Growing up for me was hard. I was surrounded by girls I wanted to look like. Blonde, light eyed, straight hair and slender. Im white specifically Italian so I look far from that. Im trying to unlearn everything that I have learned so I can feel good about myself. But I hate how that because Im white, I dont get a space in the conversation about Eurocentric beauty standards. All of a sudden my race makes me immune to insecurities.
Eurocentric beauty standards are based on lighter features and a slender body which I dont have. So to that standard I am ugly. Why is that I am not allowed to talk about how these certain beauty standards have impacted me? Do I not matter?
For the record Im not racist at all. I judge on character not on skin color. Insecurities dont pertain to a certain race, it is a lived HUMAN experience that all of us go through.
I fully understand that minorities may struggle more than me in this aspect due to lack of representation for them in the media. This is something I too believes need to change.
But in the end, no one deserves to be told their insecurities dont matter because of their race. We all deserve to be heard.