Why aren't squinty asian eyes considered beautiful?
“The media are the soil in which civic discourse takes root, but the media also perpetuate inequality via a lack of representation – or a skewed and inaccurate representation – of the public.” - New Voices on the Net? - The Digital Divide and the Costs of Network Exclusion, Ernest J. Wilson III and Sasha Costanza-Chock
Nearly everyone in the United States of America uses the media in some way. The only Asian news anchor I have heard of, Julie Chen, has frequently spoken out about her double eyelid surgery, a plastic surgery that made her eyes look bigger, and less squinty. Basically, this surgery made her look more white, and less Chinese. And she was required to have this surgery in order to advance in her career.
What I’m trying to point out is that the people of color who are represented in American media often have, and/or are encouraged to have “white” features. I almost never see an Asian actress or news anchor with squinty eyes. Look at Lucy Liu, arguably the most famous Asian American actress – her physical features are very “white” as well, and she doesn't have squinty eyes. Our society is basically saying that, if you don’t have “white” features, you cannot be successful. You cannot be beautiful.
The media focuses mainly on Asians when it comes to examining the eyelid surgery craze, even though anyone, regardless of race, can get it. The problem with assigning certain physical features to certain races (such as, Asians have mono eyelids and white people have double eyelids; thus, Asians with double eyelids look more white), is that it distances people with physical traits that aren't considered a part of their race. I'll talk about this more here and here.
I read this article a few weeks ago and wanted to highlight this part:
The media focuses mainly on Asians when it comes to examining the eyelid surgery craze, even though anyone, regardless of race, can get it. The problem with assigning certain physical features to certain races (such as, Asians have mono eyelids and white people have double eyelids; thus, Asians with double eyelids look more white), is that it distances people with physical traits that aren't considered a part of their race. I'll talk about this more here and here.
I read this article a few weeks ago and wanted to highlight this part:
"The people who we described as successful Asian Americans seemed to be the ones who successfully grew out of their Asianness and became Americans."
Just google image search the word “beauty” and keep scrolling. Whiteness everywhere. Wilson and Costanza-Chock summarize this issue succinctly and truthfully: “At this rate, the American mediascape will never look like the American public.”
But why is there such poor representation of people of color in the American media? Because in America, whiteness is the standard of beauty for people of color.
But why is there such poor representation of people of color in the American media? Because in America, whiteness is the standard of beauty for people of color.