Is The Desire For White Skin In Thailand Negatively Impacting African Diaspora Transwomen's Chances To Win The MIQ Title?

I wrote about the controversial conclusion of the 2011 edition of the Thailand based Miss International Queen Pageant and wondered aloud about the interesting factoid that no transwoman from the African Diaspora has ever won this event in its history.

Could it be because white skin is considered desirable and beautiful in the Land Of Smiles and other countries in the Asia-Pacific rim and those prejudices for white skin are impacting the chances of darker skin beauties to win an international trans pageant with all Thai judges?  

Skin bleaching and lightening creams are not just an issue in the Caribbean, African nations and the rest of the African Diaspora, they are also an issue in the Asia-Pacific rim as well.    A survey done by marketing company Synovate discovered that 4 out of 10 women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan use a skin lightening cream.  

There is also region wide stigma, racism and negativity attached to having dark skin as well.   In Thailand as in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the stigma of darker skin is rooted in language.   It's not surprising as a child of the Diaspora to learn that a common Thai insult aimed at someone of lower social standing is "tua dam," or black body.  Along the same lines are "e dam" (black girl) or "dam tap pet" (black like a duck's liver). 

When you have reports of Thai women who in pursuit of that desirable white skin are disfigured because of black market skin lightening products that promise to deliver but ruin skin but lives in the process, it leads you to ponder the possibility that the distaste for darker skin is infecting the all Thai judging panels and negatively impacting the African descended and other dark skin beauties who enter the MIQ pageant.

I'd submit that the troubling pattern of no African Diaspora contestant ever winning the Miss International Queen pageant over its existence is evidence to suggest that it is probably happening.

It's also why I'm not letting this issue go in continuing to call for an international panel of judges for the 2012 and future Miss International Queen pageants.   As the Miss Universe and Miss World ciswomen pageant organizers already know, what you Thais consider beautiful for a woman doesn't have the same currency in the Middle East, the Caribbean, South America, Europe or North America. 

It's past time for the Miss International Queen judging panels, if they are going to continue to claim they are a premier international transgender pageant, to expand their beauty mindset to reflect that just as those cis pageant systems do.

It's not a surprise because of an internationally diverse judging panel, this year's Miss Universe is a statuesque woman from Angola.

It will be interesting to observe what transpires over the next year for the Miss International Queen pageant. Will they continue business as usual in the face of strong rumors that a Manila based international trans pageant may be about to kick off next year and risk getting eclipsed or will they evolve already and institute those international judging pageant that will give African Diaspora and dark skin beauties from other nations a fair chance to win?      

Thandie Newton Takes 'Vogue' To Task For Lack Of Black Women On Cover

Guest post from Renee of Womanist Musings, who is all that and four bags of ketchup flavor potato chips.

There is no doubt that actress Thandie Newton is not only incredibly beautiful, but accomplished; however, like many other women of colour, she finds herself unable to grace the cover of 'Vogue' magazine.  In an interview with Pride Magazine, she had the following to say according to Huffpo:

"Don't get me started on black people being on the cover of big magazines. It's so preposterous. I mean, I've been on the cover of Harper's Bazaar four times; I've been on the cover of InStyle four times, but Vogue, not once."

"And people say to me, I mean literally, people have said to me, 'What have you got against Vogue that you don't want to be on their cover?' And I just laugh."

"They [Vogue] don't feel the need to represent because it doesn't make any sense to them. It's just baffling to me, but as usual America will dictate the ways things go and a magazine like Vogue will just follow America," she said. "But it's like, don't you want to trail blaze?"

Vogue does not feel any pressure to have equal representation for women of colour because the media, just like every other social institution, aids in the maintenance of White supremacy.  We have seen time and time again that women of colour are denied coverage that White women so easily get, and when they do finally make the cover of a magazine, they have to worry that the image will be so lightened that they will be unrecognizable.  Women of colour are also repeatedly denied the opportunity for meaningful acting parts, but they sure are deemed desirable when the part of a maid is available. Even Thandie once played the role of a maid, in Interview with the Vampire, starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

Race is a large determinant of who gets positive attention in the media.  When it comes to women, there can be no doubt that White women still represent what it is to be 'woman'.  They are held up as the most talented, attractive, maternal, sexy etc., while Black women are still relegated to the place of the world's unwoman.  The fact that White women continue to gain from the othering of women of colour, means that though many supposedly fight for equality, they are not moved as a group to recognize their racial privilege, or defend us.

