By Margaret Hodson 16′, News Editor
Anyone that watched the 86th Academy Awards probably saw Lupita Nyong’o’s heartfelt acceptance speech for her role as Patsy in 12 Years a Slave. While this speech was clearly genuine and meaningful, most people are unfamiliar with an even more powerful speech given by Lupita at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood celebration. It’s slightly less than five minutes long, but brought tears to my eyes by the end.
At first glance, it might seem like I’m quite out of touch with the topics Lupita spoke about. She talked about how the pale-skinned dominance of mass media led to insecurities regarding her dark skin. She spoke of the times during her childhood in which she was teased and taunted for her skin color. As young girl, she prayed to God and asked Him to lighten her skin. Her insecurities continued throughout her adolescence, until she found inspiration in the form of the dark-skinned and extremely successful model Alek Wek. In the words of Lupita, “A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all the runways and in every magazine and every one was walking about how beautiful she was… I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful.” Lupita realized that dark skin is beautiful, and expressed her hope that her media presence would show this truth to young girls who may be experiencing insecurity or even self-hatred regarding their appearance.
For me, this was a really inspirational message–even though I’m just the kind of pale-skinned white girl always seen in the media. But the reality is that I’m really not anything like the women in the media. I’m not six foot tall with a perfect figure, shaped eyebrows, and luscious hair. Insert any archetype of female beauty into the previous sentence, and I will not fit the mold. I can’t help but believe that most girls feel this way, regardless of their skin color. There are few girls that actually look like the models seen in magazines or on TV. While there have been some great strides made such as including more body types and skin colors in popular magazines, girls can’t help but compare themselves to the highly stylized and often photo shopped images they see all around them. Even a girl with a healthy sense of self-esteem can’t help but be bombarded by these types of images; the types of images that tell her because she doesn’t look like the girls in the magazines, she is not beautiful. This is why I can relate to Lupita. I feel the same pressure from societal beauty standards, even if it’s in a different way. I can’t think of any other way to close this out but by quoting Lupita herself, who truly expresses this sentiment best. “What actually sustains us, what is fundamentally beautiful, is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty inflames the heart and enchants the soul… I hope…that you will feel the validation of your external beauty, but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. That, there is no shade in that beauty.”
Watch the speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPCkfARH2eE
