I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered to be beautiful.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on societal standards of beauty and the lack of representation for women of color.
Zozibini Tunzi's quote highlights the challenges faced by women who do not fit conventional beauty standards, particularly women of color. It emphasizes the internal and external struggles of growing up in a society that often excludes individuals based on their appearance, and calls for broader acceptance and recognition of diverse beauty.
In practice
In a speech about self-acceptance during a school assembly.
I think the most important thing... is leadership. It's something that has been lacking in young women and girls for a very long time, not because we don't want to but because of what society has labeled women to be. I think we are the most powerful beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity.
I think we are afraid to take up space. We are afraid to be amazing. As soon as that fear leaves us and we start building that confidence of being unapologetic about being great, then i think we can get into that space of having a lot of women leaders who are just fearless.
People speak about diversity and representation like the world is ready. But when it actually happens, people can't take change. They can't deal with it. Which is why we have things like cyberbullying, which is why people will send you nasty DMs, say nasty things in your comments. Because they're just not dealing with it, they're not ready.
We should be teaching young girls to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself.
Women are constantly being taught how to defend themselves against attack from men. I would like to shift the perception. I want to say that that responsibility should no longer rest on the shoulders of women alone.
I didn't enter Miss S.A. because I thought I was the most beautiful woman in S.A., I entered because it's one of the few platforms that give women the ability to lead and I knew I had a powerful voice and message to send out.
There is such a thing as too much beauty in a woman and it is often a burden as crippling as homeliness and far more dangerous. It takes much luck and integrity to survive the gift of perfect beauty, and its impermanence is its most cunning betrayal.
Unique and different is the new generation of beautiful… You dont have to be like everybody else. In fact I don’t think you should.
Women have face-lifts in a society in which women without them appear to vanish from sight.
For me, true beauty has nothing to do with wrinkles and everything to do with the fact that my maternal grandmother raised five children just after the war and remained a fighter throughout her life. True beauty is the slick of red lipstick my paternal grandmother would put on before going to church on Sunday.
To me, we are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world. Black people. And I mean that in every sense.
I think beauty comes from actually knowing who you are. That's real beauty to me.
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