#darkgirlsrock

[kitaboots]

Boho Vibes all 2021 🔮💫✨ #goldenconfidence #wintervibes #bohostyle #dmvmua #mdmua #beautypage #vegan #lifestyleblogger #ombrebraids #happyjanuary #beautyblogger #hellowimter #plussizebeauty #bbwlove #veganlife #melaninpoppin #darkgirlsrock #blackgirlmagic #naturalhair #protectivestyles #artistrybymarquita #getfitwitkitaboots #igdaily #explorepage #motd #lotd #followforfollowback #makeupartist #dmvmua #makeupdaily #makeupforblackwomen (at Planet Earth) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKauF8XBYqw/?igshid=1ggc9mr6q3k8p

[fumidesaluvold]

The @juviasplace Blushed Rose 🌹 Collection Tutorial is live on my @youtube channel my beauties! 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸💕💖 Swatches on both blush palettes as well as the blushed Rose 🥀🌸Palette! 🥰 Just click on the link in my bio above!💃🏿🎨🎤🎬🎥🎞📽🎀 Don’t forget to use my Discount Code FUMI on everything on the @juviasplace website Discount Code does not expire! 😃 . Produced by @oledesaluvold 🎀💖💕🌸💛😃🎉 . . #juviasplace #juvia #palette #pink #glam #blusher #rose #melanin #influencer #beautyinfluencer #motd #lotd #fashion #style #mua #makeup #makeupguru #50 #darkgirls #darkgirlsrock #wakeupandmakeup #slavetobeauty #instagood #instamood #youtube #youtuber #nofilter #selfie #makeupartist #fumidesaluvold 🌸 https://www.instagram.com/p/CPTdUnDA6ZU/?utm_medium=tumblr

[juli-ackles]

. @prilaga #darkgirlsrise #darkgirlsdoitbetter #darkgirlz #darkgirlsrule #darkgirlsxmarlo #darkgirlsmatter #darkgirlsdocumentary #darkgirlsbook #darkgirlmakeup #darkgirlsarebeautiful #darkgirlsmakeup #darkgirlsrock #darkgirl #prilaga #darkgirl21 #darkgirl💜 #darkgirlproblems #darkgirly #darkgirlskillingit #darkgirlprobs #darkgirlandboy #darkgirls #darkgirlmagic #darkgirlsslay #darkgirlfly #darkgirlswinning #darkgirl🖤 https://www.instagram.com/p/BqlCFA-gtuh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=d0dd17py7oc3

[resachats]

Today is Wednesday & I’m feeling Gone with the Wind Fabulous ❣️ #pictureoftheday #outfit #darkgirlsrock #chocolate #fashion #earthtones #wcw #blogger #blog #melanin #blackgirlmagic #naturallyshesdope #naturalhair #style (at New York, New York)

[thewitchblood]

Me importa una mierda mi mala reputación 👹🔥 🤟🏽👅 . . . @lammiadamn666 RESPALDO😈 . . #lolitagoth #weedporn #chicamala😈🔥 #chilegram #instagramhub #onlyfanmodel #darkgirlsrock #sexywitches (en ONLY FANS) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHqiT6OHG0S/?igshid=1ks2ey2smtlc2

[keymanifester]

🎶Shining, shining, shining, shining, shining, ohhh.... 🎶 . Makeup by @mua_tellz . . . . . . . #thatmelanintho #blackradiancebeauty #blackwomenbelike #melaninqueen #melaninpoppin #melaninonfleek #darkskinglow #darkgirls #darkgirlsrock #darkbeauty #darkskinblackgirls #darkskinbeauty #thedarkerthebetter #thedarkertheberry #darkskinwomen #redlip #blackgirlswithbangs

[afrobeatgirl]

My comfort zone: Recording studio ❤️

[roguemodelmanagementuk]

Posted @withregram • @glassxalice 🦇 My apocolyse 🦇 taken at my home studio and edited remotely by the wonderful @zerophotographic 🦇 Check out my story for more 😉 which ones your favourite ? 🦇 Rep'd by @rogue_model_management 🦇 * * * * * * * * #apocolypticfashion #apocolypticbeauty #apocolyptic #darkgrunge #darkgrungeaesthetic #darkstyle #darkaesthetic #rockitlikearedhead #darkgirlsrock #leathergood #darkgirlsrock #metalgirlstyle #spookygirlsclub #gothqueens https://www.instagram.com/p/B-mm3UdgY08/?igshid=1eaurjw2u8sap

