Why is white beautiful?

While reading the novel, The Bluest Eye, I was really taken aback from the strong self-hatred Pecola, just a young girl, had for herself. Of course, most of her self hatred is a result of society’s extreme influence on our adolescents. Toni Morrison even says that that African American beauty is considered to be ugly, “ support for it leaning at [African Americans] from every billboard, every movie, every glance.” Although this book takes place in 1941, even today we consider white skin to be better when it comes to beauty.

Even celebrity idols that we look up to put on makeup to appear to have whiter skin. If these faces are constantly being thrown at us through TV screens, magazines, and billboards, what is that saying to african american people girls over the world? That they must try to appear to be as white as possible to be seen as “beautiful?” These women should be an example for younger girls and be  proud of their own genetic makeup, not try to cover up their true skin color.

Toni Morrison also said that, “Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do.” This quote really struck me because I had always thought of beauty as being something that someone could physically achieve. I always hear, “Her hair is beautiful,” but I have never heard that the way someone treats others or carries themselves as being beautiful. I agree with Morrison that beauty should not just be a physical characteristic, because somebody could be beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside. Morrison is ultimately saying that inner beauty is what truly matters.

It is vital that the people that we look up to, like Beyonce, Nicki, and many other celebrities realize that they too are playing a huge role in the typical “beauty standards” that we set for our youth. At the end of the day, white or black beauty doesn’t even matter at all because beauty is an action, not a skin color.