{"id":2844,"date":"2019-08-05T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T11:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/?p=2844"},"modified":"2023-09-08T09:12:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T09:12:34","slug":"fair-but-not-so-lovely-indias-obsession-with-skin-whitening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/fair-but-not-so-lovely-indias-obsession-with-skin-whitening\/","title":{"rendered":"Fair, But Not so Lovely: India’s Obsession with Skin Whitening"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The country’s fixation with light skin is a brazen cocktail of colorism, patriarchy and residual colonialism.<\/i><\/p>\n

Neha Dixit
\nIllustrations by Srishti Guptaroy for BRIGHT Magazine<\/i>When I was born, my paternal grandmother wrote a letter to my maternal grandfather: \u201cA girl is born. She is dark-complexioned. You better prepare for her future.\u201dIt is not clear if my grandfather was offended by the doomsday prophecy for the dark-skinned me, or if he just wanted to win the upper hand. He wrote back to her, \u201cThose who think [her future is bleak] should look at their faces in a dirty puddle.\u201d His response created a rift between my paternal and maternal family that has never healed.I grew up in north India in the 1990s. My Brahmin family was full of government servants who were still carrying the colonial white man\u2019s burden of racial prejudices and superiority complexes. Growing up in the close proximity of a large extended family, I was the only dark child. \u201cKaali-kaluti, baigan looti \/ Blacky-black smeared, she robbed the color of an eggplant,\u201d my cousins would taunt when they wanted to have a laugh at my expense. I laughed along with them, eager to fit in.<\/p>\n

My skin color was particularly concerning to my mother, since we were an upper-caste Brahmin family. Anytime someone would call me dark, my fair-skinned mother would correct them and tell them I was \u201cwheatish,\u201d one of the many euphemisms in India for brown skin. It was her way of comforting herself that her daughter was a tad bit higher in the hierarchy than truly dark people.<\/p>\n

Fair skin has long been part of India\u2019s national psyche. The various settlers, rulers, invaders, and colonizers who entered India starting in the 1400s were relatively light-skinned. This includes the Dutch, French, Portuguese, Mughals, and of course, the British, who were in India from the 17th century until India\u2019s independence in 1947. During the British Empire, skin tone prejudice became\u00a0formally engrained<\/a>; the colonizers kept light skinned Indians as allies, giving them extra advantages over the rest of the \u201cblacks.\u201d The British East India Company even named their settlement at Fort St. George \u201cWhite Town\u201d and their Indian settlement \u201cBlack Town.\u201d<\/p>\n

The British colonizers were able to build on India\u2019s existing caste system, a socio-economic hierarchy with origins in Hinduism but which now permeates across Indian society. The upper castes like the Brahmins and Kshatriyas were traditionally powerful (and also fair-skinned), while lower castes (including the \u201cuntouchable\u201d Dalits) performed manual tasks and had darker complexions. I know this dichotomy intimately; growing up, my relatives would often look at me and say, \u201cNever trust a dark-skinned Brahmin or a fair-skinned Dalit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathy Russell Cole, author of the\u00a0book<\/a>, \u201cThe Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color in a New Millennium,\u201d notes that many people from lower castes have darker skin because for generations, they have been subjected to hard physical labor in the sun. Since caste and class often intersect, fair skin is also perceived as being evidence of \u201cbetter financial and social status of a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

India\u2019s colorist attitudes have not gone anywhere. Politicians continue to make\u00a0color-based prejudices<\/a>\u00a0based on geography and caste. Gendered colorism, in which dark-skinned women face particular discrimination, directs job and marriage prospects. And Indians continue to lighten their skin, using a variety of creams, bleaches, and homemade products. Is there any way to remedy India\u2019s obsession with skin color?
\n…<\/p>\n

During a trip to a north Indian village, an old woman walked up to me to say, \u201cEvery morning, at 5 a.m., you should drink half a cup of fresh, non-boiled cow milk. The complexion of your child-to-be will be fair.\u201d I plastered a smile on my face. I was not even pregnant. But colorism runs so deep that this was the best advice she thought to offer me.<\/p>\n

Women have passed on similar age old \u201cwisdom\u201d to attain fairness for generations. \u201cApply gram flour, milk, and turmeric on her face daily,\u201d my mother was told when I was a kid, so I \u201cwould not look like a Madrasananymore.\u201d Madrasan refers to a person from the southern city of Madras, now Chennai. North Indians are typically lighter skinned than South Indians, who live in a hotter climate. Colorism exacerbates this geographical divide.<\/p>\n