[annamarieslater]

#bluemonday #neworder #1983 #factoryrecords #nikonart #annamarieslater #synthpop #alternativedance #hinrg #darkgirlsrock #alternativegirl #cosplaygirl #emogirl #alternativeaesthetic #grungestyle #camdenstyle #camdengirl #indiestyle #grungeblue #electricblue #metalicblue #bluehair #rainbowlove #femmetribe #ikissedagirlandilikedit #ikissedagirl #katyperry #katycats #raw #raw_community #rawphotography #rawpixel #raw_colours #kodak #kodakgold200 #kodakcolor Interesting use of the word 'A' 😆😘😇 did you read this far? Did you get it?!? Been there, seen it, got the... 😜😎 (at Camden Town) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoFiFtllYlo/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qlzdfb4o1drh

[levelsofgray]

j'accepte la grande aventure d'être moi [photograph of model Sapphire Williams] #nudemodel #art #artist #photographer #bnw #monochrome #toweltuesday #blackgirlmagic #melanin #model #atlmodel #portraiture #classy #darkgirlsrock #frenchvibes #love #blackgirlsrock #berrycurly🍓 #iacceptthegreatadventureofbeingme #beautiful #levelsofgray #tones #bnwdark (at Atlanta, Georgia)

[kitaboots]

My beautiful friend has been through so much. So glad she doesn’t look like what she’s been though. She is truly an inspiration.

[colornrawmodels-blog]

[juli-ackles]

. @prilaga #darkgirlsrise #darkgirlsdoitbetter #darkgirlz #darkgirlsrule #darkgirlsxmarlo #darkgirlsmatter #darkgirlsdocumentary #darkgirlsbook #darkgirlmakeup #darkgirlsarebeautiful #darkgirlsmakeup #darkgirlsrock #darkgirl #prilaga #darkgirl21 #darkgirl💜 #darkgirlproblems #darkgirly #darkgirlskillingit #darkgirlprobs #darkgirlandboy #darkgirls #darkgirlmagic #darkgirlsslay #darkgirlfly #darkgirlswinning #darkgirl🖤 https://www.instagram.com/p/BqdtwAdgsUT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11fka889wy09k

[mortylovebug1913]

Fun in da sun!!! #virginiabeach #sunshine #sunfun #forealtho #forreal #smiles #beach #blkgirlsrock #darkgirlsrock

[820poetics]

She Shamed Black Beauty

“Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? Who taught you to hate the race that you belong to so much so that you don’t want to be around each other?”  –Malcolm X

Authors note: My response discusses colorism and its influence on Black women self-esteem. The italicized and bold text is a poem I wrote. I become vulnerable to share my past struggles with colorism. You may read the poem as a whole by reading the italicized and bold text first or read it as it appears throughout my response or try it both ways. The title of my response is the title of my poem.  

Colonialism beauty standards continue to be a strong force on how Black women see themselves and treat each other. In the novel If I Could Write This in Fire, Cliff shares her experience on the hierarchy of shades, which explains how social and racial privilege come with being a light-skinned Jamaican. This hierarchy of shades created a “system light” where “dark people will meet in those ways in which the light-skinned person imitates the oppressor (28), light-skinned individuals started enacting the same practices as the colonizer, which made one person feel less than the other. Forcing someone of the same race to become the other. For instance, a light-skin woman would have a dark-skin woman as her servant who is paid badly and give room and board in poor conditions. All which are acts learned from colonized ways. With this sort of action and ways of thinking the oppressed becomes the oppressor. Even today, I still see the act of the oppressed being the oppressor in Caribbean communities, but in America the hierarchy of shades continue to happen, but in different ways. What are we doing as Black women to address colorism?

Imperfection is perfection. Perfection was never reflected in the mirror. Unpretty was her dirty little secret. At the age of twelve she was introduced to music videos. She said hello and it said, “drop that ass.” She would gaze at the screen imagining she was a model. She would play “I’m her” with friends. The rules were she could be anyone she wanted as long as she called it first.

The more she watched music videos and flip through magazines, the more she recognized a pattern. Colors that didn’t hide in the shadows and colors that couldn’t be found in the dark. This color was bright on its own; it didn’t need flash to expose its glare. This color was light-skin.

