“The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry
This article examines the affordances of Instagram and YouTube in leveraging Black women the ability to contest antiblackness and colorism in the beauty industry. Specifically, I examine how prominent Black beauty influencers, Jackie Aina and Nyma Tang, and everyday Black women respond to the cosmet...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221107634 |
| _version_ | 1811229172146634752 |
|---|---|
| author | Kiara M. Childs |
| author_facet | Kiara M. Childs |
| author_sort | Kiara M. Childs |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article examines the affordances of Instagram and YouTube in leveraging Black women the ability to contest antiblackness and colorism in the beauty industry. Specifically, I examine how prominent Black beauty influencers, Jackie Aina and Nyma Tang, and everyday Black women respond to the cosmetic brand, Beautyblender, and their lack of foundation shades in the initial release of their first foundation. Using Critical technocultural discourse analysis (CTDA), I explore the importance of Black women’s content creation and call-out practices within racist beauty culture. I argue that Instagram and YouTube afford Black women the ability to contest antiblackness and colorism in the beauty industry and practice traditional Black feminist traditions such as self-definition and self-empowerment. Overall, I illuminate how Instagram and YouTube became sites of contention between brands, users, influencers, to engage in discourse about the political economy and material culture of Black beauty. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T10:10:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ec85711d8dc04c8bbea61e56da1ba4f6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T10:10:29Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-ec85711d8dc04c8bbea61e56da1ba4f62022-12-22T03:37:20ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512022-06-01810.1177/20563051221107634“The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty IndustryKiara M. ChildsThis article examines the affordances of Instagram and YouTube in leveraging Black women the ability to contest antiblackness and colorism in the beauty industry. Specifically, I examine how prominent Black beauty influencers, Jackie Aina and Nyma Tang, and everyday Black women respond to the cosmetic brand, Beautyblender, and their lack of foundation shades in the initial release of their first foundation. Using Critical technocultural discourse analysis (CTDA), I explore the importance of Black women’s content creation and call-out practices within racist beauty culture. I argue that Instagram and YouTube afford Black women the ability to contest antiblackness and colorism in the beauty industry and practice traditional Black feminist traditions such as self-definition and self-empowerment. Overall, I illuminate how Instagram and YouTube became sites of contention between brands, users, influencers, to engage in discourse about the political economy and material culture of Black beauty.https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221107634 |
| spellingShingle | Kiara M. Childs “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry Social Media + Society |
| title | “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry |
| title_full | “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry |
| title_fullStr | “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry |
| title_full_unstemmed | “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry |
| title_short | “The Shade of It All”: How Black Women Use Instagram and YouTube to Contest Colorism in the Beauty Industry |
| title_sort | the shade of it all how black women use instagram and youtube to contest colorism in the beauty industry |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221107634 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kiaramchilds theshadeofitallhowblackwomenuseinstagramandyoutubetocontestcolorisminthebeautyindustry |