Fairness Fetish

 

I’m a 17yr old girl. I’m dark-skinned. And I’m proud of it. I’m not going overboard. Think about it seriously and you’ll realize how prevalent the “fairness syndrome” is in our country.

 

“Fair skin”- a national obsession. I wonder why precious time is being wasted upon the “dark-fair” debate. I’ve heard my friends chatting about an actress’s appearance, “Did you see Kareena in Asoka? She looks so fair…so beautiful”. Well, aren’t Smita Patil, Kajol, and Sonali Kulkarni etc beautiful?

 

These colour discussions are prevalent in every sphere of the society. Insensitive kids calling their classmate “kallu”, suicide of a young woman in a rural area due to her inability to find a husband, careful avoidance of dusky models in most ads, being cast out of a group because you happen to be five shades darker than the rest; all Indians have, at some point, experienced the prejudice, which has prevailed in our country for ages. The fairness syndrome knows no class barriers. It’s somewhat understandable that the lower classes are ignorant due to lack of education, but it’s shocking to see well-educated, urban people biased against dark skin too. Makes me wonder!

 

Fairness cream sales are rocketing skywards. Not surprising! As a result of matrimonial columns looking for “fair” brides, dark-skinned girls are forced to undergo ridiculous “get fair quick” treatments by their families. And needless to say, that doesn’t do much about increasing their self-confidence. I remember a friend of mine who bleached her face when she was in std. VIII! Don’t you think it’s absurd? She was probably the victim of “fairness syndrome”, desperate to look fairer. Just like the amusing sight few women make when their faces are caked with layers of talcum powder, so that no one can make out how dark they really are!

 

Surprisingly, this prejudice extends only to women. Women drool over tall, dark and handsome men. But my observations have led me to conclude that there are hardly few couples where the guy is fairer than the girl. It’s rather annoying the way “fair” is almost synonymous with “beautiful”. You inquire about the new girl in college and the most obvious reply will be, “She’s so fair…very pretty.”

 

Another irritating thing is the fairness cream ads with the sad (read ‘dusky’) girl worried about getting married, with a diabetes-causing “boy-meets-girl” situation at the end of the ad where the girl has transformed into a pretty (read ‘fair’) young woman. According to these ads, fair skin is more important than educational qualifications in getting a job!! So, don’t forget to dab on a generous amount of these creams before your next job hunt!

 

I think it’s amazing that we Indians have such a varying range of skin shades. So, why fuss about a few shades this way or that compared to the ‘peaches and cream’ complexion? So, while India is obsessed with ‘fair’ skin, it’s a hot trend abroad to get a ‘tan’!! I feel we shouldn’t bother much about either “getting fair” or “tanning”. Every shade, every tone has its beauty. It doesn’t require any skill to be born with fair skin! We can’t decide these physical attributes. I can’t help it if I’m dark-skinned. We should appreciate beauty by all means but never condemn anyone for not possessing it. It’s high time we did something about this “fairness syndrome” which is turning out to be a national menace.

 

Author's Note

I wrote this in 2002, when i was 17yrs old. It was published in the regional newspaper "The Assam Tribune". I'm reproducing the exact article here without any changes.