Colorism also has a pervasive impact on job and marriage opportunities. Fair people are perceived as more presentable. In 2008, the state of Maharashtra sponsored 100 dark-skinned tribal girls\u00a0to train<\/a>\u00a0as flight attendants. Only eight of them were eventually recruited, that too as ground staff \u2014 likely in part due to their complexion. Similarly, the description of women in the arranged marriage market often includes skin tone shorthand like: f = fair, vf = very fair, and vvf = very very fair. (This practice is not as rampant for prospective grooms.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ratna Soren, a 24-year-old anthropology student from Hazaribagh, a small district in the eastern state of Jharkhand, is seen as a misfit in her family because she is still single. All her younger cousins are married. She has used Fair & Lovely since she was 4 years old. \u201cIt still hasn\u2019t changed my complexion,\u201d she says. This has elicited incessant rejections from prospective grooms. \u201cI am seen as a burden on my family. A girl with dark complexion must have more dowry to offer if she wants to get married in India,\u201d she says, getting emotional. \u201cMy parents cannot afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some extreme cases, colorism has even taken lives. In 2014, a woman in a posh suburb of Delhi\u00a0hanged herself<\/a>\u00a0because her husband abused her for being dark-skinned. The same year, a schoolteacher named Brototi Das\u00a0set herself on fire<\/a>, fed up with the constant humiliation she suffered from her family for her dark complexion. Yet another woman\u00a0poisoned the food<\/a>during a family function, killing five, allegedly tired of her family\u2019s taunts over her skin color. All of these women were under the age of 25.<\/p>\n

Their ages are notable. Though colorism is often considered a colonial relic, young Indians can be just as guilty of perpetuating it. In a 2015\u00a0essay<\/a>, author Neha Mishra cited a survey that asked Indians between the ages of 20\u201325 to describe \u201cpretty.\u201d 71 percent of those surveyed used words such as \u201cfair\u201d or \u201clight.\u201d The survey also revealed that the pressure to look fair is much higher on Indian women than men.
\n…<\/p>\n

Color discrimination has also played a huge role in the world\u2019s most prodigious film industry. Bollywood films often feature songs that glorify fair skin and deride darker skin shades. For instance, in the 1990s film \u201cSuhaag,\u201d the male protagonist\u00a0lusts<\/a>\u00a0after women with fair skin and dark sunglasses. A more recent song\u00a0talks about<\/a>\u00a0how the two lead actors\u2019 hearts start beating fast upon seeing \u201cwhite white faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most actors who have dominated India\u2019s film industry have been fair-skinned, particularly the women, from Madhubala in the 1960s to Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif today. To make matters worse, some of these actors also make extra income by endorsing \u201cfairness\u201d products, further perpetuating the notion that when it comes to the complexion, lighter is simply better.<\/p>\n

\u201cDark skin has been a source of stigma for Indian women long before the arrival of globalization,\u201d say Radhika Parameswaran and Kavitha Cardoza, authors of a\u00a0paper<\/a>\u00a0about India\u2019s obsession with light skin. \u201cHowever, the intensified promotion of light-skinned beauty in advertising since the onset of economic liberalization points to the role that market forces can play in exacerbating divisions of gender, caste, region, and class.\u201d
\n…<\/p>\n

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India\u2019s skin whitening market is\u00a0expected<\/a>\u00a0to achieve an annual market revenue of $720 million by 2023. It is currently dominated by Fair & Lovely, a fairness cream that was launched in 1975 and which today\u00a0holds<\/a>\u00a0more than 50 percent market share. Fair & Lovely has long marketed itself as the savior for unmarried women to find grooms \u2014 and for married women to keep them.Hindustan Unilever, the multinational conglomerate that produces it, has not shied away from using blatant colorism to sell its products. A controversial 1990 ad features a young Indian woman who is heartbroken when she hears her father say, \u201cKaash beta hota \/ If only I had a son.\u201d She runs to her bedroom crying, where she sees a television ad for Fair & Lovely. The advertisement cuts to the protagonist, now happy with her lighter skin, making more money, and taking her parents out to dinner. The father beams approvingly. A brazen cocktail of colorism and patriarchy, the ad was heavily criticized when it aired for shamelessly exploiting the aspirations of Indian women, and for pinning financial and romantic success on fair skin.<\/p>\n

Recent Fair & Lovely ads do not contain this blatant misogyny, but instead drip with corporate-led feminism; they suggest fair skin as a tool for female success. You can become a pilot, a\u00a0district collector<\/a>, or a\u00a0rich athlete<\/a>\u00a0by using their product. And in a bid to increase profits, they offer products to lighten other parts of Indian women. The company now sells armpit lightening cream \u2014 and even\u00a0vagina lightening cream<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An estimated 60 percent of Indian women \u2014 and 10 percent of men \u2014\u00a0say they use<\/a>\u00a0fairness products. Alarmed by the health dangers of fairness products, the World Health Organization began to study and promote the strict regulation of these creams. It\u00a0noted<\/a>\u00a0that mercury, a common ingredient found in skin lightening soaps and creams, can cause rashes, kidney damage, and even cancer.<\/p>\n

