Baird, M. L. (2021). ‘Making Black More Beautiful’: Black Women and the Cosmetics Industry in the Post‐Civil Rights Era.Gender & History, 33(2), 557–574. Web.
In this journal article, the author analyzes the synthetic development of distinct cosmetics for black females. More specifically, the main notion of the paper is to illustrate how cynic was the” success story” of black female cosmetic products. While the industry experienced a significant increase in revenue and scale, the source of this process was the racial discrimination of black women since the marketing campaign emphasized that black women are beautiful. By doing this, cosmetics companies were propagating racial inequality in terms of natural beauty so that white females were considered as those who are already attractive while black women must use cosmetics to become “beautiful” too.
Brooks, L. (2019). “50 Shades of Beige “: An Empirical Investigation into Issues of Representation, Inclusion and Diversity in the Twenty-First Century English Cosmetics Industry.Academia Press. Web.
In this thesis, the author profoundly investigated the business models of most popular cosmetics brands owned by white race representatives. As a result, the author derived the three most considerable aspects where black women’s identity is significantly discriminated against. First and foremost, it is the brand targeting, which excludes black women representatives from the general marketing strategy by advertising black female cosmetics in particular cases only. Secondly, the companies do not invest sufficient funds in developing makeup tones and shades adjusted to black skin type. Last but not least, the shades’ naming is also one of the racial discrimination sources derived from the makeup process. By doing this, companies highlight that the makeup “is usually for white females,” so there is no need to develop appropriate products for black females.
Dixon, A. R., & Telles, E. E. (2017). Skin color and colorism: global research, concepts, and measurement.Annual Review of Sociology, 43(1), 405–424. Web.
In this article, the authors developed the racial inequality throughout the meaning of terms “coloring” and “colorism.” More specifically, they examined the relationship between any social activity and color. In the vast majority of the cases, the color meant for people the notion of race. Thereafter, the authors integrated the main theory into a more particular subject, which is skin-lightning. According to the widespread theory, the lighter the woman’s skin, the more honorable she is. As a result, many women are willing to make their skin lighter in order to increase their own social status. Finally, this article might bring considerable value to the work since it discloses the subject’s issue from an unfamiliar angle. Moreover, referring to the history and analyzing the problem worldwide might allow to “connect the dots” between the USA and other nations or even countries.
Gurrieri, L., & Drenten, J. (2019). The feminist politics of choice: lipstick as a marketplace icon.Consumption Markets & Culture, 24(3), 225–240. Web.
This article argues about the feminist politics of choice, specifically black women. Over centuries and across cultures, lipstick has been a common beautification ritual. Lipstick has endured decades of debate to earn its reputation as a commercial symbol – although a divisive one. It was formerly thought to be a sign of Satan, a dangerous health hazard, and even an unlawful commodity. To some, it is empowering; to others, it is restricting. By looking at lipstick’s gendered past, you can see how it represents a disputed feminist politics of choice – seen as both fun and purposeful, as well as creating appearance-based predictions focused on an idealized version of feminine beauty.
The authors also noted that black beauty has bodies and faces and its own confidence. The researchers look at how lipstick creates conflicts between freedom and injustice: self-expression and decision, dominance and preference, and ethics and preference. Finally, the authors concluded that lipstick must first be detached from oppressive ideals of ideal feminine appearance for women in order to be enjoyable and freely chosen.
Phipps, S. T., & Prieto, L. C. (2018). The business of black beauty: social entrepreneurship or social injustice?Journal of Management History, 24(1), 37–56. Web.
Pioneers such as Annie Turnbo-Malone and Madam C.J. Walker, as well as more modern black cosmetic industry entrepreneurs such as Grace Amey-Obeng and Lisa Price, have all made significant contributions to the improvement of their societies. In fact, the authors claimed that stereotypes of black business owners (such as Turnbo-Malone and Walker) exploiting their race to profit from brands that physically reshape them into white standards of beauty are often untrue, though she did acknowledge that ad campaigns publicizing smoothing curly hair and straightening black surface were revealed. The authors also believed that black women’s heritage of industrious work in the hair sector reflects systemic gender-based discrimination, in which not only were people of color traditionally inferior to white people but black women were also prevented from accomplishing prevailing principles of womanhood (and beauty), resulting in economic oppression.
Moreover, black female business owners resorted to systematic gendered racism by entering a field molded by these themes and producing and selling items that allowed women of color to adhere. The authors concluded that organizations must avoid becoming “modern ranches,” while simultaneously promoting fairness and eradicating bias in any form. As a result, they will strive to engage in socially conscious entrepreneurship, fostering a more meaningful firm in specific and a more just culture generally, where equity is economical and administrative.
Krozer, A., & Gómez, A. U. (2021). Not in the eyes of the beholder: Racialisation, Whiteness and Beauty Standards in Mexico. El Colegio de M´exico. Web.
The authors of this article profoundly analyze the racial issue in Mexico, where skin color plays a pivotal role in personal status. As a result, when developing arguments, Krozer and Gómez emphasized the significance of skin “whitening” with two approaches. More specifically, the first method is natural but hardly applicable to the vast majority of people. When marrying the “brighter” husband, wife, the individual might lighten personal status since their children will have near-to-white skin type. On the other hand, the synthetic approach demonstrates the more significant racial discrimination since even though people may decide what people to choose for marriage, nobody could define a preferable skin type during birth. Finally, the case study provided a qualitative research base that might be used for the reasoning of the current situation.
Lawson, C. E. (2021). Skin deep: Callout strategies, influencers, and racism in the online beauty community.New Media & Society, 23(3), 596–612. Web.
The phare idea concerning the world of beauty is that before achieving equality, the community should experience internal changes through massive “callout campaigns.” As a result, today’s world, in the author’s opinion, is an outcome of regular community crises. The article helps to restate the idea of today’s social equality when it comes to the beauty industry. Moreover, the revolutionary process suggested as the alternative to the traditional approach might have a positive impact on the future of the “racial question” in the USA. This article was chosen to create a deductive approach theory so that from the general racist discrimination, we can observe how this tendency influences the beauty industry.
Nakray, K. (2018). The global beauty industry, colorism, racism and the national body.Journal of Gender Studies, 27(7), 861–863. Web.
This book provides a multi-side approach to explain the fundamentals of discrimination on the skin color basis. The work is divided into three parts, where the author analyses the context of the issue in the first part, the main actors who are directly involved in the problem, and the conclusion part. While the first and the second part of the book are interesting to be analyzed, only the conclusion part is important for the research due to the ideas that were derived by fundamental analysis of the beauty industry, which could be criticized or supported afterward.
Shawna, C. (2018). “Dark Shades Don’t Sell”: Race, Gender, and Cosmetic Advertisements in the Mid-Twentieth Century United States (No. 22870). McMaster University. Web.
In this article, the author describes the cosmetic industry’s “worst” times for racial discrimination analysis. This is due to the fact that the analyzed period might be considered as a “sales boom” in the cosmetic industry and significant racial discrimination tendency at the same time. As a result, some of the elements of that time might coincide with the current situation, so that it is critical to provide parallels to examine the level of similarity between two time frames.
Van, A. Y. (2017). More than Skin Deep: An Analysis of Black Women’s Experiences with Race, Skin Tone, and Cosmetics(10641972.). Minnesota State University. Web.
This dissertation provides great examples based on race discrimination in the cosmetic industry. Moreover, the author connected the whole work with the notion of skin. Consequently, the analysis provides not only the psychological analysis of cosmetic industry discrimination but also the new trends of skin lightening, which became a widespread industry despite the risk of death.