What Beauty Means in Africa

It has been said many times that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The definition of true beauty varies from culture to culture. What one culture considers beautiful, another culture may frown upon. For instance, in most Western cultures skinny and large busted women are considered desirable for their beauty. However, this cultural definition of beauty, even in the Western culture, was not true until quite recently. In other cultures, however, skinny is frowned upon. For instance, many of the cultures present in the countries of Africa do not view this as beauty.

Answering the question of what beauty means in Africa isn't as simple as describing one particular form of beauty. Africa is a continent made up by many countries. These countries are divided into regions. These regions are known as North Africa, South Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and Central Africa.

Each country in each region has their own definition of what is considered beautiful, and of course, individual people or locations within these regions or countries may not conform to believing the same things about what beauty means in Africa, since every person is different. Thus, there is not one central idea of beauty that is shared by every country on the continent.

Ideas of Beauty

There are some countries in Africa who have recently adopted a new definition of beauty accepting the same beliefs as Western culture.

However, many countries maintain a quite different perspective of what beauty means within Africa. This different perspective defines beauty as:

• Large Breasts: In some countries, women with large chests are much more desirable and considered much more beautiful than women with small chests.
• Ample Backside: In some countries, generally the same ones that consider big breasts to be beautiful, a large backside is desirable and considered beautiful.
• Fat vs. Skinny: Although it has become a newly accepted form of beauty, being skinny is not desirable in every country in Africa. There are countries where brides are force fed in order to make them fat or to make them more desirable to their male counterparts. Although this may not be considered healthy, it is what many in the culture of these countries consider beautiful.
• Skin Color: Another aspect of beauty in Africa relates to skin color. Many countries believe that a lighter skinned African woman is more desirable than those who have darker skin. Therefore, a market has grown for skin creams that will lighten the complexion of African women in order to make them more attractive to the opposite sex.

Importance of Curves in African Beauty

Looking at this list of what beauty means in certain parts of Africa, we can deduce that the more curves a woman has in some countries across the African continent, the more desirable she is to the opposite sex. The idea of this form of accepted beauty has caused many clothing designers in Africa to increase their sizes available in their clothing lines in order to show their acceptance that even a bigger woman can be beautiful.

Designers from other countries who wish to make entry into these countries have also increased their sizes to show their acceptance of the bigger and beautiful African woman as well.