Growing up, did you ever feel “ugly” or unattractive because you did not fit a certain beauty stereotype?
Vickie: Definitely yes. I was short and have big lips and a big butt. I was made fun of by my sisters and cousins frequently for it.
Dawn: Absolutely. It got harder as I got older because, since my mom is mixed, I looked very bi-racial. I was teased for not being white enough and teased for not being black enough.
What were some of the myths you believed about your appearance as a kid that have stuck with you as a female black adult?
Vickie: Well my belief that large lips and a big butt were ugly stayed with me until about a few years ago when I started getting compliments on them.
Dawn: My issues with my looks are more an overall opinion of dislike - nothing specifically black I would say. . . I used to purse my lips so they'd look thinner and wear a sweatshirt to cover the booty. When I was growing up they were not the thing to have. Now I love my lips and butt, and I really appreciate them.
What do you think of the “doll test”? Is it an accurate assessment of what kids thought about the color of their skin?
Kia: I think that on a subconscious level the doll test is able to weasel out the truth in kids about their views on skin color because I do not believe that most kids would say their skin was ugly. Because the value is transferred to an outsider, it's easier for them to pass judgment on something that they don't necessarily identify closely to themselves. The doll test as simple as it is shows the roots of a nocuous, ingrained, conditioning that can cripple a child's self-esteem and self-identity as a black person.
Cecelia: I think that’s how it is really because, especially with children, some of them have been taught even with crayons or even with colors or life period that darkness is bad and white is good.
We’ve come a long way in the media in our depictions of black people. Do you think the “black is beautiful” and “dark is lovely” campaigns or messages are enough to combat some of the deeper issues we faced and our kids face?
Kia: A campaign is not what we need to help kids today. They need to hear and see that they are beautiful from their parents and siblings and cousins and friends and other role models. It's not a campaign or message that we should be promoting but a new sense of pride in our identity as a community. This is a mental issue that must be tackled from the inside out - meaning, from the family to the outsiders. We can't wait for other people to tell us that we're beautiful. We have to tell everything and ourselves that we're beautiful.
Dawn Royster: They are a good start but my concern is that the campaigns feature, 95 percent of the time, black women with weaves and wigs. They look like white women with dark skin like my 4th grade Barbie.
If you could encourage a young black girl or boy struggling with these kinds of issues, what would you tell them?
Vickie: Accept and love yourself. God made you who you are for a reason and you are beautiful. And God does not make mistakes.
Kia: We are constantly bombarded by images of European and even Asian beauty, so I would counteract that with images of beautiful black individuals. People with a variety of sizes and shapes of noses, eyes, mouths and ears. People whose skin ranges from dark to light and every shade in between. Women and men with not only different textures of kinkiness but the advantages of having natural hair and the styles available to them. I would show them these things to make them understand that although we are not “mainstream,” it doesn't mean that we are not beautiful.
Kimberley: I think as parents we should instill in them that you’re beautiful just the way you are without makeup, without chemicals…When they’re in high school yes, they may resort to the perm. They may resort to dressing a certain way. They may resort to the makeup. But I think that as they get into their 30s and 40s they will find out who they really are, and they will always walk with their head up high.
