Representation Really Does Matter

A few nights ago, I watched the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in the hopes of getting enough motivation to go to the gym, just like I do every year. I tune in, hate myself, eat healthy and workout for a month at most, then go back to my normal life fraught with naps and fast food. Why? Well, of course because my laziness kicks in again after awhile, but mostly due to the fact that I can always write off my inability to look like a model as not being a skinny white girl or "exotic" foreigner. Year after year, the only Angels to grace my screen were pale, foreign, or really light-skinned Black girls. No one was darker than a paper bag.

However, someone new took the runway this year.

I fell in love instantly and rushed to Google to learn more about this stunning young woman who shared the same skin tone I did. Her name is Maria Borges, and she's twenty-two year-old model from the South African country of Angola. (Apparently, she'd appeared in the 2013 fashion show, but I must have been turned away from the TV when she was on, because I definitely would have noticed her). I just could not believe that  there was a Victoria's Secret Angel who looked like me. That moment changed me. I didn't have an excuse anymore.

I've shared my issues with colorism on here, but I didn't really talk about how important it is for Black girls with darker skin to see themselves in the media. It's already enough of a struggle to see any women of color, but dark ones are few and far between. Little dark-skinned girls need to be able to see themselves on TV and in magazines. We need to know that we're also viewed as beautiful.


I could wax poetic about this topic, but I think this gifset of Janelle Monae, the epitome of a carefree Black girl, during an interview with Queen Latifah, says it all:

Representation matters.