Beauty Across Cultures Challenges the Dominant Ideals of Beauty

Helena Likus ’26

Staff Writer

Beauty Across Cultures was an event organized by the Women & Gender Resource Action Center (WGRAC) and Promoting Healthy Awareness of the Body (PHAB) as a part of a series of events for Women’s History Month. The event took place March 1 in the Terrace Room in Mather Hall and included short presentations from six of Trinity’s cultural organizations, which discussed their cultures’ prevailing beauty standards and their implications. The central theme of most of the presentations was the critique of the hegemonic beauty standard. The event attracted over 50 people, who could learn about the ideals of beauty across different cultures, and eat food from a variety of cuisines. As highlighted by Izabella Bautista ’26, who is one of the main organizers, this event was relevant to the Trinity community because “it’s extremely important to talk about people’s culture, especially being on a predominantly white campus and being exposed to the adverse effects of that.”

The first two presentations were given by the South Asian Student Association (SASA) — one about beauty standards in India and the other one about those in Bhutan. The first presentation was about how in India beauty standards are shaped by colorism. Despite the fact that people in India differ very much in skin tone depending on region, the established beauty standard is that lighter skin tones are more beautiful. Colorism in India is also reinforced by Bollywood movies. The second presentation about beauty standards in Bhutan pointed out that the caste system is also very much tied to beauty standards. People from lower castes tend to have deeper skin tones and people from higher castes are more light-skinned and wealthy, which are the qualities that end up defining beauty. The impact of this beauty standard is adverse because it discourages people from mixing with other castes, since the “other” is not as beautiful. 

The next presentation was given by the Asian American Student Association (AASA), which talked about a very specific beauty standard in east Asian countries. People are supposed to have very slim figures, long legs and fair skin. The standard of fair skin being considered more beautiful originates from Japan and China, where fair skin was a symbol of high status. It was and still is, however, reinforced by colonization and globalization, which established eurocentric beauty as a standard.

La Voz Latina discussed both feminine and masculine beauty standards for the Latine community. The ideal of feminine beauty includes full lips, long, luscious hair and an hourglass figure with full hips. Moreover, certain personality traits are also part of Latine beauty standards. Women are supposed to be confident and charismatic, whereas men have to display traditional notions of masculinity. The beauty standard for men is machismo-driven and includes broad shoulders, a chiseled jawline and well-groomed hair. 

         As discussed by Trinity College Black Women’s Organization (TCBWO), beauty standards for Black women are lighter skin, narrow noses and straight hair. Those standards, which are eurocentric, are rooted in the history of slavery when African traits were devalued to justify the dehumanization of Black people. Colonialism and imperialism only further reinforced this harmful standard. Till this day many Black women are socialized to believe their natural features are inferior, which leads to a distorted sense of self-worth. 

The Balkan Students Association (BSA) highlighted that even though people in the south of the Balkans have more Middle Eastern features, those features are largely looked down upon while eurocentric features are glorified. That is why nose jobs and laser hair removal are so popular in the Balkans. 

The last presentation was given by the International House and it focused on the broader themes of masculine/feminine features and multiracial beauty. They pointed out that the latest Olympics showed how much masculine features are scrutinized in women. Moreover, their discussion of Miss Universe made clear that “proximity to whiteness” often enhances popularity. 

The presentations were followed by a larger discussion about people’s personal experiences with beauty standards, which started a larger conversation about overconsumption and capitalizing on peoples’ insecurities. 

This event was immensely successful and much needed, as pointed out by the second main organizer, Saanvi Bajaj ’27. “Because of the recent change in presidency and DEI being under attack, it’s just really important for us to keep bringing these events,” said Bajaj. “So, we’re able to talk about such topics on campus, and provide that safe space for students to be able to talk about something that’s very close to them, and beauty is something that’s very close to everyone on campus.”