The roots of racism are deeply embedded in the history of human beings as it remained general supremacist behavior of nations over certain period of time. The conquerors believed to be superior to the conquered and they treated them like slaves and the inferior beings. In modern era, the racial discrimination is associated with the slavery in many civilized societies particularly in the US.
Though the slavery had been eliminated as an institution but it would take a long way to change the behavior of the people in general. This aspect reflects in almost all the walks of practical and social life and the beauty industry has no exception in this regard. The focus of the manufacturers of beauty products remains the people with lighter tone as the people of color are kept outside the arena.
BEAUTY STANDARDS
The white supremacy terming the white races being the superior has been the national agenda of many European countries and this supremacist ideology had pushed the entire world into the worst human disasters in the early years of 20th century. Though the horrors of wars subsided the discriminatory notions and the slogans of inclusivity, equality and human rights began to appear but standards and mindset as a whole could not be changed.
In the beauty industry, the standard of the beauty remains the white skin and the beauty products continue to be produced to embellish and decorate the white skin. The colors of the beauty products like lipsticks, blushes, toners, concealers, foundations, nail polishes and others are meant for the white color. There are no beauty products or color combinations for the people of color – black, pale and others. Even if a product is launched by the known brands for the people of color that is meant for improving the skin tone to white showing that the beauty market accepts only the white.
CONTRIBUTION OF BLACK PEOPLE TO US BEAUTY INDUSTRY
The beauty industry has become one of the most profitable and lucrative businesses all over the world as in US alone the beauty industry has the worth of $60 billion and it has over 5 percent compound annual growth. In this bustling business, the black Americans have the robust contribution as they spend usually over 11 percent of the total US beauty market while they have the cumulative presence of 12.4 percent in the 41 million US population.
It shows that at average the black people spend more on the beauty products than any other US racial community even well above the white people. It is despite the fact that no particular products are manufactured with a specific and targeted approach towards the black people. If the situation is all the way round and the black people-specific products are manufactured, their contribution to the US beauty industry will be more robust. Despite the huge spending by the black people on the beauty products, their presence in the beauty products related activities is negligibly low.
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM IN BEAUTY INDUSTRY
The pervasive and deep-rooted racism and supremacist mindset in the US society towards the black people has a long history and it appears to have gone deep into the genes. All the efforts to bring racial equality, inclusivity and an end to discrimination remain elusive despite the fact much has been touting at higher level but its roots in the hearts of white people have all the firmness.
This attitude is prevalent in the US beauty industry. Many of the known brands give no representation to the black women in their beauty products and in the ads on different platforms. This institutional racism is prevalent in the beauty industry despite major contribution of the black women to buy the beauty products as they spend more in average than the white women.
BLACK WOMEN LACK SHELF REPRESENTATION
Another worst form of institutional racism stares at the black people in general and black women in particular when they find no shelf representation at the stores, malls and other outlets as whatsoever small number of beauty products meant for the black women are kept away from the eyes of the general public and put in the closets.
How much embarrassing situation a black woman may face when she finds that the beauty product of her choice is not freely available and the situation is enough to fill the heart with complex feelings and she may find herself in the invisible and behavioral shackles despite non-existent social and lawful freedom. The social, economic, constitutional and behavioral inclusivity, equality and justice remain in the books as practically these are rosy slogans.
HOW IS COLORISM HARMFUL?
The social taboos, general barriers and institutional marginalization have forced the black women towards colorism and they feel obliged to use detrimental skin whiteners, a recent study reveals. Although the skin lightening or bleaching is a multi-billion-dollar industry and thriving with every passing day, its products are damaging and harmful to skin as these can cause skin rashes, swelling, discoloration and others, for, these products contain harmful ingredients like hydroquinone and others.
This blind rush for lightening the skin is going on among the black women under social, standardized and institutional racism.
LOSE-LOSE SITUATION
The US beauty industry is failing the black diaspora in all respects as it has to confront with multiple issues due to discrimination and worst type of racism spanning over centuries. Although, the US people of color have been living on the land from generations but they are still the Africans and the US society is not ready to accept them as the Americans and this aspect is reflected in all the fields of human endeavors including the US beauty industry.
So, the black women face lose-lose situation due to variety of reasons including lack of inclusivity, marginalization, white-centric beauty standards and internal complexities such as social uselessness, emotional marginalization, lack of self-esteem due to specific behavior and supremacism.
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT
In the mid of 20th century, Kwame Brathwaite propagated his photographic work for the cause of the movement called ‘Black is Beautiful’. The movement was aimed at giving due recognition to the black people in all the fields of human activity across the globe particularly in the US. It is irony that the black people have to struggle for getting their identity accepted in the society where they have been living since centuries.
The movement was part of the second Halem Renaissance. The movement had the motive to challenge the Eurocentric beauty standards that has been pushing the black people to the wall through centuries. It was meant to the black color and black origin embraced and inculcate the black people the spirit of feeling pride on their being black origin.
WHAT IS FENTY EFFECT?
The beauty industry and color diversity with special focus on the black color remain at odds through the years as the message of beauty industry is loud and clear if someone does not fit in the established white-specific white standards, he or she has no place around. The overall attitude of the beauty industry to the black people is unwelcoming.
However, the Fenty Beauty has the exception as it tries to break the old barriers and taboos regarding the behavior of the beauty industry towards the people of color. It introduced 40-strong foundation range and later enlarged it to 50 including shades for everyone and its promotional campaign also featured the black women.
- CONCLUSION
The beauty is but skin deep as the maxim goes by and means that beauty lies somewhere else but the beauty industry does not think out of box and remains limited to outward appearance. In more narrow approach, it focusses more on the white skin which is easy to embellish and decorate.
The US beauty industry does not allow other people with specific color to enter the field as the black women are discriminated in this regard. The white-centric approach hinges on the racism and supremacist behavior that has been hallmark of the American society and their general attitude towards the Africans, Asians and the people of other regions. The attitude is unwelcoming as the human beings should be accepted rather embraced as human beings.
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