Why Is The World Really Fascinated With Kylie Jenner’s Lips?

Following in her big sister’s footsteps, Kylie Jenner recently broke the Internet.

Jenner’s pouty lips have become an online sensation and teens around the world have been sucking on shot glasses to enhance their lips, posting disturbing pics and videos of their results on social media for the now-infamous  #KylieJennerChallenge.

The fascination with plumped lips, however, is not a feature commonly associated with rich, young women. Pouty lips have always been associated with stereotypes and fetishes in regard to black people. And that’s not all. The most common black features, pouty lips included, have been considered undesirable and ugly.

Angelina Jolie has made bigger lips attractive, and some famous women have undergone surgery to get plumped lips. Now we have Kylie Jenner, a 17-year-old reality TV star and model, who is being worshipped for having big lips and hailed as a trendsetter. Hundreds of black women with voluptuous lips have also appeared in films and music videos, on the covers of magazines, but they aren’t called trendsetters; on the contrary. They are called less beautiful, or even completely ignored.

Teens now see big lips as only a trend worth copying in order to resemble Kylie Jenner, and our society clearly sends a message that white women are more valued than black.