Racial Whitening In Brazil

Racial Whitening and its effects on Modern Brazilian Beauty Standards

Brazil has been a culture to fall victim to Westernization. Racial whitening, natively known as “blanqueamiento”, is the idea, promulgated by Whites and accepted by Black and Mixed-race people, that being white is a valued characteristic; Brazilian government made it their goal to westernize Brazil and eradicate colored people. To be whiter was to have a better chance of getting a job, earning more money, being treated with respect, being cherished or romanticized by those around you; To be whiter, in other words, was to have an easier and better life. These notions pushed by westerners while claiming Brazilian land have bled into all aspects of Brazilian culture including

These unfair standards have been perpetuated by both Black and White people but have ultimately spurred from racial whitening in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. There is a direct correlation between the modern day ideals of beauty and the westernized ideals pushed by those who, as they say “civilized” but, really just seized and dominated Brazil. Until recently, these unjust standards were internalized and not questioned by the people being affected most. Brazilian beauty ideals have been negatively impacted by racial whitening and racism in Brazil.

Racial whitening in Brazil stemmed from the belief that Black, or African, people were inferior and subservient to White, or Westernized, people. Racial whitening began in the late 1800s and continued until 1914. The goal of racial whitening was to eventually eradicate the black race and have a country of white Brazilians. White men reproduced with Black women to create mixed, or mulatto, offspring. Those offspring would then reproduce with Whites, and so on until Brazil had a population of only white people. Nascimento comments that the mulatto was “the beginning of the liquidation of the Black race through the whitening of the Brazilian Population…the mulattos position, in reality

White westerns were at the top with the social, financial and intellectual power and Blacks on the bottom with little social or financial mobility because of occupational discrimination and lack of proper educational resources. Whites adopted Black children, in an effort to prove that they were not racist, yet did not allow them to go to school and forced them to stay at home to do chores, while their biological white children were able to attend school and further their education (Twine, 37). Twine told the story of an 11-year-old Black adopted girl, Niara, who was exploited as a servant by her White parents, “… who was barely four feet tall, she was responsible for taking care of three children between two and five years old. She does not attend school regularly because of the demanding job…” (38). The subservience of Black people was reinforced and internalized from a very young age, making them more likely to accept and individualize the concealed racism. The treatment of individuals in Brazil, since the 1800s, has been based off phenotypical aspects of a person, rather than genes. This concept propelled racial whitening for several decades after the official end; If a person looked white, even if they were technically a mulatto, they would be treated the way a White person was treated; Thus, making racial whitening appealing to Blacks and Mulattos who wanted “better” lives for