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I've never seen white women "promoted" as the most attractive. That is your own subjective reality. Choose to love yourself and validate your own beauty and you'll see the world differently.
I disagree with your premise and I'm a white woman. A standard way to assess what constitutes "beauty promotion" in any country is what's on their magazine covers. Women's interests, beauty, and show business magazines, as well as MEN's publications of all types. They put females on magazine covers because they believe their attractiveness is a draw. It's a fact, proven by statistics gathered over many years, that women of color seldom appear on magazine covers and even when they do, their skin is usually lightened. That's not my opinion, that's measurable.
Media reporter David Carr writes in the New York Times, "...in broad-circulation magazines, the unspoken but routinely observed practice of not using nonwhite cover subjects — for fear they will depress newsstand sales — remains largely in effect." Adweek, a publication for professionals in the advertising industry, tracks what are the top-selling magazine covers. In the most recent coverage I could find (2011), Adweek showed NOT A SINGLE TOP-SELLING COVER having a woman of color shown. In addition to that, these women of beauty appeared not only Caucasian, but paler and more fragile than what medical people would consider the healthy, able-bodied norm and blonder than the world in which dark-haired women are the majority.
In last year's total numbers, 82% of magazine cover subjects were white. That leaves 18% who are not. That group is usually bi- or multi-racial (for instance, Halle Berry, who has paler skin than mine, is counted as a black woman). According to the Census Bureau, 36% of adult women in the US are non-white (and close to 50% of children), so that means women of color are under-represented by exactly half.
Huffington Post recently covered this issue and looked at popular magazines of all types between September of 2012 and September of 2013. During that time, the popular men's magazine Maxim, promoted to the entire nation, had NOT ONE cover subject who was not a white woman. Shape, Glamour, and Marie-Claire each had one non-white in the entire year. Vanity Fair had two, and its covers often feature GROUPS!
Golf Digest magazine, which historically features successful professional male golfers on its cover, recently caused a controversy but having a woman on its cover. But not a female professional golfer, rather Paulina Gretzky, a minor actress whose father is hockey royalty and whose fiance is a pro golfer. She was there in her busty blonde glory, resplendent in a white bra top and lycra tights, ostensibly to demonstrate exercises that might improve one's golf game.
So your observation that women or minorities see racial under-representation because they are not objective, don't love themselves enough, and don't validate their own beauty is patently absurd.
If you think TV and movies are going to convince the masses to want to sleep with black girls, fat girls or bald girls, you've lost your damn mind. What you would see is the death of the media, or at least the birth of an alternative.
Not true. Google "Elsie Scheel" and you will see what I mean. Then follow it up with a search for "Lillian Russell".
Given enough time and money, the media can convince anyone of anything. The media convinced people for years that smoking was cool and glamorous even though everyone knew from day one that smoking stunk and if you try to smoke you will initially cough your guts out until your lungs get used to the irritation. The media CONTINUES to convince people that smoking is cool. We've known for almost SIXTY YEARS that smoking causes a whole world of health problems, and yet somehow young people still start smoking. The media has convinced people to purchase processed garbage when they go food shopping. The media has convinced people to purchase processed garbage when they go music shopping. The media has convinced so many people that there is a certain standard of beauty that tens of thousands of people die every year from eating disorders brought on by the desire to achieve that standard of beauty. Let's face it - how many people would suffer from anorexia or bulimia if the media convinced people that there's nothing wrong with being fat? ZERO. The only reason why those conditions exist is because people believe that "fat is ugly"... and that has been foisted upon us, bit by bit, by the media... over the last 100 years or so. Note the date on the Elsie Scheel article.
Its a dumb question, not a controversial question. Beauty, is beauty. White women aren't "promoted" as the "standard" of beauty". OMG what a ridiculous question.
Would be great if the MODS would check these ONE TIME/FIRST TIME poster's IP addresses and compare to existing regular posters. Then just use the posters normal CD name instead of the ridiculous "new account" they created just to start a dumb thread.
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I agree. The media has no influence on what I perceive as beautiful. The media promotes anorexic blondes. I like pale skin, black hair or redheads with some curves.
This is one of those 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' situations. Are they featured because that's what the industries want to push as the standard, or are they featured because that's what people like and thus what sells?
Go ahead and throw "racist" at me while you all feel the same about yourselves and your own attractions.
This last weekend I was a bar where a young black woman was tending and was one of the most beautiful women I have seen. She was not overweight in the least but had more curves and cleavage than I could wrap my eyes around.
It's not that white women are "promoted" as the beauty standard, humans are simply biologically hard-wired to see white women (especially blonde, thin, blue-eyed) as the ideal of beauty. That's just how humans are.
Everyone knows Barbie. And everyone has given her more than a passing glance at least once in their life.
A black barbie, an asian barbie, a mexican barbie, an overweight barbie with cellulite and stomach rolls...people keep coming back to prefer the perfect thin blonde one.
Probably. Most of the people in the world are non-white, and of those that are white, many of them still have dark features.
My theory - "whites" - as least the natural Nordic blonde blue-eyed type were & are a global minority. People generally tend to put a premium on rarity and the exotic. Exotic cars, natural pearls, limited editions etc. I think media goes with that, but don't agree that the Nordic type is the only one used to sell stuff. There have been highly successful fashion covers and models of all races. But I'm not talking 1950's US here - where other things came into play. I just don't see it now,at least not in the check out line at Shoprite. Advertizers, publishers, never miss a market. The women getting collagen plumped lips, Brazilian butt lifts, spray tans, changing eye shape with makeup, crimping hair [out of fashion but valid for my point] didn't emulate that stuff from "white women".
I don't think who controls the media now matters, or that they are 'promoting' anything really. I agree it was different in the past. Now they just want to make money.
Its a dumb question, not a controversial question. Beauty, is beauty. White women aren't "promoted" as the "standard" of beauty". OMG what a ridiculous question.
Would be great if the MODS would check these ONE TIME/FIRST TIME poster's IP addresses and compare to existing regular posters. Then just use the posters normal CD name instead of the ridiculous "new account" they created just to start a dumb thread.
Thread closing in 5...........4............3..........2............. ..1
This isn't a dumb thread. It's actually an interesting topic to discuss. Why not have honest discussions that just so happen to be about race?
Here's the thing about that. I'm "white" then even though I'm Middle Eastern. I sure as hell don't feel "white" though.
I do see your point. Middle Eastern and White Beauty aren't viewed as being the same thing. Middle Eastern beauty tends to be viewed being more as "ethnic" or "exotic" in the United States, which is similar to other minority groups.
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