Every time I visit the salon (beauty parlor), the following sight greets me - lines of women, ranging from young adults to older peers, have their faces, arms, legs, shoulders, necks, in some instances a greater portion of their torsos, masked with fair polishing cream. My question is why would so many pulchritudinous females have the urge to be fairer and the idea that dark-hued skins are undesirable?
The notion of fair skin being desirable is a vestige of the British colonial reign. I'm assuming the proliferation of white women with impeccable tastes and manners conceivably made them the epitome of female beauty. Bearing also in mind, that these fair female counterparts were also part of the ruling class that subjected the natives. The darker subjects had to depend on them for their livelihoods, thereby consequently, adopting their practices, their philosophies, their ideals, and their perspective of ideal beauty.
However, in such modern times, is the social practice of seeking and desiring fair females still viable? I have heard and witnessed several examples where females are degraded for their colors, and encouraged to seek treatments which would brighten their complexions, thereby leading to suitable partners. One account I recently heard goes that a young couple dating each other for nearly seven years has overcome a looming impediment. The impediment is the female's lack of a suitable and fair complexion. Apparently, the guy's family did not deem her fair enough to be considered a credible beauty. Oh, did I mention that said couple is planning on tying the knot. So, the solution they agreed upon is that the girl will seek skin whitening treatments ranging from home-made remedies, salon varieties, and ultimately skin brightening laser treatment.
Turn on the telly and you are inundated with advertisements displaying females cinching the perfect job, scoring the highest marks, securing handsome men through the supremacy of whitening creams. On every level of the social stratum, women are promptly encouraged and goaded to brighten their complexions, thereby, enhancing their chances of better and dare I say it, happier lives.
When does females, of all hues, take a stand and say collectively, enough is enough?
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4 comments:
so i'm so with you on the anti-fairness-is-best campaign. but it goes way before the british. we south asians have been hating our skin colour for eons. sucks. esp when i prefer darker. any day.
did you know that china has the highest sale figures of fair and lovely? isn't that crazy? i do agree with abeer that the south asian aspiration for fairer skin dates way before the british came to india. i think it was the mughal kings and queens who set the standards of beauty in our regions.
wow...I didnt know that about China. But that's so crazy considering how fair Chinese females are to begin with! And Abeer's point was quite interesting..I'm planning on investigating it further...
it really is ridiculous how families still seek fair brides in this day and age! however, the question of one's skin colour doesn't stop there....i hear people inquiring the complexions on new born babies - 'is your baby fair? oh don't worry in time she'll become fair!' how about congratulating the mother on having a baby?! its time people stop putting so much importance on something as trivial as a skin complexion!
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