Imagine: It is the middle of January 2019. You’ve decided that this will be the year you change your style, follow more fashion trends and boost your confidence. However, upon your search for said style, you see very few people who you can relate to physically. Although it isn’t life-threatening, it bothers you because it is hard to envision how the outfits, makeup and accessories will look if you have no source of reference.
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So, you narrow down your search by typing the style again and putting your respective race or ethnicity. To your dismay, you are met with one of these two options. 1) A few images, and of those few, some shown more than once, or even worse, 2) “no images found” or “end of search results”…you get the picture.
But how is this possible? It’s the internet for crying out loud! Well, this is something that occurs more often then what one might think. It is called “underrepresentation.” Formally put, it means to give inadequate representation to and represent in numbers that are disproportionately low.
Ok, so we know the problem, but what do we do to fix it? Even more so, what if there isn’t a lack of representation, but instead, collectively a lack of interest in a particular category from a particular group?
A great start to increase the representation of let’s say, black girls who wear Harajuku-style clothing is simply a “like” “share” or “retweet” and so on. A compliment in the comment section never hurts either!
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In regards to the lack of interest, there are a few things that can be done. For example, sparking up a conversation about the scarcity of cis, hetero, male influencers in the fields of beauty, mental health awareness and body positivity can definitely start a dialogue and even begin transforming some of the ways we perceive masculinity.
The media is expanding tremendously every day. Between news (even the fake kind), blogs, memes and hashtags, there is always something new to grab your attention. So if there is ever a moment where the Internet seems small and your search is unsuccessful, just find the next best thing or become a pioneer. You never know, a great thing can become viral within minutes!