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An obsession with fair skin is a widespread disease in India. Is it taking our focus away from being good, confident people? questions Soumya.
An obsession with fair skin is a widespread disease in India. Is it taking our focus away from being good, confident people?
Wanted: bride. Fair, beautiful, aged less than 25, for Indian boy settled in Mumbai with family business.
Looking for sincere Christian, God fearing, fair lady for a well settled Indian boy in Australia.
Every time I look at matrimonial ads in the paper, or online, there is one word that always stands out – ‘Fair’. This word is mentioned more than the words ‘bride’ and ‘groom’, too! Everyone needs a fair bride. Is one ill mannered or less beautiful just because his/her skin color is not fair? I’m yet to come across a matrimonial ad which says “wanted: dusky and beautiful bride” or “dusky and lovely girl” or “skin color no bar”. Apparently, to many, ‘dusky’ doesn’t sound good with ‘beautiful’ and ‘lovely’.
India has never been one. People have always been categorized and slotted here. People from the North are fair and those from the south, popularly known as Madrasis are not. Remember the hype Nina Davuluri caused when she won the Miss America crown this year? Indians rejoiced, but would she have won if she was based in India?
Remember the hype Nina Davuluri caused when she won the Miss America crown this year? Indians rejoiced, but would she have won if she was based in India?
When was the last time you saw a dusky girl lift the Miss India crown? If the poor girl was in India she would have been cursed by her parents for her skin color, and a hefty dowry would be presented to her husband to compensate for her skin color.
The most saddening thing I saw, was the sale of some fairness potion on national television. A well known actress was promoting it. I bet she wouldn’t dare to use it even once. In this ad, a girl is shooed away from home by her parents because she was not fair. The girl somehow gets hold of this potion and becomes fair, comes back, and is accepted wholeheartedly. These ads always emphasize upon the urgent need of getting fair and regaining our lost self-esteem. For people with not-so-fair complexion, this is almost like getting assaulted for what they are.
For people with not-so-fair complexion, this is almost like getting assaulted for what they are.
On one hand, the parents, peers, family members keep reminding you of this so called ‘curse’ and on the other, these TV ads try their best to lower one’s self-esteem! I once saw this tagline of a fairness cream brand on home shopping- “Fairness=Beauty=Success. Dark skin=Ugliness=Failure”. Is this right?
Maybe this entire thing started off with the ‘White’ Britishers ruling the ‘Brown’ Indians. Maybe white skin was always considered as a sign of higher authority. And maybe we will never stop appreciating white skin and looking down upon the not-so-white ones.
Pic credit: anoldent (Used under a CC license)
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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