Category Archives: Media & Standards

Written by: Sylvia Kathirkamanathan Beauty standards are constantly evolving with the times but one thing remains true; they have never incorporated the ethnic traits or tones of women of colour. This fact impacts women of colour immensely regardless of age. Growing up, I got the most comments on two things; my hair and my skinContinue reading “Too Brown to Handle”

Written by: Serena Sengupta I have a love-hate relationship with my hair. Growing up, I envied the long, sleek, straight hair I saw on the television. No singular pieces of hair emerging from their part line, no frizzy ends. Their hair didn’t stand up on edge or have a mind and personality of its own.Continue reading “The Curly Hair Dilemma”

Written by: Tyonna Ashby The main character, the love interest, was always the blonde haired, fair skinned, blue eyed girl. So growing up I associated that with love and beauty. As someone who never fit that bill I thought I’d be alone forever, growing up in small towns didn’t help. I found even when IContinue reading “Romanticism of the Black Woman”

Written by: Yiyi He Ecocriticism and Ecologism by Chinese ecocritic Wang Nuo constructs a theory of ecocriticism with uniquely Chinese characteristics, comprehensively discussing ecologism as one of the foundations of ecocritical theory and analyzing and responding to more than one hundred of the most controversial and mystifying issues[1] in the field of ecocriticism and ecologicalContinue reading “Book Review: Ecocriticism and Ecologism”

Written by: Serena Sengupta Growing up, I longed to see someone like me in the media.  All my friends in elementary school had their idols – Hillary Duff, Vanessa Hudgens, Taylor Swift. Turning on the television, many of them could easily find a protagonist on any show that they immediately could resonate with; one thatContinue reading ““Never Have I Ever” Experienced Representation”

Cheng, Xiangzhan. Sheng-sheng Eco-aesthetics (Aesthetics of Creating Life) Analects, People’s Publisher, 2012. Written By: Yiyi He Chinese ecocritic and aesthetician Xiangzhan Cheng’s anthology, Sheng-sheng Eco-aesthetics Analects (2012) collects a decade’s worth of his Chinese academic essays. Cheng demonstrates an evolution throughout his research that covers the transition from literary aesthetics (文艺美学) to the construction ofContinue reading “Book Review”

Written by: Abha Shah The term “Model Minority” applies to communities perceived as achieving a higher degree of socioeconomic success as compared to other minority groups. Communities that fall under such a label are often praised and looked up to, which as a result undermines the danger of assigning such titles. Aside from the factContinue reading “Model Minorities- A Backhanded Compliment”

Written by: Shayla Joshi, in collaboration with the models  QWOCC is so excited to have collaborated with VCFS to talk about the beauty standards that exist for women of colour. It is difficult to feel beautiful as a woman of colour when the standards set cater to a Eurocentric population. Though this can be anContinue reading “QWOCC x VCFS: Beauty Standards for WOC”

The “perfect” look isn’t natural so it is time to disclose these facts and reclaim our beauty Written by: Sydney Ko Beauty standards are perhaps some of the most bizarre concepts society has ever collectively agreed upon. We all somehow shook our head in disapproval when one’s lips are too thin, or when thighs areContinue reading “Let’s Normalize Aesthetic Surgeries”