Challenging Beauty Standards

My hair and my ethnicity have been segues for absurd questions and phrases like, “what are you?,” “you’re so exotic,” and “can I touch your hair?”

I concluded that these questions seem to stem from lack of exposure to or conversation about different cultures.

Social media, advertisements, magazines and the like bombard us with images of women every day.

These images serve, in a way, as a beauty standard.

But what is beauty?

As a multiracial woman, it is difficult to find people who look like me in these images.

There is a lack of diversity and representation in industries including modeling, and I believe the modeling industry needs to put more effort into change.

Luckily, when I was scrolling through Instagram some time ago, I found the All Woman Project.

Using Instagram and other media outlets, Clémentine Desseaux and Charli Howard, founders of the AWP, created an online community.

Instagram serves as a place for the founders and other models to represent different types of beauty in terms of color, age and size with photoshop-free photographs.

As a community, this project provides support, appreciation and recognition for all body types.

There is support for those that are not comfortable with their bodies.

There is appreciation for all bodies.

There is recognition of the lack of representation in the modeling industry.

After launching their campaign last year, the founders of the project released a second edition of the project in January in collaboration with the brand Aerie.

Aerie has already launched campaigns that use unretouched photographs in their advertisements, so this made it a great reason to collaborate.

Seemingly, change in the way we view women and bodies is on its way.

Aerie’s efforts are a good place to start spreading the idea of diversity and self-love, but this is only the beginning.

It’s clear that industries are aware of the lack of representation in the modeling industry; however, these campaigns haven’t made a huge impact.

To battle the lack of diversity in the modeling industry, these campaigns need to start elsewhere, which is exactly what the AWP is doing.

The AWP is now reaching out to girls in elementary school and colleges instead of just the industry itself.

The AWP’s workshops and events will provide girls with role-models and begin a conversation about body image.

This could be what makes the greatest change so far.

Conversation is where learning begins.

The earlier the conversation about body image starts, perhaps there will be a greater chance of shedding the stigma of different body types in terms of what is displayed in the media.  

Diversity is important for women all around the world to see, especially young girls.

If models are limited to one size or color, young girls are limited to what they are learning about beauty.

It’s important they grow up knowing that there are various definitions of beauty.

A woman should not feel or be limited by what she looks like.

This isn’t about removing the young, small Caucasian girl, it’s about diversity of color, size and age.