Anyone that knows me, knows I love to rock a red lip. In fact this isn’t unique to me, all women all over the world since millennia have rocked the red lip.
Last year upon joining a teams call, my former line manager made a remark about my red lip as she stared at me in contempt, it was a compliment disguised in hatred. She went off on a tangent about how she has searched high and low for a red lipstick but felt she looked silly or resembling a clown. I made the mistake of casually trying to soothe her by saying, I am sure you can find a shade that suits you, she very curtly cut me off, replying aggressively, well that’s what you would think I tried and didn’t find one. An awkward silence followed before we moved onto talking about work.
In my most recent job role I jumped on a teams call with a stakeholder who took one look at me and screamed, well sorry I am not wearing a red lip today, or something to that effect rolling her eyes at me.
Do white women know who Lauren Bacall is? In fact do the white women of today know during World War II, red lipstick became a symbol of defiance and patriotism, particularly by women that served their country in the army.
Of course they do, but they choose to ignore it or what I would call select amnesia, instead they actively hate on women of colour rocking a red lip because they are dying of anxiety, low self esteem and their wannabe desperate desire to look like South Asian women. This can all be evidenced in eyebrow care, fashion, hair oiling and their fake fucking tans.
White women steal our culture and customs but will never mention our communities because they do not respect South Asians, we are not cool in their eyes, the stereotypes that live in their head stops them from crediting us.
If it was any other culture, such as Japanese or Korean, they’d be screaming it off the rooftops and their Tik Toks. You can literally see their vaginas vibrate as they salivate off Japanese and Korean culture and customs.
When I was at university my dissertation was about colonialism and colourism in the context of fashion and beauty magazines, the missing women and the representation of women. I have researched this topic down to the T to know why white women make derogatory comments about our appearance, it’s rooted in racism and colonialism, envy and hatred towards us.
Whilst the waters have slightly shifted since I wrote my dissertation in the early 2000s, the portrayal of the white woman in glossy fashion and beauty magazines is still very dominant and prevalent, so many of them have had so much work done to look like us.
Literally the fashion and beauty magazine industry is geared towards white women. With the history of white women and their liberation rooted in the red lipstick, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was Indian women serving in the British military who were the ones that introduced the white woman to the red lip, after all it was our ancestors that invented the soap and shampoo, we taught them to wash their arses, we all know how white people love to ‘steal’.
The behaviour of the white woman today is really quite embarrassing, the women who served for you are turning in their graves over your weird microagressions and envy, in fact I would go as far to say your nazism towards brown women who wear the red lip with confidence is backwards considering your history.
Literally your precious Queen Elizabeth I was known for her love of cosmetics, specifically the rouged lip. Therefore you haven’t got a leg to stand on to say you can’t find a shade of lipstick that suits you! Get a grip!
I am sick to death of racist white women projecting their insecurities onto me, it is always about their self esteem. The world is set up for you, do yourself a favour, take a day off from your self loathing and bleeding onto others.
Go to therapy for your low self esteem, stop projecting onto South Asian women and take your red lip gate with you. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
Have a nice day bank holiday weekend.
Best.
Callsuma Ali.
