Welcome back to the Learning Curve, a monthly column where we unpack the complicated experience of accepting your own body in a world that doesn't seem to want you to. This month, associate beauty editor Annie Blay digs into the experience of being an African woman in America and how the differing beauty standards between Africa and the West can create disorienting feelings about body image and cultural authenticity. “You have a big butt.
En route to the braiding shop, she would pass an elderly woman in her neighborhood who would always make comments about her body. “She sat on the corner and everyone knew her and would greet her,” Asante-Dartey recalls. “When I would walk by her, she would always say I'm overweight and I should watch it so that she can tell her grandson about me and one day we'll get married — but for that to happen, I needed to lose weight.' Asante-Dartey was about six years old at the time.