The ideal beauty, as defined by societal standards, fits in only a chosen few, excluding, not one or two, but millions of women. The worst thing is, women of color (or women having comparatively darker complexions) are generally made to feel submissive and undesirable. However, it’s time to get over it and embrace ourselves.
Here is a list of 11 power-packed quotes by women of color who have shattered all racial limitations and have become extremely successful in their lives. Hear them!
- “You can’t eat beauty, it doesn’t sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and those around you. That kind of beauty inflames the heart and enchants the soul.” — Lupita Nyong’o
- “The struggle is inner: Chicano, Indio, American Indian, mojado, Mexicano, immigrant Latino, Anglo in power, working class Anglo, Black, Asian–our psyches resemble the border towns and are populated by the same people. The struggle has always been inner and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the “real” world unless it first happens in the images in our heads.” — Gloria Anzalduaa
- “I’m not black and I’m not white and I’m not pink and I’m not green. Eartha Kitt has no color and that is how barriers are broken.” — Eartha Kitt
- “You’ve gotta do things that make you happy. As women, we tend to give away a lot. We take care of a lot of people, and we can’t forget to take care of ourselves.” — Jennifer Lopez
- “I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am black; it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.” —June Jordan
- “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” — Audre Lorde
- “I am obsessed with becoming a woman comfortable in her skin.” — Sandra Cisneros
- “You wanna fly…you got to give up the sh*t that weighs you down.” — Toni MorrisoN
- “When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example.” — Roxanne Gay
- “You tell me to quiet down ’cause my opinions make me less beautiful, but I was not made with a fire in my belly so I could be put out. I was not made with a lightness on my tongue so I could be easy to swallow. I was made heavy half blade and half silk—difficult to forget and not easy for the mind to follow.” — Rupi Kaur
- “You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female.'” — Erin McKean
Image Credits: Black Millennials
Udisha Srivastav is a Freelance Content Writer with Femsay.com