Thursday, February 2, 2012
Why Jungle Beauty Goddesses
By Cassandra George Sturges
I believe that all… and I do mean “ALL” people have emotional, psychological, economical, or biological issues or problems that we try to alleviate through self-expression. Whether we try to heal ourselves by the way we dress, sing, dance, teach, write, or counsel others … at the end of the day … we are desperately trying to heal ourselves by sharing our gifts, talents, and skills with others.
As an African American woman born in the1960’s in Detroit, Michigan I learned that beauty and power were two primary characteristics that did not belong to Black women. All the super heroes that I admired and all of the beautiful women that I aspired to look like never looked like me.
I was always teased because of my dark complexion growing up. It has taken well over thirty-five years for me to learn how to love myself, as I am. Creating the Jungle Beauty Goddesses is my way of collecting the psychological debt that is owed to women of color who have silently fought to feel validated as women who exude beauty and power over their feminine destiny.
I have shown pictures of the Jungle Beauty Goddesses to African Americans to only hear comments such as, “why did you make them so dark,” “how can they be Guardians of human-kind given that they are Black?”
No one has ever questioned Superman’s ability to protect the world because he is a white man. Why wouldn’t I make their skin tones variations of women of color? I am a woman of color and to make them look any different would be an insult to God.
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