queennubian:

newwavefeminism:

european-booty-scratcher:

genuineeeegenuinee:

& I’ve internalized a lot of racism, too. I know this.

Sometimes I think of how I would be beautiful if I changed my hair, or my skin color, and this sounds really pathetic. Partially because it is entirely pathetic, but I’m going to say it anyway, because it’s the truth for me.

& some people will automatically say, you should be beautiful to you! and that’s all that matters! Yeah, that’s a cute saying and all, but beauty is not as simple as it sounds.

It also boils down to being seen as human, too.

Eh. I have a lot of feelings. 

this this & this

this is what I was talking about earlier. when you grow up in a household where family members regularly bleaches their skin, or you were instructed to get long artificial hair sewn to your scalp every few months because that’s just what you’re SUPPOSED to do to be a black woman that’s taken seriously… you can’t just dismantle racist beauty structures overnight. Anti-blackness (among other things) is so ingrained in our culture and how we conceive of simple things like beauty that you don’t even feel like you COUNT as a woman until your hair looks a certain way and, of course there is the classic “oh, if my skin was just a few shades lighter things would be so much easier…“ 

 I can remember hating my hair and thinking it was horrible because it was so thick. It didn’t lay down like Aalyah’s or the other girls in the music videos. I was taunted daily by class mates that made me aware that my nappy hair was unexceptable and was repeatedly told I needed a perm….even when I had a perm.

I used to wish my nose was smaller. When I smile it can flare. On a date a brother told me once, “you’ve got a big nose like me, I like it.” I didn’t even know what to say to that.

i agree 100% with the “u cant get rid of anti-blackness over night” statement. i have no hate towards my dark skin none at all but i am completely aware other people do.

so a couple summers ago when my boyfriend was helping me and my mom move to a differnt apartment and we had been outside in the sun all day and my skin was like two shades darker than normal my first reaction when he told me “you’re skin got a lot darker” was to be ashamed and to feel less attractive even though after thinking about it i felt stupid for feeling so inferior for my natural color. 

but MUCH to my surprise he finished off his statement with “it’s beautiful” 

he called my already dark skin that had became darker in the sun beautiful.

and the sad thing is that i never in my life imagined that would happen. im still taken by it

(Source: genuineeee)