sassysage's Blog

i went by the dumbo arts festival this past weekend to check out the south asian women’s creative collective performance ‘beauty’.

it had me questioning how we/i decide what is beautiful and who’s standard i/we use to determine what is hot and what is not.

as i walked through the exhibit performances i stubbled upon the #damnilookgood installation. Qinza Najm and Saks Afridi, two Pakistani-American artists, created the piece that encouraged passersby to try on Muslim veils and re-imagine the experience as empowering.

it was a hot day; so i sat in sweat with the veil on waiting for my photo to be taken. the veil was tight and uncomfortable. in that moment i wasn’t convinced.

it wasn’t until the next day after seeing jlo and izzy’s booty video that i realized veiled or half-naked; SELF-DEFINED beauty is the only way to achieve true power.

i can’t judge women from other cultures that choose to be covered from head to toe. and i shouldn’t judge those who prefer to wear a lot less (though twitter has certainly chosen to judge the jlo video).

what we should judge is WHY are we making those choices.

without the pressure from family; without standards to adhere to by faith; without the constant media images (and scandalous videos); without ads selling best beauty (booty) ‘secrets’. without it all; if we really were free to just be our naturally beautiful selves…what choices would we make?

i have no answer.

for me just asking the question takes my beauty to whole ‘nother level…

and that feels empowering.