I: The Formation of womanhood and Eurocentrism
If it isn’t obvious, I am black. There is no disputing that fact. Wherever I go, people will first notice my complexion. Society will treat me like a black person until I no longer exist on this earth. What might not be obvious is that I am not a woman. I was assigned female at birth, I still use she/her pronouns, and yet I am theoretically not considered a woman. Actually, not a single woman of color can be considered a woman.
All because womanhood and femininity are based on white supremacist ideals of beauty. Womanhood does not exist in a vacuum. It’s shaped by the dominant narratives that exist in society. Those dominant narratives are racism, white supremacy, and the patriarchy. Because of this womanhood is defined by those narratives, not by women. Especially not by women of color who have been denied access to womanhood because of their race and features.
This piece will argue how the formation of womanhood has always excluded women of color because they do not fit under the sexist and racist Eurocentric ideas of femininity and beauty. It will also discuss the negative consequences women of color must endure to be included in society’s definition of womanhood.
Formation of Womanhood and Eurocentrism.
The dictionary definition of womanhood is simply the state of being a woman. It is the qualities and characteristics that are intrinsically womanly. Those feminine qualities embody womanhood. A definition as simple as womanhood should include every person who identifies as a woman. However, It’s at these characteristics that women of color are denied access to womanhood by society. It’s at these “characteristics” that racism and sexism culturally invade.
Womanhood does not exist separately from white supremacy. Throughout history, white supremacy has been a structural concept that benefits white people (Blay). White Supremacy gives whiteness superiority over non-whiteness. It privileges them economically, socially, and mentally. It sets whiteness as the default in society. Under the rule of white supremacist ideas, whiteness is natural. Anything that strays away from the “standard” is unnatural.
Women of color can never have those intrinsic womanly qualities because we are seen as unnatural. It’s as if women of color live in a constant paradox of being genetically a woman but naturally not a woman. Those minuscule skin complexion differences revoke our humanity. As Freire would say, those minuscule complexion differences steal our humanity away from us (Freire). It allows white supremacy to subject us to subhuman levels while they remain the pinnacle of humanity. It portrays women of color as inferior to white women when it comes to womanhood. All because our complexion, features, and personality don’t originate or abide by European ideals. The dehumanization through white supremacy gatekeeps women of color away from womanhood. They are excluded based on not having white skin and its symbolism of purity, beauty, and delicacy.
Sexism works similarly to racism when it pertains to the exclusion of women of color from womanhood. Sexism is the belief that one sex (male) is inherently better than another (female) (Lorde). With this comes the patriarchy and the subjection and oppression of women in society. Most importantly, it subjects every single woman to the unwanted male gaze. The male gaze “is a sexualized way of portraying women” (MasterClass). It objectifies women and reduces them to just their physical appearance and body. It prioritizes the physical, emotional, and sexual desires of men over women.
The male gaze also removes the agency women have over their bodies and womanhood. It does so by allowing men to control what is beautiful and feminine. Beauty, femininity, and womanhood go hand-in-hand. Beauty is a latent requirement when it comes to a woman’s fate (Hunter). So, if men have control over what is considered beautiful, they have control over women’s fate. This can go as far as controlling women’s employment opportunities to their romantic/platonic relationships and communities. Beauty capital is so important to receive an ounce of respect or attention from society at large. Women must conform to the male gaze to obtain beauty and womanhood from society. Women lose their autonomy in defining womanhood because men control it.
So, when sexism and white supremacy work together to form womanhood, it inherently excludes women of color. It gives men access to define what a woman is and what qualities she possesses. Since white supremacy influences everyone in society, a man’s definition of what is intrinsic about womanhood will model white women. As Audrey Lorde states, many men, in her context black men, seek romantic relationships with white women because they fit femininity best (Lorde). White women are feminine because they are seen as pure, delicate, angelic, and graceful. Women of color are the exact opposite. Blay states that under a white supremacy society, women of color are impure, uncivilized, and sullied (Blay). Whiteness and womanhood are not mutually exclusive. The formation of womanhood has a “possessive investment in whiteness” (Lipsitz). This investment will make whiteness a requirement for consideration to ensure that whiteness is always seen as superior and advantageous. Since women of color can never be white, they have never been included in womanhood.
This definition of womanhood is also hegemonic. As time progresses and the world becomes “more accepting” of everyone, one would think that womanhood would be more inclusive. But this is not the case. As Friere would say, the myths surrounding women are for the “preservation of the status quo” (white supremacist and patriarchal ideals) (Freire). The most menacing part about the womanhood myth preservation is that it’s not mainly done by white men and women. These ideals of womanhood are passed down within communities of color. Women of color teach their daughters/young girls the racist and sexist version of womanhood. They have internalized it and ensure the next generation of girls do as well. As it keeps getting passed down from generation to generation, it is seen as the universal truth. No one questions this version of womanhood because we are accustomed to hearing, performing, and seeing it. The hegemonic acceptance of womanhood excludes women of color.
