Accepting My Ugliness
Whew, I’m about to touch a landmine. This has circulated in my head for a while now but I didn’t know where to begin. The words “accept my ugliness” will already elicit a strong emotional reaction from anyone. Ugly is a word like fat that we use liberally but which we may not say aloud. It is certainly not a word you say to someone’s face. Ugly is a descriptor that we may remark on in the same breath as complexion or height.
I found this artist on Youtube named Salkis Re and she has started the “Ugly Girls Movement, a coalition of like-minded women who are rejecting the labels of beauty and the corresponding edicts to perform in ways that are palatable for the patriarchy. Salkis’ by-line is, “ As ugly girls, we refuse to be defined by our looks”. Salkis had me hooked from the first minute of the first video I watched. Hearing her smooth, calm voice, seeing to me a physically beautiful, richly melanated Black woman speak about rejecting the shams of beauty, rejecting the baggage that is placed on women who don’t meet beauty standards, and finding ways to resist the hold that beauty represents in our lives.
