The Effects of Skin Tone on Body Image

Is Black truly Beautiful

In the trailer for the documentary entitled Dark Girls, the director interviews different women who are considered to be dark about how there skin tone has effected their lives. Many of them talk about how their skin tone makes them feel very insecure about their appearance and at young ages were ridiculed by classmates. Some of the women also talked about when it came to dating they were also the very last pick. Light skin Black women are looked at as beautiful and men aren't ashamed to take them out but when it comes to a dark girl they are looked at as sex objects and nothing more. Media perpetuates the stigma that light skin is beauty and dark skin is not. In commercials that feature black girls and women those women are 9 out of 10 times a light skin women with light curly hair. Even on Black sitcoms the the girlfriends or the wives of men are usually of a lighter skin tone. The light versus dark skin battle within the Black community and outside negatively effect girls and women alike with problems like depression, under/over eating, and self esteem. Girls are taught to love themselves but in society there are people telling them not to.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW31Te1awVw)