Hidden messages in beauty standards

A wonderful high-school teacher told us once that every girl is beautiful no matter how she looks. On the other hand, an important beauty sign in Saudi Arabia is to have fair skin even though most Saudis have olive skin tone. Of course, there are also Saudis who come from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. Thus, one can see how it is very difficult for girls to feel good about the way they look when others do not necessarily always see their beauty unless they are white.
Beauty standards have differed over the years and are still relatively distinctive in different parts of the world. Most of these differences occur as a result of each society’s physical appearance, values, and beliefs. For example, ideal body standards reveal society’s expectations of men’s and women’s roles and the preference of skin color indicate tolerance toward other races.
As the West has become more tolerant in the past 50 years, beauty symbols in the media have not been limited to Marylyn Monroe anymore, but also include African Americans, such as Halle Berry and Beyoncé. Unfortunately, in Saudi Arabia as well as in many other countries with a non-white majority, racist beauty standards still exist, which assume the superiority of the color and the features of ‘whites’. Some who are not white are racists even against themselves because of believing that being white would make them beautiful. This has been called, ‘internalized racism’, in which people assume that all races are inferior to ‘whites’ including them. We can see this problem in Saudi society not only in beauty standards, but also in the increasing use of skin-lightening products even when they are not completely safe to use just in an attempt to have a lighter skin tone.
If we do not like our own skin color, then it is almost impossible to appreciate beauty in other races. Sadly, when there is racism, discrimination will appear. In Saudi Arabia, the rarity of interracial marriages, especially between Saudis of African descent and those of Arab descent, an issue that is very difficult to even find statistics on, could be a sign of racism. It could also be considered discrimination if people oppose interracial marriages altogether. This is not to say that interracial marriage is a necessity, but it is a major characteristic of a tolerant society that we sadly lack. Some people do not even acknowledge it as a problem, but justify it as a matter of taste or traditions. However, not even acknowledging beauty of other races and limiting it to a specific race is definitely racism.
Appreciating beauty in every color and race will make us a more coherent society and develop the confidence of our kids, especially girls, to be happy in their own skin and appearance. People who are white, black and every color in between in every race live in our beloved country sharing the same language, religion and traditions. We all should be proud of the way we look and recognize that everyone is beautiful in their own way.

[email protected]