Brianna Brown Embraces Her Afrocentric Features

By Shannay Porter

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Brianna Brown is condemning featurism as she practices self-love and rises above societal beauty standards.

She acknowledges that while Jamaica is multicultural, there is a preference for particular features. Individuals who lack these preferential features are often ridiculed or discriminated against, and this unjust treatment has been normalized in the Jamaican society. “ What I’ve had to face and the [fact] that it’s something we face so constantly [and] it’s so ingrained into our society that it’s like a norm, I think it’s cause me to have a deeper appreciation for my features, and just take in more time to really see the beauty in [my] features and seeing that [they] are just as desirable, and attractive as other features,” she explained.

The 23-year-old expressed that while featurism is a heavy issue in Jamaica it is rarely discussed because many people don’t know what it is. She also shared her history stating, “I’ve personally had experiences with featurism both from family members, from friends or peers, classmates…and it affected my self-esteem. It didn’t make me feel good about myself. I felt low, I felt ugly, I felt like I wasn’t good enough…My nose is big, and I’ve had people make fun of my nose. I’ve had people make fun of my lips cause they’re bigger.”

By Brianna Brown

Brianna Brown

Brown also acknowledged that she had begun to unconsciously practice featurism stating, “I started to repeat the cycle of wanting to judge people based on features that they possessed. [I placed] them into different categories [and made] assumptions about them, but I quickly had to learn to not do that, and to really just take people for what they are.”

The young Jamaican continued to add, “Beauty is not about what’s physically present, in all honesty. Sure, you know, people can be attractive but beauty is really about personality and mindset to me, so I really had to tap into that…and not just side with what society says, and form my own thoughts and opinions about things.”

Brown believes that representation and education are two ways to combat featurism. She emphasized that the Jamaican media should make more of conscious effort to give darker skinned people with Afrocentric features, and kinkier hair an equal platform. “I think education is important and especially because we spend so much time in school, I think it’s really important from a young age to learn about our features, and how we’re all alike and yet different."

"Just teaching more children how to love themselves and to appreciate themselves…having that basically ingrained into the education [system] so that children really understand from a young age, their worth and how beautiful they are. And also, to stop bullying and stop using these features as fuel or the butts for jokes or insults because that’s really just continuing the cycle of featurism,” Brown emphasized.