Warning: If your butt isn’t big, you may not be Black
Until recently, wide hips, thick lips and solid derrieres, common among many Black women, were passed over and deemed unworthy of even an honourable mention in the working definition of beauty.
But this year, Allure magazine announced there has been a milestone victory in the uphill battle versus beauty standards: no longer does mainstream media call for its sex symbols to be paper thin and powder white. Instead, juicy-lipped, curvy ladies like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez have taken the lead.
Good news for Black women? Think again. Today, the booty has gone from a fixation to a cultural punch line to a self-esteem issue so deeply rooted that for some it doesn’t just mean fitting into jeans, it is on the cusp of fitting into what it means to be a Black woman.
“Growing up, I was always naturally skinny,” says 22-year-old Eileen Bailey who recently moved to California to attend university. “I honestly didn’t feel like I was Black because I didn’t have the hips and ass to go with my brown complexion.”
Bailey, who is half Black and half Filipino, grew so tired of her peers pointing out her “Asian assets” that she is ready to book an appointment for a Brazilian butt lift where fat from undesirable love handles or the tummy is removed through liposuction then repositioned into the butt.
Though this procedure is not guaranteed to provide clients with the desired results, since the body may reabsorb and naturally redeposit the fat, it is still the most popular butt enhancement procedure according to Brazilian Butt Lift Toronto, a division of the Plastica Cosmetic Surgery Clinic.
The 36-inch bust, 26-inch waist and 36-inch hip female came in demand in the urban music industry during the late ’90s hip-hop era and has since practically become a requirement for any Black female looking to make waves as a sex symbol. But the most recent nod from mainstream media has solidified in many women’s minds that failure to fulfill the fantasy immediately eliminates them from being eligible to compete with the women who do.
Artists like Britney Spears and Katy Perry, who used steroid-infused injections to pump up the volume in their behinds, have admitted to having body contouring and butt augmentation. However, since Black women are expected to have the hourglass figure and apple bottom, getting Black celebrities to admit the same has not been easy.
Despite ample, incriminating (before-stardom) pictures of Nicki Minaj (pictured here) in which her backside looks noticeably less cartoonish, she still insists it is completely natural. Video vixen turned rapper Angel Munroe also took years before finally admitting what everyone already knew: the butt that made her thousands of dollars as a model, cost her $14,000 on a surgeon’s table. That is a hefty price to pay for something that women were once told to work off.
But as Bailey explains, the extra boost is worth its weight in gold: “I feel like Black guys don’t want me because I am not what a Black girl is supposed to be,” she says. “Yes, there is some guilt and shame associated with getting any kind of cosmetic surgery, but I want to feel good when I put on clothes and I want to feel like I am enough when I take them off to get intimate.”
We have all been in the gruelling battle against beauty standards and this latest trend is a good indication that we won’t see white flags from either side in the foreseeable future. Can’t help but point out the irony on this one though: Even when Black women are able to expand the prototype, it gets twisted and somehow comes back to bite them in the ass anyway.
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Wow! I don’t get it. Either a woman is too big, or too small somewhere. Her hair is too straight, or too curly. What ever he ethnicity, she wants what the other has. Is woman’s unhappiness with self a way to keep the gene pools healthy? Just being healthy should be enough. But no……!
Wow. This article saddened me. Women should be happy with how much or how little they have. Don’t worry about men who wouldn’t themselves if the shoe were on the other foot.
The word that resonates in my nmind after reading this article is EMBRACE!!!!! Black women have to embrace their own sexiness and feminity and try to come out of the brainwashing that the media has given us, infesting us with poor self esteem because as we pull up our jeans out Booty does not portrude.GUESS WHAT??/ ITS OKAY BECAUSE YOU ARE STIL BEAUTIFUL. EVERY GORGEOUS WOMAN DOES NOT HAVE A BIG BOOTY!!! We have a plethora of beautiful features so why do we need a big bum to boost our egos and self esteem? ITS OPRESSION I TELL YOU! BOTTOM LINE WHEN WE LOOK IN THE MIRROR WE SEE OUR BEAUTIFUL FACES STARING BACK AT US NOT OUR BOOTIES!
Eileen Bailey, Dear! you do what you feel, however i am on the other end of the spectrum, “to much bootie in the pants”. Let me be perfectly honest…i ran track and had little to no body fat through school, until i had my daughter. The fat jean exploded and it has been no turning back….
I honestly have an issue with the bootie…brothers or men in general and sight creatures…the bootie is a distraction. They often find it difficult to see past the bootie. When you are sister that is attempting to make a meaning connection with a brother the bootie is in the way….
But still i say, if you feel it will make you feel better, than do it. However i will encourage you to examine the reasons you want to do it. Your blackness is not up for debate..there is no one image of the ideal sister……we come in all shapes, shades, and dimensions…..if you do it…do it for you…not for the attention of the brothers…..
One love, sista eileen….
Am looking forward to when it will become,WARNING: IF YOU ARE NOT INTELLIGENT, YOU MAY NOT BE BLACK.
I’m a african american female who doesn’t have a big butt!!! So I have accepted what God gave me. Having a big butt doesn’t tell what kind of person you are. It’s what inside a person that really counts.
I have two sisters that have round butts and I have NONE. I’m constantly tease about this and at 38 years old you would think it shouldn’t matter. I understand fully what it’s like not to feel like a Black women.
However, this has been the standard for Black people, this not new just because it now accepted among “white” people.
America is too superficial!! No woman or man can have self esteem for long in such a superficial society. Only a fool would believe that you are not a man or a woman based on your looks. Yet this society perpetuate this ludicris idea.
I knew it.. They have for year made the black women feel like having a big butt was just a insult to injury… When we were always the finest things on earth from the door.. We have naturally round butts with nice wide supple hips, beautiful brown skin, brown eyes and a smile that make your heart melts… Every woman has always underminded the black women while all the long she just wish she had our butts and our beautiful shape… This isn’t to say that white women are not beautiful each culture has their standard of beauty and it should be acceptable to all… There is no one standard… Women are beautiful, smart and holding all the gold.
I am 45 years old and growing up I didn’t have the typical sistah’s booty, my hair wasn’t long and luxurious and I had/have a big forehead .My oldest sister was a goddess and my middle sister’s body was boom,pow& bang. I didn’t even have a name… i was addressed by Janet’s sister…. I was very self conscience. As a pre-teen..my breasts popped up quick but my backside remained the same… I was teased. sometimes called the letter “P” or big bird… It was very hurtful at times. I did have the greatest fan in the world..” My Mom ” which she was a brick sh*t house in her own right….my mother bathed me in love and reassurance. she made me feel special and taught me that it was ok to be different. she taught me that God made everybody to be unique in their own way and blessed us all with our very own beauty in different ways..As I began to grow up and mature…I started to realize my gifts,beauty and talent… I had a great smile and personality and the ability to bring smiles to other peoples faces and hearts. I had the gift to make people feel better whether it was through a funny story ,joke, kind words or just a hug… I accepted my outer self and worked with what I had…and you know what.. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder… We can’t let media or other people dictate what is beautiful and attractive…all those answers are within. As one person posted keyword is ” EMBRACE IT ” whatever you have..No one else can rock it YOU DO !!!
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