Venezuelan Women Are Getting Nose Jobs To Look More Caucasian
LatestIn a quest for la nariz perfilada, the perfectly-formed (read: Anglo-looking) nose, there is an epidemic of rhinoplasties among black and multi-racial women in Venezuela, according to a study out of Dartmouth by assistant anthropology professor Lauren Gulbas. In examining the racial tensions and beauty regimes of women in Caracas, she chose 63 women of all races: 24 had already had nose jobs and another 39 hoped to in the future. The women who possessed “broad noses linked with African heritage” were seeking out a more European nose in order to boost their self-esteem, wrote Gulbas — but, of course, that’s cart-before-the-horse logic.
Gulbas points this out in her paper “Embodying Racism: Race, Rhinoplasty, and Self-Esteem in Venezuela,” which ran in the journal Qualitative Health Research: