Black sheep of India, quite literally: a peep into colorism in India.
We’ve had a recent outbreak of people standing up for the right cause running a movement called the" black lives matter" after the gruesome killing of George Floyd. This has inspired many Indians to talk about skin lightening and colorism. The manifestation of the color discrimination in India differs as it hides behind various other variables. We shall now see how and when colorism found its roots in the Indian society; how deeply it influences the mass consciousness; and what are the reasons behind the prejudice and bias toward dark skin?
The history behind colorism:
This is where it all began, the British rule. Multiple studies find that preferences for lighter skin in India were historically linked to both the caste system and Persian, Mughal, and British rule. Colorism in India has been fueled due to events under British colonial rule, where British officials consistently demeaned dark-skinned Indians and favored light-skinned Indians for jobs over dark-skinned Indians. Back then peasants worked in the scorching sun of our tropical country and naturally obtained a darker skin tone and the privileged stayed indoors protecting their skin, so skin color became a marker of superior social status. Are we seriously going to give this process of evolution where the concentration of melanin increased, a low social status tag?
As a result of nearly two hundred years of British colonial influence, remnants of the British tactics that exacerbated colorism remain in Indian society. Most Indians show apparent ignorance about the practice of exclusion and discrimination based on the skin tone of a person although it is a deep-rooted problematic practice embraced by both the oppressor and the victim. Krishna, who is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, has a dark skin tone. The word Krishna itself means ‘black’ in Sanskrit. Similarly, the Rig Veda’s hero Trasadasyu, son of Purukutsa, is the dark-complexioned leader of the other dark Dasyus. Rig Veda mentions a black Kanva who is the poet of hymns and Dirghatamas the singer as dark-skinned, which shows that not all the dark-skinned people are Sudras doing menial jobs but that they also were accepted among the educated and intellectuals. This is such an irony as the so-called stereotypical religious people are the very same ones passing negative comments on dark skin with their prevalent ignorant thinking.
Capitalism and advertising:
With an 18% growth rate, the skin lightening industry finds its biggest market in incredible India making capitalism an active agent in upholding colorism. A survey by Zero Hg, Mercury Working Group shows an estimated 735 million users in India of fairness cream mostly women and girls. This statistic is followed by Nigeria at an estimated 99.5 million in 2002. Unilever is ranked as the fourth-largest consumer goods company worldwide. 2011 Unilever’s personal care product segment was about 15.47 billion euros. Skin bleaching products represent about 23% of the skincare product market. Such large capitalistic gains of the skin lightening industry make it clear that public education on the topic of colorism is poor. Capitalism becomes a rather significant pillar in the upholding of this white privilege. Advertising is one of the biggest influencers on this issue .numerous misleading and demeaning ads are constantly being aired on television. Let us look at Unilever's ‘fair and lovely’ ad which showed a woman being declined a job offer apparently due to her skin color and upon using their product and obtaining
their mere skin color she gets the job! How ignorant must one be to think of a concept like that? Many other ads one the same line have also been observed like girls being bullied by her peers because of her dark skin and admired after lightening her skin. Declination of marriage proposals due to dark skin has also been shown due to dark skin. So basically the possession of dark skin is deemed inferior in all areas of life. We should stop messing up young minds by bringing down their sense of worth based on their mere skin color.
Brownface in Bollywood:
Bollywood may be best known for its glamorous casts, glitzy costumes and energetic dance routines all over the world. But it also has a far less flattering reputation -- for promoting the offensive practice of brownface. Brown face is where makeup is used to make a fair-skinned actor used to darken their skin color to play the role of a character who belongs to a disadvantaged background. This is very offensive as it sends a message that dark-skinned people are inferior. Bollywood has a great influence on how beauty is perceived by the masses in the
country, although it shouldn’t be. This gives them a responsibility to send out realistic and unbiased messages to people. An impossible task for one to do it would be, for them to find a perfectly dark-skinned actress in the industry and that just speaks volumes. The apparent role model actresses like Priyanka Chopra and Disha Patani have received a lot of backlash for promoting skin lightening products.
If you’ve noticed one thing in the above few lines, although both men and women are affected by it, it seems to be affecting women more .you must’ve heard some people say I am attracted to dark and handsome men but never so for women. young girls of our country are running around lathering bleach on their faces which is harmful to their healthy supple skin, skin lightening creams have harmful substances like mercury present in quantities more than recommended levels which have long term effects. It is high time we stop this senseless practice influenced by the brits who ruled us for so long, we are a free country and we must free our minds from the influences the long colonial rulers have left behind and embrace our culture with pride and grace. I hope this brings a significant impact in your way of thinking and share it to spread knowledge on this wrong happening.xoxo
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