It is no secret that the media plays a highly influential
role on the way our society perceives our cultural norms, including the perception
of beauty. “Whitewashing” is the term used for digitally retouched images of
darker skin tones. In the fashion industry and amongst various mainstream medias,
the issue of whitewashing is a very prevalent issue today. It is important to
keep in mind that at one point in history, only white women were shown on the
cover of magazines and advertisements.
Recently, the issue of fashion magazines retouching photos
has been an issue that makes me wonder: why do people continue to buy these
magazines that are portraying such unrealistic perceptions of women of all
races? Not only are photos manipulated, but also the messages portrayed are
basically telling people, ‘you should look like this.’ Besides photo editing a
woman’s body, the fashion industry uses whitewashing to whiten figures. Well-known
companies have been accused of whitewashing. L’Oreal for example was just
recently called out for whitewashing Beyoncé in a cosmetic ad. Her face had
clearly been altered to appear pale skinned. Despite the accusation, according
to USAToday, L’Oreal put out the statement that, “It is categorically untrue
that L'Oreal Paris altered Ms. Knowles' features or skin tone in the campaign.”
How can a company say that nothing was altered when it is very evident Beyoncé
appears different than she typically is. This ‘photoshopping’ is done with more people than just
Beyoncé. Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and Halle Berry are others who have been
“whitewashed” overtime.
An article by Beauty Redefined articulated the idea of whitewashing
in a very sophisticated and poised manner. At the end of their article they
state, “Essentially, women are viewing a distorted reality and holding
themselves to the unattainable standard set by the non-reality of popular media
– and most often, those standards are based on oppressive, power-laden ideals
of whiteness.” Not only are these images of whitewashed women distorting
reality, but think about how they are distorting the reality for the youth who
grow up seeing these magazines and perceptions of beauty. How is this affecting
their self-image or image of what they beauty presumes to be? Although it is easy to
critique the images, it is hard not to wonder about the women who being
whitewashed. How do the women feel about their faces being retouched for these
industries? How does Beyoncé feel when she sees her face and hair bleached for
a cosmetic ad, and what does this mean for women of color?
Access to Articles:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-08-07-beyonce-ad-elle_N.htm
http://www.beautyredefined.net/beauty-whitewashed-how-white-ideals-exclude-women-of-color/
There is an interesting article by Richard Dyer, "Matter of Whiteness," that I think fits perfectly with this conversation. Dyer concludes that “…white people create the dominant images of the world and don’t quite see that they thus construct the world in their own image” (Dyer 12). The beauty of white privilege is not recognizing it, as a result there is only one image that is pushed by (in this instance) the beauty industry. Society pushes white as the normative standard and thus gears its marketing to this consumer at the expense of others. Focusing on beauty products and what is produced and how much is an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteFinding beauty products for darker skin is very difficult at Target, trust me, I've tried. While there various shades for lighter skinned women, there is a very small section for women of color typically called the "ethnic section."
I am reminded of an article "The Beauty Queue: Advantages of Light Skin" by Margaret Hunter. Hunter interviews and shares the story of women of color who explain that within their own race, communities, and families there is a set hierarchy. Families often praise the lighter skinned female members and there is one term that is particularly disturbing but that sticks out: "advancing the race." This is explained by one of the women as the act of seeking partners of lighter skin tones, in order to have children that are then of lighter skin. To "advance the race" as she explains it, is the only way to find partners. People claim to have racial preferences when finding partners, but this term throws the conversation in a different direction.
Whitewashing in the beauty industry sets unrealistic exceptions for women and this term reinforces this idea which I find to be incredibly problematic for women of color.
Whitewashed photos have received a lot of backlash in the past. The article that you linked by Beauty Redefined shows the Elle covers in which white women received full/half-body shots in color, while Mindy Kaling gets a close-up of her face...oh and the photo is in black and white. The ONLY photo of the whole cover spread that is in black and white. What does THAT say about women of color in the media?