Middle East

But what about the features still regarded as 'unattractive'? Noses with a typical Middle Eastern bump or hook are seen as undesirable, unflattering, ugly. Middle Eastern women, with typically more body hair than white women, are often left behind from natural body hair movementsintheWest.

Colourism, still pervading our cultures, has allowed Eurocentric beauty standards to 'pick and choose' what they look like, and to be ethnically ambiguous. Western society sees Middle Eastern features as nothing but 'trends', and wanting to abide with beauty conventionsbut without the systemic marginalisation and oppression that has come withbeingapersonofcolour.

Women in Egypt since discovered the link between chlorine and skin whitening, as dozens of pages on social media and a considerable number of self-proclaimed beauty experts recommended the use of bleach as the ideal way of acquiring fairer skin. According to women’s rights activist Entesar al-Saeid, the bleach craze is only part of the general obsession with whiteness amongst Egyptian women, which, she argues,ismainlytriggeredbythemediaandsociety.

By Rhea Cherrington