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Asian nations, particularly India has an obsession with fair
skin. Dark skin is snubbed as ugly and this is overwhelmingly true for women
there.
Rosalyn D'Mello, a journalist based
in India’s capital New Delhi, still recalls how her family and friends used to
mock her because of her dark complexion when she was a young girl.
"They used to call me kaali (black), ‘blacky’ and even ‘negro’
because of my dark skin," she said.
"My mother was cruel about my skin shade. She wanted me to use 'Fair
and Lovely'," a skin lightening cream," D’Mello said. "I don’t
believe in the norm that equates beauty with skin colour."
Many women in India share Rosalyn’s dilemma on a daily basis.
The desire in India for lighter skin is fueled by a widespread belief that
dark-skin is ugly and inferior. Not only is fair skin perceived to be a
key definer of beauty, but also seen to be an essential element of
self-confidence, success, and happiness. Even matrimonial ads add conditions
like, “Fair skinned girl is preferred,”
This immense pressure on the dark skinned women in India paved way to a
booming multi million industry of beauty products that guarantee to make dark
complexion fair.
For those who can afford it, they bleach their skin.
A public outcry occurred in India recently when a cream to lighten the skin
around the vagina was launched by a cosmetic manufacturer last year.
Traditionally, skin color was used to determine caste; fair skinned people
are attributed to belong to the upper castes and dark skinned people are
considered as belonging to lower castes.
This prejudice is not helped by the Indian film industry, namely Bollywood
which idolizes fair skin especially in actresses. Dark skinned actors in India
can be counted out and this is in the leading actors and actresses scope.
Recently, Shah Rukh Khan, a leading Bollywood actor endorsed the Fair and
Handsome ad and it sparked outrage in India and many criticized the actor for
being a ‘colorist.'
Shah Rukh Khan is not alone. Many of his colleagues and counterparts like
Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, and south Indian actor Surya among others have endorsed such
ads that ingrains the idea that only by being fair one can reach great heights.
It is indeed very demoralizing and derailing, this stressing that no matter how
good one in school or job, being dark skinned is a drawback that hinders opportunities.
Nandita Das, a dark skinned,
critically acclaimed Indian actress have had movie directors and camera persons telling her to bleach her skin and she refused to pander to their directives.
Now, Das is campaigning
against the toxic belief that a person’s worth is measured by the fairness of
their skin.
A NGO known as Women of Worth (WOW), which is based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu
is countering this skin color bias by promoting a campaign called ‘Dark is
Beautiful’ and Nandita Das is backing the campaign with a string of taglines
that calls on Indians to ‘Stay Unfair, Stay Beautiful.”
"I have always been very outspoken about this issue, but till recently
it was more informal," Das, known for critically acclaimed films such as
"Fire" and "Earth", told Al Jazeera in an email interview.
"As the issue impacts so many people, young girls in particular, by
default I have become a champion of it."
Nandita Das says:
“Being dark skinned does not determine the worth of a person. Be comfortable
in your own skin. Don’t let others rob you off your self esteem.”
For many career women like D’Mello, the hues of their skin have not been a
stumble block for their success but for millions of other women, the case is
otherwise.
"Now the colour of my skin has become a very large part of life, it has
become my identity," D’Mello said. "It no longer bothers me."
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