Exotic Beauty

Being called an "exotic beauty" is not a compliment. In fact, it stops women from being seen as beautiful on their own terms

- MIA CASTRO

It's not that hard to say 'you' are beautiful my friend Alyana tells me straight away. As who embraces her morena skin, naturally curly hair, button-like nose and eyes, living in Spain had pros and cons. She particularly enjoyed standing out and catching the attention of many just by her looks but there's often a fine line crossed between the compliments gets, both in the dating scene and on the streets. “They would make it a point that your beauty is different, even if they do like the beauty of Filipinas, it's still in the context of iba yung ganda mo from the normal standard of beauty,” she says automatically crossing out this man. The same case follows Jeb Fronda, our proud Filipina fashion editor when it comes to online dating apps.“They always say I'm exotic just because my skin is tanned and most of my photos are in a beautiful beach. It's like their version of saying I'm an 'other," she shares.