Thandie is not the only woman of colour to talk about the erasure in fashion magazines like Vogue.  Despite the big splash that an all Black version of Italian Vogue a few years ago, Black women are continually relegated to the sidelines.  A simple look at the catwalk, shows that White women continue to be overrepresented in fashion shows.

Unfortunately too often, people cite the exception to the rule rather than the rule.  Putting women like Michelle Obama on the cover does not negate the fact that women of colour are rarely featured, nor does it stand as proof that the fashion industry, or Vogue magazine is not racist. Erasure is a form of covert racism that is practiced on a daily basis.  The very same people who would never dream of using a racial slur, have no problem excluding Black women, or actively denying us good and fair representation.

The common response to this is that Blacks should start our own magazines, if we want representation, but the truth of the matter is that a magazine is not an easy undertaking to start. No matter how talented a person is, the start up capitol is still necessary and since we know that Blacks are economically disenfranchised, the very idea that Blacks should just start our own separate magazines is ridiculous.  We don't exist on a level playing field, and this why proposals such as this, as a way to deal with erasure and racism is quite simply ridiculous.

I personally don't read Vogue, because I am not interested in fashion, and I certainly would not support a magazine that cannot be arsed to have someone who looks like me appear on even a semi-regular schedule; however, I recognize what this lack of exposure is doing to young Black women.  There is a reason why even today despite all the gains of the Black community, that Black children continue to prefer the White doll.  Everywhere they look, everything that is constructed as good, pure and beautiful is White.  From the television shows that they watch, to billboard and magazine covers they are shown, to be White is to be worthy of attention and adoration.  No matter how hard a parent tries to invest a child with racial pride, they are fighting the institution of White supremacy, which is determined to enforce the exact opposite. We need Black women on the covers of magazines like Vogue, if our children are ever to see themselves as valuable.  We need these covers to dispel the idea that Black women are just born unattractive.  There is absolutely nothing neutral about erasure and until we address the fact that it essentially amounts to a value judgment based in racist ideals, we are going to continue to have a divided society in which some people are privileged over others, simply based in the Whiteness of their skin.

Not All Beauty Is Natural

Another insightful guest post from Renee of Womanist Musings


Womanist Musings has been up and running since April 2008, and that means that there are a lot of archives.  There are some posts that continue to bring in hits and comments, but because they are buried in the archives, most miss what's happening on them.  One of the most popular posts, is a piece I wrote about a poll which sought to question which race has the most beautiful women.

Since the original onslaught of comments, most people that arrive on this post stop by to tell me that it is only natural that White women be understood to be the most beautiful women on the planet.  For the most part, I tuck these comments into the delete folder and move on, but I would be lying if I said that it does not bother me.

I know that despite the post racial nonsense, and the yaya sisterhood in the feminist movement, that women are not perceived of as equal.  When I look in the mirror I see a beautiful woman, and this is largely because I have let go of Eurocentric beauty ideals.  The standard of beauty in the western world has always been White, and the closer someone is able to conform to this, the greater the chance that they will be perceived of as attractive. This is why colorism continues to be such an issue within communities of colour. This is why surgeries exist for Asian women to make their eyes rounder.  This is why skin bleaching companies are making a substantial profit across the globe, despite the fact that their products are far from healthy and in fact are downright dangerous.


I don't think that what we find sexually attractive in terms of race is naturally occurring.  One may be born straight, gay, asexual or poly, but one is certainly not born appreciating Whiteness over bodies of colour, when we teach children from birth which race to value.  No matter what network you tune into, the one thing that is guaranteed, is that those largely who are featured will be White.  They will fulfill a variety of roles, and be held up as people we should aspire to be.  Even children's books are not benign.  Quite often the majority of the protagonists will be White, because the gatekeepers are largely White. 

