How Black Trans Women Are Redefining Beauty Standards
To be black and transgender means not only being constantly gawked at, but also being put in dangerous situations every day of your life. In a quest to redefine this narrative, seven black trans women open up about their perceptions of beauty in a cis-normative world.
By Serena Sonoma
To be deemed pretty in the transgender community means looking as cisgender as possible. Much like cisgender women, trans women are expected to cater to conventional standards of physical beauty; they’re asked to be feminine and soft — to be able to blend in. The message being conveyed: exist as little as possible.
Pretty privilege and passing privilege are terms that most trans women are aware of. But when you are a black transgender woman, the conversation doesn’t end there. For centuries, ideals of beauty have been centered around eurocentricity, and anyone who doesn’t fit is deemed unattractive (it is one of the many reasons black women started the Black is Beautiful cultural movement back in the 1960s). But it’s a different story when, even if your blackness is considered beautiful, your gender identity is not. To be black and transgender…
