Kibbe body types || Black femininity and controversies

3 replies on “Kibbe body types || Black femininity and controversies“

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  Cocoa Styling - For Dark Skin Women

  May 8, 2022 at 12:06 am

  These are not my opinions on the types, I’m just talking about why the terms might be controversial:)
  Also, this is not the most inclusive system, so let me know your favorite style icons (preferable plus size)

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  mara mma

  May 8, 2022 at 12:06 am

  I think im a natural but i got a large chest

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  panda man

  May 8, 2022 at 12:06 am

  I wanted to comment why I think people used to (and still currently do) associate the yang IDs as more masculine and the yin IDs as more feminine.

  First off being that the interpretation of yin/yang way before kibbe was associated with the feminine and masculine energies, so I think it’s pretty natural for someone outside of kibbe to see “yin” and “yang” everywhere and associate them as such. There’s also the fact that men naturally have more yang than women (they have the baseline of vertical and width), so a FG or R man could very well be a FN woman in the female system. Does it mean that a yin man is more feminine? No, but as a Dramatic myself, I can understand why people would associate yang as a masculine trait even though yin/yang are purely descriptors of lines and shapes, not what is masculine or feminine. Is it the way Kibbe set it up? No, so by default those people aren’t right according to the system. But does it surprise me? Also no.

  There’s also a component of what someone sees as desirable, so often you see yang women desiring more yin aesthetics and physical traits while yin women desiring more yang traits that are often advertised in modeling industries (ie the long, flowing silhouettes which are perceived by many as the beauty standard in the west). Plus if someone wants to wear a certain aesthetic but think they can’t because it’ll be unflattering on them, they’ll want to be another ID.

  Finally, the descriptions and clothing examples online also make people resistant to their ID image. They often think their bodies/attractiveness are doomed if they’re a certain ID (even if there’s a massive range in how bodies look like within an ID). I think there are plenty of Naturals who have what I would consider *delicate* bone structures (as in narrow bones), many are often conventionally curvy, and others, especially verified ones who are based more on essence than body structure, don’t actually have broad shoulders. Some people also just outright don’t like the Pinterest boards with headless boho women and think they have to wear that too, even though that’s not what is necessarily advised. It’s supposed to be a system of lines + overall essence of an outfit, there are no strict rules on what style you actually pick.

  Would also like to comment that the online tests are basically useless if you don’t know what you’re looking for and how to look for it (which 99% of the time is the case). Aspects like waist definition and bust size on the tests are also useless because (pretty often, actually) yang women will have a high waist-to-hip ratio while for yin women it may be very subtle, especially for types like TR. Facial features are also useless on the test because it doesn’t take into account your overall impression and the tallied up score of yin and Yang traits can’t really do that. Big lips do not always equal yin, and thin lips do not always equal yang. It’s more about the shape/impression imo, not the size. I really don’t understand why the height limits weren’t included in the tests (they were more like an passing reference, but not in the tests themselves) because as someone who is 5’9, that would’ve been really helpful to know lmao. But definitely no height minimums, because short women (below 5’5) can have yang images too.

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