Deutsche Welle, 24 October 2013
A campaign
called 'Dark is Beautiful' has gained popularity in India and is bringing an
important debate to the forefront: the idea that beauty is equated with fair
skin.
The
"Dark is Beautiful" campaign originally started in 2009. Recently,
though, it has become quite popular due to a controversial, and some would say
prejudice, TV ad for skin lightening cream. The advertisement stars famous
Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan who gives a pot of the cream to a darker-skinned
man. The viewer is led to believe that the man's dreams will come true, now
that he will soon have fair skin.
The people
behind the Dark is Beautiful campaign are pushing for this advertisement to be
withdrawn. They are also working to change the mindset of society and to create
awareness about the deep-rooted prejudice that fair skin is better than dark
skin.
Deep-rooted
"The
idea that dark skin is not good looking is something that is deeply rooted in
society and we are trying to create awareness about it," Kavitha Emmanuel,
director and founder of the organization Women of Worth, which is behind the
movement, told DW.
Emmanuel's
NGO has been working with students from schools and colleges, training them in
soft skills, teaching them to deal with self-esteem issues, peer-pressure and
depression. As part of her work, she is constantly confronted with the problems
faced by people of dark skin and the discrimination they face in their personal
and professional lives.
Nandita Das
is an actress who has starred in a number of successful films, such as Fire,
Earth, Firaq. Hers is the face of the campaign. As a dark-skinned woman, she
knows what discrimination dark-skinned Indians face, especially in Bollywood.
"If you are dark then you are cast for roles such as a village women or a
slum dweller but an urban affluent character always must be the fair faced
person!"
 |
| Nandita Das is the poster girl for the campaign that seeks to draw attention to the skin color bias |
Is
Bollywood to blame?
The Indian
film industry coupled with the advertising industry continues to show a
preference for light-skinned models and actresses. Famous film stars endorse
beauty products and the fans follow the message in the hope of being able to
imitate their role models.
"The
industry has capitalized on it; they have encouraged it to an extent. But in
their defense, they say that they have given people what they want or what
people thought was beautiful," Emmanuel said.
According
to Nielsen India, a market research company based in Mumbai, the fairness cream
industry is currently worth 430 million dollars. But the industry has been
around for a while. The company Hindustan Lever first launched its Fair &
Lovely cream in 1978. The original target group has changed over time. A study
conducted by the company showed that the fairness creams are even now popular
among men in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where
skin tones tends to be darker.
The skin
bias in the sub continent goes back a long way in the history of the country.
As Das points out, "This theory about fair skin being more beautiful and
desirable stems from ancient caste hierarchy which overlaps with the class
pyramid. For centuries, the upper class/caste has been fair and the lower
caste/working class, dark. The former works indoors and has had the best
nutrition while the latter toils in the sun and is under privileged in many
ways."
Obsession
with fairness
The
obsession with fair skin goes under Indian society's skin. An overwhelming
amount of matrimonial ads in newspapers and online portals read "looking
for a suitable match for tall, slim, fair girl from the same religious
background" or along those lines.
Emmanuel
recounts a story during her interview with DW. "A colleague had a marriage
proposal from a doctor based in the UK. This doctor was in a wheelchair and my
colleague still accepted the proposal, saying that she would look beyond the
physical challenges of her potential partner. But after the doctor's family met
my colleague, they rejected her on the grounds of her dark skin."
 |
| The prejudice is deep-rooted, says Kavitha Emmanuel |
Most
Indians opt for an arranged marriage - a traditional setup in India, whereby
the parents pick out a suitable spouse for their children. Matches are found by
word of mouth or through a matrimonial advertisements. The advertisement's
basic elements include physical features, religion, salary and educational
qualifications.
Dr.
Kanchana Lanzet, an anthropologist and vice president of the German National
Committee UN Women, told DW, "I have often heard parents and elders in the
family say things like 'unfortunate dark skin girl! she has such fine features
if only she was fair!' And this is followed by the million dollar question: who
will marry a dark skinned girl, it will be difficult to find a good match for
her."
Need to
change mindset
Activists
feel that there is an urgent need to change the mindset of the people. They are
aware of the fact that this may not happen overnight but the success of the
Dark is Beautiful campaign shows that people are coming forward and are willing
to discuss and debate this sensitive issue.
Lanzet told
DW that the mindset of society will change when it realizes that beauty is only
skin deep. Or when "society starts accepting that girls and women are
people in their own right, not only with physical attributes, but endowed with
talents and the potential to be artists of their own lives - that people are
more than the color of their skin."
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Question: I’m a black woman who enjoys your teachings tremendously. It seems that there aren’t a lot of black people involved in these discussions. Is this true, and is there a reason for this? Is it cultural? Or am I wrong in this assumption?
Answer: Dear one, yes. If you’re speaking about black Americans, you’re right. It’s cultural. There are two basic reasons you won’t find many blacks in metaphysics in your culture: The first one is that in your land, your race is a minority with a history of oppression. This has created a very strong spiritual support base. Almost from birth, most of you have been exposed to very high church and spiritual support and a feeling of belonging and sticking together. There are few groups that have this kind of support and prayer base. So spiritually, you don’t look around much for answers other than what you have already learned about the love of God. This works for you and is honored.
The second reason is perhaps politically incorrect in your culture to speak of, but Kryon is not of your culture. Many of you are in survival mode due to sustained second-class citizenship you experience from birth. This causes despair, poverty, and a shift to crime among many due to despondency over life and a need to survive in a system that does not honor you. When a Human is consumed with survival in a difficult environment, they don’t have time or a desire for introspection or a search to better themselves spiritually. All their time is spent spinning within the challenges they have, many of which they assume to be their plight, many of which they have created themselves.
The sadness here is that if they did look within, they would find the tools to co-create a life outside of survival, and start processes that honors their endeavors and their lives. Blessed are those with life challenges, as so many of the minorities have, but who have decided to increase their spiritual knowledge as a solution, instead of trying to force-manipulate the reality of the cultural situation.
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