We don't just happen to have a type, we are conditioned to find specific bodies attractive.  Certainly there is a biological imperative at play to find healthy mates however, there no race that exists without markers of health.  The other side of this coin are those that date inter-racially, but claim that they just are naturally more attracted to people of colour.  Quite often, this comes down to a simple fetish and this is far from complementary.  People don't fetishize Whiteness, because it has been so normalized and those who fetishize people of colour, won't admit that this is what their suppose attraction is about; it's a kink like any other and it is reductive. Whether you think you are going to get a submissive lotus flower if you date Asian women, a hot tamale if you date Latina women, or a sqaw who is going to live to work when you date an Indigenous woman, it all comes down to racism. 

What bothers me the most is that cultural differences are used as a justification for these beliefs.  Far too many believe that Asian women are just raised to be naturally submissive, or that Indigenous women are raised to believe that their role is to work for the benefit of men, that they will be more than happy to dedicate themselves to the double day and family. It's just culture and has absolutely nothing to do with racist constructions that Whiteness has created for people of colour.  Of course, the moment these women defy these stereotypes, there is a penalty to pay.  Have you ever wondered how the Asian woman moves from the submissive lotus flower to the dragon lady? What about the fact that Black men can quickly move from ovary bumping passionate lovers, to rapists when daddy finds out?

The individual sexuality is something that one is born with, but the sexuality and the gender identity/ performance in which the body is coded to belong is completely a construct of society based in race.  We are hyper masculinized and hyper feminized depending on whatever fetish is at play.  Some of us even appear on bucket lists, as something to fuck before death, because we are understood to be exotic experiences rather than people.

Whiteness is not neutral when it comes to determining whether or not a person of colour is beautiful. Built into these determinations, are centuries of exploitation and out right colonialism.  To claim that anything involving race is naturally occurring, ignores the fashion in which our bodies have been plundered, just as surely as our lands for the pleasure of Whiteness. Individual White women may be beautiful, but they can only be thought of to be collectively more attractive than women of colour, if one has internalized the idea that anything White is good and that inversely, anything Black or of colour is negative.

White supremacy  has managed a maintain stranglehold on many and though after years of living as a woman of colour I know this to be true, it does not hurt any less.  It hurts to know that we are not thought of as beautiful but exotic caricatures ready to serve.  It hurts to know that the world is divided into people and then others, because as long as white supremacy rules the land, people of colour will eternally be thought of as other.  You don't need to have a White pride movement and all of the whining about being oppressed by people of colour, really comes down to an attempt to flout our efforts to dismantle an institutionalized condition which harms us.  Sojourner Truth once famously said ain't I a woman, but I think the more accurate phrase is ain't I human. 

If You Hate Being Called Racist, Conservative White Males...

Stop engaging in the racist behavior in the first place.  It's that simple a concept, but your WMP wielding behinds have a hard time grasping that simple fact.

You can whine, gripe and complain all you want, your centuries long reputation of gleefully and murderously at times engaging in suppression and the rolling back of the human rights of anyone who didn't share your ethnicity precedes you.

When you wax poetic about the 'Lost Cause', utter rhetoric about how you want to 'take our country back', pass legislation in the name of a political philosophy that only benefits people like you to roll back the voting and human rights of non whites, scream the 'securing our borders' code word, we non-whites that were on the receiving end of your crap have deja vu moments we don't want to revisit and say to ourselves 'There they go again."

And there's the matter of your beyond over the top vitriolic hatred of President Obama that has you so irrationally blinded with vanilla scented WMP to the point that you are willing to destroy this country just to deny him a second term. 

This is the 2K10's. The crap your parents, grandparents and great grandparents perpetrated and got away with isn't going to be tolerated by non-white people any more.

If we're calling you racist, we have a damned good reason for doing so and we don't make that charge lightly despite what they tell you on Fox Noise and 'white wing' talk radio.   As long as you keep engaging in the negative and racist behaviors, keep proposing and passing regressive unjust legislation and making boorish and bigoted remarks we're going to keep calling your behinds out on it until you permanently cease and desist with it.

But we non-white Americans won't hold our breath for that day to come any time soon for you conservative white males.