Are Lip Fillers and Butt Enhancers the Modern-Day Blackface?

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By Allie Cohen

Gone are the days when white people painted their faces black and brown and incorporated them into minstrel shows, or so we thought. While you are no longer likely to see minstrel shows today, blackface in the modern-day world is still present. Specifically, beauty trends such as charcoal face masks, spray tans, and even butt enhancers are all examples of modern-day blackface; additionally, both spray tans and butt enhancers are also ways in which people blackfish. No matter what form blackface takes, it is still a form of racism and it is evident that we still have much work to do.

A Deeper Look Into Blackface

While blackface has been a prominent part of America’s racist history (and in racism throughout the world) many people still can’t identify the subtle lines between trendy and blackface. In short, blackface is the practice of intentionally darkening one’s “skin with shoe polish, grease paint, or burnt cork” (history.com) to mock Africans and African-Americans. Blackface also extends beyond darkening one’s skin to embellishing features such as lips; so maybe next time reconsider getting those lip fillers. Although blackface first became popularized in American culture after the Civil War, blackface has been practiced in Europe for centuries prior; most notoriously seen in Shakespeare’s Othello. And while there are no formal ways in which blackface is incorporated, blackface is still very much so prevalent today.

Controversial Beauty Trends (And Just How Controversial They Really Are)

Lip fillers and butt & breast enhancers are all part of the slippery slope toward mainstream blackface. With this in mind, this prompts the question: to what degree are they considered blackface? In other words, can I, a white woman, still get lip-fillers, and still be respectful? Well, let’s start by discussing the racist roots behind these beauty trends. In Yomi Adegoke’s article, “Why Does a Black Butt Only Look Good in White Skin?” she explains that large backsides have been “the ‘butt’ of fashion industry jokes for years.” That is until the 2010s when we saw an evident shift in attitudes towards big butts through music icons such as Jennifer Lopez, who released a song called “Booty” (2014), and social media moguls the Kardashians and Jenners, who are notoriously known for blackfishing and appropriating black culture. The embracement of big booties is further reflected in mainstream media outlets, such as Vogue, which published a controversial article titled “We’re Officially in the Era of the Big Booty,” and The New York Times, which also provided a platform to commend white girls on their journey towards their desired butts in their article “For Posterior’s Sake” (2014). While this change in attitude should’ve signified a step towards a more inclusive world, it instead signaled that attributes of African beauty are only acceptable when white women and men deem it so. With this in mind, anti-racists should try to understand why this is hurtful, and why there is opposition to fully integrating these beauty trends into the mainstream. Furthermore, as a white woman who would fall privy otherwise to the racist trends our current beauty culture promotes, I’m hoping to further enlighten aspiring anti-racists on the racist history behind contemporary beauty trends, so we can further make educated decisions in the future.

Whether or not there is any time it is acceptable to get these enhancements, I can’t answer that question (for obvious reasons). However, as exemplified by Kylie Jenner, who explained that she got lip-fillers because her insecurities stemmed from beauty culture and her thin lips not being the norm, the toxic parts of beauty culture have pervaded society in varying ways. Despite this, no matter who or what prompted her desire to get lip fillers, it doesn’t excuse the racist implications of getting such a procedure. Furthermore, there needs to be a more open dialect behind when it is acceptable to get enhancements. Finally, influencers such as Kylie need to not only be held accountable for their actions but encourage productive conversations surrounding blackface.

Gucci’s Blackface Sweater

Aside from beauty trends, instances of blackface have also extended into the fashion industry. Specifically, in 2018, Gucci released a “black sweater (pictured above), featuring a roll-up collar that covers the lower face with a wide red lip outline around the mouth” (npr.org). Gucci has since removed the sweater from the collection, after receiving much backlash about the sweater starkly resembling blackface: the sweater displayed blackface through the sewn artificial lips and further proved problematic by having a white girl pose in it. Although Gucci was ultimately held accountable (somewhat), this instance begs the question: how was it even released in the first place?

Going forward, we need to hold designers and beauty companies accountable for their actions. Yes, Gucci received some bad press and ultimately lost money because they had to take down their offensive products, but there needs to be an additional step, or rather five steps farther than that. All of these companies claim to value diversity, but if they truly did, then Gucci would’ve never released the sweater in the first place. That is why, for now, we, especially white people, must hold the consumer responsible for buying such products; and, hopefully, down the line, we can see some serious reform within the fashion and beauty industry.

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January 21, 2021

Opinion

The GW Local

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