The Effects Of Colonial Beauty Standards In Daughter Of Smoke And Bone

Eritz and Earth, two worlds vastly different but both shaped by colonial beauty standards. From celebrities perpetuating imposed beauty standards to self-esteem issues, the fictional world of Daughter of Smoke and Bone has strikingly similar issues to Earth. A beauty standard is forced upon the native population, perpetuated by celebrities and causes self-esteem issues, this is a trend both present in reality and the fictional world of Eritz. Laini Taylor Sufficiently represents the imposition of colonial beauty standards in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Beauty standards are often forced upon groups of people in reality and cause issues. With the rise of colonialism and the consequent subjugation of people, beauty standards were introduced to the newly subjugated peoples. It was Europeans that colonised much of the world and induced a beauty standard that empathised skin colour and hair type. This is often unattainable for non-Europeans and can be harmful to self-esteem (Bryant, 2017). These beauty standards are often perpetuated by the media and celebrities, additionally, colonal beauty standards often prove harmful to those who are forced to live with them. In 1947 a study was administered on 253 young African American students ranging from the age of three to seven, they were given the choice between a white doll and a doll made to look similar to them, approximately two-thirds of the children chose the white doll. In 2016 this experiment was repeated and 16/21 or 76%