Colorism is the nasty residue of slavery and it continues to spread and influence how Black women see themselves and each other. Colonialism is a tool that continues to divide and distract the Black community. Instead of focusing on solidarity and unity we oppress each other—we call each other ugly instead of embracing the features that make us unique and beautiful. Western beauty standards are responsible for the social, financial, and economic hierarchies attached to color and body features. However, we must pause and reflect on how we destroy each other. Although all Black women experience discrimination, the intensity of that discrimination and the frequency will differ dramatically by skin tone. Growing up in Miami, I remember walking into parties with my light-skinned friends and the guys would gravitate towards them first and would recognized me after glancing at my ass. Being light-skin or thick was the tool to be “noticed” or considered “beautiful” where I grew up. The issues I face with colorism now are different from the ones I faced as a young girl, but there are still young girls who need reassurance that their dark-skin is beautiful. Colorism is still an ongoing problem within the Black community. Colonial beauty standards and images continue to lower the self-esteem of Black women.       

She couldn’t accept her own and wanted to take Alicia Keys’. She would stare into the mirror for hours and repeat I hate you. She would be in the shower longer than usual, scrubbing it off and hoping she hadn’t missed a spot when she had finished, but instead she left bruises. Bruises that turned into darker scars. Unpretty was her dirty little secret. She would stare at Halle Berry and describe her flawless beauty only to stare at herself and pick the flaws. This color was dark skin.

Today, we still see the issue of colorism on television and on the media. We see the progress of Black women in academia and being employed in certain spaces (another topic in itself), but there is still work to be done in how Black women are represented across the media. We turn on the television to see older dark skin or plus size women playing the mom or domestic role. We see younger dark skin women bodies being used as sexual objects. The light-skin friend is the well-rounded one, but can’t keep a man. Colonial interpretations of Black women are twisted and discriminating. It fucking irritates me every time I see the gazed representation of Black women. We open magazines or book and continue to see false representations of Black women. A common notion or trend going on now is that Black women with Western features are beautiful and certain types of women who have a mix of Western and “exaggerated” Black features are considered exotic. Colonial standards have “accepted” exotic as the new beautiful for Black women, women of color, and “foreign” women. Therefore, we continue to see the world and sadly ourselves in the lens of white supremacy.

She hated being dark-skinned. She wanted the mixed skin of Tia Mowry; instead she found bleach. She was an addict for lightening creams. Unpretty was her dirty little secret. First she went with the gel, but it took too long to lighten her skin. Next, she tried a mixture creams, but when she stopped using—her skin distorted to its natural tone. She decided to mix the gel and cream, but sun exposure darkened her skin a shade. She Googled and found the cure in a bottle in China. She decided to fill out its paper work, finalized its flight to Florida, only to be disappointed when she couldn’t afford to maintain the habit.

She was sixteen when she realized she had a problem. Unpretty was her dirty little secret. She wanted to fix God’s choice of colors. She was too late, the colors on her portrait had dried. She had become accustomed to the beauty that was in the eyes of the colonizer. Light skin was in and dark skin stepped back into the shadows unless it had booty. She one day picked up the scissors to cut herself loose. She was free of this addiction, but only to start another.

There continues to be positive effects and changes in the way Black women are seeing themselves, but there is still work to be done towards modifying the  consciousness of colorism within the Black community and younger generations. It is vital that as Black women we continue to promote positive self-conceptions in our work and in the way we carry ourselves. We have to remember what our younger selves struggled with or continues to struggle with as adults to help prevent younger Black girls and women of color from experiencing self-hate. The colonizer already hates and oppresses us—we can’t do it to ourselves. We need to stop! We must develop revolutionary attitudes towards Black women representation.

She no longer tries to change her complexion, but instead she learns to master it with accessories. She is curious to learn her skin tone’s best angle and what complements her extra coat of paint. She begins to love it and enjoy its rareness. She moves a few steps closer to embracing dark skin but doubts when the one she notices looks through her. 

Unpretty is still her dirty secret.

                                                                                          - Wonda

Reference: Cliff, M. (2008). If I could write this in fire. Mineapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

[keymanifester]

A wuh yuh feel like? . Makeup by @mua_tellz . . . . . . . . . . . . #thatmelanintho #blackradiancebeauty #blackwomenbelike #melaninqueen #melaninpoppin #melaninonfleek #darkskinglow #darkgirls #darkgirlsrock #darkbeauty #darkskinblackgirls #darkskinbeauty #thedarkerthebetter #thedarkertheberry #darkskinwomen #redlip #blackgirlswithbangs #boldlip