By excluding women of color from womanhood, it also excludes them from society’s idea of beauty. If what is feminine is white, then what is white is beautiful. Whiteness and Eurocentric features can often be synonymous with each other. Eurocentric features include white skin, a small nose, a thin body, straight hair, big eyes, and much more. “These criteria are often seen as universal beauty standards” (Imane). Naturally many women of color do not fit into the Eurocentric beauty standard.
For example, black women typically have Afrocentric features. Lupita Nyong’o is a beautiful example of a black woman who is very Afrocentric. She has a big nose and big lips. Her hair is not bone straight and goes against gravity. She has beautiful nappy hair that compliments her dark complexion. The surface tissues of her eyes are yellow, not because she is sick, but because of the increased melanin production in black people.
She highly contrasts someone like Margot Robbie who fits into the Eurocentric beauty standard. Margot has white skin, straight hair, a small nose, and a small physique. Due to this big difference in features, only one of them would be considered beautiful in their natural state (no make-up). Lupita has dealt with society trying to modify her natural state. She’s dealt with magazines lightening her skin for a cover (Phoenix). She has been called ugly by numerous trolls online. She has even been called unattractive by the black community.
If someone like Lupita, who has an Oscar to her name, is bullied this hard by people within and outside of her community, imagine what an everyday black woman/girl faces. All because her features are not Eurocentric, she is deemed as less beautiful than a white girl. To society, Afrocentric features are associated with blackness. Therefore, they are inferior to Eurocentric features.
Black women aren’t the only group of women whose features have barred them from womanhood. The Asian diaspora has also been excluded from the formation of womanhood because they do not fit under the Eurocentric beauty standards. Their features can vary depending on where they are from. Many South Asians have a darker complexion, bigger noses, and bigger eyes than their East Asian counterparts. East Asian women typically have monolid eyelids (smaller eyes) and paler skin.
Both women are beautiful but neither have the qualities to gain access to womanhood. Despite the range of differences within the Asian Diaspora, none of the variations fall into the white Eurocentric model for beauty and womanhood. Similarly to black women, Asian women are often ridiculed and bullied for their natural features. Their features are also devalued in comparison to Eurocentric features.
This inferiority can even reach non-European white women. According to the US Census, many Middle Eastern women would be considered white. For example, in the picture above, the Tiktoker Jorgie may be perceived as white according to the US formation of race. Other MENA women may be perceived as another category that has not been defined under the US formation of race. Either way, these women’s features can vary. However, one feature that is typically seen within all of them is a non-flat nose. Many MENA women have a hump in their nose because it’s genetically favorable in their region.
That hump distances them from whiteness. They may look white, but they are viewed as different. They are not the pure (western) European white that the Eurocentric beauty standard values. That separates them from whiteness and invalidates their womanhood. A simple nose hump can make a white woman look ethnically ambiguous. That ambiguity then helps to devalue their features and makes them inferior to pure white beauty and Eurocentrism.
Eurocentrism devalues women of color and their features. It can enable an inferiority complex within women of color. They are constantly compared to white women by society, within their community, and by themselves. It lowers their self-confidence with how they naturally look. It teaches them to hate their natural skin complexion and features. As if they were born with the incorrect features, complexion, and body type. They learn to internalize the hatred of their body that was taught to them by society. It makes them feel unwomanly and unattractive. The formation of womanhood never had women of color in mind. They were barred because of their natural state. White supremacy and sexism do not allow for their bodies to co-exist with the idea of womanhood.
But women of color still want to be included in womanhood. They want to be in union with other women and with themselves. So, they will go to extreme measures to be accepted into womanhood by society. They will go through measures that either erase their natural essence or exaggerate their features. In the next two sections, I will discuss how women of color have been coerced into ethnic cosmetic surgery or sexualization of their bodies in response to their womanhood being denied.
References
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.
Hunter, Margaret. “The persistent problem of colorism: Skin tone, status, and inequality.” Sociology Compass, vol. 1, no. 1, 3 July 2007, pp. 237–254, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00006.x.
Imane, Hadj Henni. “Toni Morrison’s the Bluest Eye as a Nuanced Critique of Eurocentric Beauty Standards.” Djoussour El-Maarefa, vol. 9, no. 2, 20 Mar. 2023, pp. 774–784.
Lipsitz, George. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness. Temple University Press, 2018.
Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider. Penguin Books, 2019.
Masterclass. “What Is the Male Gaze? Criticisms of the Male Gaze in Media — 2024.” MasterClass, 26 Sept. 2022, www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-the-male-gaze.
Phoenix, Aisha. “Colourism and the politics of beauty.” Feminist Review, vol. 108, no. 1, Nov. 2014, pp. 97–105, https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2014.18.
