India
has always been obsessed with skin but this obsession is not merely skin deep.
It flows through our veins and our arteries and clogs our cultural pores. This preoccupation with skin or the
importance of skin color is one that is very typical of India. As
a young woman living in India, skin based discrimination is a very predominant,
easily relatable and predictable experience. Removing the slightly racial
undertones of North Indians vs the Dravidians, as a young woman from South
India, living in South India, the phenomenon based experiences of skin based
discrimination is very common - despite me being a part of a subculture that is
essentially darker skinned than its northern counterparts. I
have never really been considered “dark”.
Most people would benevolently refer to my complexion as wheatish- a term created and used only in India as a compromise between being fair and being dark skinned. This being said however, wheatish is still a compromise where being fair is the ultimate guarantee of beauty, salvation and everything in between.
Throughout my childhood, I have had maids discreetly and sometimes not so discreetly, apply turmeric to my face to lighten my skin and at the age of ten, even had a shopkeeper try and sell me a bottle of skin whitening cream to use “before it was too late”. I have heard people whose names I barely remember; moan and groan, practically beating their chests in agony, that I had gotten tanned during the summer and have had people whom I wouldn’t even call acquaintances for the fear of exaggerating the nature of our relationship, take it upon themselves to give me recipes consisting of besan, honey and lemon juice to slather onto my face.
But I remember my first real encounter with blatant skin discrimination. It was my cousin’s wedding and I had just turned 15 years old and I was walking around with one of my cousins when an elderly lady beckoned me towards her. She immediately struck up a conversation with me and we were soon joined by a few more people – now middle-aged. As we were talking, the conversation turned to my cousin and my brother in law, and one woman loudly exclaimed, that she was happy to see that the groom was fair and that she had been “really worried” that my cousin had married a dark skinned man. Interestingly, it must be pointed out, that the women speaking these words were dark. This fact would not have mattered had they not been speaking a tad hypocritically. (CONT...)
Avani Konduri
Most people would benevolently refer to my complexion as wheatish- a term created and used only in India as a compromise between being fair and being dark skinned. This being said however, wheatish is still a compromise where being fair is the ultimate guarantee of beauty, salvation and everything in between.
Throughout my childhood, I have had maids discreetly and sometimes not so discreetly, apply turmeric to my face to lighten my skin and at the age of ten, even had a shopkeeper try and sell me a bottle of skin whitening cream to use “before it was too late”. I have heard people whose names I barely remember; moan and groan, practically beating their chests in agony, that I had gotten tanned during the summer and have had people whom I wouldn’t even call acquaintances for the fear of exaggerating the nature of our relationship, take it upon themselves to give me recipes consisting of besan, honey and lemon juice to slather onto my face.
But I remember my first real encounter with blatant skin discrimination. It was my cousin’s wedding and I had just turned 15 years old and I was walking around with one of my cousins when an elderly lady beckoned me towards her. She immediately struck up a conversation with me and we were soon joined by a few more people – now middle-aged. As we were talking, the conversation turned to my cousin and my brother in law, and one woman loudly exclaimed, that she was happy to see that the groom was fair and that she had been “really worried” that my cousin had married a dark skinned man. Interestingly, it must be pointed out, that the women speaking these words were dark. This fact would not have mattered had they not been speaking a tad hypocritically. (CONT...)
Avani Konduri
Enjoyed the very easy, breezy style of writing that has taken on a weighty issue - one that I have been very familiar with, being a dark skinned woman myself. It is an issue now I also help to address in my work with adolescents from a wide range of social, economic groups and it is astounding how all pervading this notion of fair is good! Please publish these series in mainstream publications as well. Such articles need to be read widely.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the very easy, breezy style of writing that has taken on a weighty issue - one that I have been very familiar with, being a dark skinned woman myself. It is an issue now I also help to address in my work with adolescents from a wide range of social, economic groups and it is astounding how all pervading this notion of fair is good! Please publish these series in mainstream publications as well. Such articles need to be read widely.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteI remember a big time photo studio in kochi had turned me into a white ghost in an effort to make my photo look presentable, he must have been utterly shocked to see me throw a tantrum to make my photo look darker!
ReplyDeleteIndia has made the fair skin fetish into an multi million dollar industry, with people from Shah rukh khan to Aishwarya selling fairness cremes.
As far as I am concerned, god has always been generous, very tall very dark and very handsome!
The fact that he assumed you wanted to be fairer just shows how much of an issue the obsession with fair skin is. I remember being so surprised when the men's cream "fair and handsome" came out, that men were expected to be fair too!! Interestingly, the west finds the whole concept of tall dark and handsome, very attractive. Its an attractiveness that is associated with mystery,intrigue and broodiness I suppose. More power to you sir !!
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DeleteAbsolutely, kids get ragged for being dark skinned all the time. Folk find it unbelievable when i make jokes about my skin colour and to think people pay for just the opposite effect in the west. They are always talking of the great tan they got during the summer! What a waste of time!
DeleteRead through al the sections, Avani. Superb work by you and your team! Good research and writing skills too :) Keep it up!!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! Much appreciated :D
DeleteThank you very much! Much appreciated :D
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