I have noticed a trend among some Ghanaians commenting on photos of other Ghanaians on the web that I find very distasteful and disgraceful to the culture of respectfulness and the black pride that Ghanaians have historically boasted about.

First, let us start with comments on pictures of the recently-crowned Ms. Ghana – Ms. Stephanie Karikari. In my opinion (which you are perfectly free to disagree with), Ms. KariKari is in every sense of the word a true Ghanaian beauty queen. She is an intelligent and ambitious student with a beautiful face, gorgeous hair, nearly flawless skin, beautiful legs and a humble, yet bold attitude to match. Is this not the kind of young lady that we want to point out to the younger generation as someone to emulate?

Is this not someone for whom we can proudly beat our chest and call a child of Mother Ghana? I mentioned earlier that you are free to disagree with my opinion about Ms. Karikari because many have commented that her looks do not fit the profile of the usual beauty queens that compete for Ms. World or Ms. Universe. In the interest of representing all viewpoints fairly, I will not entirely disagree with this point—perhaps Ms. KariKari’s nose is not as slim, perhaps she is not as tall, perhaps she has not worn enough of fake hair pieces, shown off enough of her breasts in public or attempted to bleach her complexion enough to look like the majority, Eurocentric-featured ladies that compete for these international beauty pageants. My question to those arguing that she does not fit international beauty queen standards is: how many Ghanaian women look like the women who compete for Ms. World or Ms. Universe?

Please do not get me wrong or misquote me in anyway. I do not mean to suggest that Ghanaian women are not beautiful — I have had a chance to travel outside Ghana and I have lived for years with women from virtually every continent in the world and I can tell you for sure that Ghanaian women are among the most beautiful in the world. In my eyes especially, Ghanaian women are the most beautiful women in the world and Ghanaian women carry themselves with a sense of grace, dignity and a strength that I have not found to be matched by any other group of women (I am of course a bit biased because I am a Ghanaian woman).

My point is that if you comb through the streets of Makola, taking stock of the features of the first 100 Ghanaian girls or women you come across, you will find that very few have the features that fit the profile of past Ms. World or Ms. Universe winners. Most past winners of these international pageants have Eurocentric features such as a thin nose, long hair, relatively small lips and a lighter complexion. My questions to those criticizing Ms. Karikari are:

# When we reject women like Ms. Karikari, what are we saying about our pride in our own indigenous features?

# What are we saying about how we feel about the looks of the average Ghanaian woman?

# What are we saying about how much we respect and celebrate the standard features of the majority of Ghanaian women?

# What kind of message are we sending to the younger generation, the majority of whom possess these uniquely Ghanaian features?

# How are we already damaging the self-esteem of the many younger girls, the future leaders of Ghana, who will possess these features too? Are we saying that these looks are not fit to compete with that of other women internationally?

There are a few other examples of negative criticism on the web on the indigenous looks of Ghanaian women that I would like to point out before concluding. TalkofGh.com’s Facebook webpage is now one of the main sites that feature pictures of social events attended by young Ghanaians. On these pages, I have found that some Ghanaians are quick to write negative comments about women with standard/average Ghanaian features while they are more apt to praise or write positive comments about lighter-skinned women or women with more Eurocentric features. Granted, commenters sometimes praise dark-skinned women but it is my observation that most of the crude remarks are reserved for the women with not necessarily dark-skin but average Ghanaian features. My last comment is on the “Vodaphone 3030 Promotion Love Story” commercial which tells the story of a young man named Kwame and a lady named Naa who are matched for a blind date by their siblings. Kwame and Naa chat on the phone while preparing to meet for the blind date at a local restaurant.

When Naa, a light-skinned and slim lady, was asked by Kwame to describe herself over the phone, she lied stating “well… I’m dark, I’m not tall and I’m plump. Do you still want to meet me?” This was followed by looks of skepticism on the face of Kwame at the other end of the line. After Kwame’s sister encouraged him to meet Naa because “she is beautiful,” Kwame responded to Naa that “yes of course. True beauty is on the inside and you sound nice too.” Perhaps my description of the commercial is not the best but anyone who watches it will recognize that the commercial insinuates that plump, short and dark-skinned ladies do not fit the model of women that young men desire and do not fit the model of “true beauty”. You can watch the ad here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DY1clgXqBE&feature=related)

In conclusion, I would like to remind Ghanaians to have pride in our own ethnic features and to stop belittling women with standard Ghanaian features while praising women with Eurocentric features. I am not in anyway affiliated with Ms. Karikari but I am a Ghanaian woman who is proud of her ethnic features and her culture and I will not stand by quietly while another woman is belittled and made to feel inferior because of her God-given features. When Kwame Nkrumah declared independence for Ghana 53 years ago, he was not only declaring independence from political rule but also from a colonial mentality in which we see European ways, beliefs and looks as superior to that of our own. Let us wake up and let us stop hating ourselves, our women and our own unique looks.