are brainwashed into believing that the black people are “inferior”—and white people “superior”—that they will even violate and mutilate their God-created bodies to try to look “pretty” by white standards.”

 

[invalid]

It's a reason why AKA's have historically been held up as being the most desirable black women.

The pushback that you see with black women regarding these standards is because black people are the only people in the world to have self awareness and a spine to push back and protest against whiteness.

Euro standards are a "thing" with other groups. However, you don't hear a lot about pushback because those other groups do not have awareness of self, do not have spines, and buy into those euro standard themselves.

 

[MajesticLion]

The indoctrinated don't complain.

They'll actually go to war with you over what they've been spoon-fed as "normal".

The first paragraph speaks to blacks in media and entertainment. There is no European standard as a black man in regular degular life. I guess if you want to count having a low cut and speaking with a higher tone as being Euro standards.

You say black women are more accepting in general, but are black men just as accepting with it?

For men it's slightly different but no less insidious. Grooming standards and modes of dress are every bit as firmly kept in place; men just don't get as much flack for the physical side of things.

 

[Scustin Bieburr]

Interesting.

So the Black women that complain about European Beauty Standards, will more often be found in social circles with white people?

It never surprises me. Black men are conditioned by Hollywood to see more and more light skinned black women than dark skinned black women. Unless you're mostly consuming black media, you're going to see a lot of mixed women being passed off as fully black. In music videos and in terms of hip hop artists too, the record labels push a more European style. I've not seen cardi b wearing an afro or braids, and beyonce only rocked an afro for 1 movie back in 2002. If youre in more insular black spaces you're more likely to see an accurate representation of black beauty. In the mainstream though? Thats not happening.

The women complaining about the European beauty standards notice that their friends with the thinner noses or the thinner hair tend to get hollered at More often, but I suspect those women aren't in exclusively or mostly Black spaces.

 

[OG Talk]

Cmon I know you read Malcolm X. This is disingenuous...

I was just about to say. The last example I can site of Black males chasing a European beauty standard was back in the days of the conk and processed hair. Back in the 1940’s, 50, and 60s.


I’m speaking about current culture.

What does the modern Black male feel the need to do to keep up with a European beauty standards? Outside of the weird island nikkas that bleach their skin or do the cake soap.

 

[filial_piety]

Black men are judged by the same European beauty standards to an extent. The Black men with crossover appeal to non black women tend to be the ones that look like they might be mixed with something( boris kodjoe, shemar moore, Tyson Beckford, that prince from bridgerton).

You don't hear about Black men complaining about the European beauty standard that much since Black men are usually linked up with Black women and move in mostly Black social circles and Black women will be more accepting in general of Black features like thicker hair, darker skin, etc.

I think you're in the right direction, it's generally overlooked that BM are held to the same degree of rigid "beauty standards" as BW are--like you said, outside of the net, it's been my observation that lighter skinned and/or mixed BM tend to be the preferred aesthetics with all racial groups (including with BW despite what's been claimed online).

However BM are able to substitute those standards for other masculine traits that are not necessrally appearance based. The perceived athleticism, sexual aggressiveness, and certain [stereotypical] personality traits can be seen as an advantage with darker BM who fit into anyone of those categories. Both dark skinned BM and BW sort of have disadvantage when it becomes strictly about looks...but black men (or men in general) have other things that can be judged on where BW (and women in general) usually have little else for people to judge them on in regards to sexual attraction.

 

[boskey]

What does the modern Black male feel the need to do to keep up with a European beauty standards?

The modern black males keeps up with the standard by dating "foreign" and "exotic" women. You get more respect and clout from other black men for having a less black woman...

Listen to many hip hop song where they describe a woman's features. Its usually a mixed woman.

 

[AsTheWorldBurns]

And why do they seem to only apply to Black women?

For example. I’ve never heard Black men or Asian women talk about the pressures of living up to this so called standard.

I’ve been hearing this term brought up by our sisters a lot recently.

How long has this standard existed? Where does it come from? Who is responsible for holding this up as the “standard”?

First off it’s disingenuous to say it doesn’t apply to black men or women of other races.

What about all the black men over the course of American history that kept their hair low as shyt, and wouldn’t grow facial hair, so you couldn’t see their course texture?

All the Asian women getting eyelid surgery to look more western.

The Latinas straightening and bleaching the fukk outta they hair, so they can look more like white women.

The issue is that black women are like the anti thesis to the European standard of beauty. We have the furthest to go to conform. For many dark skin sistas is virtually impossible so many out us choose to rock the boat and push against the standards instead.

Don’t Black men have these same distinctions?

However, black men are like the “Asian woman” of European femininity and masculinity standards. An over exaggeration, if you will.

It’s why the Asian woman is seen as so feminine and docile that she would make the perfect sex slave.

While the black man is so masculine and head strong that he makes the perfect beast.

But it both cases European standards are still stripping yall of ur humanity.

 

[OG Talk]

It's a reason why AKA's have historically been held up as being the most desirable black women.

The pushback that you see with black women regarding these standards is because black people are the only people in the world to have self awareness and a spine to push back and protest against whiteness.

Euro standards are a "thing" with other groups. However, you don't hear a lot about pushback because those other groups do not have awareness of self, do not have spines, and buy into those euro standard themselves.

But if AKA’s are held up as the most desirable because of their complexion. Who outside of the Black community is setting that standard? The average European/Cac doesn’t even know what an AKA is.

And why do so many dark skinned Black women for Kamala Harris as their “sister girl” if her whole existence is problematic to how society will view them?