Content Warning: body image, beauty standards, white supremacy, male gaze, misogyny, sexualisation, desirability.

The other day I saw a post online which articulated something to me that I have never properly addressed. It wasn’t complex, it was very

[image of post, source: chulaspice.tumblr.com] straightforward, and that’s why it hit me so hard. It said, ‘I’m realising that all the girls I was jealous of n thought were super beautiful n gorgeous n way prettier than me in middle school n high school weren’t actually prettier than me they were just white.’

They were just white.

Somehow this articulation of such a simple truth gave me a dizzying feeling of realisation and a new lens to review my entire life through. Of course,  the equation of whiteness with beauty is not a surprise, it is an ongoing conversation and one I engage in frequently; but this particular post went beyond…