The Indian Society And It's Love For Fair Skin And "Ditching The Tan"

 

Is having a dark complexion a sin? In India, if your complexion is dark, you will be constantly judged and compared to other skin tones. People will often comment about your skin tone followed by a hundred remedies to cure this affliction. These experiences may cause low self-esteem. This may lead you to constantly compare yourself to others and question yourself - "why me"?

One thing I have been trying to understand all along is - what is wrong with being a dark-skinned girl? And I am sure that a lot of young girls and women would share the same resentment about this fair skin hypothesis as me. 

The History Behind Fair Skin Being Attractive

This notion of white skin has been originated since the beginning of the British Rule in India. During their rule, the idea of fair skin being superior came with the packaging. This idea of fair skin being superior wasn't spoken of, it was just understood. The fact that we were being ruled by fair-skinned people meant they were superior to us, the natives. This made us look up to them. 

India's attitude towards fairness is an ancient concept. It predates colonialism and is certainly liked to caste. It has been more than seven decades since we gained independence from the British. Yet we are still slaves of this misconception.

Fair and Lovely, India's best-known fairness brand claims to be the world's first of many skin-lightening creams. It was launched in 1975 and became an instant success. This brand has created numerous stereotypes against dark skin (as suggested by the name). Brands like  POND'S and Garnier (among others) have also perpetuated a cultural myth about the aesthetic and social superiority of fairer skin. 

B-Town's hypocritical stance on Black Lives Matter: supporting the movement while keeping silent on the bias for fair complexions.

Bollywood too has played a significant role in intensifying the bias towards light skin. Bollywood celebrities are perpetuating a preference for lighter skin by endorsing "fairness" creams. Shahrukh Khan is the brand ambassador of men's fairness cream called 'Fair and Handsome.' 

Apart from King Khan, celebrities including John Abraham, Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, and Hrithik Roshan, have endorsed skin-whitening products at some point in their careers. And of course, the list goes on and on! 

Film actors like Bipasha Basu, Ranbir Kapoor, Tapsee Pannu, and Pakistani actress Mahira Khan (among a few) have refused to advertise fairness creams. 

Back in 2017, film actor Abhay Deol called out names of some of the biggest stars of the film industry in a series of Facebook posts for promoting fairness creams. Recently, Kangana Ranaut too slammed Bollywood's obsession for fair skin while speaking to a leading daily. 

This statistic displays the results of a youth survey conducted in 2016 among ages 15 to 34 across 19 states in India about their preference for using skin-lightening and fairness products.

This "bleaching syndrome" in India goes far beyond skin color, with Indian women questioning their speech and marital choices, raising concerns about female self-esteem. Young girls should gracefully embrace their natural complexion. This is the first step to combat self-criticism. Just be confident of who you are - fair or dark.

Like Barack Obama, the former President of the United States once said, "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

 So let's bring change and try to combat this situation ourselves. Women of color must be celebrated as much as fair women. Discrimination based on the color of the skin must be eliminated once and for all.