A Message to Self-Doubting BIPOC Women
You are beautiful. Let me tell you why.
*BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color*
One of the things I love about flowers is that there are so many beautiful types. You think you see one pretty flower, and then you turn around and see another pretty flower. It’s not that one is more attractive than the other — both are distinct and beautiful in their own way, and I am happy to see a range of beauty.
Think about it — a flower garden with just one type of flower can be boring. But gardens with many different types of flowers and many different scents, colors, and sizes are beautiful.
Variety is beautiful.
I see people all the time claiming they have “preferences” and “types” that are associated with race.
“I’m not really into Asian girls”.
It’s a shame that people act as if someones race defines not only their beauty as an individual, but their “race’s attractiveness” as a whole.
But don’t let this define who you are.
Society’s definition of beauty comes from Euro-centric beauty standards that often push for Caucasians as the model for what beauty is. White, skinny, blonde hair, and blue eyes was an initial ideal. But no matter what beauty was “supposed” to be, it excluded (and often still excludes) black women, indigenous women, and other women of color.
Because society has been brought up to believe a certain sort of look is what beauty is, BIPOC women can often be shielded away from modeling, TV roles, followers, and so much more.
With this, comes failure to our growing generation. There are so many amazing BIPOC girls that fail to see people like them in media. Media becomes whitewashed and continues to remind people that BIPOC women are not considered “up to” society’s beauty standards.
This can cause a lot of self-doubt. BIPOC women may undermine their worth because society was taught to believe in beauty standards that excluded them. So, this is my short, but simple message to any BIPOC women that have doubts about their beauty.
You are beautiful.
You are contributing to a beautiful garden of flowers, a garden where there is so much variety and beauty that one can’t even begin to comprehend all the beauty you provide.
Your differences make you beautiful. Your skin, no matter what color, is stunning. Your eyes, nose, mouth, laugh, smile, and even frown are all forms of beauty that the world needs. You contribute to opening our minds, our hearts, and our souls to new possibilities.
You change the world for the better.
This isn’t to say Caucasian women aren’t beautiful. This is to say all women — cis, gay, trans, etc. — no matter their race, are beautiful. Every single woman brings beauty to the world that is different in so many ways that there shouldn’t even be a definition of beauty. Every woman defines beauty in their own way, just like every flower can look pretty in a bouquet by itself or with other flowers.
We make up the new standards of beauty.
Remind yourself of your worth. And remember, there are so many things you find beautiful whether that’s poems, movies, books, people, or even food. Just because something may be beautiful doesn’t mean another thing is not.
“Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful”.
