Are people just not reading the words out of Kim's mouth, and coming to the uninformed conclusion that she's just doing this for fun?
It's been spelled out by her, and numerous posts in this thread that Kim feels that being black is ugly. The standard of beauty, for generations now, has been white. Yes, most of us know that beauty knows no ethnicity, but that's not the point.
Go to any store in the country, and look at the magazine rack. From Cosmo, to Glamour, to those generic bridal magazines and fashion catalogues, you will see (unless it's a light skinned black celebrity or model), nothing but pretty white faces in its pages. Turn on the television and look at the adds for beauty products, shampoo, etc etc, and again, you'll see beautiful white women, hair blowing silkily in the wind smiling at the camera while men if all colors swoon adoringly.
When a minority woman is the object of attention in a movie, it's almost always to fetishize her in some way. Minority women are often treated like an exotic prize to be had by the white male lead, and then discarded in the next movie (I'm looking at you, Mission Impossible 2 and Thandie Newton).
Black women, and dark skinned black women in particular, are seen as less than attractive than light skinned black women, or just lighter skinned women in general. Monica Bellucci is seen as a different type of beautiful than Lupita N'Yongo, for example.
Spoiler: both of them are stupidly beautiful, but one of them I guarantee thinks she is ugly and unattractive. I remember being ecstatic that Lupita was cast in Star Wars, only to be heartbroken that she's a fucking CGI alien. Maz is still a fantastic character, and Lupita kills it, but fuck would it have been awesome to see her on screen instead.
The point is that, I challenge you to find a beautiful, dark skinned black women who doesn't harbor some insecurity and self worth issues. It's just that Lil' Kim actually had the finances to try and do something about it, because the sad truth is that trying to deprogram her feelings of worthlessness is a lot harder than getting some plastic surgery. It's a superficial change of her physical form, but the scars on her psyche aren't going to heal. She's now being treated like a freak, instead of being accepted as a "white girl" now.
It's like a sad, real life episode of Tales from the Crypt, or other ironic fable stories: Kim thought that by turning herself into what she thought was considered beautiful, she'd be loved and accepted. Instead, she is considered a freak and is still not accepted. Only now, she can't go back to her former self. It's too late.
That is just horribly sad. It's heartbreaking. As judgmental as society is, I can't imagine her ever feeling welcome and accepted. Just awful.
