Every year it seems as if society revolves around a certain set of ‘fads’ that help (or maybe hurt) the advancement of our culture. These fads that can be an article can be anything to a hoodie representing Black Lives Matter to clowns popping up scaring and trying to lure children into near-by forests or woods. Again, these artifacts can hurt the advancement of our culture. 3 artifacts that can be said to represent my topic is butt augmentations, make-up/contour, and the color pink as a gender indicator.
First, butt augmentation surgery has increasingly sky rocketed in the past 3 years. Why? Because being a ‘thick’ woman has become a popular or cool thing. Having a larger butt derives from the African-Smerican culture. Many slave-owners would put big butt women on display and had people pay to see them as if they were some type of animal. I read one article from a woman plastic surgeon who stated that women are undergoing these butt augmentations as away of cultural appropriation of the African-American community, however, these women aren’t facing the problems that African-American women face. African-American were shamed into believing that having a big butt was an abnormality and were treated as if they were circus animals and put on for a show, but now it’s the ‘cool thing’ to have a big butt because men are finally accepting bigger woman and their bodies.
Secondly, highlight/contouring phase. Make-up has always been a topic of discussion that women use it to hide their imperfections and to reach a flawless, pore less, ‘perfect’ looking face. This year highlight/contour has taken society over by storm. There are THOUSANDS of tutorial videos on youtube and discussions on ‘How to perfect your highlight’ online. Highlight is used mainly by your cheek bones & nose area to make these areas seem more prominent in a women’s face. However, many people take the use of highlight to change the appearance of their face as having plastic surgery. Nicki Minaj was once asked if she had ever had nose surgery because sometimes, in certain photos, her nose looks more slim compared to other photos. Again, people accused of her having plastic surgery, when in actuality it’s make-up. She encouraged to watch Ru-Paul’sDragRace and understand that make-up can make your face look however you want it to. This highlight trend has created funny jokes of taking women for a first date to a water park so that men can see the ‘real’ them.
Lastly, pink being a referent to the women gender. Nicki Minaj has basically coined pink as a the symbol of her legacy not only in hip-hop but in anything she touches, instead of turning to gold, turns pink. Pink has ALWAYS been the typical ‘female color’ whenever referring to females. The irony of Nicki Minaj using pink to refer to her legacy is, she does it better than boys. She’s reigned the title as Queen in an male dominated industry. Pink has always represented soft, easy, submissive women, but in reality Nicki is absolutely NONE of those characteristics. She’s one of the most foul-mouthed, unapologetic, HARD females to grace a stage to date.