aubrey

(i don’t watch love island, if you don’t either, heres some context: from my understanding, this post is about a girl on love island, kenzie, getting told she isn’t someones type, despite being white, with blonde hair, and blue eyes, which this person found to be somewhat satisfying)

for obvious reasons, atleast to me, this post makes sense considering the reversal of western beauty standards; it’s refreshing. liberating, from an exclusionary mold. however, others didn’t agree. (cough cough, mostly just white women)

it’s strange because i saw that even those who were in agreement with the post, automatically thought of white women with dark features. the “brunette” girlies. when my first thought was women of color. i latched onto the fact that these are white features, it’s not about blonde vs brown hair. which makes me think some of these seemingly ignorant people are dumbing it down to just that, when really this western beauty standard of blonde hair, blue eyes, goes so much deeper than something only between white women and hair color.

now onto my real rant:

women of color have constantly been compared to white women by society & the media. our traits have been seen as “undesirable” and still are, to this day. not even to mention our culture! it’s called racism. we have been conditioned to believe that because of these differences, we are lesser than. it’s truly a feeling no person of privilege will be able to ever fully understand.

many white people on the other hand, are so used to being the beauty standard, holding that privilege & power over people of color, that even equality feels like a threat. historically, dominant groups often perceive it as such because losing unearned advantages can feel like losing status. being treated the same way darker skinned girls with ethnic features have been treated for centuries. when a white man says “black women aren’t really my type” and exclusively dates white girls, it’s seen as okay, “just his preference!!” but the minute the same thing happens to a white girl, everyone is in tears over it. if you point out the hypocrisy, mention the deeper themes, you’re told “everyone is beautiful, you’re weird, stop comparing the two!”

some people will truly never understand the fundamental differences between the privileged, and the oppressed. the power dynamics held. the people going “this feels mean…” come off as ignorant, because this is what people of color have been going through our entire lives. we are told constantly to get over it. this guys preference isn’t even rooted in racism.

circling back around to what i was saying earlier, that’s why people are celebrating, why it feels refreshing. the satisfaction isn't coming from seeing kenzie suffer, it’s coming from seeing a supposedly universal beauty standard revealed on television as not actually universal! it makes us feel equal. because we are. it isn’t a competition, it’s not about that, and it never has been

also here’s a little funny reply i got from this lady, after i tried explaining it to her.