Dark is beautiful.
I want to start this article you are reading by writing about a personal struggle I went through growing up as an Indian American girl. As a child, I loved traveling to India every summer; it is practically my second home. Although just walking on the streets of my local neighborhood, I noticed the countless advertisements for skin whitening products, including the most renowned “Fair and Lovely,” now known as “Glow and Lovely.” The marketing team was extremely clever for changing the product name; it "totally" fixed their conservative ideological beliefs regarding skin color! P.S, my grandpa has been using it for years. I hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t work no matter the loads of bleach added to the little tube.
Fair & Lovely ad: “An arranged marriage is being fixed, the boy comes to see the girl. He finds her too dark, so she applies fair & lovely and the next time she meets a prospect. He marries her. You can't get a job unless you're fair. You can't get married unless you're fair. Specifically on matrimony ads, it won’t say beautiful educated girls. It will always say WANTED FAIR, intelligent girl.”
The point is that this stigma is constantly building that fair complexion is looked up upon and this mentality without a doubt affects the millions of desi women living in Southern Asia and me.
The other day, I was on the phone with my grandma conversing about the new addition to our extended family; my aunt recently gave birth to a baby girl! My grandma's first question was, “Is it a boy?”. Then she proceeded to ask, “Is it fair?”. That's what broke my heart; why is the second question regarding skin color? Why does skin color matter? It's a baby, for goodness sake?
A new life emerges into this world every 0.1 seconds. If we teach the younger generations to care about the color of a minor external feature we all have, what is to make of this world? It's absurd to hear this, isn't it?
Growing up in a culture founded on conservative ideals, I never understood the backhanded beliefs rooted in the place, in which I called my second home. Appalling remarks such as “put on this face lightening mask, you look dark” or “you're not fair enough” are and still normalized, making it almost a desensitized issue that no one is willing to confront. It never struck me that it was a problem until this year when I watched a documentary from Vice News regarding colorism in India. It was called "Why India's Fair Skin Business Is Booming". Out of curiosity, I clicked on the link leading me to my opinion regarding this issue.
This perpetuating narrative that being fair is beautiful plagues the very people who live in India. I was heartbroken to see the thousands and thousands of women undergoing painful beauty procedures costing a tremendous amount of money for this sole purpose. This continuous psychological view push women to extremes including skin “therapies” that burn their melanin pigments, in order to look more “presentable” in society's view. Entertaining this toxic belief of colorism only hurts children and future generations including me.
Colorism isn’t a very general term here in western regions such as the US, where we reside, but Racism and Colorism are equivalents in their respective areas. In India, rather than racism, where there is a stigma against people of color, colorism is more prominent, being the idea of skin color bias. "Lighter skin is more beautiful." It shocked me even more than some women got rejected from career opportunities in India because of their darker tone. This stigma needs to stop now.
Women or even any human being should not be judged based on skin color. Does our skin truly make us different from each other?
Dark is beautiful. Embrace your color.
For more info on this topic watch this Vice documentary linked below regarding colorism marketing tactics in India: