The true roots of the ‘fair-skin bias’ date back to hundreds of years ago and are difficult to ascertain, but colourism has been so deeply rooted in certain world cultures, that even in the current day of diversity, it affects the self-esteem of millions of people around the world.
Being born and having grown up in the diverse city of London, although aware of my brown skin, I never felt uncomfortable until a recent conversation with an old aunt about the difference in skin tone between my sister and myself. Her question left me thinking…
On our subsequent visits to India, I couldn’t help noticing the plethora of fairness creams that flooded the markets and the flawless, fair skin of all the actresses in commercial Bollywood movies. Isn’t this a complete misrepresentation of the beautiful population that comes in all shades of brown? Shouldn’t every shade of colour be deemed beautiful?
Colourism, the prejudiced view against darker skinned people of the same ethnicity or race, is further promoted by social media and photo filters, which again indirectly affirm that being fair is beautiful. This issue has, and continues to make many girls and women feel inadequate and insecure. Mrs Priya Joshi explains how this worry begins, sometimes even before a child is born, “My mother-in-law insisted on giving me saffron, almonds and other beneficial products throughout my pregnancy so that my newborn is fair. I was not allowed to drink tea or coffee as this would make the child’s skin darker and this was very much advised against.”
On speaking to more people, I learned how some use many different methods and products on children in an effort to make them fairer. People believe girls get better marriage proposals if the girl is fair.
This is utterly appalling and needs to stop immediately. We need to encourage discussions on this and raise awareness for the sake of people who are suffering due to the lack of representation within any looks-based industry. Cultural movies and fashion industries which set trends of beauty need to become more inclusive of colour-tones and show young people that they don’t need to be fair to be beautiful. The ‘invisible’ darker tones need acknowledgement of their true beauty.
Cultural colourism – cut it out.
