II: False Generosity and the Gift of Ethnic Plastic Surgery
One of the responses to the denial of womanhood is through the use of plastic surgery. By being denied access to womanhood, women of color can grow up to hate their natural features. They are taught by society and their family that their features are unnatural and unattractive. Many women of color start to see this as a universal truth because it’s been passed down from generation to generation. To correct this error at birth, society has gifted women of color plastic surgery.
This gift of plastic surgery is nothing more than false generosity by society. Freire explains that the generosity given by the dominant society is fueled by unjust social order, despair, dehumanization, and oppression of the oppressed (Freire). In this case, it’s giving women of color access to plastic surgery. However, this access does not change the definition of womanhood. It does not eliminate the self-hatred fostered within women of color. It does not liberate them from the racist and sexist idea of womanhood. Plastic Surgery is just a mechanism used to control women of color’s bodily autonomy. It coerced them into believing this would include them in womanhood if they followed the correct steps.
To make this even more sinister, society markets it as ethnic cosmetic surgery. They know many women of color still want to hold onto their cultural identity. It’s something that ties them back to their home, traditions, and communities. But, they want to be accepted into womanhood and their ethnic features are holding them back. So, society has found a way to commodify this problem. By getting ethnic cosmetic surgery they can obtain Eurocentric ethnic features and feel more beautiful.
One example of ethnic cosmetic surgery is ethnic rhinoplasty. These are nose job surgeries done for women of color. It is usually done in two different ways. The top two examples show women of color with wider and bigger noses making their noses smaller. However, it is not too small so it still resembles an ethnic nose. The other way is by removing the arch on the nose and making it flat. But they keep the same width to maintain their ethnic nose.
In both ethnic rhinoplasty scenarios, it promotes the Eurocentric standard of womanhood by removing the cultural features. It is nothing more than a cultural invasion. For Freire cultural invasion is imposing, “their view of the world upon those they invade and inhibit the creativity of the invaded by curbing their expression” (Freire). Dominant society would prefer women of color to be socialized into hating themselves so they could mold them into the Eurocentric standard of womanhood. Women of color are not allowed to be unique or creative. They must follow the Eurocentric standard of beauty if they want to be recognized and heard. They must erase their features and dehumanize themselves to reach the racist and sexist standard of womanhood. Their culture and features are inferior to the Eurocentric standard.
Another feature that is often seen as inferior and can be fixed through plastic surgery are monolids. Monoloids are an eyelid shape that doesn’t have a crease while double eyelids do. They typically are smaller than double eyelids. Monoloids are typically seen in many East Asian people. It’s very popular to get a blepharoplasty (double eyelid surgery) in East Asia and around the world. The only thing that is changed in this procedure is their eyelids. So, they still look ethnically east asian except in the eyes.
Double eyelid surgery promotes Eurocentrism. It’s a tactic of manipulation against east asian women. Manipulation is a way that “the dominant elites try to conform the masses to their objection” (Freire). The goal of ethnic plastic surgery is to erase women of color’s cultural identity to mold them into Eurocentrism. By telling them lies that double eyelids are more attractive and interesting than monoids. These lies are then internalized by the Asian community. It’s at this point where false generosity can be used and the commodification of Eurocentrism starts.
The commodification and false generosity don’t stop at physical surgery. It also reaches creams and serums for skin lightening. While there is no physical procedure, the skin-whitening creams try to convert dark skin to light skin (Blay). The industry actively targets dark-skinned women and their communities. They aim to make dark-skinned women lighter. They can’t make these women turn white but it can bring them closer to them. They still look like their original ethnicity, just a bit lighter. It’s one of the many non-surgical ethnic cosmetic surgeries.
Non-surgical ethnic cosmetic procedures still have the same goal of pushing the racist and sexist version of womanhood upon women of color. The skin-lightening industry reinforces the idea that lighter skin will be one of the only ways dark-skinned women can achieve womanhood. The skin-lightening industry feeds them myths that dark skin is demonic and ugly. On the other hand, white skin is perceived as fair and lovely. If dark-skinned women want to feel loved and accepted by their community and society, they must use lightening creams. Skin-lightening creams are just another mechanism for false charity to women of color by society.
All three described mechanisms do nothing to liberate women of color. Ethnic Cosmetic procedures thrive on dehumanization and eradication of women of color. They culturally invade communities of color and spread myths about their features. It offers them a way to heal themselves from their natural existence. A way to correct generations of non-eurocentric features. By bestowing upon them the false charity of these procedures it can mold them into beautiful white women (the patriarchal and white supremacist way of beauty and womanhood). It hinders their freedom and choice and leaves them only one option to obtain womanhood and beauty.
None of the described procedures question why womanhood was formed this way. They don’t uplift women of color and their natural features. They don’t give them grace and humanity. It further oppressed them in a system that fostered self-hatred and inferiority. The use of ethnic plastic surgery was never a way to gain access to womanhood. It can never allow that for women of color. Because, for women of color, to obtain womanhood they must erase their beautiful and unique ethnic features. Ethnic plastic surgery is just another system that normalizes the control and oppression of women of color in a white supremacist and patriarchal society.
Reference
Blay, Yaba Amgborale. “Skin Bleaching and Global White Supremacy: By Way of Introduction.” Journal of Pan-African Studies, vol. 4, no. 4, 2011.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos, New York: Continuum, 2018.