In June 2025, Naomie Pilula posted a selfie. Within hours, she received 530,000 hateful messages. A Zambian woman, Pilula has rich brown skin and the large, proud nose of her father.
Africa alone is home to thousands of cultures, each with its own standards of beauty. Historically, many African cultures celebrated darker skin, fuller figures, eye-catching hairstyles, distinctive facial features, and intricate body art that represented unity.
The Maasai stretched their earlobes as a rite of passage. Nigerian communities believed fat women were beautiful. Surma women wore protective lip plates to deter enslavers, but over time, their lips became a symbol of beauty. But through slavery and colonization, global beauty standards began to center Western, white beauty ideals.
Today, the Western beauty industry continues to exclude or “uglify” African and African diasporic features. Preference for lighter skin tones, narrow facial features, and slim figures creates a culture of misogynoir that vilifies women like Naomie Pilula. So how did Pilula clap back?
She left her selfies up and kept thriving. Pilula loves herself, and nothing is going to change that. In celebrating herself, Pilula honors all of the beautiful ancestors whose features she inherited. May we all love ourselves and each other as fiercely and as unapologetically.