स्वागत हे,
I am an Indian girl grown up in Europe, not having that much ‘India’ around me, but I am hella proud to be an Indian, I mean who wouldn’t right?
There is so much to be proud of in India, as many say, but behind the beauty of India there is a hidden problem that society itself is running away from. Colourism.
First of all what is colourism? It is known as prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. It is a new social issue, developed in the 1980s, in which people with darker skin are seen as less prestigious. It is an issue based on an international scale, not only in India.
Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colours. But some people think that if you are fair skinned you are instantly more beautiful, you are instantly from a better background, which is so ridiculous. In fact, India’s obsession with lighter skin has been apparent within its fairness cream industry. Fun Fact: in 2010 the domestic market for skin bleaching products was worth £320million. You wouldn’t have guessed that right? Surprised? I’m not.
I totally understand why this specific domestic market was so successful because if your relatives, friends and family keep calling you phrases like ‘karambi’ (blackie) or would compare your skin-tone with your cousins’ you would desperately want to change your skin-colour, right?
When I was younger, I used to be a lot darker than I am right now and I absolutely hated it. Each time, someone said something degrading towards my skin-tone, I wished I could get in the shower and simply wash away my colour. I thought I had to be lighter, especially because I am the darkest in my family, to be seen as worth anything. I thought my words were seen as worthless, when people saw that those words came out of a dark girl. People used to even ask me if I was adopted, because I my skin tone was so dark. People used to turn the lights off and ask “where is Levi? You can only see her teeth!” First of all what the Hell. You wouldn’t go outside at daylight with a white person and ask where that person is just because there is light. So why do it to someone darker toned?
Another classic is calling a dark skin-toned person “Black beauty” Do you have to say black first to see someone as a beauty? Would you call a white pretty person “White Beauty”? …. Yeah, that’s what I thought, no you wouldn’t. So cut it out. I personally am a summer girl, I love going outside when the sun is out, especially when the sun kisses my face. One thing I noticed is that fair people like to come up to me and say “you are lucky because you dont even have to worry about getting tanned because you ARE ALREADY DARK ENOUGH” or girls would come to me and put their hands next to mine and compare their skin tone with mine, shouting out “thank God i didn’t get as dark as you” thanks for that b x
I know that I am already dark enough, but have you heard of getting darker? I didn’t want to go out in the sun at one point of my life because I would get darker, resulting in aunties and uncles telling me that I got even darker. Its a shame that something as natural as my skin colour, which I can’t change, would make me feel so deficient, make me feel less attractive and less powerful.
Now however, I don’t care if I get darker or not, as long as I am having a good time. After I moved to the UK, I naturally just got lighter because its simply not as sunny as it is in Vienna.
“You were my sunshine,
You gave colour to my life.
But that colour was looked down upon
But I felt unfair and lovely.”
~Tamilarasy
Love,
Mariiamazi x
Levitha Mariam 