Lavish Rebellion [DOT COM]

2007:

As I closely observed as many photos as I could, I was curious to also see what was considered beautiful to JET after all these years since BOTW was created for us sisters. Was there an inclination towards lighter-browns than darker browns? Was I seeing enough Afros? In later decades, was there a tendency to only feature waist-length weaves? I know the questions transpire a bit silly, but my mind went there because since witnessing the divide within Black people (#TeamLightSkin, #TeamDarkSkin), even my kumbaya outlook, birthed from childhood, that everyone should be seen as beautiful, I couldn’t shield myself from trying to not detect any color complexes or preferences with every photo ever published.

I will say that I saw an array of skin colors and styles, even female body builders, on display. In JET‘s earlier days of black and white photographs, the women wore swimsuits as they did in 1995, but the swimsuits were demure. Wearing a peplum bikini top or laying on your back with your legs crossed in the air were edgy choices to make, but that’s nothing compared to today’s string bikinis and a spread eagle pose not seen in JET, but other magazines). The Beauties that I specifically remembered as a child and into my teens were the printed in color and the swimsuits were a little racier, but images still classy. By the 2000s, the Beauties of JET wore “just enough to be” scandalous bikinis, expressed sultry-eyed smizes, and the bodies more buxom and shiny. You could even argue that the images were a bit sexualized but not too overtly primitive. I saw what JET was trying to do back then, which was keeping up with the times of hip-hop videos like Mystikal‘s “Shake Ya Ass” and Jay Z‘s “Big Pimpin’.” I’ve become so used to seeing the new age of Black beauty presented this way, even when I disagree with it, is my acquiescence to it a problem, as all I feel I can is look at a picture and shrug if I disagree? Seeing Black women translated as classically feminine and their sexuality only a suggestion (sometimes) feels like a vintage notion and I wondered had Black beauty “evolved” or fallen backwards as I looked at 1952 to 2014 in front of me.

Pictures of Black and brown women lip-glossed, booty poppin’ and sexuality a bit more upfront has been the norm long before the age of Instagram. But when it comes to JET, because of their history, the images of BOTW are still something to be admired because the purpose was set to celebrate Black women. In comparison to the pictures, video girl era of the 2000s, XXL‘s Eye Candy, or as one young Black male at the exhibit had used as an example, Nicki Minaj‘s “Anaconda” cover, personally, I’m a bit harsher on the preceding materials because I know it’s entertainment. Black women are allowed to embrace their sexuality like anyone else, but here, the girls are being showed off in a gratuitous manner. Nothing about Eye Candy is meant to uplift me as a Black women. A Black women in that magazine or any platform like it is meant to titillate and not inspire. I do know that in both cases, JET and the 99/2000 era, the women were being objectified (in JET, they used to occasionally include their body measurements which I found the only real flaw of BOTW, and were exclusively chosen by men. That may have changed by the ’90s). But based on the pro and cons of how Black women have been displayed–and why so–it would be a great disservice to group JET‘s BOTW in the same box as urban modeling because they had different objectives.

In 2015, we are still discussing the affects of colorism and racism from each other, and some members of the community that is Black America are still not quite understanding that all shades are worthy of attention and praise. The Beauty of the Week collage was overwhelming but wonderfully so because I and everyone in attendance was forced to acknowledge it all at once. The women weren’t separated by shade or country or hair type like Dark Girls or Light Girls. It was one right next to the other confirming their existence and importance. Seeing Black women together and not segregated are important images because having some form of unity against all types of adversity could help other Black women begin the healing process of saying “no more” to anything and anyone that has caused them to undeservedly unpretty. In observing, I felt just how I did as a little girl seeing shades of Black beauty and every woman with a personality of her own. I appreciate JET, along its coverage of stories of Black success and losses for inducting the Beauty of the Week into Black America’s consciousness. I know in a way, its presence help me understand that I was a Beauty too.

And because it’s Valentine’s Day, here’s Amerie‘s (sometimes written as Ameriie) 2002 love jam “Why Don’t We Fall In Love”