Some skin lightening\u00a0procedures<\/a>\u00a0in India include chemical peeling, laser treatment, bleaching, and fairness injections. In 2016, Shalini Verma took a three-month course to lighten her skin just before her wedding. Her picture that had been sent along with the marriage proposal was lightened by several shades through Photoshop, as is common practice. She would not meet her groom until their wedding day, and Shalini says that she didn\u2019t want to disappoint him. \u201cHe was taking me to USA, my dream country,\u201d she says. \u201cTaking a few injections on my face, if it pleases him, is no big deal.\u201d
\nThere are other explanations too, like choice feminism. \u201cIf I want to be fair, I should be allowed to, right? What is so Western about it?\u201d asks Divya Bahl, a 30-year-old corporate communication executive. She undergoes chemical peels of dark spots at least four times a year. \u201cI want to look good,\u201d she says. \u201cSo whatever it takes.\u201d
\n…<\/p>\n

Beyond the physical risks, Kavitha Emmanuel, founder of the campaign \u201cDark is Beautiful,\u201d warns that color bias creates a mental health epidemic. \u201cWestern stereotypes about young people\u2019s looks, their skin color, their hair type is making young Indians struggle for their identity,\u201d Emmanuel says. \u201cThey face low self-esteem, feel bad and hopeless about themselves, and retreat into a shell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there are small signs of progress. After sustained campaigns against fairness cream ads, the Advertising Standards Council of India issued\u00a0guidelines in 2014, stating<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cads should not reinforce negative social stereotyping on the basis of skin color\u201d or \u201cportray people with darker skin [as]\u2026inferior, or unsuccessful in any aspect of life particularly in relation to being attractive to the opposite sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

Akanksha Verma, a 32-year-old model based in Delhi, says she initially struggled to find assignments because of her dark skin. \u201cI was always told that my complexion is not suited for luxury brands,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt is only after these debates around colorism that I get to endorse luxury clothing brands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A news anchor, who requested anonymity to protect her professional reputation, told me that she was restricted from presenting news on air for almost a decade because of her complexion. \u201cSince the discourse [on colorism] in the last five years changed, my editors realized that I was sharper at news debates and finally let me anchor news shows,\u201d she says. \u201cThough, the woman anchor on prime time continues to be the fair one.\u201d She says the same parameter has not applied to men. \u201cBeautiful Indian men are supposed to be tall, dark, and handsome,\u201d she says. \u201cNot women.\u201dThe \u201cDark is Beautiful\u201d campaign has also pushed companies to change their tactics. Simran Nagpal, an advertising professional, says that in order to avoid controversy, many fairness creams are now repackaged as brightness or glow creams. \u201cA lot of cosmetics companies, in order to project a progressive image, do not advertise their fairness products but continue to have them in their offerings,\u201d she says. \u201cThey want to at least pretend to be on the right side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have also been global campaigns like \u201cUnfair and Lovely<\/a>,\u201d which invited women to post their pictures on social media to celebrate dusky and dark skin tones.<\/p>\n

But progress is never a straight line. In June 2017, research firm Global Industry Analysts released a report projecting that global spending on\u00a0skin lightening will triple to $31.2 billion by 2024<\/a>. India and China have the highest estimated growth rate. The driving force, the report says, is \u201cthe still-rampant darker skin stigma, and a rigid cultural perception that correlates lighter skin tone with beauty and personal success.\u201d
\n…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

As a dark girl who did not use bleaching or fairness products, my family thought I spent my life compensating for my \u201cunfortunate\u201d complexion. Whether it was doing well in school, riding a heavy power scooter (unthinkable for a teenage girl in small-town India), or being the first girl in the family to pursue higher education in another city, not having to worry about protecting my skin turned out to be a blessing in disguise.I have been able to hold a steady career as a journalist, be financially independent, and be the first girl in my extended family to choose her own life partner \u2014 all seen as ways I have made up for not being \u201cgood looking,\u201d or more accurately, light-skinned.<\/p>\n

My dark complexion turned out to be a ticket to freedom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Published by The Bright Magazine on July 10, 2019<\/i><\/div>\n
Link:\u00a0https:\/\/brightthemag.com\/fair-but-not-so-lovely-indias-obsession-with-skin-whitening-beauty-body-image-bleaching-4d6ba9c9743d<\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The country’s fixation with light skin is a brazen cocktail of colorism, patriarchy and residual colonialism. Neha Dixit Illustrations by Srishti Guptaroy for BRIGHT MagazineWhen I was born, my paternal grandmother wrote a letter to my maternal grandfather: \u201cA girl is born. She is dark-complexioned. You better prepare for her future.\u201dIt is not clear if…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,103],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"yoast_head":"\nFair, But Not so Lovely: India's Obsession with Skin Whitening - Neha Dixit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/fair-but-not-so-lovely-indias-obsession-with-skin-whitening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fair, But Not so Lovely: India's Obsession with Skin Whitening - Neha Dixit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The country’s fixation with light skin is a brazen cocktail of colorism, patriarchy and residual colonialism. 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Neha Dixit Illustrations by Srishti Guptaroy for BRIGHT MagazineWhen I was born, my paternal grandmother wrote a letter to my maternal grandfather: \u201cA girl is born. She is dark-complexioned. 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