Battling Western beauty standards as an Asian-American

After European colonization of Africa and North and South America began in the 15th century, everything of white, European origins held supreme — from light eyes to blonde hair to pale skin, straight hair, and long, thin noses. As a result, Eurocentric features are what Western nations, including the United States, have considered “conventionally beautiful” for over 500 years.

Western beauty standards dominate mainstream culture. White people are the pinnacle of beauty. Features that primarily exist in people of color, such as larger bodies, broad noses, and small eyes, are often deemed unattractive. As we know it, beauty is a white supremacist ideal that favors people of European descent — an expectation that most individuals have unconsciously accepted.

As a first-generation Korean-American teenager, I struggle to accept my non-Eurocentric features. When all the people I see in movies, magazines, and on billboards are slender and white, I often find myself in a hole of self-pity and having expectations beyond what is truly achievable.

As a child, I desperately wanted my eyes to be a lighter color other than brown. I used to browse the web to find subliminal messages that could supposedly lighten my eye color.

I also recall searching for remedies to make my nose appear slimmer — bookmarking all the YouTube videos I could find that demonstrated specific exercises that could lift the tip of my nose.

After these attempts failed, I searched for rhinoplasty prices in my area. I frequently wondered if the money and months of pain would be worth having the perfectly sloped nose one saw on supermodels.

The thought of cosmetic procedures continuously ran through my head as a preteen. In South Korea, where my family is from, plastic surgery is a common topic of conversation for people of all ages and genders.

One example of this is double-eyelid surgery, an invasive cosmetic procedure that makes eyes appear bigger, brighter, and whiter. My mother gave into cultural pressure and underwent this surgery to gain self-confidence. At only 13 years old, my younger sister is contemplating the same surgery.

In countries like Mali, Nigeria, Malaysia, and the Philippines, where citizens often have darker complexions, many people buy skin-whitening cream or carry umbrellas to preserve skin lightness. Due to the hot, sunny weather in these regions, individuals must go to such measures to maintain pale skin, which is considered more respectable and reflects a higher socioeconomic status.

As my white friends boast their Summer tans, I find myself avoiding the sun with a hat. Similarly, many of my Asian friends and family members buy makeup much lighter than their skin tone and dye their hair blonde regularly to appear white.

I've learned that race and ethnicity shouldn’t be allowed to negatively dictate how we view our physical appearance. Beauty should be a celebration. Each ethnicity has its own special, unique features. Embracing these characteristics is critical. There is beauty in diversity.