This is obviously a rhetorical question because every culture has their idea of what beauty is, but does one culture's idea of beauty trump another? My roommate and I were talking about skin color the other day when I learned middle eastern culture prefer light skin with colored eyes over dark skin with brown eyes and I told her it was the same for hispanic cultures as well and how I wish I was lighter and how I try to stay away from the sun or avoid certain colors that will enhance my skin color.
I'm sure most of you have noticed, that having nice tan and bronze is every American girl's (this is a generalization of course) goal year round. This made me think of how historically, white/European men have objectified and eroticized women of color while foreign men desire the porcelain, blue-eyed woman. Assuming that beauty translates into the male gaze in any culture, this makes me question: if the male gaze did not exist, would we (colored women) still be trying to look them (Anglo/europeans) while they are trying to look like us? Let me know what you think.
I've definitely experienced this is firsthand studying abroad in Istanbul, Turkey for a semester. Men were so interested in women with lighter skin tones especially if they were blonde and/or blue-eyed. From my experience, it seems as though men (and women) are fascinated by something different and new -- something they cannot possible replicate. For the women, dying your hair blonde in Turkey was very 'in' while I was there. Their hair, however, never looked blonde because their hair was too dark to reach the color of blonde we have here. It's almost a double-edged sword because even if we tan here, we will never obtain the skin color/tone we are attempting to obtain.
ReplyDeleteI feel that if the male gaze did not exist, then women (and men too!) would probably be happy with whatever skin tone, hair color, eye color (you name it) that they already have. For example, the male gaze on American women is what makes us want to have a darker skin tone, like that of foreign women, but if the male gaze didn't exist, then we would, I assume, be totally okay with having light colored skin. I think it is just society's pressure to look different/exotic. Like Carrie stated above, I think people are fascinated with the exotic/different/new, and women want to look like that because they want to stand out from the crowd and be desired.
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